Way back in 2015 I started a new job. I was already running a business and had two yarn shops.  It was lovely, but I needed more.  I was asked to take on a territory for Euro Yarns, traveling the South Eastern United States.  I would meet with Yarn Shop Owners (My PEOPLE) and share with them the new products that my company would be bringing to market.  I love yarn and talking about yarn, so why not!!

Sitting in the office, holding brand new yarns I was struck with so many design ideas.  I made a handful of sketches in my design notebook that I worked in as a store owner to support my own yarn sales. It was five days of learning and seeing products that we absolutely inspiring.

Our Sales Manager, Thomas was dancing with an idea that we would feature independent designers’ patterns with our products.  This was a trend in the market, designers’ name recognition driving the popularity of yarns. While we were seeking to make a difference we didn’t have the ability to totally change how we were doing things, so along with our trusted design partners we featured a handful of independent designers that season. Lucky for me, I was in the right place at the right time and the Flecha cowl was the featured model garment for the FRESH Mirasol Sisa Baby Alpaca and wool.

I had the opportunity to revamp the pattern format recently, and knit a new sample! Over the years I had knit many and given them all to yarn shop owners who needed samples to help sell the yarn.  I love the Fletcha cowl lace.  It is a great introduction to working from a chart for lace work.  It is rythmic and easy to memorize.  Paired with super squishy Alpaca it is warm and light.

The Pattern: Fletcha Cowl

The Yarn: Mirasol Sisa, 60% Merino Wool, 40% Alpaca Worsted Weight, 137 yards 50g Skeins

The Designer: Whitney Terrell

The Details: This chain construction yarn is lofty and light. The yardage is above average thanks to that clever construction.  The Fletcha cowl takes only two skeins or 250 yards of your favorite worsted weight.  Shown below, the grey version is Jill Draper Windham. The beautiful tonality of this yarn is not lost in the gentle pattern of the lace. The Cream sample is Sisa and is cloud-like and luscious. Either way, the project is a dream.

At the beginning of April I revamped the Spring Dew hat pattern I originally released back in 2014… I think thats the right year.  I had paired up with a favorite local dyer, who sadly has moved on another path.  It was time to refresh the sample with a current yarn and add a cowl pattern to the mix.  I love a good cowl and hat pattern combo.  I also love the ability to match up my sets. Makes wearing a coat that much more fun to have matching accessories and added warmth.

 

Pattern: Spring Dew Hat and Cowl

Yarn: The Fiber Seed Sprout DK – 250 yards/ 100 grams 90% washable American Merino 10% Nylon.  Shown in the colors Liptmus and Tiffany … Two skeins does the whole set!!

Designer: Whitney Terrell – Thats Me!!!

Check out all the additional projects over on Ravelry and grab a pattern for your own Safer At Home Knitting!!

 

 

Well,  a 3 month hiatus on life thanks to Covid-19 sure slowed down the blogging.  It didn’t however slow down the knitting, making and designing.

Now I am back on the road in the open states of Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.  I am actively getting a hold on things.  And I am realizing how valuable that break was!!!  This is the first season that I have felt relaxed going back out to work, despite all the extra steps of masks, added hand washing and near constant hand sanitizing, it just feels right to be in Yarn Shops.

So thanks – thank you for reading, thank you for knitting and thank you for hanging in there!

We sure are living in crazy days, and when this all started I was still home with my husband.  I was stash diving and came across some yarn that I knew a friend of mine would be excited about.  She had just stocked a massive supply of Crazy, a made from mill ends waste reducing phenomenon from Stonehenge Fiber Mill in Northern Michigan. The yarn is CRAZY – meaning that no two skeins are alike in makeup. They may host similar colors, but the length of the color run, or even the shade that it is plied with will not be identical. This means they play well together but are not twins.

My friend Lori needed a great sample and most small business owners in the yarn world can always use another knitter making projects.  I love how soft Crazy is and how irregular it is to work with, but my mind needed order.  I created a simple pattern that takes advantage of the spontaneous nature of Crazy and brings a touch of order to the task making the finished project more cohesive.

Here is Crazy Days – you can pick up your own copy over on Ravelry, and I encourage you to pop on over to Arkansas Yarn Co. and show them a little love with an online purchase during these crazy days.

The Sweater: Petite Jardin

The Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Arbor, a 100% American Targee Wool – DK  weight and 145 yards per 50G

Targee is a perfect example of the American Wool Industry in the Western United States. The sheep are hardy and the fiber is luxurious. Targee fiber is elastic in nature, has fine crimp like Merino and is matte. It takes color from dye exceptionally well and despite its soft hand and luxurious qualities it is a resilient and durable fiber. It is well suited for a multitude of garments.

The Designer: Whitney Terrell – The writer of this blog!

The Details: Petite Jardin is designed to be a sweet crop sweater that you can layer over your favorite blouse or dress, pair with jeans or a skirt and feel sweet, feminine and lovely.

It is delightfully customizable, with details to lengthen the hem and the sleeves to make it just the right piece for your wardrobe. Here on Jane, who is my best quarantine model – she is wearing the Petite Jardin Sweater with 5″ of positive ease.  It is cropped just above  her hip bone.

Here you can see it is swingy on her.  I am hoping that it will fit for a good long time, in a fresh shape she will enjoy at least for a few years. (Currently Jane is 4’10.5″ and 82lbs)

Sweaters are my favorite garment to knit. I wear them all the time and I especially love the process of designing.  I like to get my head around the puzzle of garment making.  For me it can take two forms, some designs make it all the way out as a pattern before the first stitch is knit. ( of course I have a swatch present so I know where the math should start.)

Other designs grow on the needles.  This is not my preferred way to design, but I do find it happening from time to time – especially when I am working in shapes like shawls. Sometimes a sketch is made first, and then the pattern writing happens while the piece is  on the needles.

The Petite Jardin Sweater started as a sketch, and then like wild fire it became a sweater. Once the first iteration was knit, I knew I wanted to make a few changes.  So after writing the sweater pattern I tweaked the yoke and now I think it is just right.

You can see the pink version is the original. It has clover around the neck, which I felt got muddled in the design. I changed it to be tiny tulips like the ones that complete the yoke color work.

So after knitting two versions, I really want to knit another!  I would love to have one with long sleeves, but I have to move on and work on the designs that I am itching to get out into the world.

Way back on March 1st I released a new pattern, Clover Meadow.  Perfect in Greens for celebrating St. Patty’s Day… which was totally glossed over this year because of government mandated social distancing.  Well a beautiful spring design does not need to be seen only one way.

I used some beautiful colors from Ramsey Yarn Co. : Haddy, Nancy, Scott and Polly.  I found them all at Knit2together in Russellville, Arkansas.  The speckled background color reminds me of vintage majolica pottery. The depth is lovely and the subtle melding of the color-work is really elegant. I love patterns in multiple options.

You can purchase a copy of the pattern over on Ravelry.

Covid-19.  Yikes!!! If you look back at my last post, way back on March 3rd the world was still relatively normal. I was traveling, seeing customers and mulling over ideas for how to build the business I have been journaling about for the last year.

Now fast forward to today, March 28th.  I have been home with my children for 15 days, school has been canceled for the foreseeable future and I am making the very best of it!

We are clear, not viral and we are all aiming to stay that way. I visited with several customers in the Seattle area right before retuning home and I am glad to say they are all healthy and being with them, in their shops helped me better understand how to cope.  I am over joyed to be at home.  Working and creating, pouring time and energy into my children and making sure they are happy and healthy.

100% they are loud, and full of energy.  But we have directed it into several exciting project.

First, they have been writing daily letters to family.  We have covered cousins, Aunts and Uncles, ALL the Grandparents… My girls are blessed to have 4 sets they can write to.

Second, we have been creative.  We have sewn, sculpted, doodled, and glued gems. We have wallpapered Mouse House Apartments and baked polymer dough.

Third, we have tended to our home.  We have planted container gardens and watered them regularly. We have cleaned and baked cookies. We have made lunches and learned how to keep the tea kettle perpetually warm. We have shared in the duties and made it all fun.

Fourth, we have focused on culture and our nation.  We have watched documentaries on our favorite places, like Yellowstone. We have learned about America’s Secrets and worked on Spanish Vocabulary.

And Lastly,  but certainly not least we have read.  We have focused on our favorite books, reading aloud and also silently during quite time.  We have kept current events reading to a minimum and learned about what open spaces and walks we can enjoy.

I am dead determined to make the very best of this time and for the memories to be nothing but quality time. All this and some great knitting!!

I have very fond memories of my elementary school playground and the sunny days spent there.  I went to a small elementary school in a tiny little city in Virginia.  I knew all 200 of my classmates from Kindergarten to Graduation. A hand full moved in an out over the 18 years there thanks to the local military population.  Each who did added to the fabric of our little hamlet.  It was a divine childhood as I recall.

Our school had, by my recollection, two playgrounds and two ball fields surrounding it.  We spent our early years on the “black-top” directly behind the school which had a US map, hopscotch and four square painted on it.  Directly behind the black top were swings and monkey bars, then a baseball field.  Our recess was almost always free play… and in my mind the edges of the playground are blurred.  I vaguely remember some basketball courts between the area where we played as 3rd graders and where the big 5th graders got to go out to play by the Gym.

I do recall with absolute charity the light dusty mineral dirt under the swings. It was packed hard and worn bare from hundreds of feet dragging beneath the swings.  More than one friend broke an arm jumping from those swings and landing on that hard packed earth.  The winters where sometimes wet, but more often cold and clear.  The bright sun barely warming the ground but making recess possible all year long. The clear blue sky with tiny cotton puff clouds in comparison to the the post war red brick of the school were in perfect cold opposition.  We waited and waited, played and ran all in anticipation of the warmer days where we were no longer obliged to wear our coats to keep us warm.

Spring literally sprang in our costal community. Once the days were longer and the sun shine warmer the natural magic of the playground was enhanced exponentially.  The crabgrass became green, tiny purple and white pin point sized flowers appeared near the posts and in the crevices of the mulch boxes.  And then the clover,  the clover was dense and  brilliant kelly green in big patches. It was particularly thick on the 5th grade playground, where there were less pieces of play equipment and more field room for students to play organized games. Particularly close to the school, we could spend all our recess time searching for the perfect four leaf clover.  Once tired of the searching there were plenty of butter cups for us to make bouquets and test under our chins for the reflection of yellow color – this was a sure sign that you were a lover of butter, wouldn’t you know.

Our teachers would be blessed with tiny handful collections of flowers for the remainder of the afternoon once we returned to the classroom. Those collections would be proudly displayed until they wilted and were thrown out a the end of the day.

These fond memories manifest in my latest design, Clover Meadows. A  hat and cowl combo that feature a motif reminiscent of those tiny bouquets from grade-school. Alas, in knit form they last much longer for the recipients’ appreciation.

I am tickled to be partnering with Lindsay from The Fiber Seed for the yarns used in this new pattern. The rich green of The Fiber Seed Forest color way is the perfect dark shade from the clover patches. The slightly be-speckled Rock Creek color of the contrast reminds me of that mineral soil on the playground, dotted with bits of shell and seeds from all around my little marshy childhood community.

The pattern can be found over on Ravelry and yarns purchased through local yarn shops and The Fiber Seed.

 

 

The Sweater: Lovenote by Tincan Knits

The Yarn: Araucania Huasco Sock 75% Super Wash Merino and 25% Poliamide ( like Nylon) and in the very uninspiring but beautifully earthy Capucian Bird. 

Jorstad Creek Isle of Skye Mohair Silk 70% Superkid Mohair 30% Mulberry silk lace weight in the super sweet Apricot

The Designer: The powerhouse design team at Tin Can Knits. They have done amazing work and made knitting extra approachable for lots of knitters!!

The Details: I opted for no collar on this sweater. Not something that I would usually skip, but I left it off this time. Perhaps I will add it on later, but for now I like the delicate soft edge.
Another note, this sweater seems to need to be steamed frequently to not get that lovely crease in the front. Also, I love the balloon sleeves, but might change the cuff because I don’t love the way it feels putting it on.
Just in time for the month of love and 💕 I finished this sweet and very romantic feeling sweater. Maybe those two words don’t often go together, “Romantic Sweater” but when I showed the project to my husband he was wowed. The feminine lace detail at the mid yoke add excitement when paired with a sultry tank or strapless dress. The softness of the mohair makes this sweater feel extra special. Now to plan a romantic date to wear my lovely new sweater!

 

The Sweater: Redford by Julie Hoover for Brooklyn Tweed

The Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Loft – a bouncy and fluffy two-ply fingering weight yarn made of Domestic Targee – Columbia cross wool from Wyoming in the color way Newsprint

The Designer : Julie Hoover the brilliant mastermind behind a plethora of classic sweaters and accessories. Her patterns are a delight to knit, full of detail and shaping to make for a very custom and handsomely fitting garmet.

The Details: Finally I have the satisfaction of sharing this long overdue sweater I have been working on for my darling husband. His one request was for the sweater from Jaws. You know, the one that Sea Captain Quint wears to hunt ol’ Jaws himself. My husband is pretty nautically minded thanks to years as a Scuba Diver and boat owner, so the ironic nature of this request had to be indulged. We shopped for yarn in May. I swatched in worsted weight Shelter and decided that would be way to heavy for my persistantly warm love. Switching down to the Loft and swatching again I decided on a stitch pattern. I wanted to use a written sweater pattern with styling to insure a fit and details that would ultimately be loved. Enter a quality design! Now of course I did some edits to make it more Quint-Like. The back and front are knit in broken rib. The side panels are stockinette side out, as apposed to reverse stockinette as the pattern suggests. I also seamed the body and worked the sleeves in the round to cut down on seaming and to get the darn things done!!!