Knotions Winter 2008 issue is live! And my Take A Bow hat pattern is in it :-)
November 17, 2008 by woollymammothknits
The title above says it all! The new issue of Knotions Magazine is out and one of the patterns in it is my hat pattern Take A Bow. Like so many of my designs, it was inspired by vintage fashion, in this case the cloche hats of the 1920s. I'm so excited about my first online publication! All the patterns in this issue of Knotions are wonderful, so check them out! Here's the link to my hat pattern: Take A Bow. And here's a pic:
We just got back from Holland this past week. It's great to be home again! It was wonderful to get to spend so much time with my family, but with my sweet husband in Afghanistan (albeit only for a few weeks) I couldn't help but worry myself sick half the time. It's just so good to have our little family "pack" back together again! The trip back to England was quite eventful in itself, too, as our ferry across the Channel got stuck in a terribly storm and we couldn't get into the port of Dover. We stayed out in the mad weather for hours in the middle of the night, I've never been so seasick in my life. Being pregnant didn't help either I'm sure! Thankfully we finally got our feet back on land (blessed land! hehe) around two in the morning, and made our way back home the next day. In the meantime, I'm working on a new pattern, that I hope to finish in the next week or two. I have not yet begun with my baby knitting but will no doubt get started on that soon, too :-)
New pattern, another Holland trip and some big big news!
October 16, 2008 by woollymammothknits
Shame on me for not updating in over a fortnight! But to my defense, we've been ridiculously busy the past two weeks or so. I feel like we've been running around like chicken without heads for at least some of the time, and I've gotten hardly any knitting done lately. Hopefully that will change soon. I did, however, finish a new pattern, a vintage-inspired lacy cardigan named "Chunky Fudge Lace Cardigan" (it has to do with fudge brownies :-). It's knit in a chunky weight yarn and will be warm and snug for the coming winter. Here is a picture, and this is the link: Chunky Fudge Lace Cardigan
It is available for $6.50 and I'll send it to you as a .PDF file by email within 24 hours when you purchase it.
In other news, my sweet husband unfortunately has to go on a trip for work soon. Thankfully it won't be for that long, but I still always feel that it is too long. Cheesy though this may sound to some, I think one day apart is too long! Sophie (our doggie) and I will take a trip to our family in Holland while he is away, and while I can't wait to see our family again of course, I only wish my husband could spend these weeks together with us there as well. This is also partly why we've been so busy these past weeks; it's amazing how much prep work both trips take!
And, on top of all this, we have got some amazing, incredible, big big news, about 2 weeks ago now. We are expecting our first baby!!! Of course, it is still very, very early, but we are just so happy! We had only just begun trying, so we really lucked out. I'm so excited to begin this journey towards welcoming a new family member (or, as we tell Sophie, a new pack member) into the world, and of course you know what this means, too: it's time for lots and lots of baby knitting! :-)
New hand-dyed wool, and of books and films and such
September 28, 2008 by woollymammothknits
It's been over a week since I last updated, and I have been keeping pretty busy! I finished a new design, a vintage-inspired cardigan, that I will add to the site soon (as soon as I've got all the small details of the pattern worked out). I'm very excited about this as I think it's my best design yet. I have also been doing some more wool dyeing and have added the information about two new colorways to the yarn page. The new colorways are called "Pumpkin Spice" (in honor of that crazy holiday, Halloween) and "Pomegranate Sunset". Here are some pictures:
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In non-knitting related news, this past week my sweet husband and I got to see Dr. Strangelove on the big screen! It is one of my favorite movies of all time and it was fantastic to see it in the theater, during the Cambridge Film Fesitval. Afterwards we had dinner at our "local" (meaning our local pub, in Brit speak :-) which was cosy and yummy as always.
Book-wise I have dived back into the world of Nelson's Navy as I (finally) finish the last book in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin saga. It has been a few years since I read the other books and it is a lot of fun reading the last book now, it is like visiting with old friends. Such a pity that this really is the very last adventure of H.M.S. Surprise, but perhaps I shall re-read all the books one day. What is also nice is that throughout the series there are mentions of knitting - the wives knit stuff for the husbands, the young girls learn to knit, knitted garments, etc. Fun!
Ravelry
September 15, 2008 by woollymammothknits
I just got hooked up to Ravelry as a designer! For those who are not yet members of Ravelry, I highly recommend joining up: it is a fantastic knitting community with tons of knitting resources. There are lots of crocheters on the site as well for those interested. Anyway, I had been a member since July (I finally figured out what Ravelry was after seeing it referenced in posts on knitting forums for over a year :-) but now I'm officially listed as a designer, too. My username on Ravelry is linw, and this is the link to my designer page: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/linda-wilgus. Here's the link to my profile, too: http://www.ravelry.com/people/linw. If you are a member of Ravelry, look me up!
I have also begun taking pictures for the yarn page in a different way. I had started out with a home-made "light studio" made out of a box with tissue paper (there is a tutorial for this online somewhere, just google "home made light box" or light studio) but that did not produce the wished-for results. In the end I decided natural light is better, as it shows the colors off more, so from now on I will be taking pictures outside and in more of a close-up. Like this:
I also just received ten skeins of a yummy homespun, undyed (and unbleached) worsted weight yarn, that I plan on dyeing in some crazy colors over the next week or two. Results will be listed on the yarn page!
First published pattern on the way
September 13, 2008 by woollymammothknits
Yay!! I'm so excited! I just heard my first pattern will be published in the winter issue of Knotions Magazine. It is a hat pattern that was very fun to make (and knit). I hope everyone will like it! I will add the link to it on the pattern section of the site once it's up.
We got back from Holland the day before yesterday, we had a blast there. My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary, as well as my dad's 60th birthday, and had all the family over for a party. It was wonderful to see everyone and catch up. We spent a day in Amsterdam as well and stayed the night at the same hotel we had stayed at for our wedding, so that was quite special. I didn't get nearly enough knitting done, but now that we're home again I have lots of time to catch up. I'm also finishing up two cardigan patterns (both vintage-inspired) that I hope to be able to add to the site in the next few weeks. It's so overcast and dark out here these days, it's sometimes difficult to find a good moment to take pictures of designs.
Last but not least, I had a great find at the local thrift store in my parents' town: four 100g. skeins of "french country wool" in a worsted weight. It's a beautiful dark blue color and I can't wait to knit with it. My mom doesn't knit very frequently, but seeing this yummy wool she said she was tempted to pick up the needles again. Random thought: I think I will have to knit something special for her for Christmas this year.
Updates and off to the low countries
September 04, 2008 by woollymammothknits
I have just updated the links section of the site, and am in the process of getting set up on Ravelry as a designer. I'm very excited about this; I love Ravelry and before I began designing, I would've never imagined that I would be listed as a designer on the site someday.
In other news, I will be away from my computer for about a week starting tomorrow. The reason is that my sweet husband, Sophietje, and I will be travelling to the low countries to visit my family. I can't wait!! I will of course have to bring lots of knitting along for the trip as well :-). One thing that I feel is a bit sad is that I am unable to knit in the car, as it makes me very queasy. My husband and I tend to talk endlessly while driving, which is wonderful, but I always feel it's a bit of a pity that my hands are idle for hours and hours on end. Oh well, nothing one can do about it! I used to be unable to knit on airplanes too because of airlines' over-the-top safety regulations (yes, really, I will take over this plane using nothing but a nail clipper!). But I have since acquired a superb pink Denise kit (I have to mention that it's pink because the color tickles me for some reason) that is said to be allowed on airlines. I'm a little apprehensive about attempting this, but at the same time, a transatlantic flight without knitting is no fun either. I suppose that if I were to bring a self-addressed, stamped envelope to drop my project in in case of an emergency, it is worth the try. But that will come in the future sometime, next time we go visit my in-laws, for this coming week, we'll just be driving.
First blog post on the new website!
August 29, 2008 by woollymammothknitsThis is my very first post on my new website! I'm thrilled to finally launch the site. It took some time to figure out all the mechanicsof the HTML and everything, but here it is at last! In this blog, as in my old blog (or should I say my same blog in the old location?) I will document my adventures knitting around the world, announce the arrival of new patterns and ramble about other assorted topics. For the sake of continuity, I have also copied my last post from my old blog below this one.As of today the site has three free patterns listed, including the little shrug that's featured on the front page. I have been knitting up a storm lately and have also finished three patterns that I have submitted to various magazines, so I cannot post them on the blog just yet. They are a cardigan, hat, and scarf pattern. If they are accepted by the magazines then I will put up a link here once they're published, and if they don't get accepted I will simply put them on the site, of course! It's great to have a little corner of the web where I can showcase my patterns from now on. Last but not least, I have finished another pattern, but have not yet gotten around to do the sizing for it. It is a cotton maternity summer top that is as of yet nameless (hopefully I can think of a name before I post the pattern!). Here's a picture:
I love this button:
I hope you will enjoy what you see here on my new website! I frequently update the site with new patterns, yarns and other things, so check back often!
Cardigan without leaf ties
August 18, 2008 by woollymammothknitsI just finished Stephanie Japel’s Cardigan with Leaf Ties, except, I made it without the leaf ties. I got a bunch of delicious Knit Picks Andean Silk for Christmas from my husband, and after some deliberation decided to knit it up into the cardigan with leaf ties. What a fun project!Unfortunately, the only thing I didn’t like were the leaf ties. I did really like how they looked in the picture that came with the pattern, and I liked the leafs and I-cord when I knit them on a (much) smaller needle than recommended, but the I-cord that went around the neckline just kept bunching up and pulling on the neckline in a weird way. I don’t think it’s my way of picking up stitches that did it, as I normally never have this problem… anyway, after letting the project sit for some time while deciding what to do with it, I finally decided to frog the collar and instead, knit on a narrow 2×2 rib collar and have it close with a button. I really like how it turned out. I will definitely be wearing this one a lot!This is a picture of the finished cardigan:
And this is a picture of when I was adding the leaf ties... I tried to straighten out the neckline for the picture but you can see that it was still pulling a little:
