Thursday, February 18, 2010

Fashionknitsta Thursday: 2/18/10

Hello everyone! Sorry for the unexpected mini-hiatus last week, the arrival of the remainder of the Shibui Sock really made for a crazy day.

Today I have some very exciting news, we are now carrying a line of patterns by a designer I bet a lot of you are familliar with, Ysolda Teague! If you haven't heard of this fantastic Scottish designer, I really recommend checking out her website for some great inspiration. A couple of my favorites are the Snapdragon Tam and Flip-tops set:



I'm always on the lookout for a good flip-top mitt pattern and these guys are perfect. The recommended yarn is Madelinetosh DK, which I like, but I'd love to do this set in Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds DK or Shibui Merino Kid.



No matter how old you are, shoes really do make the outfit. Demonstrating that perfectly, these little Mary Jane style booties knit with fingering yarn would be such a special gift for the tiniest fashionista in your life. A pair of these Tiny Shoes could be knocked out in an evening, and I already have a recipient in mind (done in Shibui Sock in Honey, definitely) for the first pair.



I can't even count the number of times people have come into the store looking for a pattern for a beanie with a brim. The perfect winter accessory for outdoor pursuits, Straun would make a great gift or be fun to make for yourself. The pattern calls for a DK or worsted weight yarn (depending on how cozy you'd like it to be) and I would love to do it in Shibui Merino Alpaca or Malabrigo Twist. This hat would be super warm around the ears because of the doubled hem, and the brim, which could be potentially intimidating, is surprisingly easy to add.

It was hard to keep it down to just a few choices, all of her pieces are so beautiful! You can see the rest of her line with everything from hats to lace wraps to adorable knit animals available at Knit Purl here.

Some of you may remember way back in November when I blogged about a great little sweater that could find it's way into anyone's wardrobe, Hannah Fettig's Lightweight Pullover.


I'm very excited that we now have this pattern in stock! I still would love to do it in Isager Alpaca 2 (color 13!) which would be the perfect weight for a transitional fall piece, but I'm kind of day dreaming about a springtime version done in Shibui's new Staccato yarn. A blend of Superwash Merino and Silk with just a touch of nylon for strength, it would be absolutely gorgeous in this pattern.

The next pattern I have to share today is the Tuesday Night Cowl by designer Susan Lawrence.

This lovely (and free!) pattern reminds me a lot of the Burberry Inspired Cowl (also free on Ravelry) I saw a few weeks ago, but this one has instructions for worsted, aran, and bulky weights. The Burberry Inspired version was written for bulky only, which I find can sometimes come out a bit stiffer and dense than I would like. This pattern would be gorgeous in Malabrigo Twist or Rowan Lima.

For your inspiration today I have an amazing blog to share with you from a Fashion Designer and Fiber Artist out of Minneapolis, Annie Larson. Her blog, Swank Dollar is full of her amazing machine (and some hand) knit creations. My roommate Sarah was kind enough to show this to me the other day and I've been thinking about it ever since.



I don't know very much about machine knitting, but this definitely inspires me to look into it. It's so interesting and fun. Her blog again is linked here if you want to check it out. Unfortunately I can't find that much info about her or the yarns she uses or anything, but its neat to see how much freedom you could have with a little imagination. Ok, just one more, but only because it's really just too precious!



And with that I will leave you for another week. Check back next week for another edition of Fashionknitsta and, until then, stay chic blogfans!

-Lindsay

2 comments:

PJ said...

Your Fashionknita is one of my favorite knit-related web spots -- thoughtful and surprising. Thanks for putting it up. pjminca@gmail.com

Patti said...

So good to see outside the box things. Even though they probably aren't my thing, I take away inspiration in the colors.