Fall Classes—Rose-Window Lace

22 Friday Jul 2011

Posted by Katherine in Knitting, teaching classes

People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when the darkness sets in,
their true beauty is revealed
only if there is a light from within.
[Elisabeth Kubler-Ross]

The knitting retreat at New Harmony, Indiana is my first teaching opportunity this fall. My topic is lace knitting and I’ve devised this six-inch piece for our basic project. It is only 28 rounds and the pattern includes a full size blocking diagram. The pattern is both charted and written out in abbreviations so it will offer the opportunity for the knitters to practice a variety of skills.

If anything makes my light shine from within, it is these annual trips to New Harmony. It is still two months away and I’m already excited.

Colorful Counterpane Pattern

19 Tuesday Jul 2011

Posted by Katherine in Knitting, Knitting Sites, Pattern, Ravelry

≈ 2 Comments

I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.
[Robert Louis Stevenson]

I’ve shown this counterpane on my blog before. Today, I uploaded the pattern to sell for $6.50 on Ravelry.

Counterpanes are decorative bed covers. In her book, Knitting Counterpanes, Traditional Coverlet Patterns for Contemporary Knitters, Mary Walker Phillips gives a thorough history of counterpanes. She then shares a number of knitting patterns for blocks and borders.

These were often knit using white or ecru cotton or linen thread. Heirloom samples are breathtaking in their beauty. They are also very heavy and fragile.

Although this pattern was inspired by the antique counterpanes, its fiber content and techniques are different. It is knit in the round in blocks that have a selvage that makes seaming easy. It is in color. When used in class, each block is designed to allow knitters to practice basic techniques beyond simply knitting and purling.

The pattern can be ordered at this LINK

Star-Spangled Banner Socks

01 Friday Jul 2011

Posted by Katherine in Knitting, Knitting Sites, Ravelry, Writing

≈ 1 Comment

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men
and so it must be daily earned and refreshed
else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots,
it will wither and die.
[Dwight D. Eisenhower]

I just added another sock pattern to my online store from …and a time to knit stockings. This is the July Sock. For the Ravelry PDF patterns, I’m laying them out in a different style than they were in the book or on the CD. I have revised the charts with color, corrected some problems people had in understanding the directions, and added a personal touch or two.

I belong to a women’s writing group that focuses on memoir writing (Story Circle Network). I love being a part of the group but never intended to write a traditional memoir until I realized that my patterns are a memoir of sorts. They were each inspired by something in my life so I’m adding the inspirations to the patterns. It might be a bit unorthodox for a knitting pattern, but my knitting buddies at the local yarn shop loved the idea so I did it.

Here is the text from the cover page shown above:

Celebrate the Fourth of July in a pair of star-spangled banner socks. My childhood started during World War II so I came to associate Independence Day with service as well as picnics and fireworks. This experience inspired the sock design.

Photographs:
Civil War—Samual C. Marvel served in the 13th Iowa Infantry, G.A.R., and was lost on his twenty-second birthday in a battle at Atlanta in July, 1864.

World War Two—Esther Black served in the U.S. Navy as a link trainer and cartographer. Roy Misegades served in the U.S. Army as a cook in Europe.

1965-1969—Katherine Misegades served as a U.S. Navy Nurse Corps Officer.

The PDF pattern sells for $5.00 at this link on Ravelry