All code name AofE posts

Who knew people wanted to knit hot pants? You guys are awesome. In the 4 days the pattern has been up, it's been downloaded over 300 times, which I think is pretty fabby. A few folks have also made donation, which is generous and wonderful. Thank you so much.

This is part of my download stats page from Ravelry. If you are wondering why there are two Assets of Evo files it's because the first version had a missing hyperlink in the resource section. It wasn't important enough to make an announcement but I thought I'd update it nonetheless.

In doggy news, Leo found us a new little stretch of the Oregon Coast. As always, we hit Manzanita, which is great because it's beautiful, plenty of room to play and Thea gets to socialize. But after, Leo wound his way through some back roads and landed us at a secluded little stretch of where only one other person and her dog were playing. All in all, a great day out.

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Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

See all the pictures here:

Assets of Evo is up!

I'm playing around with a whole shareware sharewear (thanks colin, you know I love a good pun.) concept here. The pattern is free, either for download from my site or from Ravelry. So go get yourself a copy and knit away. If you happen to like the pattern and you can afford to do so, there's an option to make a donation towards the cost of the tech editing, supplies and labor that went into the pattern. Don't want to make a donation? Don't. It's all good.

As always, I try to provide error free patterns, but even with tech editing, errors can slip in, so please let me know if you find any problems with the pattern.

Now go get a copy and knit and be merry.

The second and final version of Assets of Evo are done. The first were pretty good, but I knew there were some elements that could be better.

I love the wine and black color combo. The browns are gorgeous, but this is more my color.

I redid the duplicate stitch chart to better reflect the proportions of the artwork. The previous was a little short and stout.

The front meets the strict standards of our Quality Control department, which is always good.

The new crotch gusset fits so much better than the original design.

And if I stand in just the right position, wearing a cute pair of shoes, with flattering lighting and soft focus, it doesn't look too bad on me.

I am now finishing up the pattern and then I'll be looking for a tech editor.

I think I'm going to massage the design a bit by adding in a slightly different shaping at the crotch area and tweaking the tree so it's not so stretched, width-wise, but the first go is looking pretty cute, I think. The second pair will be in a wine color with either white or black trim. I'm still deciding.

The side:

Darwin's tree spans the side of the shorts, taking advantage of the additional length in back for the very top of the tree.

The back:

The back is nearly 2 inches longer than the front, thanks to short rows at the top and bottom. The instructions will give info for customizing this shaping.

The front:

You can really see how different the length is in front, from this view. Let me tell you, the 2" isn't nearly enough to account for my, ahem, assets.

And to Cher's point about Cascade Fixation not being exactly the same as Elann's Esprit, she's right! I have some of both here and Fixation is a bit springier. However, it shouldn't be a problem, for subbing in this pattern, so when it's out, if you have fixation around, it'll be a suitable replacement.

* Thanks to MJ and Cher for coming up with a PG rated version of the name I wanted. My mom also suggested "Intelligent Behind" which is pretty darn funny too. I come by my punniness, honestly.

When I first found Schmeebot's blog, I came for the Waffles, but even now that the photogenic golden has moved away, I enjoy my regular fix of delightful images. Recently, though, she gave me even more reason to love her blog, she's a member of the Axis of Evo. Woohoo!

Once I mentioned my interest in joining the brigade, she challenged me to a hot-pants-design-off. Well, that makes it sound a little more competitive than it is. Really we're just both designing some boy shorts and I'll be offering the pattern for free. Yipee!

Here's my initial sketch.

And Schmee's great sketch is here.

I've code named this pattern, "Asses of Evo" but I'll need a more family friendly name for the final pattern.

The pattern will be worked in Elann Esprit in "Coffee Bean" and "Pecan" to be a sort of inverse of Charles Darwin's original drawing. I also picked up some "Wine" and "Natural" that I might use to knit a second pair, if the first come out well enough. For those who don't want to order from Elann, Esprit is the same as Cascade Fixation.

Surely, you are all awaiting, with bated breath, a chance to knit up some evolution themed hot pants, right? RIGHT? Sure you are.

Also, on a somewhat related note, I plan to do a new tutorial, sometime soon, on colorizing your sketches in Photoshop and using the program to play around with color combination.