All twist collective posts

I can't believe an entire month has passed since we launched the new edition of Twist. Between losing Panda and seemingly-unending home repairs that started in May with an attempt to get the house repainted and turned into an endeavor that required a carpenter, roofer, electricians and new decks, all before the painting could even begin, it's been hectic, to say the least. My poor little blog never stood a chance.

But the new edition of Twist is still waiting for you, if you haven't seen it yet and as always, I feel genuinely privileged to have a place in its virtual pages.

My first of two patterns is Lithograph a half-circle shawl design worked in twisted stitches and lace. For the submission process, I made a mini-prototype to show how the increases would blend into the background of the latticework.

The final shawl is worked in Lisa Souza's Polwarth Wool and Silk yarn which is a breeze to work with and so lovely to touch. The silk gives it plenty of drape while the wool gives the piece some substance. It's a perfect choice for this pattern.

My second design is Antrea, a beanie, slouch and cowl pattern suitable for anyone. Knitters are probably aware of the general submissions process for patterns and they see the end product, but in between those points, yarn companies, designers, and the members of the publishing and editing team, all try to wrangle a zillion moving parts to make the magazine. Yarn is often being shipped to other countries and then the sample shipped back to tech editors in a third country before being handed off to the publisher for photography and anywhere in there, a missed deadline or late delivery can throw the process off kilter. So was the case with the yarn for Antrea. It was originally scheduled to go overseas, went missing, alternate yarn was shipped and the orphaned yarn, finally tracked down, needed a home. Having finished up Lithograph fairly quickly, I volunteered and was told that I may only receive one color so I should plan a design that didn't require two different shades.

A bit of virtual graph paper and a few hours of playing and I had a cable pattern suitable for a unisex set that could be worked in a single color or with a contrasting color in the ribbing.

The SweetGeorgia Superwash DK is super soft and springy with great stitch definition so the pattern pops even in a darker shade. The hats can be worked in a smaller or larger circumference and fine-tuned with a tighter or looser gauge. One skein of each color will make either hat and the cowl in opposing colors dominance.

There's one more bit of new that you've probably noticed if you're friends with me on Facebook, I have a little bit of art with me all the time now.

Oregon Grape blossoms

This beautiful piece was created by Ashton Allen at No Hope No Fear and it's even more beautiful than I could have imagined it would be.

California Poppies, Mayflowers, and Violets

Each flower is the state flower for somewhere I've lived with a hummingbird in back because, well, hummingbirds are pretty.

Lilacs and Anna's Hummingbird

Barring any unexpected issues, it'll be colored in November and the tattoo will be complete. I love everything about it and can't stop looking at Ashton's beautiful artwork.

The time between the Winter and Spring/Summer editions of Twist Collective are always the longest span of the publication year and it means I'm the most anxious to see the Spring/Summer edition go live. Spring/Summer 2016 is up and it's got some beautiful new patterns, great articles and a little...ahem...twist. Kate picked 12 of her favorite older Twist patterns from a variety of designers and had them reknit in new yarns and colors, then packaged them all together at an incredible discount. How does 58% off sound to you? Even if you already own half the patterns, you still manage to save a little money buying the set, and if you've bought fewer than that -- or none at all -- this is an amazing value. I managed to snag two slots in the collection.

First up is Regent which I love in the deep blue-black Catherine Lowe yarn and in this more rustic, creamy-colored alpaca blend. I think this substitution really highlights how a garment can be redefined by the yarn choice. In the original yarn, it's suitable enough for an evening out. In the alpaca blend, it's more casual and can take you on your errands or snuggle up on the couch with you on a cold day.

Next up is Picard and Kate kept the nod to his red shirt with bright red buttons. The original yarn had exceptional stitch definition, making the pattern really pop. The white yarn is similarly great for showing off twisted stitches but that pale color makes them stand out even better, and with a neutral color choice, the buttons can be little gems instead of being simply functional.

Last, but hopefully not least, here's my new shawl design. Flechir is a 3/4-circle shawl worked from the top-center, out, then each scallop is finished individually. This means your best choices for yarns are ones that are not obviously variegated. The tweedy Northern Lights yarn used here is perfect. Up close, the yarn is several individual shades but they all blend into a harmonious whole from afar.

Here's the gorgeous photos from the magazine.

And here is one of my own photos showing the shape of the shawl. Since it's a 3/4-circle, the shawl falls in soft ruffles when you wear it or you can wrap it snuggly around your shoulders.

What more photos and get all hte details? Check them out:

Regent: Magazine | Ravelry | Here
Picard: Magazine | Ravelry | Here
Flechir: Magazine | Ravelry | Here

And don't forget to check out the rest of the edition here.

I hope you've all seen the Winter 2015 Twist Collective that went live a couple weeks ago. My designs for the edition, is featured in the "I think I'll stay home" shoot which might as well be called the "Marnie's life if she were better dressed" shoot because I'm a shameless homebody who spends most of her time in her pajamas. In fact, I'm writing this post from the comfort of my big red robe and fuzzy slipper boots, right now. And, as is my wont to do, I'm sipping tea from my favorite mug that is nearly as big as my head.

See, I'm just like the shoot only, sllliiiightly less well dressed. Don't you agree?

The shawl is a modified half-circle design, featuring just enough beads to add a little weight and drape. I love beads, but I find they slow me down when I'm working so I prefer to use them sparingly. I chose a deep aubergine shade to pop against the lilac color of the shawl, though I think gray or silver would be a really nice alternative option, for a subtler effect.

While I include instructions for a standard knitted picot bind-off, the sample is shown with my suggested bind-off. It's worked with a crochet hook using very simple crochet stitches and some pre-strung beads. I love this option for lace because the bind-off basically cannot be worked too tightly to block the piece out well.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but blocking lace shawls is one of my favorite parts of the shawl-designing process. It seems like magic; turning a crumpled mass of fabric into something airy, orderly and filled with unexpected detail. Twisted stitches, beads and nupps all pop and yarnovers and decreases scallop the edges in subtle or dramatic ways. But a tight bind-off can ruin the effect and knitters often can't tell how loose the bind-off needs to be until the piece is ready to be blocked. By then, hundreds of stitches may have been bound off, the yarn has been cut and ends woven in. It can be pretty disheartening.

The crochet method joins a small number of live stitches together with loops of single-crochet chains that provide more-than adequate flexibility to block out the shawl as aggressively or lightly as desired and unlike a too-loose standard bind-off, the edge is neat and tidy no matter how lightly the shawl is blocked.

Not a crocheter but willing to give it a try? The pattern includes a tutorial but if you want more detail, I've got an article for that.

Crochet really is my first crafting love and this season, I take you through the basics of holding the hook and yarn, and working all the basic stitches. Crochet is knitting's best friend and knowing how to do both will open new finishing and embellishing options for your projects and designs. It may take a little time to get comfortable with it, but crochet is a great tool to have in your arsenal. If you've never crocheted before, I hope you'll give it a try and if you just need a refresher, I hope the article will get you back on track. I even point you to some existing Twist patterns that already feature some crochet. You won't lack for projects to put your crochet skills to work.

And lastly, I have a companion article to last season's article on Tubular Cast-Ons.

Just as a tubular cast-on gives those edges a professional finish, a tubular bind-offs produce flexible and attractive edges that elevate the quality of the work to a more professional level. Learn to work a standard tubular bind-off and how to adjust the bind-off for knit-two, purl-two edgings like ribbing and moss stitch.

I feel so fortunate to be a part of Twist Collective each season and I never cease to be impressed with the great articles and designs my fellow contributors bring to each edition. Even if you don't like my additions to the edition, I hope you'll flip through the magazine, read the articles and browse the shop.

Did you all catch the eclipse? Portland weather is often cloudy and overcast so whether or not we'll get to see an astronomical event is pretty much a crap-shoot. We didn't have any luck with the last meteor shower and it with a bit of haze near the horizon, things didn't look good for the doomsday-moon event, but once it got a little darker and the moon rose a little higher, the show was spectacular.

It's been a pretty crazy couple of months at the day job—so much so that I never got to tell you about new edition of Twist. I hope you've all seen it already, but if you haven't, I have a pattern and and article.

My pattern, Fortuna, is a half-circle shawl made up of three whole and two half repeats of a sort of free-form cable and lace pattern. Every row of the repeat is different so it's not mindless knitting, but in the DK-weight yarn, it knits up pretty quickly.

The Twist photography, as always, is stunning but I wish it were easier to capture the magic of the silk yarn I was assigned. The cables, stockinette, reverse stockinette and eyelets all reflect the light in subtly different ways and the intense sheen of silk can really play up those variances. The best example I was able to get was on my blocking board, taken at a steep angle.

This is definitely a yarn that is best appreciated in person. It was a pleasure to use. I wrote more about the shawl and offered some styling suggestions over on the Twist blog, a few weeks back. See the post here.

You can check out Fortuna in the Magazine, Shop and on Ravelry.

My article is on tubular cast-ons.

Tubular cast-ons (left) next to conventional cast-ons (right)

When used in the right places, tubular cast-ons can give garments a professional finish. Using this cast-on for cuff-down socks, and ribbed hems on sweaters, hats and other garments, produces a flexible and tidy edge. It's a great tool to have in your arsenal. Check out the whole article here.

Lastly, Helios is now available for purchase as an individual pattern download or as a printed pattern from MagCloud.

It was so great watching all the participants in the KAL, knit their piece over the past few months. A big thanks to all the members of the KAL and to Melanie at Black Trillium for her beautiful yarn and for organizing the knit-along.

Regardless of what the calendar would have you believe, it's been Spring in Oregon since February, when the first daffodils started poking their heads out of the ground, but it wasn't truly Spring for me until the new Twist Collective went live about a week ago.

If you haven't had a chance to check it out, there's plenty to love. Whenever I write these post, I think I'm going to list my favorites but them I go and look at the edition and I can never narrow it down. There are just too many beautiful pieces from so many talented designers. As a designer, being immersed in other people's fantastic work is both inspires me and pushes me to try to do better. Even after 12 years of designing, I still find myself learning new things with each project.

My contribution, this season is Zaida.

Photo copyright Fanny Jacob-Lafontaine

I would consider this one of my more ambitious designs. There are no visible cast-on or bind-off edges. Any cast-on edges are provisional and any bind-off edges are grafted. It was a lot of fun to design and I hope it'll be equally fun to knit.

I also have an article about Provisional Cast-Ons in the edition.

I demonstrate four different methods and discuss why I might choose one over another. There's also a tips and troubleshooting section to help you get the best results with your provisional cast-ons.

There are plenty of other great articles in the magazine and, of course, tons of great patterns, so I hope you'll take some time to flip through the edition and check it all out.