Here are some pictures of the lovely NeverNotKnitting line of "100 row knitting counters" available through PrettyKnittyJewelry. Counters are available here.

Pam has designed the counters after 3 of my children's sweaters.

Spring Garden Tee, Watermelon, and Playful Stripes.

I review these row counters and explain how they work in Episode 22 of the podcast.
Give it a listen!

Episode 22

Shownotes:

Pretty Knitty Jewelry

Spud and Chloe Sweater Yarn

Chevron Scarf Pattern

?Green Chipmunk?

Ugly Murdered Scarf

Koigu

Rose Red

Sublime Angora Merino

Ribbit

Chloe

Watermelon Hat

Pretty Knitty Jewelry Blog

PK Jewelry on Ravelry

Nic on Ravelry

Nic's Blog

Joseph Knitting

NeverNotKnitting Ravelry Group

The winner of episode 21's drawing is Amanda! Congratulations!

*Dont forget to enter this episode's drawing!

All listeners will receive free shipping on all purchases made in the prettyknittyjewelry etsy shop until October 1! Just remember to mention NeverNotKnitting in the checkout process!

Click HERE to download the MP3

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you will undoubtedly know that I love knitted toys.
So when I came across this adorable little frog pattern, I knew what had to be done about it. I just couldn't resist this little frog's cute round tummy and happy little face. He needed to become part of my daughters knitted toy family.

And are we ever happy that he did!

Ribbit has been accompanying my daughter everywhere! He has been a playmate through the day and a friend to cuddle with at bedtime. She is thoroughly pleased.

But it wasn't only the cuteness that drew me to this pattern. I also think it is just soo clever that his tummy is stuffed with a tennis ball which makes him hop around like a real frog when he's tossed about. What a cute idea! Also he took only a tiny amount of yarn. I already had leftovers of Spud and Chloe Sweater yarn in the color Grass from my Chloe pattern. (yarn found here) So it worked out perfectly! Even after knitting up this little frog, I still have leftovers to make this cute little hat in the future!

I love it when I can use up scraps!

OK, so I still have a little bit of a lingering hat phobia, but this Rose Red hat pattern was just too pretty to pass up.

I loved every single thing about this project. The pattern was so fun to knit up, I never wanted to put it down. Potentially, I could knit nothing but Rose Red for the rest of my knitting life and be happy. Really truly happy! Well.. maybe I'd get bored eventually, but.. yes.. I could knit it over and over again.

It is just so fun to see a pattern form right in front of your eyes with every stitch. It's for this reason that stranded knitting is so addictive as well.

It's a source of instant gratification in a more time consuming project.

The yarn that I used was Sublime Angora Merino which is a lovely blend that is fuzzy but not too fuzzy. Since I knit my Lush and Lacy Cardigan a year ago now, I've really loved the look of lace work in angora yarn. The trick is to find an angora blend. Something that still has a reasonable amount of stitch definition. My Rose Red took a little over one ball. So of course I'm left with yet another partial skein. Oh joy.

I love the finished result. It's so feminine, so pretty, so soft. It will be great for Fall and Winter!

Now..all I need to do is get used to wearing a hat in public without feeling ridiculous..

It's for the best.

This kit has lovingly been put together by Dancing Ewe Yarns and contains all the materials you will need to create your very own "Sheepish" sweater. It includes all the yarn, the pattern, and the unique 'handmade in South Africa' sheep buttons that make this sweater extra cute!

I think that this kit would make a perfect baby shower gift for an expectant knitter or a soon-to-be grandma! Especially if they haven't yet found out the gender of the baby, since this sweater could be worn by a boy or a girl.

The sheep themselves take only a tiny bit of the angora blend yarn and the darker trim takes only a partial skein as well. The "Sheepish" kit includes exact yardage amounts making the kits more cost effective. Also you won't be left with those pesky partial skeins of yarn left over!

The kits are available here.

If you are interested in purchasing the button pack only, please call Dancing Ewe Yarns at

(509) 962-5648

They will be happy to send them out to you!

Episode 21

Shownotes:

Dancing Ewe Yarns

Very Cherry

Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Skinny Dyed Cotton

Sheepish

Sublime Organic Merino Dk

Cascade Cloud 9

Chloe

Petite Purls

Brandy Fortune

Allegra Wermuth

Haltermelon

Rose Red

Spud and Chloe

Sweater

Spud and Chloe "Sweater" Pattern Collection

Ribbit

Watermelon Hat

Wren Ross

NeverNotKnitting Ravelry Group

Dont forget to enter this episode's drawing!

Dancing Ewe Yarns

is offering 10% off of all Spud and Chloe Sweater yarn for the month of August.

This offer is exclusive to the NeverNotKnitting podcast listeners and blog readers.

In order to receive your discount, click on the

Dancing Ewe link

and in the checkout process enter in the special

N

ever

N

ot

K

nitting listeners code

" NNK1 "

Click HERE to download the MP3

The Sheepish pattern is now available for purchase!

A sheep inspired sweater out of this really soft Organic Merino is something that just made sense to me. The yarn.. the buttons.. the concept just went together so perfectly and the finished result is exactly what I had in mind!

Sheepish is worked in one piece from the bottom up. The pockets are knitted into the sweater and secured with stitching on the wrong side of the fabric. The little sheep motifs offer a great introduction to intarsia work.

I think that this design is very versatile. Unlike my other designs, its not specific to a little girl's wardrobe. Sheepish can be worn by a boy as well!

My daughter was very excited about this sweater design in particular. I think it was the pockets that really won her over. She was so very pleased to wear it, and there is nothing more rewarding than that for a mother and knitter.

I'm sure the little one in your life would be happy to have their own sheep sweater as well!

Here is the pattern information for those of you who are interested in knitting this:


SIZE
6 months [12mos, 2 years] (shown in size 2)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Chest: 20 [23, 25] inches

Length: approx 10.5 [13, 15] inches after blocking

MATERIALS
[MC] Sublime Organic Merino Wool dk [100% Organic Merino Wool; 113 yd/105m per 50g skein; color: #113; 4 [5, 5] skeins. Or 420 [460, 500] yards of dk weight wool or wool blend.
[CC1] Cascade Yarns Lana D’Oro [50% Super Fine Alpaca, 50% Wool; 110 yd/101m per 50g skein; color: #1049; 1[1, 1] skein. Or 55 [55, 60] yards of light worsted weight alpaca or alpaca blend.

[CC2] Cascade Yarns “Cloud 9” [50% Merino Wool, 50% Angora; 109 yd/100m per 50g skein; color: #101; 1[1, 1] skein. Or 20 yards of light worsted weight angora or angora blend.

2# 32-inch US #6/4mm circular needles
1# 24-inch US #5/3.75mm circular needle
1 set of US #5/3.75mm double pointed needles

4 pieces of scrap yarn to hold underarm stitches
Stitch holders
Stitch markers
(4 st markers in a contrasting color to mark intarsia sections)
Bobbins wound with CC and CC2 for intarsia work

5 medium to large buttons and matching sewing thread
Tapestry needle

GAUGE
22 sts/32 rows = 4" in Stockinette stitch on size 6 needles

So of course I had to take my daughter to a local farm to feed some "real sheep" while wearing her new sheep sweater.

Of course! :)

I think the sheep liked it.

Lately... variegated yarns have not treated me kindly.

First there was the "Featherweight Cardigan Fiasco".

The variegated lace weight I chose for that project knitted up to be so ugly that a picture couldn't even be posted of it.

But I had high hopes for this yarn. Lovely, lovely Koigu.

And yes, one is variegated! But I wasn't worried. I had this all planned out.

I bought these two skeins to make my very own

Chevron Scarf. I mean...with two luscious colors of Koigu, how could anything go wrong?

Well my two Koigu beauties morphed into the ugliest scarf ever.

Ever.

I tried to like it. Really I did.

Hmm...Maybe If I turn it around....

Aahh.. it's really quite revolting isn't it?

I think I'll stick with solid colors for awhile.

I know that this doesn't look like much of anything yet, but this is my newest cast on.

Rose Red by Ysolda.

I've been wanting to knit this up for such a long time now, and I am certain that this one will turn out to be quite lovely.

My new stripey design is now finished and available for purchase!

This is a super easy fun pattern that goes remarkably fast on the needles.

It only took me a few days to complete!

I highly recommend trying out the new Spud and Chloe yarn, but this sweater would also be a great pattern to use up partial skeins of worsted weight yarn that you might have lying around.

Like all of my previous patterns, this sweater is worked in one piece with no seaming and very minimal finishing work.

I am offering this pattern in an extended size range, from 3 months all the way up to

girls size 10!

I really enjoyed knitting it and I know that you will too!

Here is some pattern information for you:

SIZE

3 months [6 mos, 12 mos, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10] (shown in size 2)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Chest: approx 18 [20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30] inches (2 inches of positive ease)

Length: approx 7 [8, 8.5, 9.5, 10.5, 11.5, 13.5, 15] inches from top of shoulder to cast off edge after blocking

MATERIALS

Spud and Chloe Sweater [55% Wool, 45% Organic Cotton; 160 yd/146m per 100g skein]

Color A: Popsicle #7501; 1 skein or approx 40[ 50, 55, 60, 75, 85, 105, 125] yds

Color B: Grass #7502; 1 skein or approx 40[ 50, 55, 60, 75, 85, 105, 125] yds

Color C: Watermelon #7512; 1 [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2] skeins or approx 75 [90, 100, 105, 135, 160, 195, 225] yds

1 #16” US #8/5mm circular needle for smaller sizes

1 #24” US #8/5mm circular needle for larger sizes

Size “I” crochet hook

2 pieces of scrap yarn to serve as stitch holders

Tapestry needle

Stitch markers

2 small or medium size buttons

Sewing needle and matching thread

GAUGE

18 sts/24 rows = 4" in Stockinette stitch on size 8 needles

It's amazing how easy-going children are when there are lollipops involved!

(Note: This pattern has been revised as of 7-18-10. The pattern now has a beautiful new 4 page layout that Im sure you will enjoy! A few numbers have been tweaked. The sizing has been adjusted, but the chest measurements remain the same. Thank you!)

The sheep sweater is still being edited.

So while waiting for it, I whipped up this cute stripey thing.

It is knit from the new Spud and Chloe Sweater yarn, which is awesome by the way. It's this great machine washable yarn that is 55% superwash wool and 45% organic cotton. I don't think I've run into a blend like this before! It feels great and most importantly it is really strong and sturdy. This paired with the fact that it can be machine washed and dried makes it so ideal for children's wear. Also it comes in the most fabulous fun colors. There was no way that I could pick just one. Solution? Stripes!

So thus this little stripey bolero was born. It's a super quick, top down knit on size 8 needles. It seriously took me like 3 seconds to make. OK.. so I'm exaggerating... It took me 7 seconds.

It's not done yet, I still need to wash, block, sew in yarn ends and buttons. But there will be a pattern coming out shortly.

I plan on offering this design in a larger size range. (Up to girl's size 12)

Recently I have found myself obsessed with a new yarn. Sublime Organic Merino.

It's as light as a feather and it might just be the softest wool that I have ever come in contact with.

Like "softer-than-Malabrigo" soft.

Everything about this little strand oozes naturalness to me. The lightly spun single ply construction gives it a handspun feel and I love this subtle natural shade.




Pondering over this yarns organic qualities led towards another new knitting related obsession for me.



Sheep!

Its only fitting that a child's sheep sweater be made from a super soft merino sheep!

And plus I found the cutest sheep buttons ever while visiting Portland.

Its a perfect match.

Pattern coming soon!

I

I am happy to share with you my newest pattern.

Very Cherry

(What is it with me and fruit-themed children's knits?)

While I was knitting this one up I was so worried that it wouldn't turn out right. But now that its finished, I love it! It is exactly what I was envisioning...

...A perfect, practical summer dress with just enough details added to make it acceptable for a dressier occasion.

Also I love this bright cherry red color!

It's so sweet and cheery, not the typical pastel you would normally find for a child's summer dress.

As you know, I'm also obsessed with this lace edging.

The picot edge plays up this lace pattern so beautifully. They just go together.

The picot cast on and bind off are quite time consuming, but so worth it!

You can find an instructional video for the picot cast on here and a video for the bind off here.

I love how the picot bind off around the neckline kind of sticks out and looks like little red cherries framing the face.

I also think that this dress is quite versatile and could still be worn even in the cooler months. Well... in California anyways :)

The color would definitely lend itself to a fall/winter wardrobe and the dress could be worn over a long sleeved top and tights for added warmth.

Here is some pattern information for those of you who are interested in knitting it:

SIZE
3 months [6mos, 9mos, 12mos, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] (shown in size 2)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Chest: 17 [18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25] inches (0 inches of positive ease)

Length: approx 14 [16.5, 18, 21.5, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27] inches after blocking

GAUGE
24 sts/30 rows = 4" in Stockinette stitch on size 6 needle

MATERIALS
Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Organic Cotton [100% Organically Grown Cotton; 150 yd/137m per 65g skein; color: #309 Cherry; 3 [ 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5] skeins or approx 440 [470, 500, 520, 540, 570, 600, 620, 650] yds of dk weight cotton or cotton blend yarn.

(Separate one skein of yarn into 2 balls)

1# 16” US #6/4mm circular needle for smaller sizes
1# 24” US #6/4mm circular needle
1# 32” US #6/4mm circular needle for larger sizes
1# spare set of US #6/4mm straight needles for 3 needle bind off
1# 16” US #5/3.75mm circular needle for neck edging
(You may need to use US #5/3.75mm double pointed needles for smaller sizes).
Stitch holders
Tapestry needle
Stitch markers

The yarn that I chose for this design was Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Cotton. I fell in love with the worsted weight version when I knit up my Something Red Sweater so I was so excited to try the skinnier DK version. Unfortunately I found that the DK weight isn't like the worsted

at all.

This yarn is constructed with several tiny plies spun together. And with any cotton yarn that is constructed in this manner, splitting is inevitable. So I found it a bit finicky to knit with, especially the detailed picot edging. Several times I had to correct split stitches. (That's why I enjoyed working with the worsted weight so much! It was just a lofty soft 2 ply. So easy to work with!) Yarn constructed this way though does have its advantages, the stitch definition is better and crisper, showing off the lace pattern beautifully!

Also... I fell in love with how this rich saturated red color barely bled in the washing process! And once knitted, the fabric draped so beautifully and it softened up so nicely once washed and blocked. And its organic cotton! Which is always nice to have against a little ones skin.

Like all of the NeverNotKnitting patterns, the construction is simple. This dress is worked from the bottom up in one piece. The finishing work is very minimal.

I hope that you enjoy knitting it and that your little one enjoys wearing it as much as mine does.

If you own a yarn shop and are interested in carrying this or any other of my designs in your store, please contact me for wholesale pricing information: nevernotknitting@gmail.com.

The Very Cherry dress is all done!

Tomorrow I'm going to work on the photography. Let's hope my little one is feeling cooperative.

After that I'll just be waiting on the Tech Editor. So I hope to have the pattern available on the blog soon!

I'm very happy with it. It fits my daughter perfectly which is something that I always worry about.

I am loving the lace and picot edging. It definitely makes the dress.
There is a fair bit of stockinette in this knit, but it is broken up by decrease rounds so it isn't completely mind numbing.

Plus a little stockinette never hurt anyone. It's great for TV knitting!

I loved my Watermelon cardigan design so much that I had to create a summer version.

Introducing Haltermelon!

The halter is created in the same styling as the sweater, same yarn, same detailing. I wanted to keep the two patterns similar so that they could be worn together.



This pattern, just like the cardigan is knit up in one piece with no seams.



I'm very excited to share with you that this is my very first published pattern.

You will find it in the premiere issue of Petite Purls online knitting magazine.
I'm very excited about this magazine not just because they accepted my pattern but because its a magazine devoted to just children's designs! Which I love to knit! The patterns in the first issue are so cute! I desperately want to cast on for a Jacques Crusteau for my daughter straight away!

I hope you enjoy the issue!

Cherries have nothing to do with a knitting blog....

...But everything to do with my next children's design.

Introducing "Very Cherry", a beautiful cherry-red summer dress. Pattern coming soon!

Here is a picture of the delicate lacy edging.

More progress pictures to come! :)

Shownotes:

Dancing Ewe Yarns

Knit and Crochet Show

Myra Wood

Crochet Provisional

Cast On

and

Bind Off

Melissa Leapman

Janet Szabo

Twists and Turns

Knit Purl

Koigu

Chevron Scarf

Abundant Yarns

Larissa Brown

Knitalong

Twisted

Sublime Angora Merino

Rose Red Beret

Dublin Bay

Yarn Garden

My Something Red Sweater

The Chicken Family

Spring Chick Pattern

Featherweight Cardigan

Martha on Ravelry

Martha's Blog

The Black Vest

Please join the

NeverNotKnitting Ravelry Group

!

Follow me

here

on Twitter!

The winner of the signed copy of "Ethnic Knitting Exploration" is

Victoria

! Congratulations!!!!

Announcement:

Dancing Ewe Yarns

has extended the special discount offer for the Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton for the month of June as well. This is the yarn I used for my Chicken Family as well as the Something Red sweater! I love this yarn!

You will recieve 20% on the entire selection of Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton

and free shipping for all orders that include this yarn.

This offer is exclusive to the NeverNotKnitting podcast listeners and blog readers for the month of June.

In order to receive your discount, click on the

Dancing Ewe link

and in the checkout process enter in the special code " NNK1 "

Click HERE to download the MP3

Great news! "Mama Chicken" has a found a rather plump, polka dotted "Daddy Chicken" to share her life with! They met and fell in love while spending some time together in the knitting bag. Before I knew it 2 little babies flew off the needles.

Finally the chicken family is complete!

I was really attempting to differentiate between the hen and the rooster with this pattern. As I mentioned before, the Mama Chicken has eyelashes and no tail feathers. The Daddy Chicken has the white tail feathers and I knit one extra in orange and sewed in to the top of his head to make his comb more prominent and rooster-ish. And of course I knit the small size for the Mom and the medium size for the Dad. I think it works.

I think they make a fine couple.

I used the Spring Chick pattern to make the baby chicks. Now this was a fun pattern! So fast! It was great. It took like an hour to make both of the babies. Also I felt good using up some of the yellow I had. I had only taken a little bit from the skein to make the chicken beaks and had nearly an entire ball left over!!! So it was nice being able to use some of that up. I had planned on making more babies but then got kind of sick of chicken knitting. I'm really feeling excited about my next knitting project so I was eager to just be done with these.

But who knows? Maybe they will expand their family in the future?

I shot these photos at one of my favorite locations. Avila Valley Barn. Its a little farm you can visit to buy fresh produce, feed farm animals and eat corn on the cob. I put the Watermelon sweater on my daughter because I felt that it was quite festive for the occasion.

It also was a great place to photograph the new chicken family. All that hay and stuff. But we unfortunately went on Memorial Day and it was packed! So many people. So you can imagine how insane I looked taking pictures of knitted chickens in front of tons of onlookers.

It was kind of normal feeling when my daughter was there, but she soon tired of the chicken pictures idea and left to go get a snack with my husband. So there I was, now alone. Just me and the chickens. I seriously looked like such the "crazy chicken lady" rearranging and posing my little chicken friends for all to see.

So weird.

Oh the things I endure for the sake of this knitting blog... :)

Well. Here is it. My new favorite. I love the style. I love the color. And I love that I finally chose the right size for a sweater project.

The 34 fits perfect. Not too loose and not to tight. Just fitted the appropriate amount. Love that.

Just like any sweater project though there is one thing I wish I would have done differently. Well two things if I'm being completely honest.

The pattern for this sweater is a little off in the raglan shaping department. It says for the size 34 to keep working the raglan until it measures 10.5 inches. Ok. That is a deep armhole. Really deep. It makes me wonder what kind of arms the designer has.

So fortunately I realized the huge armhole situation in time and only knit mine to about 8.5 inches before I divided for the sleeves. So that was a good choice on my part, I mean I shudder to think of how bat-wing-esque it would have looked without this adjustment, but frankly I didn't adjust enough. There still is a bit of puckering around the armhole area and the sleeves are a tad too big around for me. This sweater is supposed to have a nice fitted sleeve. So if I were to knit it again, I would stop at 8 inches definitely!!

OK, another thing. I could have made it a smidgen longer. But that's not as big of a deal.



The good news is, with making these pattern adjustments, I saved yarn and have an entire skein plus some left over. So that's always nice.

This is such a versatile piece. I know I will get a lot of use out of it! The yarn is spectacular as well. Blue Sky Organic Dyed Cotton. So soft and squishy. I feel the need to make a sweater out of every color.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Knit and Crochet
Show in Portland, Oregon with my wonderful friend Audrey.

I couldn't have had a more fabulous time! I took a bunch of great classes by talented designers and learned so many things.

The traveling part was interesting. I never travel. Hardly ever. Truth be told, I haven't been on a plane in nearly a decade! And I have NEVER EVER traveled by myself! It wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be.

So I'm super glad that I went and that I didn't die.

I'm also super glad that I had so much time to work on my "Something Red" sweater!
I'm almost done!

I only have to finish this sleeve and do the button band!

AND I also happened to find the most perfect button at the show!

What are the chances of me finding "THE button" right when I needed it?

That never happens!