Despite the fact that I had designed with post stitches before, after taking a class about them, I came away with a deeper understanding of the depth of texture that can be achieved by working combinations of front and back post stitches throughout the piece. I started swatching as soon as the class was over, excited about the possibilities.

The one-skein version of Flor is a perfect accessory so the young lady in your life can dress up her wardrobe. The two-skein version boasts an asymmetrical shape and drapes beautifully, especially in the silky bamboo blend from SpaceCadet Creations. Even in bamboo, the flowers pop from the surface in this great accessory piece, which can show o...

The silvery sheen of the Leicester Longwool said “shawl” to me from the moment I saw it. The spin on the yarn doesn’t look like it would work well for cables, but a good wet blocking is all it takes to pop the cable panel and open up the columns of eyelets.

There is something special about working with a rare breed yarn like Leicester Longwool. It can be tricky to use such a rustic yarn, but my swatching led me to the resulting cables that pop in a lovely way. If you are not one to wear rustic wool on your wrists, there are many other DK weight yarns that would work well in this pattern. The blue ...

This hat is a simple beanie with an interesting stranded design from just above the brim all the way through the crown decreases. It took several attempts to get these motifs to flow into each other well, and in order to accommodate the six sizes the hat is offered in, there are three different stranded knitting charts.

My sister-in-law requested a hat because she is always cold, but as a stylist she can’t afford to wear a warm hat that messes up her “do”, especially at work. The hat is designed with extra ease and slouch, so as not to crush her perfectly coiffed curls, but the double-layer slip stitch pattern provides extra warmth.

There is something special about working with a rare breed yarn like Leicester Longwool. When I saw the laceweight that Ross Farm had in their booth, I could not resist it. The resulting fabric is even nicer that I expected and is surprisingly soft given how rustic it looks. But if you are not one to wear rustic wool on your wrists, I’m hard pr...

In a sideways lace design class with Sivia Harding, I was inspired to put this design together. I am forevermore convinced that Japanese stitch dictionaries are awesome. Once I fell in love with the lace panel at the top of the shawl, I looked for an edge to go with it that repeated the columns of faggoting. I included a panel of stockinette in...

The inspiration for this cowl came while browsing a stitch dictionary. I knew that I wanted to use a pattern with post stitches to explore the depth that I could achieve with the rustic Ross Farm yarn, so I assumed that I should be looking at cabled patterns. But then I happened upon a few pages of stitch patterns that used whole rows of post s...

More than just a basic entrelac scarf, this design uses broken ribbing to accentuate the directionality of the entrelac shapes, and creates a fabric that looks great on both sides. The pattern includes the option for a simple but attractive lace motif in the central diamond, which can be omitted for a gender-neutral result. Worked from end to e...

Note: The lace on this stole is charted only and the lace instructions are not written out.

This stole pattern explores the construction of the oval shape with straight edges and half circles on each end. Color and texture changes occur at the same time as the increase rounds. There are also two short row sections on one side to show off the variegated yarn and to add depth to the oval.

There is nothing like working with a rustic yarn such as the Ross Farm longwools. It’s less forgiving than a springy commercial yarn, but I find the character of a yarn with such halo to create a great look that can’t be achieved any other way. In order to get a nice, slouchy look it will take a nice strong blocking to relax the yarn. But if yo...

This pattern is a great way to use that special skein of handspun or luxury yarn in a project that you can show off whenever there is a chill in the air.

Gauge:

This hat was designed to be an ideal first stranded knitting project. It is meant to cover all of the basic skills that ones needs to do stranded knitting on a small, rewarding project that slowly builds in difficulty. Pattern includes a page of notes for successful stranded knitting.

Each time I open a stitch dictionary, I see a new stitch pattern that I want to try. There are so many possible textures that can be created with crochet – the combinations are endless. This blanket was inspired by a series of swatches worked in the summer of 2011, a summer which seemed to also include a parade of new babies in my circle of fam...