It's coming soon...really, I mean it!

OMG, has it been that long? The first time you heard us mention that we were going to have a knitting pattern featured in the upcoming What (Else) Would Madame DeFarge Knit? book, it was November of 2011. But it's finally coming soon. Honest. The publisher has had some setbacks on the production of this project but is now back on track. We've seen proofs of our pages and given final approval. Now, it's just a matter of a little more time.

Where you been Madame DeFarge?

Mum's the word on our pattern's theme, but we can share with you that is a baby's layette. A fancy, frilly, old-fashion sweater, bonnet, and mittens set. We can't wait to see babies around the world snug in our knitted creation.

This baby is dying to wear our layette set.

We have been encouraged by the publisher to to host a knit-a-long (KAL) and maybe teach a class on our project at a local yarn shop (LYS). Things are going to be happening, and we will keep you posted on the latest. We are so excited!

–Cassandra

P.S. - And, if you're so inclined...here is a link to the book preorder!

My Knitting

I'm not sure if ya'll have noticed, but Alex and I haven't really talked about our knitting in a while. We've shared everything from quilt blocks, recipes, and our thoughts on movies or products...but not much in the way of knitting. Although we have been doing A LOT of knitting, there is actually a good reason for the absence of conversation regarding sticks and string here.

The first rule about knitting designers club: you can't talk about your knitting.

As we've mentioned before, we have a design featured in the soon to be released What (Else) Would Madame Defarge Knit and two designs in the upcoming Defarge Does Shakespeare. Interesting designs take time so we haven't been indulging in personal knitting for quite a while. So we have been silent on the subject.

But I have been sneaking in a stitch for me here and there. Shhh. It's our little secret.

Remember a while ago I asked for some feedback on which cardigan to knit for myself? Well, between here and Facebook the result was overwhelmingly The Crocus Cardigan. I actually cast this on sometime in May and have picked it up here and there when I needed a break from designing. Sometimes a girl just wants to produce inches upon inches of stockinette. No thinking, just knitting.


I decided to knit this sweater one size smaller than required from my measurements. This notion was born out of the fact that every time I knit myself a sweater, it always seems too big once it's finished. If it works out, great. If not, my smaller daughter can have it, still great.

I am using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in a gorgeous green and brown blend called "Cilantro Heather". Not the most expensive yarn in the world...but it's a natural fiber and sure knits up nicely. I'll be curious to see how it wears. The stripes are leftover Nutmeg Madeline Tosh from my Tea Leaves Cardigan. The green and the gold are really pretty together (in a non-Packer way).

Crocus is a top down raglan. The pattern is well written and the construction is easy. This project is not complete but hopefully I will have the sleeves and the button bands done soon. Just in time for fall!

Now remember, this is our secret. :)

–Cassandra

Designing Women

While we're no Sugarbakers, Cassandra and I are, officially, knitwear designers and we're women so... well... we'll feel free to co-opt the name for the purposes of this blog post.

As you've probably heard (because we won't stop talking about it), we're being published in What (Else) Would Madame Defarge Knit?. What we haven't shared with you yet is the fact that we had TWO patterns picked to go into the next installment of Heather Ordover's series, What Would Madame Defarge Knit: Shakespeare Edition. Cassandra and I are over the moon and infinitely grateful for the opportunity to be included in such a fun project and in the company of such talented knitters.

While we can't divulge any details of our patterns, we can give you some insight into the process of designing - which can be both wonderful and frustrating at the same time.

For WWMDfK? the process goes like this: Heather puts out a call for designs; you write up a description of what you want to do, including a sketch (if you can) or photos of potential stitch patterns - anything that will help the board get a sense of what your finished object will look like; the board reviews the submissions; you find out if you got picked. Once your pattern is chosen, it's time to get down to business.

Cassandra and I sourced our yarn from Knit Picks (www.knitpicks.com) for our last WWMDfK? pattern and were so pleased with the quality of the yarn, we went back to Knit Picks this time around.For pattern #1, we wanted something that would provide an ethereal look so we tried the Aloft Kid Mohair. What an exceptional yarn this is! It's lace weight so, basically, it's like knitting with a hair but it is the softest and prettiest mohair I've ever seen. For pattern #2, we wanted something that would provide some weight but also color depth and variation. We choose Swish Tonal which is, possibly, the most gorgeous yarn I've ever seen. It knits up so beautifully, I can't even explain it. So, there's our shameless plug for Knit Picks. I had no idea they carried such exceptional yarn (and at reasonable prices) but I'm a total convert now and will continue to try their yarns going forward.

Various needle sizes and single vs double yarn

Knit Picks Swish Tonal - my new fave yarn

Next, we had to start testing our idea. At this point, nothing is written down - it's just an idea of how the finished object should look. Pattern #1 required some swatching to get the right needle size and "look" for our concept. Pattern #2 required some test knitting of various stitch patterns to decide which combination of stitches would achieve the look we were going for. I'm working on the main part of pattern #1 and Cassandra is working on the main part of pattern #2. We continuously check in with each other to ensure that the direction we're going is agreeable to both of us.

Our next step will be putting some instruction on paper and engaging a test knitter (this is happening tomorrow, actually). Then, the three of us will start frantically knitting the draft patterns and looking for mistakes which, we hope, will all be corrected by the time we turn the pattern in at the end of next month. (!) Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Truth be told, I really, really, really enjoy this process. It's a little nerve wracking but it's SO satisfying to think up an idea and have it develop into something that others can take away and use. I can't wait to be able to tell you all more about our WWMDfK? projects. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed creating them!

- Alex