Part of Your World Cowl

The first time I saw Disney's The Little Mermaid, I sat in the theater in complete awe. The second the opening credits started rolling I was hooked. The bright colors, the music, the story, the fluidity of the animation. When it came out on VHS, my childhood friend Ashley and I would walk back and forth to each other's houses to watch it. Her house had a huge TV and a seemingly endless bowl of M&Ms and she and I along with her older sister would belt out the tunes along with the tape. It remains to this day my favorite Disney film and one of my random party tricks is being able to quote the entire movie.

This film inspired me to set my path, or at least set it as much as an 8 year-old could at that part of my life. I knew I wanted to go to school for animation, I knew I wanted to attend RISD, and I knew I wanted to animate for Disney Studios. While part of that dream came true (and I still harbor dreams about working for Pixar), my path twisted and turned until I ended up exactly where I'm supposed to be. My love of animation still burns brightly, and it's a joy to watch animated features with my son.

I've been wanting to design something inspired by The Little Mermaid for quite some time. I wanted it to be elegant, colorful, and something both my 8 year-old self and my 30-something self would get grabby hands over and want to wear. I knew it needed to be squishy, soft, and put a smile on my face every time I went to wrap it around my neck, a wearable ode to one of my favorite films of all time.

Introducing the Part of Your World Cowl, a Fair Isle extravaganza (it's me, of COURSE it would be Fair Isle!) named after the famous song where Ariel sings about wanting to become human, using only 2 balls of yarn. The gentle gradient of Freia Handpaints new Ombré Fingering Shawl Ball in 100% cruelty-free merino in Aurora, a mix of greens and blues, combined with Whisper, a very subtle neutral palette, brings to mind the sea and the beach. With shells, mermaids, fish, ocean waves, starfish, and sand dollars, if this doesn't get you in the mood to either hit the beach or watch The Little Mermaid, I don't know what will!

Knitting up on US 3s for the garter edging and US 4s for the Fair Isle work, this cowl knits up large enough to engulf your neck or wear like a fitted poncho. I've been wearing it in the mornings for a few weeks and it keeps me warm and snugly while talking with the other parents about our Disney memories from way back when. I find myself digging through the pile of knits in the front closet for it every day! It's my new favorite for certain.

Another exciting announcement about this cowl is that I've teamed up with Freia Handpaints and Webs to make kits available to all!!! I'm very excited about this partnership as I've been a customer and fan of both Webs and Freia for years! The Part of Your World Cowl is available through their online store here, as well as kits for the popular Ziggy Stardust here, and Nakia here. Please remember that while you shop and knit like a crazy person for all the loved ones in your life for the holiday season, it doesn't hurt to get yourself a treat, too!

Download the Part of Your World Cowl here, or find the kit here.

Thankful & Baby Rainbow Hat

I have a lot to be thankful for... The two sweet babies I get to guide through the world, a loving husband, wonderful parents, fantastic friends, clothes on my back, food in my belly, air in my lungs, roof over my head, a fiber stash any yarn snob would love, getting to do a job that I adore and am continually inspired by, and of course you, dear readers.

As a small token of my gratitude, I'd like to present you with the Baby Rainbow Hat. A free pattern for kids, this easy Fair Isle hat is perfect for stash busting, a gradient kit, or to use as an excuse to buy yourself some nice fiber to knit with. With a brim of twisted ribbing, this hat is knit in the round from the bottom up and takes the knitter through the full spectrum! Due to the stretchy nature of the brim and small children having rather large heads, this hat will fit almost any child.

Using leftover bits from my Magically Delicious Hat design, The Lemonade Shop's Sparkle DK is the absolute perfect yarn for this kind of hat. What kid doesn't love a sparkly rainbow (or what adult, if we're being honest)? This soft and glittery superwash is one of my favorite DK weight yarns to knit with, and the fact that it's dyed by my BFF Heather makes this hat even more special. I have enough yarn leftover to make an adult version of this hat, so perhaps in the new year when things calm down a bit I'll get on that.

Knitting up on US 4 circular needles, the stranded color work repeat is small, making this hat super-duper easy to make slightly larger or slightly smaller by adding or taking away repeats. Because it's designed to have a bit of a slouch, you can get away without having to tweak the decreases unless you wish to do so. With just a handful of yards needed in each of the colors, you finally have a use for all those bits and bobs of leftover DK you've been squirreling away.

Thank you to all who read my blog, purchase and knit my patterns, read my books, watch me on Knitting Daily repeats, take my classes both in person or on Craftsy, attend retreats where I teach, ask for a photo together, email me pictures of their FOs, or just drop me a friendly note saying hello. You make this job awesome and I'm honored to knit alongside you all.

Download the free Baby Rainbow Hat here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo

Floating Embroidery

Embroidery is beautiful. I love going to museums and seeing wonderful samplers that young girls made, or spying embroidered details on the cuff of an ancient shirt or petticoat. What I appreciate even more than this gorgeous handwork is when someone comes along and turns a very old craft into something modern and unique. Check out Russian artist Krista Decor's clever and amazing embroidery! Original article found here.

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Embroidery Artist Makes Her Designs ‘Float’ In Mid-Air By Using Tulle

Embroidery is a delicate art at the best of times, needing great accuracy and patience as well as a steady hand and eye for detail.

The Russian artist known as Krista Decor takes it to the next level by choosing to stitch her intricate designs on to a delicate fabric called tulle. Tulle is a lightweight netting that is so fine it has an almost transparent look, one that makes embroidery appear like it is suspended in mid-air.

Krista’s technique of haute couture embroidery was forged during an internship at V. Yudashkin, a fashion-house in Russia, and is inspired by nature. “Most of all in work with embroidery I like floral and animalistic ornament. Simply put, this is the world of nature of flowers and animals.” She writes. “When creating the decor, I use flat and voluminous embroidery which requires such materials as woollen yarn and cotton thread, beads, pearls, natural stones, gimp, embroidery with straw and silk ribbon. When combining these materials, a new design is born.”

Krista has an active Instagram page with all her new designs, including work in progress and some videos.

Disney Knitting Retreat Recap & Cowl

I just got back from teaching at the Magical Fiber Fantasy Retreat at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort. What an adventure! This fantastic retreat and marketplace was hosted by Amy Manko of The Ross Farm and Laura from Four Purls, with knitting and weaving classes galore. I was delighted to be part of this special retreat teaching Fair Isle, Lace, Thrumming, and to meet so many knitters who came out just for the event. It truly was magical and I look forward to next year!

Back when Amy and I were throwing class ideas back and forth, I mentioned the idea of a retreat-exclusive pattern for my 6-hour Fair Isle class. I knew my class would have mostly stranded color work newbies or people who had briefly dipped their toes into the waters of multiple strands and multiple colors on their needles, so I wanted a project that was not only fun and interesting to knit for a wide audience, but something that encompassed the theme of the retreat that would give my students a souvenir of sorts and be reminded of their retreat experience when they wore it. I told her my idea and Amy sent me off to design.

Cinderella has always been one of my favorite fairy tales. I loved the story of redemption, her attitude, her incredible dress, the sparkly shoes, her mouse and bird friends (as a kid I really wished I had a slew of forest creatures to help me with my chores), and her kooky fairy godmother. Any time a new version of this tale would show up in theaters, I was there watching. Ever After from 1998 and Cinderella from 2015 are favorites.

Of course, there's also her amazing castle. When we would visit Disney World when I was a kid, some of my fondest memories were walking through the mosaics illustrating Cinderella's story through the main floor of the castle. My mom and I would go back again and again while my dad and brother went off on their own, looking at each mosaic carefully. I'm looking forward to taking my kids there someday to see those mosaics and I'm pretty sure my mom hopes that karma comes back around and they make me ride "It's a Small World" 5,285,104 times as I did with her.

After spending some time at the drawing board, I came up with the A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, a ode to Cinderella in the form of Fair Isle knitting. While knitting up her sparkling castle surrounded by fireworks, gorgeous dress, and life-altering shoes, you too can now feel like a knitting princess while wearing your cowl! I was tickled with the reception this cowl got at the retreat, and with so many people asking when they could get their hands on this pattern because my class was full, I knew I had to make it available right when I got home.

Knit on US 7 circular needles, this bottom-up cowl is worked seamlessly in the round with the Fair Isle sandwiched between corrugated ribbing. Heather over at The Lemonade Shop was awesome enough to dye my students custom colors called Haunted Mansion and Cinderella's Castle. How special is that? An addictive and magical knit, it was great to see this cowl on so many needles during the retreat. The story of Cinderella is loved by so many and while I didn't get a chance to get to any of the parks this time around, I felt like I got a little bit of her magic to come to me on my needles.

I'm thrilled to make this cowl available to all of us who need a bit of magic in our lives! Download A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes here and I hope to see you at the retreat next year!