FO: Salt Creek Hat & Loop for Black Wolf Ranch

  

In the two years since I started working on indie.knits full time, I've been lucky to connect and work with some awesome local and American-made yarn companies - and among my favorite folks to work with are Black Wolf Ranch, a brand that features luxury alpaca blends in luminous colors influenced by the Montana landscape.

Last year, I knit up a Nusa cowl sample, and later, designed the Jardiniere shawl, using their gorgeous yarns. And this past February at Madrona Fiber Arts, I was delighted to see my designs featured in their booth both as individual patterns and thoughtfully chosen kits.

While I was there, I got to catch up with Wendy and her lovely team - and when she asked if I would be available to knit up samples of my Salt Creek Hat & Loop for them, out of two different dreamy silk-blend yarns, I was like um, yes please!

 

Salt Creek Hat

This was the first design that I ever released for sale on Ravelry, so it holds a special place in my heart! I revamped the pattern in 2014, and ever since, I've been so happy to see it keep getting love. The simple cable and twisted stitch details add knitterly interest, while the garter stitch gives it a bit of textured smoosh. And the crown decreases are pretty neat, if I do say so myself!

I knit up the sample in Black Wolf Ranch Rustic Wool, a 70/30 BFL/tussah silk blend, in the colorway Tuscan Sun, which is a beautiful shade of green-scented yellow - like a ripening lemon, or a splash of fresh olive oil. The BFL adds structure and crispness to the fabric, which lets the silk content sing the lead, as the color shimmers and glows from within.

For more details, you can check out my project page here.

 

Salt Creek Loop

This pattern came a little later, when I was inspired to try the same textural details of the Salt Creek Hat in a soft, drapey alpaca yarn. I worked on the pattern on a trip to Iceland in 2012, and I have distinct memories of blocking the sample in our rental laundry room during a bout of insomnia: the cement floor and hum of the dryer, the smell of soap and sulfur lingering in the air like a strange, cozy dream.

I knit up this sample in Black Wolf Ranch Spirit Alpaca & Tussah, a 70/30 alpaca/tussah silk blend, in the colorway Cenote', a deep, complex blue-green - just like the pools of clear, cavernous blue of its namesake. In this yarn, the sinuous quality of the alpaca combines with the luster of the silk to create a fabric with amazing drape and shine - like the yarn version of silk crepe-back satin.

For more details, you can check out my project page here.

One of my favorite things about working as an independent designer is the opportunity to partner with folks who share my love of color, local and independently-produced yarns, and strong, supportive community - and by all of those counts, Black Wolf Ranch has been a total pleasure to work with. If you ever get the opportunity to stop by their booth at a fiber festival or show, I do hope you'll say hello!

In the meantime, if you're interested in their lovely yarns, you can shop online here.

(And a few of my patterns are available as kits as well, which is pretty awesome!)

Thanks again to Wendy, Amanda, and the rest of the Black Wolf Ranch team for their support, and for letting me play with their pretty, pretty yarns!

And thank you for reading, friends. Happy Thursday!

<3

Cory

Pattern Release: Chiral

  

Happy news today, friends - the Chiral cowl is now available for download in my Ravelry store!

The idea for the design started as an experiment in symmetry, and turned into a bright, kicky piece of 3-D smooshiness when I knitted it up in Spincycle Yarns Knit Fast, Die Young, in the colorway Gold Digger. (Just in case I haven't mentioned it enough times, the badass ladies over at Spincycle have my color number on speed-dial!)

So whether you have 100 yards of super-bulky chilling in your stash, or you've been eyeing that Spincycle-y goodness, this pattern is a quick, fun way to play with color and shape.

Chiral is available for download for $4.00, or you can check out the details on Ravelry on the Chiral pattern page.

Big thanks to my test knitter Sara, who helped tweak the wording to make it a better pattern and took her Chiral on a fun field trip to Port Ludlow! I love it when my patterns are well-traveled. :D

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Cory

Nusalong: FO & WIP Drawing Winners!

First Prize FO
katriddell on Ravelry

Two skeins of Three Fates Yarns aquae singles in her choice of colors - Arthur and Guinevere - and a Three Fates project bag.

Print & digital copies of my Pip hat, Lelia Mitts, and Salt Creek Loop patterns!

Second Prize FO
zanneq on Ravelry

Digital copies of my Pip hat, Lelia Mitts, and Salt Creek Loop patterns!

Runner-Up WIP

ccb on Ravelry

A digital copy of a pattern of her choice in my Ravelry shop.

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I'll be in touch with all of the winners soon! Thank you guys again so much for participating - I had a great time seeing all of your beautiful color combinations and project photos, and it's been a really fun interlude from my usual work knitting!

Have a great week, friends!

<3

Cory

Nusalong: It's An FO!

  

Friends, I think I've gone full-on mermaid. I can't get enough neon. All I want to is wear flowy things. I have this strange desire to comb my hair with a fork and wear a seashell as a hat. (Or is it a top? I can never remember.)

But I guess it's good timing that the Nusalong is ending this evening at 11:59 pm (remember to post to the Ravelry FO thread if you haven't already!!), because now I can quit my human job and apply to become a mermaid full-time! And how could that possibly go wrong?

...y'know, besides for every reason.

Oh well. I will content myself with wearing mermaidy things and smooshing my face in my new Nusa cowl, which is well and properly mermaid-tastic.

Thanks again to Stephania at Three Fates for sharing her gorgeous yarns with us, and to you all for participating! I'll be choosing winners of all three prizes and posting their names next Tuesday, May 17th. Stay tuned!

(Details of my Nusa are on Ravelry here.)

Happy (late) Friday, friends!

<3

c.

FO: Black Wolf Ranch Nusa

  

At this year's Madrona Fiber Arts festival, I chatted with Wendy of Black Wolf Ranch & Fiber for a few minutes while going for a spin around the market and admiring her lovely yarns. I had seen their booth at a few shows before, and was intrigued by the new dyed colors on their alpaca, alpaca/silk, and polwarth/silk bases, which take dye in the most jewel-like manner.

Fast forward a few months, when Wendy got in touch and asked if I could knit up a sample of Nusa using Black Wolf Ranch yarns. (Playing with pretty yarn and getting more indie.knits into the wild? Why yes, that sounds delightful!)

So after chatting about a few different color combinations, we settled on two colors of 100% alpaca Distinctly Alpaca Sport in Tuscan Sun and City Scape, a luminous acid green and a cozy medium gray. I cast on about a month ago and knit up the sample in a couple of weeks, and loved every second of it.

The alpaca gave such a wonderfully textural knitting experience, and the finished cowl such dramatic softness and drape, that I was a little sad to see this one get wrapped up and shipped off to its new home! But I'm so glad for the opportunity to knit with this gorgeous yarn, and honored that my work will be featured alongside Black Wolf Ranch's beautiful and thoughtfully produced yarns.

All the details are on Ravelry here.

Happy Monday!

<3

Cory

Nusalong: Home Stretch!

  

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Mer-maid Nu-sa!

(As you can see, I have fallen for the silly pineapple trend as well as the neon colors trend. Why not whack 'em together into one?)

I'm on the home stretch of my Nusalong project, which is to say that I am about to work the turning round. That's really far, right? It's not bad policy to be super late on your own KAL, right? (Sure, self, suuuuuure!)

But really. I am totally planning to bang out the last stripey section in time for the finishing deadline, which is this Friday, May 6th, at 11:59 pm! All you have to have done by the date is the knitting - sewing and blocking can happen in the week after.

And once you're all finished and ready to share photos, we're going to have some cool prizes from me and Three Fates Yarns - all you have to do is post a photo of your FO in the Ravelry FO thread, with your favorite combination of Three Fates aquae fingering colorways, and you'll be entered to win! (FYI, this thread is new and different than the original Nusalong thread.)

The deadline for posting in the thread is Friday, May 13th, at 11:59 pm.

What if you didn't quite finish? That's okay! Post your WIP in the same thread, and you'll be entered to win other cool prizes. More details to come!

Happy Wednesday, friends, and hope your Nusas are Nusaing right along!
<3
Cory

Nusalong: Cast On!

 

I'm taking a breather from work this week, and I'm using the opportunity to cast on my Nusalong project. (You can check out my project page here.)  The stitch count is pretty long on this pattern, so I'm watching dumb home improvement shows in the background while I cast on.

As a side note about the long cast-on - 300+ stitches can feel pretty daunting, and though it is time-consuming, it's actually pretty easy if you can catch a quiet moment to get it done. I usually cast on a kabillion stitches, then count and place stitch markers every 100 stitches after the fact. I count each section of 100 two or three times, which ensures that I have the right number. Then I pop extra stitches off the needle or add more as needed, counting the last section again after each adjustment. You can also divide into sections of 50 if that's easier - whatever works for you!

Then, on the first round after the cast-on, I place my beginning-of-round marker and remove the other markers as I work. Easy peasy.

Remember, tonight at 11:59 pm is the deadline to post on the Ravelry thread or on Instagram with #nusakal to enter to win a copy of the Cairn hat pattern! Don't worry if you need to cast on or join later, though - you're welcome any time.

Happy Monday, friends, and happy Nusalong!

<3

Cory

Nusalong: Sooooooon

 

Oh hey, guess what's coming up super soon? The Nusalong, friends! We start next Monday the 22nd - are you ready? I'm so excited to see your yarn and color choices!

Stephania brought me my yarn while I was working at Madrona last week, and um, it's awesome. I was inspired by my friend Noriko's color choices in her Paulette shawl design, and chose Mermaid and Manic Panic colorways on aquae singles. As my current sartorial life goal is to dress like a glittery undersea creature, I am deeply excited to have a cowl that looks like I stole it from a frolicking dolphin in a Lisa Frank illustration.

Thanks to all the folks who have already posted to the Ravelry thread - remember, post on the Ravelry thread, or to Instagram with #nusakal - or both! - to enter to win a digital download of my Cairn hat pattern.

The discount for yarn from Three Fates has now ended, but you can still get the pattern in my Ravelry shop for 15% off - valid until March 21st - using the code NUSALONG.

Either way, it's not too late to join - treat yourself to some Three Fates, use yarn from your stash, use handspun, steal hair from a unicorn's hairbrush, whatevah! We start next Monday the 22nd, although you can join any time from now until the moment that it ends on May 6th. I'll post again on Monday to kick it all off.

Happy Friday, friends!

<3

Cory

Pattern Release: Nusa

Seven years ago this month, I spent three weeks on an island off the coast of Bali, a place called Nusa Penida. In my time there, I helped chop a jackfruit; rode on the back of a motor bike down to the market to buy oil and shallots; ate stale sweet crackers on the front porch with an older woman who taught me to spin thread from slivers of cotton and giggled when I made mistakes, which was often. I listened to Junior Wells on a dying iPod and took naps on the couch while the rain rolled over the hills to the sea.

It remains one of the most beautiful and formative experiences of my life, one whose meaning I can barely touch with words. But what has stayed with me are the memories of heat and taste and color: the glint of the big silver diving platform in the harbor; the air so thick with moisture you could feel its weight on your skin like a cat; greens heavy with spices that made my whole chest ache with heat for hours afterward.

In the shorthand of my memory, Nusa Penida is turquoise and red and gold, a continue loop of land and water meeting - and so it seems fitting that my woolen Nusa should be composed of the same stuff. I hope it brings you a bit of sunlight too.

The pattern is available for download for $6.00, or you can check out the details on Ravelry on the Nusa pattern page.

Huge thanks to my test knitters, whose thoughtful feedback and gorgeous projects make my job a million times prettier and more fun. <3

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Cory

Three Fates Design Challenge Part IV: Testing, Testing!

  

At long last, the Nusa cowl is ready for testing! As you may have noticed, in the end I decided that the reversible feature of the cowl was too cool (and too functional) not to do - it creates a fabric that is substantial but not bulky, and makes both sides tidy and beautiful. Plus, there's two different stripe combinations, so you can choose your own adventure when getting dressed in the morning! There's a bit of sewing involved, but it's all outlined in the pattern.

Interested in test knitting? I'd love to have ya! I used one skein each of Three Fates Yarns aquae fingering in colorways Mt St Helens and Netarts, or you can substitute another fingering weight - about 420 yards of the Main Color and 220 yards of the Contrast Color.

Feel free to drop me a line at cory at indieknits dot com if you're interested in test knitting.

Ariel's pattern is also ready for testing, and you can take a look at her post over here.

Happy Friday, friends!
<3
c.

Sneak Peek: Nusa

  

Woohoo, the Nusa cowl sample is finished! Now, it just needs some photography and pattern editing before it's ready for test knitters. And of course, I'm already thinking about knitting a second one. I have a funny habit of knitting all of my designs at least twice - usually I'm so harebrained during the first sample that it's nice to slow down and make it as a knitter, not as a designer, for the second. I already have some yarn wound up for it and everything. With a big, deadlined sample on the needles right now, I'll probably be daydreaming about it all weekend.

Happy Friday, friends!
Cory

FO: Chiral

  

I already talked a bit about this project, but with all of our duck-wrangling from the past few weeks, I didn't have time to get it photographed!

What started as an experiment in lace turned into a functional, interesting piece of knitting - my favorite kind. The natural bias of the fabric folds down into a big, squishy shawl collar in the back, with a deep, curved shape in the front. It's a clever little thing, despite its simplicity. I'll be working up a pattern for it soon.

More details on Ravelry here.

In other news, both Monsieurs Squishy and Pooper are doing just fine, but have advanced into Rattie Old Age, which means lots of antibiotics and frequent vet check-ups. They're both back to their cranky, exuberant selves, but it's been an interesting few weeks.

Also, pro-tip: if a rat refuses to take her medicine, try putting Hershey's syrup on it. Yes, even if the meds taste like chicken. No, I don't understand it either.

Happy Friday!

<3

Cory

FO: Arctic Circle

  

Long before I started working at The Fiber Gallery, I was a pretty regular customer - it was my main source for cool books and patterns, with the occasional yarn dalliance thrown in. One of those dalliances was this stunning green Fibre Company Tundra, with the accompanying pattern for the Arctic Circle cowl. The shop has a beautiful mint green sample, and I fell hard for the subtly textured design and the rich, buttery softness of the yarn.

It sat neglected in my stash until a little over a week ago, when I was itching to knit something fast. I cast on, and knit it in less than two days. It took longer for it to dry after blocking than it did to make! The color and shape is exactly what I wanted: the perfect jewel-green to wear as an accent piece, the fabric cozy and warm against the neck. This would make a great quick gift knit, and I expect I'll be making more of them in the future.

Details on Ravelry here.

Happy Monday!
<3
Cory