Knitting In Nature

019It rained again, and the moss is glowing !

We’ve continued our walks nearly everyday this Autumn.

020

Out in the freshly rained-on moss, and romping around and smelling things.

( Emma tends to like to stick her whole head into tree caves…)

023The really remarkable thing is, that while we were walking in the woods, I was knitting the very colors of the moss on oak bark, and it took me by surprise how much I reflect the colors of my surroundings.

Presently knitting the sweater for this hat , in the colorway ‘moss on oak’…jenjoycedesign©green&grey

Knitting in nature is one of the things I love to do most of all.

Sweater Success !

jenjoycedesign©010Here they are folks, my beautiful nieces in their Autumn sweaters.
006

I’ve been quite busy with these sweaters since July.

jenjoycedesign©015

This Autumn I have designed a Winter version of last Spring’s design, because to my amazement it was so well received, I just couldn’t resist making another Penny Candy design for cold weather.  It has some unique features that are different from the tee, but I won’t go into the details until the pattern comes out.

These are two longer ‘tunic’ examples of Penny Candy Winter.

jenjoycedesign©093

jenjoycedesign©099

jenjoycedesign©045

One thing I’m a little embarrassed about is that it seems that Miss Fourteen has ‘shrunk’ a little in the last year, from training so much with her school’s cross-country & track team, and I somehow anticipated her needing more room for a winter pullover, so I apparently made it a bit on the ‘too’ big side.

jenjoycedesign©030

 While Miss Eleven has grown even more since I last saw her last August, and wearing her pullover with not much room to grow into.  She’s grown inches and inches this year, and doesn’t seem to be stopping, and already passing me up in height !

jenjoycedesign©027We flounced around Calistoga in the late morning, seeking out our usual spots, hoping for shade, but missing it for the most part. The ‘four corners’ on Lincoln & Washington streets, then the mural of Old Town Calistoga.  One thing, it was incredibly HOT while taking these photos, in case you can’t imagine, it was probably in the 80’s easy at 11:30, when we finished.
jenjoycedesign©035

 Miss Eleven is modelling the Penny Candy Winter in it’s signature stripes & lace in four colors, whiles Miss Fourteen models the basic solids version.  I’ve been working on the pattern like an ox through all the summer it seems, and I am very close to finishing, so I thought it a good thing to show you the photos from this morning.
jenjoycedesign©048

jenjoycedesign©073

You can see the rest of this morning’s note-worthy photos in the slideshow …

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Click image below to see all Sweater Successes past .

September 2010

Autumn Sweaters Done & Dusted !

jenjoycedesign©Autumn Sweaters 2014
I’m ecstatic for two reasons. For one, the Autumnal Equinox has turned, and two, both sweaters I set out to design & knit by the equinox are done & dusted!  I did have to reknit an awful lot too.  This is all you get to see of them for now, but we have the date set with my nieces to give them these and they will model them and we will have a boatload of fun with a photo shoot in Calistoga, and then you’ll get to see photos galore of them. Then sometime in October I will buckle down get the pattern done & dusted too.  But for now, just a happy chirpy sort of pleased-with-myself post on the first day of Autumn.

Autumnal Equinox Sneak Preview

jenjoycedesign©one-down & one-to-go

Autumn Sweater Sneak Preview

One down, the most colorful for youngest Niece of Eleven, which is now finished. I basically knit this critter twice! This Autumn’s sweaters will be a relative of Penny Candy Tee.  It is in worsted-weight yarn and construction is altogether different enough to warrant a whole different design .  Backstory: I knit this one up to the underarms somewhere in the first week of August, thinking I was ahead of the game, to have two Autumn sweaters designed and knit for the traditional Autumnal Equinox sweater photo shoot. Way ahead. Um… small detail… youngest niece grew like a rampant ninja weed all spring & summer, and when they came for a mid-summer visit a few weeks back,  I slipped it over her to try on and to my horror it was already way too fitted, with not much room for this Slipover to be slipped over anything.

I just couldn’t carry on with it, so ripped that out, knit over to underarms. Knit one sleeve half-way, but didn’t like the cuff and knit over, and finished two sleeves finally. Joined at the yoke and was going to go entirely circular, knit all the way up to the lace yoke section,  decided it was going to be floppy as heck, ripped back to armholes.  Decided to do raglan , and a wide decreasing  lace neckline, but it was too wide and lacy (therefore see-thru), and also discovered where I missed a decrease on one corner down near the armhole… ripped out the whole yoke back to the mistake, and reknit the raglan decreases, though higher.  Finally, the lace neckline!  Okay, so too wide, ripped ripped back and knit over narrower, i-cord cast-off too loose, ripped back did over again. There you have it. I knit it twice I figured.  I can’t believe I went and showed off one without the other, so uncharacteristic of me, as the two sweaters always make an appearance togethr. However, I just felt like I needed to cheer up Yarnings a bit, and feel some sort of reward in Show & Tell, as I am just in the middle of such a knitting grind.

The good news is that I practically wrote the pattern with that one, so IF & WHEN I ever get around to writing the official pattern, it won’t be such a bear. I am honestly hoping  I can get it together by November, but Christmas knitting kind of gets in the way too… so I’ll try my best.  Oh, and Eldest Niece of Fourteen’s  will only be in two colors , subtle wintery colors, and will rattle off like quick.  It will be nothing short of a miracle if I get these done by the Autumnal Equinox, but I am going for it!