Sweater Success !

Published on March 31, 2014May 13, 2015 by Jen21 Comments

The skies were perfect blue & sunny, and we had a terrific time for photographing Spring Tees 2014 ! This year, the design Penny Candy Tee has made it all the way to a published design, and I managed to get it all up and available in time to post the pattern ~~ right over HERE. What a crescendo, happy beautiful faces, and stellar lighting, with charm that just blew my socks off. I couldn’t believe my eyes, how much these girls have learned in the skills of modelling knitwear for their auntie. I am even getting a little teary just thinking about it. But on with the show !

The first always to be photographed is the mint green bank building of Old Town Calistoga . . jenjoycedesign©PennyCandyTees Then we cross Lincoln and shoot against the terra cotta wall outside of Brannon’s Restaurant for our usual series of slightly goofy shots . . . .

Then we go to the corner outside of Hydro Grill.

People were having breakfast inside

watching us through the window seemed intrigued at what was going on just outside…

Last year’s addition , the ‘tree hugging’ shot outside of All Seasons Bistro,

now completes Four Corners, at the intersection of Washington & Lincoln Streets.

Then we make our way to the big mural of Old Town Calistoga ! The same poses are great because one can really see how the girls have grown in the years that I’ve been knitting for them (and blogging about it).

At the end of this post is a big long slideshow, I hope you watch it !

However, as this post is also a pattern debut, I must say, some lovely detail photos were taken.

Just look how lovely the neckline , with the scalloped neckline & mitered corners looks in these details . . .

And just how the bottom icord edge with scalloped lace pattern works . . .

Last not least , the back shoulder, and short rows.

The neck is just low enough in both the front and back. . .

Friends & Knitters, you can find the pattern over on it’s own page Penny Candy Tee Pattern page , here on Yarnings. or on Ravelry HERE Plenty to peruse, but, before you click off this page, the best is waiting next in this little slideshow !!!

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Thank you girls, you’re the one’s who made me into the knitter I am, and if it weren’t for you, there’d be no Yarnings. Here on this bench outside of Calistoga Roastery, we closed for the day, and I want you to see the first photo taken of them, on this same bench wearing the first cardigans I knit for them!

All posts of the Penny Candy Tee in progress HERE

Edit In : I have rounded up most of the photos of my nieces here in Yarnings over the last four years. From present retrospect back to the first sweaters I knit for them in March 2010 . Simply click : Sweater Success !

Sweater Success !

Published on October 2, 2013April 1, 2014 by Jen18 Comments

Last Sunday we met in Calistoga to photograph the latest Autumn Cardigans ! It threatened to rain, but we got lucky and made it to our favorite sweater-modelling nooks in the town, with only a few drizzly drops to freshen things up. Above, on the corner of Lincoln & Washington Streets, outside of Bella Tootsie Shoes , this historical mint-green building is the back-drop for nearly every cover photo of Autumn & Spring Sweaters, for four years running.

This time, we added a tree to our usual spots . . .

Among several places, our favorite & final destination for photos is always the big mural across from Calistoga Coffee Roastery, so fun and theatrical, with two enormous walls lining both sides of a narrow alley, depicting Historical Calistoga. The mural has become our number one sweater photo shoot of all time.

There are a few other must-shoot spots , which you can see in the slideshow below, but it all starts outside of the Calistoga Coffee Roastery, where we meet for a coffee & chai, I give them their sweaters (always a surprise) , then we go out and start shooting photos. One can see my two nieces grow up over the years, on this very bench.

Compare with three years ago ~ Autumn Sweaters 2010 .

Demonstrated is the inside of the simple color stranding…

. . . showing the elasticity of stranding , which I achieved by weaving floats more often than what is considered ‘traditional’.

All in all, I was delighted to see how well the cardigans fit. This time I designed with a lower relaxed neck-line, but the blue one especially flirts with the shoulder a bit much and likes to fall off in a charmingly casual way, and because ( ahem ) the cuffs are too big, the result is that the sleeves are swallowing my niece’s hands! I did the whole photo shoot without even noticing my niece’s hands missing in many of the poses… LOL ! I was confident because the actual sweaters measured to specifications (yes, the sleeves too) and so I did not expect it. I am getting one of those blushing light-bulb moments where I understand better the relationship between neck-lines and sleeves.

Next visit, in a couple of weeks I will simply ‘take in’ the cuffs of blue cardigan with applied i-cord at the edge of the sleeves, and I think that will do the trick as there’ll still be some growing room in the length, but they’ll not slip over her hands. No problem with my younger niece’s fit, she’s growing like a weed right now anyway !

So folks, here’s the rest of the shots in a slideshow !

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In case you might be interested, you may have some fun looking through posts of past years nieces’ sweater shoots around the same spots in the town of Calistoga HERE

All posts of this project HERE

General details of this project on Ravelry HERE

Sweater Success !

Published on March 24, 2013April 1, 2014 by Jen21 Comments

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This Spring’s sweater tees are once again a success and my nieces made them into a photo sensation !!! Chasing the bright morning light around the town of Calistoga, we sought out our favorite spots. The corner of Lincoln and Washington streets, with the intriguing minty blue-green building which is Bella Tootsie Shoe Shop, and our ‘cover photo’ signature most every time.

A close-up of one of the sweater tee detail, lighting just right so that you can see the single-row pin-striping of two colors alternating, and the raglan decreases through the ribbed neck band, with cord bind-off …

Such fine pin-stripes of light green & light blue, and light purple & smokey grey aren’t even visible unless one is up-close. Even just a couple of feet away, the colors melt into one another, creating a perfect blend , as these two sisters do . . .

The mural off of Lincoln Street is our essential destination in every photo shoot !

We enjoyed just hanging about in town too, always bustling with folk from the whole Napa Valley and beyond . . .

There was the mandatory ice-cream ~ raspberry sorbet & strawberry cheesecake ~ which is always the last shot I get before the camera protests with no memory left !

A few more photos tucked away into a little slide show of the best shots.

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More, still-life photos of these tees HERE
Detailed on Ravelry HERE

Sweater Success !

Published on March 25, 2012January 30, 2026 by Jen13 Comments

Sunday I met my nieces in Calistoga , beneath the snow-capped Mt.St Helena. Weather permitted, but just. I photographed them modelling their new sweaters in and about the interesting nooks in Calistoga ~ our favorite being the mural of Old Town Calistoga ~ and among some colorful walls of the buildings.

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Then afterward, as is our tradition,

icecream cones…

because modelling is hard work !

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Detailed in Ravelry here.

“Mostly Green” & “Mostly Blue” Pullovers

Published on November 12, 2011April 1, 2014 by Jen12 Comments

We met in Calistoga for Our Little Tradition of sweater gifting & photo shoot. This time a seriously awesome feature ~ right next to the Calistoga Coffee Roastery where we usually meet was this amazing alley way, with newly painted murals on each side ! Here my adorable, clever, and theatrical nieces seemed to step into a netherworld of characters and places of long ago. We then always always always get icecream, our tradition for four equinoxes running ! I hope you enjoy the little slideshow of them posing in front of the murals while wearing their sweaters for the first time, each very delighted.

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Fare thee well sweaters, I’m happy to give you to your new happy homes. You were fun to knit, we thought…