Sweater Success !

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Jen

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!

September 2010

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 !

Tee Two

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Jen

Well knitters & friends out there… I am emerging from my knitting woodshed, now with not one, but two Spring Tees in my holster ! I am going to be doing a lot of (photo) shooting in Calistoga this coming weekend with my beautiful & adorable nieces modelling! A second knit of my latest design ~~ Penny Candy Tee ~~ prototype in previous post, but this one is a little different. Not four colors , but three, and it is not shaped (for an eleven-year-old, c’mon…) and, I used up some left over stash Malabrigo Sock yarn for the lace, which is… um… quite a bit finer than the yarn of the rest. Not enough to get worried over. And just like the original in last post, the lacework is the feature of the design, an unlikely pairing with stripes, but hey, they get along wonderfully ! No fights in the playground yet . . .

Waiting patiently

now , for their girls to sweetly adorn,

I’ve got them folded away from distracting last-minute changes.

This sign I have had propped up on my spinning wheel by my knitting loft door, well, I’m so pleased that what seemed a daunting task a month ago when I hadn’t even started them, is now….

done & dusted !

As I am presently working like a pair of oxen writing the pattern for Penny Candy Tee, that will be coming up next, for Spring knitting ! Details found on Ravelry HERE

Penny Candy Tee !

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Jen

Well friends, I’ve finished up Tee One, which is also the prototype for Penny Candy Tee, and here she is slung over a chair back , just to show off how well the fabric drapes. This flavor ” Licorice Vanilla ” is for Niece Who Is Fourteen . . . sultry greys and creams, and a classic ensemble of colors suits her perfectly. Perfectly!

The pattern is already well on it’s way but I am being childishly impatient not to wait until it is ready before I show it off.

The fact that this design has moderate waist shaping is indeed a milestone for me!

Also, I figured out a clever way to work short-rows at the back of the neck, and miter the centered lacework too, though admittedly, a bit of improvisation is necessary.

I think the winning feature of this design, is that the scalloped bottom edge of the lace motif is so sturdy & stubborn and the fabric of the stockinette (sock yarn on big needles) is so lightweight & sheer … that the stripes completely yield to the lace’s personality!

Shown with the bottom folded up to meet the back neck.

Best of all , the steep raglan shaping is well-complimented by the stripes . . .

This lightweight springtime knit folds up into practically nothing. . .

I am going to go be busier than a beehive and finish Tee Two. Stash yarns in a mix of different yarn brands will do nicely… orange, peach, and rusty red are fav colors of Niece Who Is Eleven ! I’ve got the Calistoga photo session with my nieces already marked on the calendar for two weeks from today, so there’s no letting up until then. I will probably do some lovely still photos and show off Tee Two coming up soon as I race the clock, so watch this space!