Sunny Flower Fez (from Folk Knits)

Well, it turns out I had some Julia on order from Webs, and I had very intelligently selected, a couple of weeks ago, exactly the color I needed to finish my hat this week! Sometimes I amaze myself :-) I just finished the embroidery, and like the way it turned out. Though of course it is now getting warm in the Northeast, and I don't expect this can be worn till fall.

Enthusiasm after Kristin's Workshop

Hi everyone, my name is Trudi and I am new to the knitalong. I took Kristin's workshop on embroidering knits last weekend at Colorful Stitches in Lenox, MA, and enjoyed it immensely. Although I had the yarn at home for her Atlantic Socks, I needed a project where I'd use the new skills I'd just learned, so I bought the yarn for the Fingerless Flower Gloves. They were lots of fun to knit, and I was so delighted that Kristin helped me pick out the colors. I should actually be working on the (boring) sleeves for a pullover I'm knitting, but couldn't help myself and decided to make the Sunny Flower Fez from Folk Knits. I was going to use some other yarn, but decided it would be nice to have it in the same colors as the gloves. I hope I'll be posting it soon, if I don't run out of the main color yarn. I'll be heading off to Colorful Stitches on Saturday for a Louisa Harding class, so could pick up more then if needed. Next up? Maybe the Put-It-All-Together Gloves, though the Diamond Paned Pullover is also calling to me!

If you have a chance to take one of Kristin's workshops, or see her slide show on color selection, I highly recommend both!

Ask Kristin A Question – Deadline April 7, 2008

My friends over at Nashua Handknits / Westminster Fibers are going to publish a full-fledged magazine this coming fall. It will be full of beautiful sweater designs and some special features. They are going to feature a few pages with my designs and an article about me. Rather fun and exciting.

So here’s the catch. Nashua would like my blog readers and fans of my knitwear design to help them with the article. They are asking you to send them questions for me to answer which you would find interesting. The questions can be about anything – my knitting, our farm, my art, our sheep…. Whatever you can think of that would be appropriate for publication and that you would find fun. They won’t have room for all the questions so don’t be disappointed if your isn’t chosen. The readers who submit the questions that are chosen will receive a thank-you gift. So think hard and send your “Kristin Questions” to:

Susan.MILLS@westminsterfibers.com

Or directly to me at kn@kristinnicholas.com
and I will forward them to Nashua. Thanks so much for your help.


The crocheted granny square afghan above is something I have been working on since last summer. I thought it would be fun to share the progress of it. I think it really looks fantastic. I used no rhyme nor reason to the colors - I am just using up lots of odd bits of Julia leftover from various projects. I did unify the whole thing by using the lovely Espresso Brown Julia as the outer edge of each square. I have been wanting to make one of these for several years and so it's fun that I am actually getting to it. It is made of 64 squares but I hope to add more to make it even larger.

Hi to all from a newcomer

Hi to all,
I was so anxious to get started on something from this book but had 2 major projects to finish first. I knew I just had to do the fair isle cardigan eventually but just decided to start with it when I found some Joe Sharp silk road in a variety of good colors & ON SALE! I have started & am up to the zig-zag pattern & about to begin the armhole steeks. I will post a picture when I figure out how to do that and when I solve the camera/computer communication problem I am having. I have been busy knitting & don't really like dealing with this computer's issues with my camera.
I just love all the colorful patterns in this book & love seeing/reading about what all are doing. I have some travel planned later this spring/summer & will wait until then to do the embroidery then but need to have it ready before I go. I think it will make a great thing to do for 4-5 hours on the plane.
Sharon h

Boot Toppers

Susan B. Anderson has knitted a superb pair of boot-toppers from Kristin Knits. You can see photos and read about them here.

Wow - Such Wonderful Wooly Creations

Hi All! I've been away in Minnesota and on vacation with Julia in eastern Massachusetts. This week I've been playing catch up with work stuff and dealing with snow. So please excuse my lack of comments.

First of all - I'm so excited to see what everyone is creating and posting here! Everything looks great. It's rather thrilling to see new color combinations that people are creating and how each project looks different from as pictured in my book Kristin Knits.

I'm busy working on a new book project so I too have been fooling with lots of new color combinations. I can't reveal the swatches or ideas yet of course! It's been a good week to knit with lots of new snow keeping us cosy. There's another storm coming this evening too! I sure could use a new pair of gloves or mittens - if only I had time to knit them!

Check out the Flickr pool - there are some nice projects there too!

Thanks to everyone who has posted and joined the Knitalong thus far. You're great.

One down, one to go

I blogged about this mitten here. The second of the pair is on the needles and hopefully, a good amount of knitting will occur tonight. Our twin boys are restless, though, so not certain a lot of knitting will go on in this house tonight. (Another snow storm has forced the boys to be inside and now it is nearly dark. Does cabin fever mean anything to anyone?!)

Heart Strings

I love color, so this form of knitting just pulls at me. I loved the heart that Kristin did for Valentine's Day, so I decided to try one on my own. I am awful at French Knots... tried them last night. I must have flunked Girl Scouts when it came to making knots. Anyway here are my photos so far. I did do some pink around the inner heart that makes it pop. I haven't taken a photo of that yet.


I do love this Julia yarn!

Havin' fun Knittin'

I have started my first project from the Kristen Knits book. I had fun picking out the yarn for the mittens, even if it was a little "scary" to pick out such bright colors. They didn't have many color choices of the Julia yarn at the store I went to, so I went with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. This is such a nice yarn to knit with - sooo soft.

This is actually a picture of my first run at the mitten. My hand size was in-between the Women's Large/Men's small, and the next size down. I went with the larger size to begin with, and it was just too loose for me. So I ripped back to the beginning and started over with the Children's large/ women's small. I like the fit much better. It took me less than 24 hours to finish my second try at the mitten. I'll post more pics when I have both of the gloves done.

How's this look?

So, fellow knitters...does this look like a clown's mitten or what? Even though I am not convinced I like it, I finished the hand last night and only have the thumb to finish up.

What do you think?

I've started

Okay, my husband and boys picked up the book for me earlier this week. For the first several days I just read and drank in the colors. I found myself thinking about what yarn I have in the stash that might make nice mittens.

In the meantime, one of my twin boys brought home his Valentine projects (they are in kindergarten) and this one beautiful heart he had colored. It occured to me that he could give me advice on what colors to choose from the stash. It did not go that well. Unless I am just too stuck with what colors "go" together and could not open my mind to what he was seeing.

At any rate, I cast on a mitten last night. I am working the corrugated rib and so far, think I like the colors. I will try to post a pic later today. (the other twin has been sick and needs my attention).

Kristin (and all of you other great knitters), please give me your input when you do see the picture of this mitten. Clown mitten comes to my mind when I look upon it...

Yarn Question for Kristin

Kristin I just received an order from Webs. I couldn't pass up the price, but now that I have it here I realized it does not have the same label. I went back to webs site and noticed that the yarn did not come up under the Nashua but instead what I received is from Devon Yarns with different label. Its not as soft as I thought it would be from what I had heard. Is this your Julia Yarn?

Embroidery

I can honestly say that I am not a novice at embroidery. I grew up stitching, it a part of my Hispanic culture. Having said that, I can tell you that doing embroidery on a knitted fabric is not as easy. I have always had hoops to stretch the fabric and then it was easy. With the knitted fabric you need to be careful not to make it too tight or too loose. It's not a complain just a comment. I am having fun doing it and will finish the right hand today. I will find my comfort zone and force myself to have time for myself. I just have not had enough time and that frustrates me because I am a perfectionist. But I do love my gloves.

Excited to Join in!

I just wanted to say hello. I have enjoyed looking at all your projects from the book. I am inspired and ready to go also. I think I would like to do the fingerless mitts. Is there a way to make them a bit smaller for a 5 year old with out knitting tighter with a smaller needles? I don't want the yarn to be too stiff! Thanks :) Teresa

Corrections

If you want to check out Corrections to the patterns in Kristin Knits, there's a link here, on the publisher's website.

Errata?

Is there errata available for Kristin's book? I worked all day yesterday on "Celia's Mittens" in child small size for my granddaughter, followed the instructions precisly and my mitten looks like a cactus. The thumb is positioned way too high. HELP

patchworkhen a.k.a Patricia

Look What I Found!

Magnificent Mittens and Marvelous Mukluks!

Hi! I'm Alissa. I purchased these KN patterns ages ago at my LYS. I love them, but never found just the right yarn to knit them with. (At the time, the yarn specified was not available to me locally. Since then, I have found the joys of the Internet.) I do wonder if I could get gauge with Julia.

Speaking of...



This, also, is not available to me locally. I want to knit the Bull's Eye hat from Kristin Knits. I ordered both the suggested yarn and my own color palette, at right, since I had to base my color choices on what I could see on the monitor. Some of the yarn has been on back order, so I don't have it all yet, but enough to knit the version for myself, anyway. I think I will knit up the version in the book for a friend.

The only thing I have started knitting is the Atlantic and Pacific socks, seen here in Knitpicks Merino Style.



It was in my stash, and I was matching a color palette for a monthly challenge.

I will probably rip them out. You can see a gauge change in the middle of the corrugated rib, where I was experimenting with holding the yarns in different hands, purling Continental vs. purling English. Oops. I am a perfectionist. I must accept.

I love KN's use of color, and I'm learning a lot from it! I look forward to seeing everyone's knitting!

I received Kristin Knits for Christmas. It is my all time favorite book. I just need to add the tassels to the hat and I will have officially finished my first "Kristin" project. I am currently working on the Flower Fingerless gloves. I have completed knitting one and will cast on for the second one tomorrow. I am looking forward to the embroidery part. I find the patterns very easy to follow. I have used the same colors for these two projects. Now that I have them under my belt, I think that I will venture out into the world of color and try to mix it up a bit. I look at this book everyday. I find it so inspiring. I am so happy to be a part of this blog- and look forward to seeing all the projects that are posted.

It's a waiting game

I too am anxiously waiting for the arrival of my book from Amazon. I was hoping it would arrive today but the mailman has already been here and no book. It's not like I am at a loss for knitting projects to work on, but I love the wild riot of color and shapes in Kristin's designs and am eager to knit some up.

The hardest choice will be what to start first and to avoid marching into my LYS and scooping up more yarn. I hoping some of the patterns will help encourage me to use up some of my mountains of yarn.

New to knitalong

I am not only new to this knit along, but pretty new to knit alongs in general. Kristin Nicholas' designs have intrigued me for quite some time. While I haven't knitted one of her designs, I want to and am anxiously awaiting getter her newest book, "Kristin Knits." That cover is just so beautiful I can only imagine what must be inside.

To quickly introduce myself, I am a knitter and a blogger. My mom taught me to knit when I was about 11 or 12. It has been in the last 10 plus years that I have knitted regularly. These past 6 or 7 years have been more like a crazed person (not that there is anything wrong with that). I am a wife and mom of 6-year-old twin boys. We reside in the great state of Michigan and unlike many of other Michiganders, we love winter.

My blog can be found here and I hope the next time I post here I will have the beginnings of some mittens inspired by Kristin.

Inspiration

Hello, My name is Ana Maria, Thanks for the invitation. I must say that even the cover of Kristin Knits is an inspiration. I don't remember how I found her site, but I at my age I have become a loyal reader.
I was so anxious to start that I designed these fingerless gloves before before I could dig into Kristin Knits . I purchased my autographed copy from Kristin. The first project I started was the flower fingerless gloves and I am looking forward to finishing them.

Kristin's Secret Projects

Helen suggested I post some photos of my knitting to get you all going. I thought it would be fun to post photos of pieces I have knit that my family and myself. We wear these things constantly. They have never been published anywhere. As you can see, my own particular style has been pretty consistent for years.

None of these projects are patterns – they’re just for looking and inspiring. They’re projects I made for myself or Julia and things that we just wear around and wear out to say the least.

I made these gloves at least 15 years ago and I'm still wearing them. The finger tips have holes in them and they need to be patched or re-knit - but besides that - they are great.


This hat was one of the ones that didn't work out for Kristin Knits - the sizing and the shaping were off. But I do love the color combination and I'm sure I'll use it in another project someday.


Here's my cute Julia on the grass putting up with another photo shoot. This pattern is similar to "the twins' beanies" in the book on page 46 but I changed the shaping on the hats in the book to be more "pillbox-ish". Julia has worn this hat for at least 4 years. I can't believe we haven't lost it. There was a matching scarf but that went missing a couple years ago.


Please don’t ask for the patterns – just use these as inspiration. I just don’t have time to write everything up, unfortunately!

Welcome to the Kristin Knits Knitalong.

Welcome to the Kristin Knits Knitalong. Here’s a place that I hope you will share the projects you are making from my new book Kristin Knits or projects from magazines with my designs in them (i.e. Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, Knitters).

We welcome one and all – young and old – experienced and inexperienced knitters. I would love to see what you have made. Show a project in progress or finished. Discuss your own ideas. I love to hear personal stories about who a piece of knitwear is being made for.

The projects need not be exactly the same as in the book. In fact, I love to see the changes knitters make to my designs – whether it be a change of color, shaping, edgings, or trims. Knitting is creativity and I hope my instructions are just a guide for you to develop your own particular style.

It is thanks to the many people who read my blog “Getting Stitched on the Farm” that this blog came about. My enthusiastic readers said – yes, start a Knitalong. Yes, start a Flickr pool. But if it hadn’t been for the extremely kind Helen of Chronic Knitting Syndrome, this blog never would have happened. Helen stepped up to the plate and designed this blog including all those amazing side bar buttons. Helen is going to administer the blog, Thank you so much Helen.

Now grab your needles and get knitting. I can’t wait to see what you create!

Calling Minneapolis

The lucky people of Minneapolis can go along and see Kristin in person on Friday, February 15th at The Textile Center of Minnesota, giving a presentation called The Joy of Color.

Click on the poster for more details - well, clearer details - or visit the Center's website.