Whiskey And Rye

I'm pleased to present my latest offering, the Whiskey And Rye socks.

The socks are knit top down and feature a slipped stitch chevron pattern.

This pair is knit in Miss Babs' Yummy 2-ply in the Biker Chick color. My test knitters all happened to have wild skeins of Miss Babs hanging around and chose to knit with them. I'm am pleased to say that every pair looked good. I'm pretty sure that even the wildest colors can be tamed by this pattern.

If you're interested in the pattern, it can be found on ravelry, craftsy, and my own bear-ears website. I've also set up a hashtag on instagram: #whiskeyandryesocks

Septet

May I present the newest Bear Ears pattern, Septet. I'd worked on this scarf earlier this year, but it took some time to be able to get pictures. Mum liked the scarf so much she kept bugging me about it. I gave in eventually and handed it over to her for her birthday with one caveat: she had to model for me.

I went up with her to help with leather crafts, like I usually do every year, and spotted tall, dried thistles. With only about 20 minutes available, we took pictures before helping out the campers. I'm quite pleased with how the images came out.

The name took some time to decide on. It was actually the last thing I had to do for the pattern; even testing was done before it was named. I had designed the scarf to use seven colors and it finally dawned on me to base the name off of that feature. Septet: noun - A group of seven people singing or playing music together. Or in this case, seven colors playing together.

The sample was made using Hikoo by Skacel's Llamor yarn in the entire Peruvian Palette line. But if you've got 20 yd/ 18m scraps of dk weight yarn, this is also a great way to use up extra yarn ends.

Septet can be found on ravelry, craftsy, and the bear-ears website.

Velomeisters

The Velomeisters pattern has been released! Just in time for spring biking weather.

I've been working on getting this pattern out for awhile. But I'm happy to show them to the world now. These were fun to knit and are fun to wear.

If you happen to be interested in purchasing the pattern, I have it up on bear-ears.com, ravelry, and craftsy.

Edit: I forgot to share why I called the socks Velomeisters. Velo is French for bicycle and meister is German for master. I thought "bikemaster" was a pretty cool name. I had to mix the languages though. Fahrradmeister or Maître De Vélo looked a little less awesome to me.

The Latest Buzz

The Free Bees pattern is now available and it is free! (Get it... free bees... freebies. Haha.) You can get a copy on bearears.com or on ravelry.

This is my very first sock pattern. The pattern is adapted from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Patterns, pg. 273 : Honeybee Pattern with Faggoting. It's a toe-up pattern with short row toes and heels. No worries if you don't know how to do short rows. I've explained them in the pattern.

I'd never really considered myself a sock knitter, but I may have been bitten by the bug. Socks are just so portable. I love being able to throw a sock in my purse and know that it will continue to fit no matter how much more I add to it.

Sticking Out Like A Sore Thumb

I've been hard at work on my mitten pattern. The idea seemed simple enough, but the actual knitting the silly thing has been full of, "what looked good on paper didn't translate nearly as well when it was knit" with a sprinkling of, "this would fit better if it was 4 stitches less". The most irritating issue as of late is the thumb.

Don't get me wrong. I think this is the best thumb I've ever knit. I can hardly tell where the palm ends and the thumb begins... and I put the thing in. The top the thumb is perfectly grafted.

But the stupid thumb is about three stitches too high on the palm. Which means when I (or anyone else for that matter) slips the mitten on, the tips of my fingers push too hard on the top of the mitten so the overall pattern distorts. AHHHHHHH. It isn't an easy fix either. The thumb was an after thought thumb, so to get back to fix it, I have to rip half the mitten apart.

It's worth it though. I'm really looking forward to wearing them... and releasing the pattern.

Designs In The Works

The last few days have just flown by while I was designing. It's all I can do to knit as fast as I can design. Right now I'm swatching for a second shawl design.

I have also finished up charting a mitten pattern. It is now being knit. I've had the idea for these mittens for over a year and a half now. I even bought yarn for it more than a year ago! It's kind of a relief to get the idea out of my head and onto paper.

The pattern for the Green Gables shawl has been finished and is now being test knit. Just need to take better pictures for the actual pattern.

Of course I've got another scarf on the drawing board and two hats that are so close to being done it's a little silly. One needs to be test knit and have an additional photo added. The other just needs one last little bit designed before it is finished up. (I almost called myself lazy for not finishing the two hats. But honestly, having six knits I'm simultaneously working on is a bit draining.)

Baby Hat Sneak Peek

Yesterday I did a photo shoot for the baby versions of my animal hats. I was able to take pictures of five hats in fifteen minutes. And I may have been converted to the dark side. The baby hats are really cute and so was the baby. The current patterns do not reflect the baby sizing. I plan on re-releaseing the patterns in another week or so. But until then, here is a sneak peek of the fox hat in baby size.

Business Card Party

Tomorrow I'm going to Stitches West. So excited! It is exciting every year, but this year, I have business cards to hand out. Last year I was wearing giraffe hat 1.0 and got a lot of attention, but I had nothing to hand out. This year is much different. I spent all yesterday designing the cards. Today I got them printed and cut them all. Whew!

Stitches is the reason I've been publishing hat patterns left and right. A bunch of us will be there in the animal hats. On the back of each card is a list of supplies needed to make each hat. Clever, no? I've made some plain business cards as well.

On a side note, my Dad told me he was happy to see my education in action. My degree was in Design: Textiles and Graphic.

Giraffe Hat Pattern

The hat that started it all: the giraffe hat. The original giraffe hat was made in October of 2009 because I needed a Halloween costume. I had lost out on an ebay auction for a detective hat, so making a giraffe hat was the only logical solution. Soon after that I started developing other adult sized animal hats.

Writing the pattern took forever. I knit the hat in a beautiful yarn that ended up being discontinued, so I knit another. I now own three giraffe hats, but it was worth it. It is my favorite pattern by far.

If you are interested in purchasing the pattern, it is available on ravelry. Or if you are without a ravelry account, fear not. You can press the buy now button and get a copy. The price is $5.

Sheep Hat Pattern

The Sheep Hat is now available for purchase. It is a knit hat with crocheted ears.

You can find it on Ravelry. Or, if you are without a ravelry account, you can purchase the pattern here for $5. Just press the buy now button.

So what are you waiting for?

Pursuing My Fiber Passion

I have finally settled myself enough to start working on projects. Today was especially exciting because I finally made the decision to not actively look for a job for six months. Instead I'll be working on knitting patterns and promoting them. It is a leap of faith that something will come of it. But in the least, I will be pursuing my passion.

Of course, none of this would happen if I hadn't finally gotten my room in order. The very best part of my room is The Fiber Wall. It is filled with all my dyed fiber, handspun, and fiber books/magazines. (All the natural colored fiber is in my closet.)

Scooter use to live at the end of my bed, but after shifting some bookcases, he was relocated to under the table. He even has his own picture above his bed.

Although I think he prefers my bed. The picture above my bed is an oil painting I did at University. And yes, it is a Katamari painting. Nanananananana.

And finally, pattern writing headquarters. It is conveniently located right next to my bed, so I can work in pajamas if I so desire. Here's to a hopefully productive next six months. Any advice or well wishes would be fully appreciated.

I Am Now A Pattern Designer

Today I have taken a large step ahead in my life. I have published a pattern on Ravelry. It is a free download and a rather simple pattern. But I"m still quite proud of myself. Note: You'll need to have a ravelry account to access the following links.

My store: Audry Nicklin

My first ever published pattern: Mr. Tumnus

I'd also like to make note that within 20 minutes of me posting the pattern, someone added it to their queue. I'm just buzzing with excitement.