It’s May and springtime in the Rockies. Despite hoping we wouldn’t experience any hail storms as destructive as the one last year, along came a reminder yesterday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. when the skies opened and a quantity of pea-sized hail fell over the region. Fortunately no damage to homes, landscapes or cars, but enough to get our attention:
Two waves of hail passed through, the second much briefer than the first, and in typical Colorado fashion by early evening the sun was shining and all clouds had drifted east. I was happy to see these baby birds survived well enough to visit our deck after the storm. With their young feathers sticking out of their heads, they hopped about, drinking from puddles of water and poking curiously at the hail stones all around:
Before the storm came along, I completed a knitting project that was an experiment, a reinterpretation of a design by Lipp Holmfeld in the Vogue Knitting On the Go! Scarves book: Chevron-Patterned Scarf. While reviewing pattern details I noticed the finished size was 24″ wide and thought it would make a good baby blanket or pad. Since I still have quantities of the Goodwill bargain-yarn (Reynolds “Saucy”) gifted to me by a friend and the gauge matched the pattern, I proceeded to follow it just for the fun of learning how this chevron piece was worked. It was a ton of garter stitch, so I planned to work only to 24″, thus producing a square that could serve as a small baby or preemie blanket, or a pad for baby to lie on, or even as a burp cloth. Even though it’s very “plain Jane” I wanted to try a new-to-me knitting technique. It was one of those projects that could be picked up and set down as time allowed and without much thought to the stitching. The piece turned out a little wonky but it’s serviceable and should survive many launderings:
Speaking of “plain Jane” my family knows that it’s my style and who I am, both in personal dress and in designs produced since starting Designs by KN in 2004. I think those who create develop a certain look to their work that is a natural extension of who they are. In my case that means practicality, so when designing something new, if the project becomes too complex for anyone to duplicate easily I often simplify the “recipe” to make it more do-able. My goal has always been to provide easy, well-written, fun-to-work patterns so that others can enjoy the knitting or crocheting process but can go off on their own tangent to produce pieces that fit their own style.
An example of my “plain Jane” approach appears in the new Vogue Knitting Crochet 2013 issue that has just been released (#23 Mesh Cape.) Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that after years of creating plain and practical projects, one would find its way into a Vogue Knitting special collector’s issue, let alone being the lead design featured in a “Glamour Girls” story! I am honored to be in such amazing designer company. In looking through the issue (discovered today in a most unglamorous place, the local Safeway store) which is full of fabulous eye candy and outstanding lacy designs, my humble cape seems to provide a respite from the other intricate designs shown. I am very grateful to the editorial staff at VK/SoHo Publishing who saw something in my design proposal that could be transformed from “plain Jane” to “glamour girl” status. Similar to the day my first submitted design became a “cover girl” (Knit Simple, Fall 2007, the #13 Tasseled Earflap Hat) I thank everyone that made this new publication possible:
Magazine photo by Paul Amato for LVARepresents.com, copyright Vogue Knitting Crochet 2013, SoHo Publishing
Mesh Cape
Designer: Kathy North
For sizes: Small/Medium, Large/X-Large
Yarn information: Blue Sky Alpacas Melange
Amounts: 10 (11) hanks in #813 pomegranate
As if the excitement about seeing one’s design in a Vogue publication wasn’t enough, along comes a second, the spring/summer issue of Noro Magazine. My #7 Lace Panel Shawl appears in this preview. Again, I am honored to be in such awesome designer company. Working with the colorful Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn for the creation of this shawl was pure pleasure.
I have to say this has been quite a week of faring well on the design/publication front, and it promises to continue next week with a new Classic Elite Yarns Web-letter pattern, scheduled for release on Tuesday, May 14. Hope you like it!
May you be protected from wild and wacky spring season weather. Wouldn’t it be great if the clouds would open and pellet us with yarn instead of hail?
