WIP Wednesday

Still working on a whole bunch of sekret knitting right now - so not much actual knitting that I can show you.  How about I share a few teasers of things I am swatching and playing with in lieu of "real" knitting?

This was iteration number 4? 5? for this gray/neutral palette combo, but I'm finally super happy with how it looks.  I'm working on multiple different yarn/colorway options for the designs in the Santa Fe Collection, upcoming in November.

Another colorway swatch - also in a gray/neutral palette combo.  I really like how the blues sing against the more neutral background.  Almost like a gemstone-decorated bracelent around this cuff.

A quick gauge check swatch for a new project - and to make sure I liked the beads with the yarn color (I do).  This one is heading out to a sample knitter to get started this week.  I'm all about the summer roses colors right now.

And since several of you have asked about how I get inspired for a new design, here's a sample of some inspiration pages for the above colorway/project theme.  I tend to stay away from knitted designs with online photos - I don't want to be too influenced by someone else's concept, even if it's by accident, so I try to look for things like an overall mood, colors, details in photos (via Google and/or Pinterest searches) that will set a general vibe for me.  From there, I do some sketching and playing around with colors and see what emerges.  This project is related to the Summer Faery Court in the book An Enchantment of Ravens I read earlier this year.  Stay tuned for more details on this one - but it'll be released sometime late summer.

I'm so excited to be able to eventually share all of these designs with you - I've been really inspired this summer to tackle some ideas that are speaking loudly to me and hope they will resonate with you too!

WIP Wednesday - 06/13/2018

Lots of WIPs (works in progress) going on right now.  I'm busily working on my Santa Fe Collection samples.  I got the final sweater, a cardigan, up to the point I can start on the sleeves as of last night.  This one will feature some pretty colorwork patterning at the yoke and on the sleeves, but is otherwise a fairly easy knit with lots of soothing stockinette.  It's been very fun to revisit some of the Southwest themes that didn't make my book a few years' back.

I've also been busy doing some swatching for the "up next" project ideas I've had banging around in my head for a bit.  I've got 2 different sets of items I want to work on next - one will be a shawl collection based on locales from the book An Enchantment of Ravens which I read about a month ago and absolutely LOVED.  I won't have these on a specific roll-out schedule, but I do want to get going on the one related to Summerland.  I've created a 5-skein palette for this one on a brand-new yarn base (merino/cashmere/silk fingering weight).

This design will have lace and beads and LOTS of gorgeous color to it.  I wanted a color group that reminded me of summer roses, so I went with pinks and roses and just a hint of a grape-plum color for a bit of contrast.  I ordered a whole pile of beads to play around with, so I can see which ones work best with the yarn colors.  I plan to work on charting and an initial draft for this one on Friday.

I've also been mulling over some ideas for a menswear group (with unisex sizing), and I've decided on yarn and color palettes for the first two.  Sweater #1 will feature some fall colors in a colorwork patterned pullover.  Yarn will be the classic Finullgarn from The Yarn Guys.  I swatched a half dozen or so options this past weekend using this color palette.

But finally decided on a color combo I think will be perfect for fall but not too bright to be guy friendly. 

I am not quite as far along on the other sweater, which will have cabled textures on it, but that will be in a heathery gray in a DK-weight.  I can visualize what motifs I want to use and how to put them together, but I'll wrestle with that swatch once the yarn arrives later this week.