Friday, May 21, 2021

Deppei Sweater

 Time for another pattern release!

Seven years ago Number Two asked me to make her a sweater. I let her pick from my stash, and she chose this obnoxious green acrylic. I tempered it with a darker green and this sweater was born. It has since been worn by Numbers Three and Four as well.


I posted a picture on Instagram, and everyone loved it! So I cleaned everything up and now I am sharing this sweater with you.



The design is inspired by four-leaf clovers. The deppei oxalis plant is also known as "lucky clover" because it always produces four heart-shaped leaves clustered together.

The Deppei Sweater is knit in two skeins of worsted weight yarn, so you can (hopefully) finish it before the recipient outgrows it. The sizes currently go from 6 months to 4T. My adult son has asked for this, so I plan to add more sizes in the future. The sample was knit using Marianated Yarns Playtime Worsted. The pattern is currently available in my Payhip store.








Thursday, April 15, 2021

Grandmothers

 My grandmothers excelled at the domestic arts. My Grandma is a mother of four, my Nana was a mother of three. They cooked and baked for family, friends, and church. Both worked as professional seamstresses, as well as making and mending clothes for their own families. 

One weekend Nana taught me how to make a chain and single crochet. And that's it. 

My grandmothers learned how to sew a button and hem pants and make bread from their mothers. My parents learned the basics, but these women were past masters. Nana would come to our suburban house every spring and plant flowers in the front yard and vegetables in the back. I wasn't allowed to touch anything when she wasn't around. I remember asking her to teach me how to take care of these fragile plants when she wasn't around. She would always say "Get a good education. Focus on school so you can get a good job making good money. Then you can pay to have someone do this for you."

I was always told get a good job and you can hire somebody to do the work for you. My grandmothers felt that they had worked too hard for their grandchildren to live like they did. Even asking my mother to teach me how to sew a dress, she said why teach you when I can just buy one. But now that I am a mother of four, I find it's easier - and more economical - to go back to the traditional ways. Of patching pants so that the next child can wear them for a season. Of making rolls from scratch because it's ultimately cheaper than buying them from the store. Of planning meals and cooking from scratch because take out for a family of 6 is equal to a monthly utility bill.

 I enjoy craftwork. I enjoy making things with my hands. I love to cook, to bake, to knit and crochet. I even enjoy mending pants and sewing buttons. All these things I learned from TV, YouTube, and internet forums. I learned from a community of many people whom I may never meet in real life.

Nana started forgetting her skills as I was starting to develop mine, so I only have a few recipes from her. Even Grandma, when I call her and ask for recipes and tips, tells me she now uses recipes from magazines and TV personalities. Hell, there’s even a dish that I swore was a family recipe passed down through generations. I learned the recipe from Grandma, and I always got asked to bring it to family gatherings. A few years ago Grandma told me she got the recipe from her local paper in the 80s.

So now I try to have my kids watch me in the kitchen. My kids sit on my lap when I knit. Number One knows basic knitting and crochet stitches, and has even done some simple sewing. Number Two occasionally does finger knitting and has begun making friendship bracelets. While writing this post, Number Four brought me a stuffie with a busted seam and insisted I fix it.

What things have you learned, or wish you learned, from your grandparents?

Nana, mid-forties

Grandma, mid-forties

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Catamount Set

 The holidays are over. The food has been cooked and eaten, the gifts have been wrapped and unwrapped. If you do gift knitting, the FOs (or IOUs) have been distributed. Now it’s time to relax.

I have the perfect pattern to occupy yourself in that lull between Christmas and New Year’s, a nice warm treat for yourself or a loved one. My Catamount Hat and Mittens Set. The pattern is available on Payhip.



This unisex pattern was designed for my son, and depending on the colors you choose, can match any style or outfit. Because it is an Aran weight, it works up quickly. 100 grams of each color is enough to knit one hat and a pair of mittens, two hats, or two pairs of mittens.

Eva over at Seismic Yarn & Dyeworks has kits available featuring her Butter Aran. The yarn is deliciously soft and comes in lots of colors to make your heart happy.

This is my first published pattern, but I have several others in the works. I hope you keep coming back to see what else I have planned.