...another testknit...YAY

had the pleasure to do a testknit for lovely Justyna
...sometimes I am a lucky girl, right?

just loooove how mine turned out...love the colour (used two yarns held together), love the drape (think it's all about the linen...), love the whole jumper!!!

there is a little story behind my threads ....

when Justyna offered me to test her new sweater I only could say: YES!

she sent me the pattern and I (like I usually do when testing) printed the pattern to be able to write my notes into the pattern (not that there was much to write down...her testversions are ususally perfectly written...not like mine....hahaha)

I found a lovely yarn combo (Isager Bomulin and Blackhill Pacalina) and started immediately

...I was right through the Stockinette part of the yoke, and had done the first 2 rounds of the lace pattern, when we left for the birthday party of my sisters boyfriend

...it was a lovely, sunny day with lots of laughter, good food and some relaxing time to knit....I got about 15 cm of the body done...just to realize (I only had 2 pages of the pattern with me at the party...because I was sure that I know how to work the lace pattern)

that I omitted round 3 and round 6 of the lace pattern all the time....

can you believe this????????????????

sh...happens, right?

after some minutes (I needed them to cool down) I ripped back ...and here we are:

a beautiful cool jumper that will be worn to death, promise!!!

photos are taken before blocking, but you can see the gorgeous drape, can you?

pattern. Threads by Justyna Lorkowska 

yarn. Isager Bomulin and Garnudsalgdk Blackhill Pacalina held together

hope you have good days

isa m.

 

 

it's been a while.....but you all know me ....I am still knitting (hahaha)

I won't try to talk about all the crazy things that happened since my last blog post....this post would be HUUUUUUUGE, and as always time is a rare thingy at the moment

I am doing testknits at the moment...YAY!...testknitting was so rare for me the last months, and I seriously missed it
so.... the first testknit after a long time was this beautiful cardigan (finished this a while ago, but it's worth to be mentioned...!)

 

pattern. Naima by Ankestrick (aka Fallmasche)

yarn. finkhof-merinowolle-dünn a rustic, 'sheepy', low processed wool made in germany

loooved working with it (I used this yarn before for my wanderling and for my own version of phillipa) 

a few days ago I finished a sweater testknit for Justyna....think I have to wait until I am allowed to show it...just a few words about it...it's gorgeous, it's lacy, it's casual, it's blue (hahaha...only mine is blue), and it's soooooo utterly cool - just love it

I used 2 yarns held together and I swear I will use these yarns together again

they gave me such a cool and drapey fabric! 

ok....I used 1 strand Isager Bomulin, held together with Blackhill Pacalina (a thin linen/alpaca blend ...just gorgeous)

oh...just another thing before I have to leave for work.....Dexter will be ready for release very, very soon...so... all of you waiting for Dexter, make sure you keep an eye out for a bloody red (cute) cardigan♥

or for a light pink one???????

 

 hope you all have good days

love
isa m.

 

News and older tales....

just realized that i didn't keep the promise to post right after our "meeting" at Frankfurt airport....shame on me (but i think you know me already quite well and this is no surprise)

we had some incredible hours together....when i saw Jo sitting at the table in this italian coffee shop at the airport it was like a reunion of good old friends...not faint-hearted at all, we saw each other and the minute later we were in each others arms ;)
there was a lot of giggling and laughing, loads of yarn and coffee and way too less time (but we will meet again...sooner than we both hoped for ;))

 

seams that the upcoming season will be filled with neutrals and blue (hahaha...)

in the meantime (while Jo was travelling around the world....Helsinki, St.Petersburg...)I did some knitting (haha...how extraordinary ;)

 

seashore was released 2 weeks ago, after a wonderful test-KAL

with some outstanding ladies who never get tired to help me with testing my patterns

you can see all the incredible "seashores" they made during the test here in the test thread

finished a quick in-between-testknit for Justyna (Lete)

to practice my still not-good-at-all stranding skills....

because i signed in for 2 colorwork designs for Swans Island...

 

pattern. zig-zag-wings by justyna-lorkowska 

yarn. lang-yarns touring 

col.natural/beige and dark blue

aaaaand my first (yes there will be a second one...) pattern for Yarn Stories is live!

I did the sample in early august and need to confess that i didn't like the colour they picked for my design, but......it looks so freaking cool on this beautiful model!!!!

 photo: yarnstories

photo: yarnstories

this is such a lovely batwing-sleeve jumper.....need to knit one for me too!!!!! maybe in orange? or yellow? or toffee?

they carry some beautiful colours! go and check them out here 

for today i need to leave...need to do up a parcel (sample of the first colorwork design for Swans Island)

 

looks pretty good, right? 

take care out there

love,

isa m. 

....and the last part (testknits)

ok, ok....again it took more time than I thought to get back to this little blog (shame on me....)

here is the last part of the testknits i did

 

pattern. xanti by Hanna Maciejewska

yarn. unknown fingeringing weight from cone (merino blend)

did mine with cap sleeves and an A-Shape rather than waist shaping, also omitted the contrast colors for the hems

 

 

pattern. forever-more by Justyna Lorkowska

yarn. wollerey-schura-silk held together with holst-garn-titicaca

no major mods, i only added 1 short row section to each half of the shawl due to a slightly tighter gauge.

  

pattern. cathedrale by polo sylvie

yarn. ice-yarns-pure-alpaca 

i'm still in doubt that i can wear this bright colour....

 

 

pattern. zippety by Hanna Maciejewska

yarn. midara-angora-2 in light grey + holst-garn-coast---uld-bomuld in col. marlin (which resulted in an adorable, stunningly perfect greyish blue!!!!)

some mods to make this more "me"

shorter body

shorter zipper at the side "seam" (no front zipper)

no front pattern - plain St st for mine ;)

broken rib pattern at the sides from underarm to bottom 

...

still so much work to finish (deadlines over deadlines...)

but we currently do a testknit for this one in the group

 

and i need to say, this is so much fun (no pressure, no obligations, pure designers heaven - relaxing and fun)

after all the designs i did for companies, mags, books (the most of them secret ones with release dates later this year or in the beg of the next year)....testing the ones for self-publishing makes me feel like "coming home"

love,

isa m.

 

latest testknits part 2

...me again...
in july I had the pleasure to do my first testknit for miyayo 
a wonderful shawl, crescent-shaped with some lace, ribbings and
beautiful ruffles
you'll never get bored with this

the yarn is handdyed (by myself...ha!)

i only dyed 3 skeins (approx. 600 meters), what should have 

been enough yarn to complete this shawl - but i ran out of 

yarn right before the BO, so I bound off with another yarn

in a lighter green

pattern. lin-lin-shawl by Yoko Johnston

yarn. wollknoll-strickgarn-8/3 undyed (dyed with ashford dyes)

simultanuously i did a testknit for justyna (lete) 

when i first saw her new cardi design i fell in love:

beautiful lace, casusal shaping, top-down construction

...it contains everything i love....

my first yarn choice was a big mistake....

i had some drops-alpaca in my stash for a while and thought

this might match the gauge,...it did, but it was way too fuzzy

in the end

the stitch pattern wasn't that easy for me (don't know why, but 

sometimes such patterns crack my head....)

...when i decided to use another yarn, i had done over one half 

of the cardi!!!! so i had a real huge testing swatch (hahaha!)

the second attempt, with handdyed fingering, went smooth

and unbelievably easy ;)

pattern. casual-lace by Justyna Lorkowska

yarn. wollknoll-kammgarn-20/6, handdyed with ashford dyes

....more tomorrow (i really hope so :)

isa m.