New Pattern: Pom2 Pullover

Just released: the pattern for my 2018 Rhinebeck sweater, Pom2. It’s now available in my Ravelry pattern store, where you can save 25% with the coupon code POM25 through December 2.

Since I designed Pomegranate back in 2011, I’ve changed a lot and so has my style. These days, I’m happiest in simple, comfortable sweaters. So I decided, why not rework Pomegranate into a pullover I’d love to wear now? With an easygoing, relaxed fit, Pom2 is definitely a sweater I’ll live in.

Pom2 and Pomegranate share the same lace stitch but otherwise are completely different designs. The new Pom2 has no waist shaping, modified drop shoulders, and simple 1x1 ribbing. It’s worked in the round from the bottom up, and the construction is entirely seamless.

Reverse side, Pom2 Pullover by Bonnie Sennott

For the sample, I used a cone of Bartlettyarns Sport that I purchased at Rhinebeck in 2017. The heathery terra cotta appealed to my love for warm, rich colors and I was delighted by how well the yarn worked for the lace panel. It has a soft, rustic effect and feels good both while on the needles and in the fabric of the finished garment. It comes in both cones and skeins, and in the pattern I’ve calculated how many skeins are needed for each of the six sizes. I’ve also included full yardage for each size, should you wish to use another yarn.

Pom2 Pullover by Bonnie Sennott

If your personal style leans toward the more fitted original Pomegranate, which has waist shaping, set-in sleeves, and a pretty twisted rib folded neckband, don’t worry — it’s still available, and it’s also on sale. The coupon code POM25 can be used in my Ravelry store for both patterns, through Sunday, December 2.

If you prefer shopping for patterns at Etsy, I have some nice news: all patterns for garments (sweaters, tops, and vests) are 25% off in my Etsy shop through December 25. (No coupon code required!)

I feel like Rhinebeck is not really over until my Rhinebeck sweater pattern is published. Now, it’s time to start daydreaming about next year’s Rhinebeck sweater!

Indie Design Gift-a-Long 2018

It’s that time of year! Time for the Indie Design Gift-a-Long, an annual KAL/CAL where knitters and crocheters join together on Ravelry to make their holiday gifts. It’s a big virtual party with lots of good cheer, games, and great prizes (yarns, patterns, stitch markers, project bags, and more).

There’s also an amazing sale on patterns by more than 300 independent knit and crochet designers. Thousands of patterns are discounted 25% with the coupon code giftalong2018. You can use this same coupon code for each participating designer’s sale patterns, and you use it as many times as you wish now through midnight EST, November 29.

Bonnie Sennott: GAL 2018 Sale Patterns

This year, I’ve got 20 patterns in the sale, including quick gift ideas, like the Fee-bee Mitts or Erste Cowl, as well as larger projects you might want to make for yourself after the GAL ends, like the Mount Pollux Pullover or the Notch Shawl.

Fee-bee Mitts by Bonnie Sennott

Mount Pollux Pullover by Bonnie Sennott

Notch Shawl by Bonnie Sennott

Whether you’re participating for the first time, or returning for your sixth year, the Indie Design Gift-a-Long is a fun way to get inspired to cast on and finish your holiday gift making (and maybe try a tasty recipe or two!). Here are links to help you jump right in:

Indie Design Gift-a-Long

Bonnie Sennott: GAL Sale Patterns

GAL 2018 Participating Designers

Erste Cowl by Bonnie Sennott

Asteroid B 612 Scarf

I don’t have a science background, so when I first saw Interweave Knits editor Meghan Babin’s call for design submissions for a science-themed issue, I thought I might have to skip it. But for days the quote she shared from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos—“We are made of star-stuff”—kept knocking around in my head. It made me think of the final illustration in Saint-Exupery’s classic book The Little Prince—a desert landscape with a star in the sky, drawn with just a few simple lines.

Asteroid B 612 Scarf, by Bonnie Sennott. Photo courtesy Interweave/Harper Point Photography

I pulled the small, tattered paperback down from my bookshelf and opened it. There were all the watercolors I’ve loved for so many years: the boa constructor digesting an elephant, the box containing a sheep, the impressive baobabs, the Little Prince’s rose. There was the fox’s beautiful secret: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” I re-read the part where, before taking leave of Earth, the Little Prince gives the gift of his laughter to the narrator—a pilot stranded in the desert, trying desperately to fix his plane:

“All men have the stars,” he answered, “but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman they were wealth. But all these stars are silent. You—you alone—will have the stars as no one else has them . . . In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as though all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night . . . you—only you—will have stars that can laugh!”

Suddenly I realized that I did have something to contribute to a science-themed knitting magazine. I would create a golden muffler, like the one the Little Prince wears in so many of the book’s illustrations. And in honor of this wise book, which has meant so much to me since I first read it at age 12, I would call the scarf Asteroid B 612—the name of the Little Prince’s tiny planet.

Asteroid B 612 Scarf, by Bonnie Sennott. Photo courtesy Interweave/Harper Point Photography

Off I went to the nearest yarn store to look at yarns in appropriate colors. I chose a new-to-me yarn, Brown Sheep’s Prairie Spun DK, in the Swallowtail Butterfly colorway. I started swatching a stitch pattern that had a kind of “outer space” look—it reminded me of flying saucers. The design came together pretty quickly, and then I moved on to making a sketch to show Meghan what the finished scarf would be like.

For design submissions, I usually do a quick sketch, first lightly with pencil, then with ink—nothing too fancy or time consuming (because I’m always working in a hurry to meet the deadline!). But for this submission, I decided on watercolors. I don’t use watercolors very often, but I tried to put all my love for the book and its illustrations into my little painting and make it as close in style to Saint-Exupery’s pictures as I could.

Asteroid B 612 submission sketch and swatch detail

A year ago, Megan’s acceptance of the Asteroid B 612 scarf landed in my email inbox. I was so pleased that she chose the very same yarn that I’d swatched with, because I felt the Prairie Spun DK was perfect for this design. And I was moved when she thanked me for bringing “tears of joy” to her eyes and confessed that she, too, had read The Little Prince “innumerable times over.”

Asteroid B 612 may mean more to me than anything else I’ve designed. It came from the heart, and knitting the sample was a joy (even on days last winter when I worried whether I would manage to finish by the magazine’s due date!). I loved creating this golden scarf, and I hope knitters who have a special place in their hearts for Saint-Exupery’s beloved book will enjoy making it.

As I said, I don’t have a science background, but even so I am drawn to many of the designs in this issue, especially the Saturn’s Rings pullover by Adrienne Larsen (on the cover), the Solidago Hat and Cowl by illitilli (inspired by goldenrod stem galls), the Periodic Pullover by Annie Lupton (a chic interpretation of the periodic table of elements), and a classic cabled sweater for men, the DNA Pullover by Andrea Cull. It’s a stunning issue that I feel honored to be part of.

The print and digital editions of Interweave Knits Winter 2019 are available now at Interweave. Watch for the print edition in bookstores or your LYS soon! You can also browse all 19 “classic and quarky” patterns on Ravelry.

New Pattern: Catbird Shawl

Catbird — a new crescent shawl pattern — has winged its way into my Ravelry pattern store. I designed it especially for the Rhinebeck 2018 colorway of Periwinkle Sheep Watercolors sock yarn. (Isn’t the color gorgeous? I was thrilled when I opened the package of yarn last summer.) The yarn and the shawl will be at Rhinebeck this weekend — find them in Building A, in The Spinning Room booth. To celebrate, Catbird is on sale through October 24. Use the coupon code CATBIRD25 to save 25%.

I was honored when Karin of Periwinkle Sheep asked me to design something with her beautiful yarn. As always, her Rhinebeck colorway is exclusive to the festival, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. So get there early in the weekend, if you don’t want to miss out.

Catbird is worked from the bottom up, with short rows in the garter stitch section creating the gentle crescent shape. It’s the kind of shawl that spans seasons — carrying you from fall through winter and into spring with ease. It’s also a quick knit, making it a great gift idea. The lace is engaging but not complicated, and it’s provided in both a chart and written form. So if you’re not a fan of charts, you’ll be fine.

Here’s hoping for great weather this weekend. If — like me — you’re still knitting your sweater — good luck!

Rhinebeck Preview in Black and White

With only a couple of weeks left until Rhinebeck, my mind is occupied with almost nothing else. Today it’s sunny and in the 60s — really perfect weather for a day wandering around the beautiful Dutchess County fairgrounds. I hope we have exactly the same weather for Rhinebeck. Last year, it was far too hot for wearing wool sweaters, so fingers crossed we don’t have a repeat of that.

Secret Rhinebeck Shawl

This year Rhinebeck is even more exciting because I’ve created a new design just for the fair. It’s knit in the exclusive Rhinebeck 2018 colorway dyed by an indie dyer who will be there. Since I don’t want to spoil the surprise of the color, my photos are all black and white for now. But trust me, it’s lovely — really, really lovely — a soothing and calming color that goes with just about everything.

The yarn will be revealed and the pattern released during the days leading up to Rhinebeck. For now, I can share that it’s a garter stitch and lace crescent shawl, in two sizes. After working the lace, you transition to easy garter stitch short rows (very easy — you don’t even have to pick up the wraps, because they are hidden within the garter stitch). After the lace — which does require being attentive to a chart or the row-by-row written instructions — the project is refreshingly simple, perfect for taking along to a cafe or knit night.

The dyer and I both wanted this design to be a one-skein project. After knitting lots of swatches and trying out different lace ideas, I made my best calculations about yardage and cast on. And at the end, when I cast off, there were only a few yards remaining. Not ideal! So I wrote up the pattern for two sizes, one 60 inches long and the other about 66 inches. The smaller size definitely requires just one skein (or about 425 yards of fingering weight); the larger one calls for two skeins (475 yards). I did manage to squeeze the larger size out of just one skein, but it was a very close call and it’s possible the skein had a little extra yardage in it. I don’t want anyone to lose at “yarn chicken” when they’re nearly finished, so I’m recommending two skeins for the larger/longer size.

Will you be at Rhinebeck (or another fiber festival) this year? I’m getting more and more excited every day about seeing so much beautiful and inspiring knitwear all in one place, plus petting sheep, and goats, and alpacas, and bunnies. I can’t wait!

Sweater Sale and 100 Knits Book

100 Knits: Interweave's Ultimate Pattern Collection

Have you seen Interweave's beautiful new book of their most popular knitting patterns? I'm excited to have two designs in it — Chili Pepper Cardigan and Drafter's Cardigan. 

100 Knits: Interweave's Ultimate Pattern Collection is a gorgeous compendium of hats, cowls, cardigans, pullovers, shawls, socks, and more. At 500+ pages, with lots of full-page photos and patterns by many, many talented knitwear designers, it's incredibly inspiring to flip through — a knitting reference you'll treasure for years to come. The only problem will be finding time to make everything in it that you love!

Chili Pepper Cardigan, by Bonnie Sennott

Drafter's Cardigan, by Bonnie Sennott

100 Knits: Interweave's Ultimate Pattern Collection is available both as a print book and a downloadable ebook from Interweave. It's also available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Sweater Sale!

As summer draws to a close, it's time to start planning your fall sweater knitting — and to make that easier, I'm having a sale. Save 20% on Blue Peninsula pullover, vest, and cardigan patterns in my Ravelry pattern store with the coupon code SALE20. The sale ends Tuesday, September 4 and you can use the code as many times as you wish. (Magazine and yarn collection patterns are not included.)

Happy Labor Day Weekend (if you're in the U.S.) and happy fall knitting!

Clockwise from upper left: Wichita Vest, Meadow Road Pullover, Mount Pollux Pullover, Goodnough Cardigan

My Year of Garter Stitch

I guess working on my Next in Line afghan from January to July just didn't give me quite enough time with garter stitch this year: recently, I cast on two more garter stitch projects. One is a shawl design (only partly garter stitch — lots of lace, too) that will debut in October, just before Rhinebeck.

The other is a square for an MDK Team Blanket.

Over at Mason-Dixon Knitting, Ann and Kay have started the Team Blanket project, encouraging knitters either to coordinate a blanket for someone in need or to volunteer to knit a single square. It started last month when Ann decided to knit a blanket for Tia Coleman, who lost nine family members in a boating disaster. "Knitting a blanket," she wrote, "is not going to fix anything, but knitting is a measure of time spent thinking about someone."

Teams quickly formed. Since I had a little extra knitting time to spare, plus stash yarns at the ready, I signed up for Team Blanket No. 1. We are making squares for a woman who lost her fiance in a farming accident just two weeks before their wedding. Her story moved me to tears. I thought about her a lot as I knit my square, wishing her the strength to get through this sad time and find a way to go on, somehow.

Our team has used the Mitered Crosses Blanket pattern, by Kay Gardiner (all proceeds go to Mercy Corps, an international relief organization) — a simple yet striking design that brings together miters (paired decreases that magically create a square) with log cabin blanket construction.

The pattern is easy to follow and the knitting went quickly. In a way, it's like colorwork, in that you feel motivated to keep knitting to see how it's going to look when you finish each section.

As with any project, knitting a swatch is a good idea. I started off with the recommended needle size, but after finishing one miter I could see it was coming out too large. Dropping down a needle size and swapping out a too-heavy yarn fixed the problem. I ended up using Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair (in ice blue) for the center cross and Thelma & Louise from Wing and a Prayer Farm (left over from my Enallagma Shawl) for the borders. My finished blanket square measured exactly the size needed after blocking. I guess the knitting deities were smiling on me!

If you've got a cat — or a friend with one — you can put your swatch to good use by turning it into a catnip toy. I folded mine in half, sewed up three sides, filled it with catnip, then sewed the final edge.

I enjoyed knitting this clever mitered square so much! It doesn't require a lot of yarn or a lot of time — just a desire to join other knitters in creating comfort for someone who is suffering. Here are links, if you'd like to get involved:

Mason-Dixon Team Blanket blog post
Mason-Dixon Forums (join a team here)
Mitered Crosses Blanket FOR MERCY CORPS

Pattern Release and Yarn Giveaway: Wonderberry Shawl

How much I enjoyed knitting up this Wonderberry shawl! From start to finish, it was a relaxing, meditative project. The new garter and eyelets edging really appeals to my love of simplicity, and the new yarn — Periwinkle Sheep Watercolors II in Rose Quartz — is so soft, and so pretty. I'm not sure I'll ever take this shawl off.

The expanded and updated pattern is now available in my Ravelry pattern store, where it's 15% off with the coupon code WONDER15.

The Wonderberry pattern offers instructions for three sizes and two different edgings — the new garter and eyelets option, as well as the original beaded scallops. If you've never knit with beads before don't worry — it's not hard at all, and the pattern gives complete instructions for the crochet hook method of adding beads to your knitting.

If, like me, you're smitten with the lovely Rose Quartz colorway of the Periwinkle Sheep Watercolors II yarn, I have really good news for you. Karin has donated two skeins for an Instagram giveaway! See this post in my Instagram feed for details. I'm so happy that a couple of lucky knitters will get to try this sumptuous yarn for themselves. If you can't wait to get your hands on some, head over to Karin's shop, right here.

The Wonderberry pattern sale continues in my Ravelry store through Friday, August 17.

Thanks very much for reading!

Pattern Release: Next in Line Afghan

At long last, the Next in Line pattern is here! It's available on Ravelry and in my Etsy shop.

This log cabin afghan is worked from the center outward using four colors of worsted weight wool. The pattern includes instructions for two sizes, a smaller throw or a larger afghan. Finished (blocked) measurements are 43 inches/110 cm by 56 inches/143 cm for the throw, and 52 inches/133 cm by 60 inches/153 cm for the afghan.

There are no seams in this design — from the very first log to the last, it's one continuous piece of knitting. After you finish a log, you simply turn it to the left and pick up stitches for the next log along the top edge. Each log has just two colors, a main color and a contrast color (used in a stripe pattern). The design is named Next in Line because the contrast color of each log is the main color of the next log.

You'll need four colors of worsted weight wool for this design — see either my Ravelry pattern page or Etsy listing for details on yardage, needles, and other specs. It's worked in garter stitch throughout, but I've kept things interesting by varying the main color and contrast colors in each log, as well as the placement of the stripe pattern. In all, there are five different color and stripe combinations, which begin to repeat after a while, lending the design a visual coherence as it grows.

Two of the five different color combinations in my sample use silver grey as the main color, which gives it a calm, quiet look. That's something to think about when you choose colors. There will be more of Color 1 (in my case, silver grey) than Colors 2, 3, and 4 in the blanket. What do you want the overall effect to be? Bold and dramatic? Soft and soothing? Bright and cheery? Give yourself the freedom to express your own, unique inner spirit through color!

The four yarns used for the Next in Line Afghan are Cascade 220 #8401 Silver Grey, Cascade 220 #4010 Straw, Cascade 220 #8012 Doeskin Heather, and Valley Yarns Northampton #42 Lake Heather.

It was quite a journey, designing this afghan. When I cast on January 1, for the Fringe and Friends Logalong, I wasn't sure how far I'd get, as I'd never knit a log cabin project before and didn't consider myself overly fond of garter stitch. I chose a few colors in my stash that went well together (left over from my Journeyer and Grainline pullovers) and got started more as a lark than anything else, to see if maybe I could come up with something that would be a nice wedding present for friends who got married last January.

Before long, knitters on Instagram began asking for a pattern. My design plans for 2018 hadn't included a large, cozy blanket, but I felt like I could not let you all down. So finally, here it is!

I really loved this project from start to finish, and I hope you do, too. I look forward to seeing Next in Line afghans in all sorts of beautiful colors! If you post your progress on Instagram, tag your photos #bluepeninsula and #nextinlineblanket so I'll be sure to see them.

Thanks very much for reading — and happy log cabin knitting.

LINKS
Next in Line Instagram posts 
Ravelry pattern page
Etsy listing
Next in Line blog posts 

Next in Line Afghan: Yardage

I'm getting very close to having the pattern for Next in Line ready for release — just a bit more photo editing and few other odds and ends. At this point, the pattern's back from the tech editor, so I can now share yardage with you.

The pattern provides instructions for two sizes of this four-color design — a throw measuring 43 inches/110 cm by 56 inches/143 cm and an afghan measuring 52 inches/133 cm by 60 inches/153 cm.

For my sample, I used three colors of Cascade 220 (Silver Grey, Straw, and Doeskin Heather) and one color of Valley Yarns Northampton (Lake Heather). If you want to use exactly these yarns and colors, you'll need:

• Color 1: Cascade 220 [100% wool; 220yd/201m per 100 gr skein], #8401 Silver Grey, 5 skeins (throw), 7 skeins (afghan)

• Color 2: Cascade 220 [100% wool; 220yd/201m per 100 gr skein], #4010 Straw, 2 skeins (throw), 3 skeins (afghan)

• Color 3: Cascade 220 [100% wool; 220yd/201m per 100 gr skein], #8012 Doeskin Heather, 2 skeins (throw), 3 skeins (afghan)

• Color 4: Valley Yarns Northampton [100% wool; 247yd/226m per 100 gr skein], #42 Lake Heather, 2 skeins (throw), 3 skeins (afghan)

If you'd like to substitute other yarns, here are the approximate amounts of worsted weight wool you'll need:

• Color 1: 1,000yd/915m (throw), 1,450yd/1,325m (afghan)

• Color 2: 440yd/400m (throw), 660yd/600m (afghan)

• Color 3: 440yd/400m (throw), 660yd/600m (afghan)

• Color 4: 490yd/445m (throw), 675 yd/615m (afghan)

If you decide to use a hand-dyed yarn with limited dye lots, or a closeout yarn that you won't be able to get more of, you may want to buy a little extra of each color as insurance against running out. For my sample, I was able to get more of each color as the afghan grew, because they were all readily available.

If you want to start swatching, the pattern gauge is 18 stitches and 36 rows = 4”/10 cm after blocking. The needle size is US #7/4.5mm (or, as always, the size needed to obtain gauge). We all knit at different stitch and row gauges, so even though this design is "just garter stitch," I do recommend knitting a substantial swatch to determine the right needle size for you (at least 8 inches wide — and be sure to block it the same way you will block the finished project). For a large project like this, you want to be certain you're close to gauge and happy with the fabric before you cast on. 

I'll get back to work editing photos now — look for the pattern soon!

LINKS
Next in Line Instagram posts (hashtag: #nextinlineblanket)
My Ravelry project page
Next in Line blog posts