What's your Style-Personality?

So, this is kind of fun - Myers-Briggs for style: The Cut's Style-Personality Quiz

XCRI, Kathleen Dames-style
Upon the Spanish Main, An Aran for Frederick, Thistle Leaf Pullover

XCRI: Maximalist, Consistent, Romantic, Individualistic
You're a rare bird, XCRI. Your style is feminine and sweeping, full of grand gestures, but it's not something that changes a lot from year to year. You have a uniform, and that uniform is dramatic. More power to you.

And my thoughts on this assessment...

1. Not sure anyone who knows me IRL would think of me as a Maximalist (hello, jeans and t-shirt/sweater), but I do kind of wish I could sweep around in grand ball skirts all day.
2. Many thanks to St. Joseph's for inculcating a love of uniform dressing. 
3. My only quibble is the opposition of Romantic and Intellectual. I'm both!
4. Individualistic? Of course! I'm me ;)

So, after looking at all the other personalities (click on the "already know your type" bar - the resulting page has all the personalities down the left side), I feel like I swing between Minimalist and Maximalist, in addition to the Romantic/Intellectual dichotomy. But I'm definitely not a Trend Enthusiast, nor am I Adventurous in the Avant Garde fashion sense.

While this is sort of a silly exercise, it's also interesting to see if what we think about ourselves translates into how we present ourselves. Maybe I will invest in a big ol' skirt...

Go take the test! Then come back and tell me what your Style-Personality type is in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy knitting!
xoxo,

Pattern: Mermaid's Cardigan

Mermaid's Cardigan on Ravelry $7 (no account necessary)

An elegant cardigan just right for a mermaid. Gentle waist shaping follows your curves, and Fishtail Lace sleeves pique the knitter’s interest. By eliminating sleeve increases, the lace is not too difficult and the sleeves blouse out from an i-cord cast-on. To keep the lines clean and the hems from rolling, the entire cardigan is edged in i-cord.

What you'll love about knitting Mermaid's Cardigan:

• Stockinette body gives you some lovely, "mindless" knitting, while...
• The sleeves are filled with knitterly excitement - i-cord and lace!
• Integrated i-cord is used to great effect to not only smoothly finish your sweater, but to create your cardigan's buttonholes.

What you'll love about wearing Mermaid's Cardigan:

• Perfectly placed princess-seam waist shaping flatters your figure
• Lace sleeves give you a bit of ventilation - this is a great transitional cardigan
• The little puff of sleeve at the cuff - very subtle but very fun

Size/Finished Measurements
Women’s XS [S, M, L, 1X, 2X, 3X] (shown in size M with no ease)
Chest: 30 [34, 38, 42, 46, 50, 54] inches

Materials

• Madeline Tosh tosh dk [100% Superwash Merino Wool 225 yards/206 meters per 50 gram skein]; color: Baltic; 4 [5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8] 
• One US6/4.0mm 29-inch circular needle (NDLs) 
• Set of five US6/4.0mm double-pointed needles (DPNs) 
• Coil-less safety pins/removable stitch markers 
• Waste yarn or stitch holders 
• Tapestry needle 
• Eight 5/8-inch buttons

Gauge
20 stitches x 28 rows = 4 inches square in Stockinette St.

Skills Needed

• casting on
• binding off
• knitting
• purling
• increasing
• decreasing
• working i-cord
• following written or charted instructions for Fishtail Lace pattern (both included)

Thanks!
Technical Editing: Ruth Garcia-Alcantud
Test Knitting: 3catos, elizek
Photography: Nicholas Dames

Everything you need to create your own beautiful Mermaid's Cardigan is provided in the professionally designed (by me!) pattern. Both written and charted versions of the Fishtail Lace stitch pattern are included.

Lovely knitters who purchased this pattern when it was originally released should have received a message from Ravelry that the updated version of the pattern is now in your library. Don't miss the special customer coupon code!



Thanks for stopping by, and happy knitting!
xoxo,

quick + purly: 5 baby blankets

Some dear friends just welcomed a new baby into the world, so I have baby blankets on the brain. Since the little one is here already, and I have a lot of pattern knitting on my plate, I've focused on worsted-weight patterns this time.

1. Lady Danbury by Kristen Fanning $4 USD 

   

   center-out blanket - make it as large as you like

2. Crisscross Apple Sauce by Aimee Alexander $6 USD 

   

   great motif plus a lovely edging

3. Bairn by Julie Hoover $7 USD 

   

   those cables! that color!

4. Pure Baby Blanket by Jen Lucas $4 USD 

   

   another really pretty stitch pattern

5. Daisy Love Baby Blanket by Sarah Nicole Burton $3.99 

   

   the combination of daisies and hearts is so sweet

All images from patterns' Ravelry pages. No copyright infringement intended. I just want to share the love!

In case you need one more...

Babe in the Mist by Kathleen Dames $7 USD

reversible stitch pattern also creates lovely wavy edges

Do you have a favorite baby blanket to recommend? Let us know in the comments below :)

Thanks for stopping by, and happy knitting!

xoxo,

See that over in the sidebar??? ->->->

Time is running out to participate in my social media poll. In trying to figure out where to spend my limited time online, I'd love to know where you hang out. So, if you have ... ten seconds, please check off the social media platforms you use. It's totally anonymous, and the poll will close at the end of the day on Thursday 1 October.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy knitting!
xoxo,

P.S. You can find me on most social media platforms as @kathleendames, and I'm Purly on Ravelry.

Is it a cape?

Someone over on a Ravelry forum asked what made my Caught in the Rigging cape a cape rather than a poncho (and thinking about what makes a poncho led me on to wonder about serapes). To be honest, I just thought it seemed more like a cape. Didn't really give it a ton of thought at the time. But the question got me wondering...

Well, that's not hugely helpful, is it? And I'm not sure I needed to know the verb definition of cape.

Construction-wise, I think of a cape as not-a-poncho, and a poncho as something with corners. The first large-scale project I ever knit was a poncho from Melanie Falick's Weekend Knitting, which was a big rectangle that you poncho-ized by sewing one short end to the bottom of one of the long sides. It ends up with only one pointy bit (corner), but it definitely qualifies. I've seen other ponchos where you sew two rectangles together leaving a slit in the middle for your head. Or you could even knit a square with a hole in the middle.

All these poncho ideas seem to me to have come out of the serape when someone got tired of wrapping the rectangle of fabric around themselves and just sewed it mostly shut.

For me a cape is something that fits more closely to the body. Caught in the Rigging came out of a simpler idea (still on the design to-do list) which I dubbed "Morningside Cape":

Yeah, Elsa's rockin' a little cape/swatch/prototype

The thing about both of these capes is that they are shaped in the yoke to sit better on the shoulders and fit the body more closely. Some days I might want a drapey, flowing thing to wear, but generally I prefer something with a closer fit.

Looking at the definition for cape again, I want to design some tippets and capelets next :)

What do you think? Is Caught in the Rigging a cape or a poncho? Let me know in the comments or come over to the Ravelry group. We can discuss it in this thread.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy knitting!

xoxo, 

Pattern: Unicorn Party

Unicorn Party on Ravelry $7 (no account necessary)

Fun to knit and a blast to wear, Unicorn Party puts garter stitch to work mixing up colors in your favorite multicolor skein before adding colorful mini skeins of sock yarn (your best leftovers, color packs, unicorn tails) for the edging. Thoughtful details and helpful notes will make this small shawl your new fave to knit and to wear. The only limit on this party is your imagination.

What you'll love about knitting Unicorn Party:

• Starting at the bottom with three stitches and following my notes means no fear of running out of yarn
• This is a perfect stash buster . Grab your favorite leftovers or rock one of those gorgeous gradient packs that have taken the knitting world by storm and have a party!
• Garter stitch makes for great social knitting, plus it breaks up the pooling that can occur with speckled and hand-dyed yarns - have fun knitting yourself a Unicorn Party at a party ;)

What you'll love about wearing Unicorn Party:

• Color party! Knit and wear yourself a rainbow or a gradient or a mix of your favorite colors
• You get a squishy cozy fabric from Garter stitch - fantastic for keeping you warm and colorful any time of year
• Shallow triangle shape makes it perfect to wear as a shoulder shawl, scarf, or bandit-style neck warmer

Size/Finished Measurements
Width: 66½ inches/169cm Depth: 14 inches/35.5cm high

Materials

• madelinetosh tosh sock (100% Superwash Merino; 395yds/361m per 3.53oz/100g); MC color: Holi Festival; 1 skein {approx 395yds/361m}
• madelinetosh Unicorn Tails (100% Superwash Merino; 52yds/48m per 14g); CC1 color: Edison Bulb, CC2 color: Neon Peach, CC3 color: Pop Rocks; 1 skein each {approx. 37yds/34m each} 
• US6/4.0mm 40-inch circular needle or size needed to obtain gauge
• Tapestry needle

Gauge
20 sts x 40 rows = 4 inches in Garter Stitch, blocked
Note: I am a loose knitter. While gauge is not critical in a shawl, you may run out of yarn if your gauge is different from the gauge given.

Skills Needed

• casting on
• binding off
• knitting
• increasing
• decreasing

Thanks!
Technical Editing: Maureen Hannon, Lana Ananth
Test Knitting: dezignmama, knittygal, pinhappy, strickgut

Everything you need to create your own beautiful Unicorn Party is provided in the professionally designed (by me!) pattern.



Thanks for stopping by, and happy knitting!
xoxo,

Pattern: Castaway

Castaway on Ravelry $7 (no account necessary)

You’ve been cast up on a desert island. Luckily, you kept hold of your skein of Malabrigo Lace and a circular needle, so why not cast on a Castaway?

This is a straightforward “wide triangle” shawlette (four increases on the “right” side, two on the “wrong”), mostly knitting one way and purling the other, with an occasional row that will cause your stitches to run. The final section creates a pretty ruffle along the edge.

Malabrigo Lace knits up into a divinely soft and cozy shawlette (an LYS owner friend of mine thought it was cashmere!). The pattern takes advantage of the yarn’s tendency to be a little sticky, which will keep the dropped-stitch ladders open and lacy.

Desert island? Not too bad!

What you'll love about knitting Castaway:

• 1 needle + 1 skein of yarn (choose one you love!) + 1 pattern = yards and meters of pleasurable knitting
• Worked top-down from a center tab makes for an easy beginning with a pleasant stretch of Stockinette knitting before you reach the drop-stitch excitement
• Dropping stitches! Remember when you first learned to knit and dropping stitches was so scary? Maybe that was just me, but dropping them here is FUN (and a little subversive).

What you'll love about wearing Castaway:

• Dropped stitches create a wonderful texture
• So. Soft. So soft. Especially when you wear it wrapped around your neck, bandit-style
• Also makes a lovely shoulder shawl, so everyone can see the drop-stitch lines

Size/Finished Measurements
Width: 57 inches Depth: 17 inches

Materials

• Malabrigo Yarn Lace [100% Merino; 470 yards/430 meters per 50 gram skein]; color: Blue Surf; 1 skein
• One US4/3.75mm 29-inch circular needle 
• Stitch markers
• Tapestry needle

Gauge
26 stitches x 44 rows = 4 inches square in Stockinette St.

Skills Needed

• casting on
• binding off
• knitting
• purling
• increasing
• decreasing

Thanks!
Technical Editing: Ruth Garcia-Alcantud
Test Knitting: Elizabeth Hutchinson, Annie Rota
Photography: Nicholas Dames

Everything you need to create your own beautiful Castaway is provided in the professionally designed (by me!) pattern.

Lovely knitters who purchased this pattern when it was originally released should have received a message from Ravelry that the updated version of the pattern is now in your library. Don't miss the special customer coupon code!



Thanks for stopping by, and happy knitting!
xoxo,