This and That...

A shout out to my 88th and 89th Momogus Knits Patterns customers, Electric City Yarn Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania and The Yarn Shoppe in Aventura, Florida. I have a special soft spot for Scranton, because that is my mom's home town. I'm going to try to keep you apprised of new local yarn stores that carry my patterns, because you gotta support your local yarn store, folks! If you need to find one in your area, go here! Eventually, stores that carry my patterns will all get highlighted, but they're coming so fast and furious right now that my poor webmaster can't keep up.

I hope you all got to take advantage of the special FREE download offer and downloaded your copy of NS21 Easy Cable Mittens. (Facebook fans and Twitter followers will always get the news of these offers first - hint hint). Mittens are one of my favorite things to knit, and these were fun to design and make. But don't do what I did! After making many pairs as samples, I picked up some apple green Berroco Ultra Alpaca to make a pair for myself and happily knit away. When I was finished the pair I looked at them and thought, huh, something's wrong:

Yeah, I made 2 right hand mittens. DOH! Though I felt like kicking myself around the block, I did get a good laugh out of it, and proceeded to make a left hand mitten.

That's better.

Free Cable Mitten Download!

I posted this to my Facebook page (are you a Facebook fan of Momogus Knits? You should be! Look what you get!). This link is good until tomorrow October 6.

Go and download for free a copy of my Easy Cable Mittens pattern. This classic, simple mitten knitting pattern is a great introduction to cables. Knit in either worsted or chunky weight yarn, these beautiful mittens make a quick and easy gift for everyone on your list (don't forget yourself!) Instructions are also included for cabling without a cable needle, which makes knitting these fun mittens go even fast. Sized for toddler up to adult.

And don't forget - you can make a matching Cabled Hat or Ear Flap Hat or a Cabled Scarf!

We Interrupt Our Regularly-Scheduled Programming....

....for this:

Congratulations to my beloved Phillies for clinching the NL East Division title.

The Sleeve That Ate Momogus Knits

Sleeves have always been my nemesis. Top down, cuff up, back and forth, in the round, picked up or knit separately - it just doesn't matter. I don't like doing them.

I've been working on the Child's version of the Chestnut Hill Gansey, and the sleeves have been kicking my butt. I wanted the gansey patterning on the yoke to continue on the sleeves. First I had the patterning going vertically down the sleeve, like so:

This was confusing and hard to figure out where to stop, so Matthew suggested that I make the Child's version the same as the American Girl doll version, where the patterning runs horizontally down the sleeve, like so:

All fine and good, so I ripped out the 3/4s of the sleeve I had knit and started over. I picked up the stitches around the sleeve opening and started knitting down. Well, after a few inches I realized that it was the worst picking up of stitches job ever done in the history of sleeves. Brace yourself:

Yeah, that's one unfortunate bump right at the shoulder. Look how long I lived in denial and just kept knitting and knitting! Oof. So finally I faced facts and ripped it out and started over once again. Now we're cooking:

Phew - much better. However, I've been at that point in this sleeve for a week. I just can't make myself work on it! Waaaahhhh......

And when I finally finish this sleeve.....I have to do it all over again on the other side.

Finished Customer Project

This is beautiful Jamar, in her lovely V-Neck Shell (#ES22). I believe the yarn she used was Waikiki by Crystal Palace. It's great to see the shell done in a variegated, textured yarn - the simple shape lends itself to an interesting yarn.

PLUS, Jamar looks fantastic! When she came into the store wearing this, I got all emotional. It was the first finished adult garment I had seen from a customer, and it was just thrilling to see how lovely she looked in it and what a great job she did.

Thank you, Jamar.

I'm Back! (With Another Free Pattern!)

Just returned from a glorious week in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Oh how I love that Vermont. Here's a snapshot (an enormous field of sunflowers we just happened to drive by):



Anyway, it's back in the saddle for the Momogus Knits crew. I'm putting together a little tutorial on adding beads to your knitting, but that requires more brain power than I have now, so instead I'm posting another free pattern.

This is the no-brainer pattern of all time, but it's one of my favorites. I had a lot of Sugar N Cream left over from the mighty Soap Sock, and the frugal old lady in me would not allow me to just throw it away, so I decided to make a matching washcloth, like so:

And so:

Diana's No-Brainer, Soap-Sock Matching, Sugar N Cream-Using-Up Washcloth:

Materials required
Lily Sugar N Cream yarn from your Soap Sock (or about 75 yds of heavy worsted weight cotton)
Size 7 needle

Cast on 3 sts.

Increase Row: Knit 2, yo (yarnover - bring yarn forward between the needles), knit to end of row. (The yarnover makes a pretty decorative hole and is also an increase, so your washcloth will grow....)

Repeat that row until you have approximately 44 stitches on the needle (depending on how you knit and how big you want your washcloth, but 44 will make a washcloth about 6" across)

Now you will decrease.

Decrease Row: Knit 1, knit 2 together, yo, knit 2 together, knit to end of row.

Repeat this row until you have 3 sts left. Bind off. You could make a little I-cord loop, or a little crochet chain loop with these last stitches, but I find that the washcloth hangs perfectly well on the little yarnover holes, so I don't bother with anything else.

So there you go. You can knock one of these out in an evening. The Soap Sock, this washcloth, and a little bar of nice smelly soap - a great useful handmade gift!!

Samples for Sales Reps

My sales reps have requested a couple of samples to take on sales calls. I love knitting for the sales reps. It often gives me a chance to try out a new yarn or think about a pattern in a different way.

This is Momogus Knits Easy Baby Hat in Kollage Yarns Corntastic yarn (100% corn fiber!) for Erica, who also reps for Kollage Yarn. The Corntastic (love the name) is soft and cottony to knit with. Nice stitch definition too. I love pink and green:


This is a reduced-in-size sample of the Momogus Knits Easy Mosaic Pillow for Andrea, who tells me that store owners like the idea of this pattern for a class, which I can vouch for having taught this at the Tangled Web for years. The pattern calls for bulky-weight yarn, but I did this sample in some sport weight merino (Lana Grossa Cool Wool) that I had in the stash. It turned out about 6" across (as opposed to the 14" of the bulky-weight version). It knit up quickly and it made me think that knit in fingering weight yarn (so that it would turn out about 3-4"), it would make a really nice sachet:

I'm always on the lookout for quick giftee projects, so I'm going to keep that in mind.