Tag Archives: bristol ivy

New Favorites: Offshore

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New Favorites: Offshore

Swans Island released a little pattern collection a few weeks ago called The All American Collection, and I can’t get this Bristol Ivy pattern, Offshore, off my mind. Slouchy and unisex, it has some handsome cables up the front of a simple stockinette sweater, and another one running up one sleeve, across the saddle shoulder (love a saddle shoulder) and back down the other sleeve. It looks like a such an easy but engaging knit, and the slouchy, unisex, sweatshirt-y shape looks so perfectly cozy to me right now — great for weekdays and weekends alike.

See also: Oranmore.

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p.s. In case you haven’t already seen it, I added a photo to the end of Thursday’s post about joining Amanda parts at the underarm — a spectacular photo of a just-joined Amanda. Go look!

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Uncommon cables

Best spring/summer tees of 2014

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Best summer tee knitting patterns

As soon as I say that, some brilliant new tees will come along. But there has been a flood of little sweater tee patterns so far this year, and these are my personal favorites:

TOP LEFT: Driftwood Tee by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark — with just a little triangle patch of mesh

TOP RIGHT: Front Pleat Dolman by Jane Howorth — love the sleeves, the pleat, the texture blocking, but I’d likely skip the picot edge on the hem

MIDDLE LEFT: Shady Grove by Cedar Box Knits — again with the little zigzag of lace

MIDDLE RIGHT: Linum Tee by Bristol Ivy — nice and simple

BOTTOM LEFT: Sonora by Courtney Kelley — LOVE the stitch pattern

BOTTOM RIGHT: Bohemian Tee by Erica Schleuter — and I’m into the granny-chic-ness of this, want to knit it in natural linen and wear it with holey jeans and a killer pair of sandals (still also want to crochet this in monochrome)

I also love Grace Ahkrem’s Petaluma Tee — it might be my favorite — but I can’t bear the styling in that photo. And we’ve talked about Pam Allen’s Perkins Cove Pullover already, but have you seen Fancy Amber’s short-sleeved version? So cute.

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New Favorites: Svalbard

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New Favorites: Svalbard

All this bottom-up stockinette business has me longing for something completely different — one-piece, clever construction, interesting stitch pattern(s) … anything! I saw a beautiful example of Bristol Ivy’s Svalbard cardigan at Stitches this weekend and realized it might be just exactly what I’m craving, as it’s all of those things in one. Pretty sure all I’d tamper with is the sleeve length.

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: from Amirisu Spring 2014

New Favorites: Undulating brioche

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Brioche stitch sweater and cowl patterns

Honestly, I’ve never been able to work up a lot of interest in brioche stitch — to me, it seems like a lot of extra knitting fuss for not a lot of payoff. I readily admit this is likely shortsightedness on my part, and am sure someone will make a compelling case for its unique merits in the comments! In any case, I always figured sooner or later a pattern would come along that would challenge my views on that, and suddenly there have been three in a row. First was Oshima, which I’ve become increasingly preoccupied with since trying it on, although even there I’ve found myself wondering if you couldn’t just do it in twisted rib or heel stitch, or something less fussy but similar looking. But then along came these two, and it’s the undulating brioche that’s really captured my attention:

LEFT: Brioche Vest pattern from The Purl Bee — I love the way the deep trenches of the brioche look as they trace the outlines of the armholes (free pattern)

RIGHT: Windrow cowl pattern by Bristol Ivy — she’s right that those twisting, turning rows of brioche look like “the lines and furrows” of farmland, but it also just looks like a lot of fun to knit (portion of proceeds going to flood relief; see the pattern page for details)

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In keeping with yesterday’s news, the ICYMI post for this week is Knitting in Code, my Morse Code Cowl.

Don’t forget today is the last day to enter the Anna yarn giveaway.

I also want to note that I got a big box of the Bento Bags on Saturday afternoon (talk about speedy!) so if the size or color you wanted was sold out last week, go get it! Back orders are being filled this morning, and big thanks to everyone who wiped me out of those so quickly!

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New Favorites: Rekaviður

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Rekaviður hat pattern by Bristol Ivy

Bristol Ivy has done it again. Rekaviður is apparently pronounced “ray-ka-VEE-thur” and is Icelandic for driftwood. It’s also the name of her darling new hat pattern. The cable-like shapes are actually knitted in some form of smocking stitch, not cabled at all, and the way they float up and down the hat at varying levels reminds me of some kind of seaweed, or any number of things from the ’70s. (Lava lamps, bead curtains …) And also of points plotted along the curves of a graph. Which would make sense, coming from the woman who tracks “the Stock(inette) Market.” All visual references aside though, it’s just a fantastic hat that looks like it would also be tons of fun to knit.

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For In Case You Missed It this week, more on that subject — Knitter’s Delight: Beautifully textured hats.

Blog Crush: Where the Red-Winged Blackbird Flies

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Blog Crush - Bristol Ivy - Where the Red-Winged Blackbird Flies

I’ve uttered the name Bristol Ivy a few times on the blog, with regard to her pattern designs Eyen and Bayard (twice). And you may have run across her in the comments here and there. She’s a very talented designer. I also love her Auden sweater and her Metropolis Mitts, to name just two, and I’m completely in awe of her shawl designs. She has an artistically mathematical mind, which enables her to conceive of shawls like Winnowing, Lida and Thorn, and it’s also what’s got me going on about her today. I’ve gotten to know Bristol a little bit through Twitter, and find her endlessly entertaining, and I took special note one night when she tweeted that a friend had suggested she could be the Nate Silver of knitting. (“Guys, it was like a holy light shone down on me and choirs of angels sang when she said that.”) Sure enough, since that day she’s been stalking pattern stats on Ravelry, categorizing and tracking it all in presumably elaborate spreadsheets, and she has begun spitting out nerdtastic charts about the trends she’s spotting. She’s even come up with a characteristically Bristol name for her report: The State of the Stock(inette) Market. Which just makes me love her always charming blog, Where the Red-Winged Blackbird Flies, that much more.

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(Shawl photos by Jared Flood and Carrie Bostick Hoge; chart by Bristol Ivy)