Pattern now available!

Thank you all for some wonderful suggestions! I saw so many new things in the lace motif after reading all of the comments: umbrellas, cathedral windows, flying birds-- what fun! The fact that I've decided to stick with the name "Carlotta" is more a reflection of how I've come to think of the pattern, and the memories I have of a day spent at Villa Carlotta, than a choice based on the merits of each suggested name. So I've decided to give two free patterns away: one to Jeanie, because I thought the name Azalee was especially beautiful, and one to Aimee, because after reading her comment, I could actually see the sandhill cranes in flight across the top of the beret (all on a collision course towards the center, but that's neither here nor there!). I've finished the chart for the hat, but I'm thinking I will write out the directions as well-- I encourage the use of charts (and prefer them myself), but I realize that some knitters would rather follow written-out instructions. So I would guess that the pattern will be finished within a week or two, and I will email it to the winners as soon as it's ready.

For patterns purchased before today:  On Row 8 of the Lace Chart, stitches #22 and #30 should be "P on RS, k on WS"; as this is a WS row, you will knit, not purl these stitches.

I'm really quite fond of these gloves...but no, I don't normally wear them to the beach.  I dug up this photo from my archives of almost exactly two years ago, when I was planning to submit Seaside to Magknits for publication.<

In one of the comments on my last post, Janet asked if I could direct her to some posts about the Selva Skirt.  There is a category for it (look on the lower right hand part of the page), but there aren't many posts to be found, simply because the Selva Skirt pattern was created for publication in a magazine, and hence was unbloggable before publication. Well, it's after publication now, and since at least one person is interested in how Selva came about, I thought I would provide a few details.  I often look through stitch dictionaries for inspiration, and in this case, the skirt was absolutely inspired by the stitch pattern, Hearts of Oak from Barbara Walker's Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns.  I thought the texture of this stitch pattern was fascinating, and after swatching, I thought its density would be perfect for a fitted knit skirt that would hide a few posterior, shall we say, imperfections.  (Plus I hate wearing G-strings-- not required for Selva, ladies!)  Also, as I recall (the themes that Interweave provided to designers for the Winter 2007 issue are no longer online), one of the suggested themes for that issue was tailored, fitted garments, which seemed perfect for Selva.  Above is the wrong side of the swatch I sent off to Interweave Knits with my pattern submission, back in February '07; the photo is crap because it was an afterthought, taken with my cellphone camera in my car just before I put the submission materials in the mail. While swatching, I also found that the Hearts of Oak chart has a number of errors.  The most important part of the chart, the pattern repeat, is correct, but the outer edges of the chart are not.  Always be aware that errors may be (and probably are) present in published charts and patterns! In the case of this stitch pattern, I debated which side to use for the right side; both sides are really cool.  One reason I decided to go with the "right" side was the waistband.  As I was swatching, I had started to think about how I would do the waistband decreases, and had concluded two things:  first, that working the decreases into the stitch pattern would require a better mind than mine, and second, switching to a less dense stitch pattern, like stockinette or ribbing or, well, just about anything, would mean losing that nice tight fabric just when it would be great to have a bit of a girdle effect, across the tummy and hips.  So after examining both sides of the swatch, I decided that the V-shaped knit sections on the right side were just begging to be extended into long ribbons to form the waistband, and with some experimenting, I came up with what you see at the top of the above swatch:  the ribbons include decreases and increases, and thus retain at least some of the density of the Hearts of Oak pattern. Next:  The evolution of Selva's design after she was accepted by Interweave Knits for their Winter 2008 issue.

Now, it so happens that I am half Chinese, but that's not why I like this lace pattern--and although it's nice that anything so lovely has the word "Chinese" in the name, I'm not sure this means that the pattern actually originated in China.  (It was contributed to BW's 2nd Treasury by one Marjorie B. Bialkowski, Richmond, VA, so perhaps she could tell us its provenance.  I'm curious about the many contributors to BW's Treasuries, by the way.  Are they knitters, designers, historians?  Marjorie is only one of many:  a few others are Leona Hughes, Sarasota, FL; Pauline Balbes, Hollywood, CA; Dorothy Reade, Eugene, OR; and the prolific  Hildegarde M. Elsner, Aldan, PA, who must be either a remarkable innovator, or a compulsive pattern collector.) But I digress.  Here is the entire page from BW, including her (or rather, M.B. Bialkowski's) directions for Chinese Lace.  It is a 24-row repeat and quite enjoyable to work--but it's kind of hard to get a sense of where the pattern is going from the written directions.    So I charted the pattern.  I really like working from charts; not only do you get a better sense of how the pattern is constructed and how it progresses, but it then becomes simple to work in the round if you wish.  One thing you don't get from either set of directions (but which is visible in the photo) is how the decreases and increases pull the lace so that it curves gently from side to side.  (Note:  When I converted the charts into jpg format, some of the YO symbols came out looking rather bizarre; the horseshoe-shaped thingies as well as the circles mean:  YO!)  

Well, Oliver's first problem was that he was too short; pictured is his center back panel, with the bottom edge on the left.  Since I left the top stitches for the neckband live (which makes for a more stretchy neck edge than if they're bound off), I could normally have just knit a little further, but by the time I reached an attractive stopping point--the end of the larger diamond--it would have been too long.  So I changed the repeat on the pattern chart so that it begins with the large diamond instead of the small one; the new chart is shown at left.  If I stop at the top of the third large diamond, the back panel should be about an inch longer than before.  Panels like this are another reason pattern directions should give length in rows!*  If Debbie Bliss had done this in her pattern for the Cotton Aran Sweater I knit for my son, it would have been clear that a certain number of rows had to be worked for the pattern repeat to end as pictured in her book.  And then I wouldn't have had to change the neckline from a crew to a V so the repeat ended at least semi-attractively. Anyway.  On this photo of Oliver's front, the entire border ribbing area is circled.  The border rib doesn't stand out from the body of the sweater, which is as I intended; however, I don't like the way the border ribbing meets the mirror cable panel, which affects both the center back panel and the center front edge.  I'm going to try a garter stitch border instead.  *So far the response to my rant has been less than enthusiastic; okay, so it's been nonexistent.  That doesn't mean I'm going to give up.  My next step?  Letters to the individual members of the CYCA's Standards Committee.  (It's not too late to jump on the bandwagon!)