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Designer Interviews: Christine Guest

Photo © Christine Guest, used with permission As part of the Indie designer Gift-A-Long, I am interviewing Indie designers about their favorite knitting and crochet projects, yarns, and gift knitting.

Christine Guest (ChristineGuest on Ravelry)

If you could only knit/crochet one item type of item, what would it be?
I like making sweaters, even though there are two sleeves. I love playing with construction methods – the Attleboro Sweater starts with a strip from wrist to waist through the underarm and builds to the waist. I wanted to avoid stair step seams at the armhole through the raglan increases. The four seams at the body are all straight lines. The yoke is not, but design can’t all be easy if it’s going to fit around a human.

What is your favorite workhorse yarn?
Quince and Company Lark. My latest version of the Herringbone Scarf is made in it, though I have to remember to mail it to my sister-in-law for photos.

Which of your patterns make for really great gift knitting?
Holly Mittens– a small project that is completely NOT boring. If puzzles keep the brain fit, this should count as mental exercise. Not that it’s really hard, I just needed lots of different increases and decreases to get the fabric I wanted.

Tin-of Tans-I’m told a fast crocheter can make a set in an evening, it takes me more like two, then the gift is good for introducing mathematics, Chinese culture, geometric thinking, and the idea that children should quite while their adult is making diner.

Herringbone Scarf– This one is a good rhythmic knit once the bias shaping kicks in. Three of the men in my family wear these scarves, and my son asked for one this year. The women like them too. I can’t say that about anything else I’ve ever designed.

Winter Whites Hat

winter whites hat http://midnightskyfibers.com

I knit this in Sable, a merino/angora yarn blend I found at the thrift store (for $1! for 2 balls). I had a false start initially since the dyelots were different on a small bit of yarn wrapped around one of the balls, so I had to rip part of the hat back once I looked at it in brighter light. There was enough yarn I could knit a deep 1×1 ribbed brim. To help the angora fluff up I ran the hat through a spin cycle and then a round of the dryer (on low heat, checking to be sure it wasn’t felting too much).

winter whites hat http://midnightskyfibers.com

Designer Interviews: Redtigerdesigns

redtiger

As part of the Indie designer Gift-A-Long, I am interviewing Indie designers about their favorite knitting and crochet projects, yarns, and gift knitting.

First up- Cynthia Levy of Redtigerdesigns (redtigeron Ravlery).

If you could only knit/crochet one item type of item, what would it be?
Socks, socks and more socks! My grandmother taught me to knit and was a wonderful provider of handknit socks for everyone in the family. I’m trying to carry on the tradition in her memory and have come to truly enjoy knitting and designing socks. One of my favorite original sock designs is Precambrian Cable Socks.

What is your favorite workhorse yarn?
I really love indie-dyed fingering weight yarns and one of most favorites is Barking Dog Achilles from Barking Dog Yarns. Both the stitch definition and color depth are fabulous! Both Penuche Twist Socks and Lychgate Socks were designed using this yarn.

Which of your patterns make for really great gift knitting?
Vertigo Fingerless Gloves make a great gift project. The pattern is interesting enough to be fun to knit without being too difficult.

Hippie Heart Socks would be a great gift for that funky person on your gift list. The pattern is fun to knit even if you wouldn’t wear them yourself!

On Ravlery as redtiger.

Kimono Booties

These cute booties may not be very practical (I am not sure how well they would stay on tiny feet), but they sure are cute! They take a teeny tiny bit of yarn- a ball a bit larger than a walnut for the dk version, and slightly less for the sock/light dk weight yarn. Based on Chaussons Mignons (scroll to the bottom for the english version), with some big changes. Instead of casting on a few stitches and knitting rows and rows with just a few stitches to form a T and having to sew up the sides, I knit mine in one piece, with picked up stitches to avoid seaming. I also don’t like knitting back and forth across just a few stitches, so I knit the sole sideways instead, which also made picking up stitches easier.

Note: the changes I made really require you to use a circular needle or several dpns, since picking up stitches around the heel and the first few rows after won’t work well if knit straight across, the booties are simply too small. If you want a truly invisible edge, use a provisional cast on (I didn’t bother and the seam is barely noticeable). If you only have straight needles handy, I recommend what several of the commenters did- cast on and knit from the top of the “T” down.

DK yarn and size 4 needles
Knit in 1 piece, so the only seaming is at the toe.

Cast on 14 stitches.
K 16 rows.
Pick up and knit 8 stitches (1 for each ridge).
Pick up and knit 14 stitches across cast on. [36 stitches total]
Knit 16 rows.
Bind off loosely.
Sew toe seam at front.

Sock or light DK yarn- size 2 needles.
These are tiny, maybe suitable for a newborn.
Cast on 12 stitches.
K 12 rows.
Pick up and knit 6 stitches (1 for each ridge).
Pick up and knit 12 stitches across cast on. [30 stitches]
Knit 12 rows.
Bind off loosely.
Sew toe seam at front.

PS- this is how the stitches are picked up from the base:

Silver Pipe

silver stripe

A quick hat to use up the last bit of some metallic silver yarn, this beanie is nice and warm while being fairly close fitting. I varied the length of the stripes to keep it interesting and stretch the yarn as far as possible. The brim would have been better if I had switched to smaller needles or used fewer stitches for the ribbing.

Teal Panel hat

teal panels hat

A hat to use up some recycled shetland and teal yarns I had on hand. To make the “lice” pattern more interesting I knit solid stripes of teal to make the hat appear to have panels of pattern.

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