March 2008 Archives

I'm so relieved to have this yoke done. After much experimentation, I have a top down raglan knit in one piece with sleeves and body increasing at different rates -- and it works! The neck doesn't have the flashdance effect, and the armholes are shallow enough to completely cover my bra at the sides. I'm really excited to see the math work!

After I finished knitting my size, I went back and tweaked the other sizes and I think I have it (or am really, really close). The test knitters will tell me for sure in a few weeks. I've written out sizes for busts up to size 54, and at that size the neck is just shy of 9 inches wide, and the armhole just 9.5 inches (in fact, right now I'm more concerned that it's not deep enough, but that will be an easy problem to fix).

I don't have any test knitters above 48 so I may have to wait until I release the pattern to get feedback. In the meantime, If you're in the upper sizes (50, 52 or 54 inch bust) and would care to share your preferred armhole depth, please let me know. Leave a comment on this entry, or follow the contact link over at the Knotions blog entry.

It really feels great to have knitting needles in my hands again. My keyboard had taken their place for the past 6 weeks while I worked on the announcement site for Knotions.

I'm busy working on the design for the April article, and those swatches above are just a portion of the ones I've knitted. It's funny -- knowing that you all will be relying on me to get it just right has made me look at the swatching process differently. Once I settled on a yarn, I swatched it with several needle sizes and took careful notes of the pre- and post-washing properties.

I also have to say that all your comments and feedback have been so wonderful to read! You've motivated me even more, and have given me some great ideas for future articles. Several of you also commented that you had trouble subscribing to Knoted -- the Knotions Blog. I've cleaned up the RSS confusion now, but here's a direct link to the feed. You'll get notified when new articles and patterns are released, and many of my more in-depth technique posts will be over at Knotions now, so I encourage you to add the feed to your subscriptions.

I'm so excited to finally be able to share this with you all! As many of you have commented or emailed me about, I've been a bit quiet for the past 6 weeks or so. That's because I've been busy developing knotionsmag.com, a new online knitting magazine.

This has been a real labor of love and I couldn't have done it without the input and support of so many friends: Christy, Jessica, Kathy, Kelly, Kristy, Liz and Michelle. Thank you ladies for your smart, thorough feedback and encouraging words -- Knotions is better because of each of you.

I have so many plans for knotions, and I'd love your input as well. Stop by the site and fill out the reader survey. This is also the first official call for submissions, so if you're a designer (newbie or established), take a look at the submissions guidelines. The first issue publishes in August, and the first article series comes out in April.

Looking forward to hearing what you all think!