Pattern Spotlight: Phaeodaria Socks by Hunter Hammersen

Hunter Hammersen joins us this week with the inspiration behind her newest pattern, Phaeodaria in Haiku:

I'm easily distracted. I'm sure it says something unflattering about my character, but if you ask me to do the same thing all the way down a sock, there's every chance I'll get bored and wander off somewhere around the first heel turn. Given what I hear from other knitters, I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. These socks are my answer to that little problem.

The leg is one big, twisty, unapologetically intricate chart full of all sorts of cabled goodness. Now of course i understand that keeping those sort of shenanigans up through a whole sock might be a bit much (even the easily distracted among us want a break from time to time), so things do calm down a little on the foot. There you switch to a slightly more subdued cable that repeats every few rows (even then you're working a nifty center cross cable that I find unreasonably satisfying, so you won't wander off). The combination makes for a sock that holds your attention with out ever being too hard.

The lovely stitch patterns (and of course the name) were taken from the drawings of Phaeodaria (tiny marine organisms with amazingly complicated mineral skeletons) in Ernst Haeckel's 1904 book /Kunsformen der Natur/. I'm a sucker for old scientific illustrations and find them a marvelous source of design inspiration!

So if you're looking for a lovely sock that will keep you entertained, Phaeodaria might be just the ticket. And if you're looking for something a bit more subdued, you can totally come raid my knitting basket. I've got a whole stack of half knit socks that would very much love to be finished!

More patterns by Hunter featuring Anzula yarns:

In Case of Draughts
Argent
Interstices

What keeps you going on a project? Tell us in the comments!

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Pattern Spotlight: Equal Measure by Emma Welford

This week designer Emma Welford joins us to tell the creation story of her newest design:

Some designs start with an inspiring image, others are born from a pretty stitch pattern, and sometimes the yarn itself takes center stage and tells you what to do. Such was the case with Equal Measure, which started way back in 2014 as three beautiful skeins of For Better or Worsted I took home with me from Anzula's TNNA booth. I couldn't decide between Avocado, Sexy and Hyacinth so I took one of each. These colors could go together....right? I told myself. Or am I just crazy? (The jury's still out on the crazy part.)

Photos by Lindsey Topham

I knew I wanted to use all three colors in the same design and craved something textural to elevate them past simple stripes. The crisp stitch definition of For Better or Worsted looked fantastic when I added a cable to my swatch. Garter stitch and an accent cable it is, then! Originally I planned on making all three pieces have the same color placement, but then it hit me.

I wanted to use all colors equally, rather than having excess yardage leftover on some colors.
This was already shaping up to be a...funky design. Why not go all the way and play round robin with the colors?

I toyed with the debate of knitting flat vs knitting in the round. The cable on the hat spans 12 stitches, which is longer than I like any floats to cross, and to tell the truth working garter stitch in the round is not one of my favorite knitting activities. But who wants to knit small accessories flat and seam them up? Not to mention a seam would be more obvious due to the stripes, unless you really wanted to shoot yourself in the foot and alternate stripe colors as you seam. Didn't think so!

While I've done plenty of traditional intarsia, I wanted to see if it was possible to work intarsia in the round. Off a-Googling I went, and I discovered yes! It's not true circular knitting, since you're knitting back and forth in rows and joining them seamlessly as you go, but it would do the trick just fine for me with the added bonus of getting to learn a fun new technique. Don't worry, dear knitter—I whipped up a photo tutorial, included in the pattern, so you have your own personal reference! Equal Measure is sized to fit toddlers through adult large, making it the perfect set for your whole family. Pick your favorite colors of For Better or Worsted and let 'er knit!

What new techniques do you want to try? What's your favorite way to learn new techniques? Let us know in the comments below!

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Book Review... And Giveaway!

We are so excited about Jennifer Wood's newest book, Refined Knits! We're especially excited about our very own Anzula Cricket yarn in Olivia being showcased with the gorgeous Camelia Pinecone Cardigan.

“The Japanese pattern that inspired Camelia is reminiscent … of pinecones. Camelia, which means evergreen in Italian, is a pretty, feminine name that perfectly matches with the pinecones that drop from evergreen trees.”

“…the center of the stitch pattern is between the pinecone repeats to balance the design, and then …. the purl ridges are carried down the sweater, adding the center part to the bottom for a pretty detail.”

“This cropped, rounded yoke cardigan is constructed in one piece from the top down. Raglan increases shape the bodice.”

-from Refined Knits by Jennifer Wood (Interweave 2016)

In celebration of its release, we're giving away a copy of Refined Knits! Comment below with your favorite pattern from the book and what colorway you'd use. Winner will be chosen next Friday, April 1st (no foolin'!).

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