Category Archives: 2015

New Pattern: Arushi

Arushi (first rays of the sun) is a crescent shaped shawl knit from the bottom up. The pointy edges and the lace portion are worked back and forth and the stockinette crescent shaped is worked using short rows. The lace stitch is charted and written instructions are also provided.

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While the sample is knit in laceweight yarn, this shawl can be knit using light/fingering weight yarn also. Use bigger needles to get the right drape with heavier yarn. The finished size and yardage will vary if heavier yarn is used.

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Arushi by Anjali M.

Arushi is available at 25% off till Sep 30. Use coupon code ArushiForWalkCollection at Ravelry check out.

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New Pattern: Purvi

Purvi translates to “from the east” and is also the name of a popular Hindustani raga in Indian classical music. Purvi is sung during dusk – just when the sun goes down and the breeze from the east brings the temperature down a notch – the time when Purvi shawl can keep your shoulders warm and add to the beauty of the evening.

 

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Purvi is knit from the top down, starting with a garter stitch tab. The body of the shawl features a pretty leaf lace pattern which seamlessly evolves into a bigger leaf pattern. Charts and written instructions are provided for the lace stitch patterns. Adventurous knitters can optionally place beads on the pointy edges.

The sample is knit using Malabrigo Sock in Lettuce colorway. The shawl can be made using lace yarn, but the gauge and finished size will vary.
Purvi is available at a promotional price of $3 until May 10, after which it will be listed at its full price of $5.

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Ravelry Pattern: Purvi
Yarn Suggested: Malabrigo Sock
Needle Size: US #10 6 mm for the body

And the set is complete!

After I made the pretty, little sweater and was still left with a good half ball of yarn, I decided to make a hat to go with the sweater. I wanted one which would go with the sweater – with similar cables. Luckily, I found just the right pattern: Cable Baby Hat. I tried looking for a pattern with earflaps, but when my search didn’t turn up a good one (with cables similar to the one in Sunnyside cardigan), I gave up and settled for this one. I could have used a plain, earflap hat pattern and added this cable myself, but that wouldn’t be mindless knitting, would it?

The hat was a quick and easy knit. I liked how the designer blended in the decreases with the cables. By the look of it, I feel the hat is too long, but that should be okay. Long hats can be worn with folded brims, short ones are a problem.

Like the sweater, the hat is warm and soft. Cables are much better on the hat, but still not sharp enough for my liking. That cute little pom-pom is husband’s contribution. He is the resident pom-pom expert.

Next came the booties. I didn’t bother searching for a pattern for booties with cables, because I knew what pattern I would follow. I have made Ruth’s Perfect Baby Booties atleast a dozen times now and they have never failed me.

They are seamed, which I can live with, but what I love about these booties are they stay on little baby feet. I made 3-4 pairs for my own baby and never once have I seen the booties slide down.

I did think of incorporating cables into the booties, but dropped the idea as I was aiming for mindless knitting.

With the booties done, the set is now complete.

My hands are itching to cast on for a baby blanket, but my mind likes to remind them that there is no way I can knit up a baby blanket in two month’s time. Not with all the things going around right now.

New Pattern: Felber

Just in time before the spring arrives, here is another pattern release from my side. Felber is a circular yoke sweater with asymmetric cable on the yoke. The name Felber means bent, twisted to indicate the suppleness and I find it apt for the cables used in this sweater. It is worked top-down in the round, so no pesky seams to stitch up.

I used a new yarn (new to me) Jill Drape Makes Stuff Hudson – Made in USA. The yarn is soft and yummy and oh the colors are so rich and vibrant. I requested for a brown color which will suit a boy’s sweater. Jill picked out this one and I must say, I couldn’t have picked anything better. The yarn is so well plied, the cables just pop.

Felber is available at a promotional price of $3 until Mar 10, after which it will be listed at its full price of $5.

Ravelry Pattern: Felber by Anjali M.
Yarn SuggestedJill Draper Makes Stuff; Hudson – Made in USA
Needle Size: US #6 4 mm for the body

New Pattern: Warrior Sweater

Every boy goes through a phase where he admires soldiers and warriors and aspires to be one. My son is in one such phase and naturally, he requested me to make a chest armor for him. I play with yarn, not metal, so I convinced him to settle for a “sweater chest armor”.

The dense, textured body of the sweater protects your little one from cold and wind. Sleeves are plain stockinette and the elbow patch using the same textured stitch adds a bit of style and interest. The sweater is worked from the top down, using raglan sleeves. Body and sleeves are worked in the round. The texture stitch is a easy to memorize and knit. The aran weight yarn makes the sweater cozy and quick to knit.

Warrior Sweater is available at a promotional price of $3 until Feb 10, after which it will be listed at its full price of $5.

Ravelry Pattern: Warrior Sweater by Anjali M.
Yarn Suggested: Cascade Eco+
Needle Size: US #9 5.5 mm for the body

A new year and some changes

A very happy new year to you all. Hope the new year brings happiness and cratfty goodness.

You all must have heard about the new EU VAT law. Even though I don’t reside in any EU member state, this affects me as my patterns are available for sale for EU customers. Without going into details, I need to pay VAT for the patterns purchased by EU customers. I can either take care of this myself (yeah, right) or have someone else take care of this for me. And I went with the latter.

If you are not in any EU member state, nothing changes for you. If you are, then please read on.

Patterns

All my patterns are still available on Ravelry, but if you are in EU member state and if you try to buy my pattern on Ravelry, you will be redirected to LoveKnitting.com, which will add on the VAT to the pattern price and show you the final price. They then deduct the VAT and give me the actual pattern price. They will also handle the transferring of VAT to the local government. This glue between Ravelry and LoveKnitting should work seamlessly, i.e. pattern which you purchased after being redirected to LoveKnitting, should show up in your Ravelry library.

While it may seem like the price has gone up, that is not the case. As a designer, I am still getting the pattern price that I have set on Ravelry. The “add-on” is the VAT which is deducted by LoveKnitting.

Ebooks

Kudos to Ravelry and LoveKnitting to get this working before the new year rolled in, but there are still some things to iron out. Ravelry ebooks are not directly supported in LoveKnitting, so EU customers will not be able to buy ebooks from Ravelry. If you would like to buy, please contact me and we can work something out. I hope this is temporary and the wonderful teams can get this working soon.

Promotion

Any promotion I might have on Ravelry will be limited to Ravelry. I cannot make this work for LoveKnitting. Apologies for this. I hope this too is resolved so that I can have a sale for my EU customers also.

So, yeah, not a great way to start the new year, but here we are. I continue to be amazed by Casey and his team. They worked through the holidays to make this happen for us. Where would we be without Ravelry? Seriously.