Thursday, February 11, 2010

MidWinter Wanderer; Or, This Pattern Makes Me Smile!


Pattern: MidWinter Wanderer [download now]
Yarn: 4.5 hanks of Noro Silk Garden

This pattern has been sitting in my brainfiles for over a year now (as the yarn has also been sitting in my stashpile for that length of time too!)

As is my nature, I was distracted by many and sundry other things (including shiny yarn! ooo, shiny yarn...) and so have only just gotten around to knitting and writing up this pattern in the last month or so.

And I have to admit... I really like it!

It's been integrated quite successfully into my everyday wardrobe, and the design surprised me with its unexpected versatility.

At first I was only envisioning a hood with a heel, playing with short rows and cables to create something warm; some kind of hat-and-scarf hybrid.
Something that you could throw on without wrecking your already-pretty-damn-mussed-up hair.
Something that would flatter the very pretty yarn with its beautiful colour gradations and warm-white fuzzy glow.

What I wasn't expecting was how very wearable I've found it, especially as a (if I may say so) almost-chic indoor accessory.
Witness the (rather yucky) photo beneath.
It pairs quite nicely with a long-sleeved top, adding an extra layer and acting almost like a poncho or capelet.

(Let me tell you, I had a bit of a time trying to figure out how to classify this baby into Ravelry's pattern database. Scarf? Cowl? Hat? Hood? Hrmmmm)

This is possibly the happiest I've been with a design in a very long time.
It makes me feel so warm and cozy.
I'm particularly chuffed about the scrunchiness of the hood when I wear it down (which of course obliterates all the cables, but to me, makes the cowl/hood look kinda stylin and cool).

You can see this scrunchy goodness in the photo below.
(incidentally, I do have the ability to inundate you all to even further levels of oversaturation with MidWinter Wanderer photos, and have posted a couple different ones on Ravelry.)


It's taken me a while to get this FO posted simply because I knew I wanted to have a pattern all ready to go.

It's up as a free download in the link above as well as on Ravelry. As always, I'm trying to learn and improve my pattern-writing skills, and so am encouraging any and all who choose to knit this knit to kindly send me some feedback as to their experience.

With other cabley patterns in the works, I need to polish off those chart writing skills tout de suite!

17 comments:

Tamara Paetkau said...

Already planning on knitting this! It's wonderful.
Now, I must know...where did you get that belt? It is the perfect width and the perfect colour and I must have one. :)

Ellen said...

This is lovely! I can definitely see myself knitting this up someday!

LittleCanoe said...

This is really awesome! You're so talented. I love the scrunch factor.

Julie said...

so, so gorgeous!! And it looks amazing with your coat, and so squishy soft. I love it!

Amy said...

That's definitely going in my queue...it's gorgeous!

Kathleen Dames said...

That's really lovely! However, the link didn't work for me. Found it here, though: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/midwinter-wanderer

Thea said...

Really beautiful! Versatile, stylish, different - and looks quite snuggly/woofy - so, the whole package :-) Awesome job.


I think it goes under cowl.... and it makes me want to dig out some Noro!

Hilary said...

Oh my gosh, it's absolutely stunning. It looks warm and cozy and SO chic...the cables on the back are subtle and perfect. I love it!! And I love the photos, too. You look like Arwen strolling the forests of Middle Earth!

Sarah said...

LOVE this! what a fun knit :)

Kate said...

Just what I was looking for--a hood-type thingy that doesn't make you look like Little Red Riding Hood!

yoel said...

Super cute and versatile! The yarn is the perfect squishiness for the hoodie look.

Trish said...

This beautiful! I could definitely see this being integrated into any chic woman's wardrobe!

Kai said...

Love it! It's gorgeous and so versatile.. on my to do list. :D

Bella said...

Thank you so much for this pattern, i downloaded it right away! It's really gorgeous. I love all your work, you are really very talented!

Lucia said...

wow, congratulations!!! you are a great designer!!! thanks for sharing with us your beautiful jobs!!!
Muchas Gracias!!!!
Lucia

IrishPiratess said...

ok, Im working on this LOVELY pattern, and I have a couple of questions- the three stitches that are marked as "no stitch" on the chart... what do you do with them? :) as well, when you first started, how long before the cable pattern started showing up?
Im 21 rows into the chart, and its barely showing. Im wondering if I should frog it and start over. Help!!! :)

IrishPiratess said...

yep. frogging it. Just learned what that was and was doing it wrong. LOL at least I wasn't too far into it. It makes sense now. (for the time being anyways)