Happy Crafting to all!!!!!!

 

Happy Crafting to you all!!!

I cannot believe it; we are almost halfway through January. I am not sure what are your New Year resolutions, but one of mine is actually to be more involved and present in the knitting world. Trying to release more of the knitting patterns that have been sitting on my finished pile for weeks and months and also host another toy mystery KAL. The toy mystery KAL started with the first clue released on January 1st and the second clue on Saturday, January 10th. There is the third clue coming up this Saturday, January 17th and the final pattern for Lola will be released on January 25th. Check it out, you still have time to join the mystery KAL or wait and make your Lola at the end of January. Link to the pattern is below:

My designer page

I have also updated my favorite wrap pattern: Aiofe Wrap with a version for Bulky weight yarn. Now the pattern offers two yarn weights: DK and Bulky. 

I hope to add more patterns during this year. Or you can check out my previously published patterns, there are plenty to choose from. Stay tuned and keep on crafting!

Thank you for visiting. 

Aiofe Wrap

 

This Aiofe Wrap has been a project in making for some time. I made a sketch few months ago, and then knitted a sample in a bulkier weight yarn. I really liked it. I started on another sample and then I had some third party's projects to work on and put this aside. During the summer I got an opportunity to collaborate with Ula and Lia, by using their Baby Yak Yarn for this wrap.

I have never knit with the Yak yarn before, so I was rather curious on how the yarn will feel and what the final product will look like, I must admit, I really enjoyed working with the baby yak yarn creating this particular two-colored wrap. The yarn after the wash is soft and warm and I just might keep this wrap for myself to wear during the winter months. 

You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry in my Designer store or by clicking on this button:

 

You can also purchase the pattern in my Payhip store: Stanascrittersetc

or here: Aiofe Wrap

To purchase the yarn, please visit the yarn website here:

 Ula and Lia website

I had a small amount of leftover yarn from this project and used it to knit a simple Rib hat. 

I have used my pattern: Rib Hat

Thank you for visiting.

Porta Wrap

 

I took this photograph exactly one year ago. I have finished the wrap few days earlier and it was washed, blocked and measured and the pattern was written up.  The following week I gave the wrap to the receptionist at the doctor's office where I was going for my physical therapy with my elbow. I used to take that knitting project with me and I would work on it while waiting for my appointment. The receptionist always complimented on how much she liked the color, and how nice it looked. After I gave the wrap away, I started another sample, this time instead of using Lion Brand Amazing, Olympia colorway yarn as in the pictured sample I used Caron Cakes in Red Velvet colorway. It has been my "on the go" knitting  project, and someone else was complimenting the wrap as well. I have the finished sample ready to give it away to this person. I will most likely start another sample of this wrap, most likely in different yarn than the previous two samples. 

This easily memorizable pattern is completely reversible and the pattern from this wrap has been redone and later published as Harvest Poncho last fall  by I Like Knitting magazine. 

Photo by I Like Knitting magazine

The exclusive period for the knitting pattern for the Harvest Poncho is over and I will be republishing the pattern later this month. But first I am publishing the knitting pattern for the Porta Wrap.

You can purchase the pattern on Lovecraft (link will be added soon), Payhip: Porta Wrap on Payhip  or Ravelry: Porta Wrap on Ravelry or by clicking on this button:

Thank you for visiting.

Brunelli Wrap

 

These two photographs may seem irrelevant to the title of this blog post, but in a strange sense it represents part of the knitwear designer process. When I looked at the sky I saw these heart shaped clouds, and I had a camera in hand and was able to take a photo. In a way it was a luck that I looked at the sky at that exact moment and had a camera and was able to capture the clouds shape before it disappeared and changed its shape. If I looked at any other moment the heart shaped clouds would be gone and I wouldn't have these two photos. It seems that the same goes for submitting to a third party submission call. 

My ideas are few of hundreds submissions that the editors look through for each submissions call and sometimes it needs a bit of luck and the right moment for an idea to click and be accepted.

Brunelli Wrap is a perfect example. It was rejected so many times that it felt like it's not worth it. Yet I kept returning to the sketch and swatch, and decided to knit a sample anyway. It was at that moment the pattern was accepted for a publication. Here is the post I wrote about the Brunelli Wrap after it was published in October Issue of Knotions Magazine. The rights to the pattern has returned back to me and I can offer the pattern to purchase on my Ravelry Designer Page,  Payhip, Lovecraft website and you can also buy it by clicking on this button, which takes you to Ravelry:

Picture bellow is by Kellie Nuss for Knotions Magazine.

Thank you for visiting and reading. 

September 2020 - Knitting Patterns

 Somehow this month has been an amazing time for me as a knitwear designer. I am feeling like a real knitwear designer with work published by several third parties. See the list and pictures at the end of this blog post.

First let's start with a little bit of history.

This is my first finished knitting project that I remember. I recall that I did a lot of crochet projects prior to this sweater, but this is my first for so many things. I remember the trip to formal East Germany, a town now called Chemnitz. At that time it was named Karl-Marx-Stadt. We went to a Department Store and I picked up the yarn for this sweater and another sweater. I created the pattern, though I didn't know that it was a pattern that I created. I just draw a picture and calculated the number of stitches and rows based on a small swatch that I knitted. I also remember that I did not know how to cast on. My mom helped me by casting on the stitches. I knitted the sweater in four pieces, in three colors using an intarsia technique. At that time I did not know that you need to wrap the yarn around each other. This actually created a small holes around the V shape where the yarn was changing. These small holes were not on the sleeves. By then I learned that the yarn has to be wrapped around each other. When I was wearing the sweater people were asking me how did I created the pattern of holes perfectly placed along the color change on front and back of the sweater. My grandmother helped me to sew the finished pieces and knitted the crew neck edge around the neck opening. I loved that sweater and was wearing it a lot. I do not have it anymore. I do not know what have happened to the sweater. We might have unravel it to use the yarn again. This is how my love for knitting started. 

After years of knitting, in 2011 I tiptoed into a knitting pattern writing.

My first published knitting pattern was for the Apples in May 2011. The link to this free pattern is here:

Apples

My first knitting pattern published by a third party was for Snowballs, in January 2012. The pattern was originally published by Petite Purls, In Issue 11, Winter. It is available as a free pattern. Link here:

Snowballs

And so it continued for the past nine years. Creating, sketching, knitting samples, making notes, writing patterns, editing, sending out my ideas to submission calls and more of knitting, creating, editing, and writing. As of today I have either independently or through a third parties published 279 patterns.

The list of my Knitting Patterns on my blog or on Ravelry with pictures My Knitting Patterns.

This month eight of my knitting patterns were published.

Independent work is Meg and School of Fish

In October Issue of I Like Knitting Magazine are: 

Pawsome-Hat  to complete the Paw-some Dog Cowl and Human Scarf 

A set of Spotted Around Hat and Spotted Around Scarf

and Harvest Poncho

All the photos of these four patterns are by I Like Knitting

Brunelli Wrap was published in October Issue of Knotions Magazine.

photo by Kelli Nuss for Knotions Magazine. 

Misty Cowl was published by Knitpicks in the new textured collection titled Pathways. 

photo by Knitpicks.

Cuddly Cat Pillow is the last pattern that was published by Interweave Knits in their Gifts 2020 Issue magazine.

photo by Interweave Knits 

I hope to continue with creating more knitting patterns in the future for some time.

As for the rest of this year, I have an e-book project, that I started to work on last winter and slowly it started to take shape over the months of pandemic and staying home. This collection of small knitting projects will be released over the next three months. These small projects are all using small amount of yarn that I had home from a various previous knitting projects. They are all a fantastic, funky, fast and instant gratification giftable items for almost everyone. 

More on this project is coming up over the next three months. Just to give you a little sneak preview... if you look closely into my knitting bag in this picture, few of those critters are peaking out.

Thank you for reading and for visiting.

Brunelli Wrap

 

Photo by Kelli Nuss for Knotions Magazine

Brunelli Wrap is my latest published pattern by a third party. This beautiful Wrap is part of the October Issue of Knotions Magazine. The theme for this issue was fire. All of the patterns in this particular issue are gorgeous. Here is a link to the pattern:

Brunelli Wrap on Ravelry

I started to work on this idea about two years ago, when I made a small swatch in two colors. Grey and blue-green. You can see the swatch on the left side of this picture. I really liked the idea of two colored cable, with some bramble stitch and more cables to unify the look. 

I sent a submission to a third party submission call. The idea was rejected for that particular collection. And here is the thing. It was rejected not because the idea was bad, but simply because it did not fit to the whole collection together with the other ideas that were picked. I continued to send out the submission whenever I though it might be a fit for the collection. In total I sent out the idea to ten submission calls, and the idea was rejected nine times. Finally the submission was accepted and I was able to bring the idea to full size wrap. 

I was working on the sample last winter. It seems like an eternity ago. It was a time when life was normal. We were unaware of the upcoming pandemic, that changed lives for all. When I finished the sample, we had a cozy afternoon by fire, with our dog napping in the warm spot. Before I washed and blocked the wrap and sent it away for a real photoshoot  I took few pictures of my dog with the wrap.

I look at the picture now wondering what the future has in store for us and the future generation of our children. I truly hope that there is a bright future for all and not some bleak dystopian future where people hate each other based on the differences between them.  

Thank you for reading and visiting.

Knitting Pattern for Elata Wrap

Elata Wrap

The knitting pattern for this reversible and fairly simple wrap has been on my desk since last summer. I actually knit this sample in the spring 2019. For the sample I used two skeins of Cascade Eco Peruvian Tones. It is  bulky weight yarn and the wrap was finished very fast. I made a second sample using the Caron cakes.
The pattern is written out, and also have chart.
You can purchase the pattern by clicking on this button:



or in my Ravelry store:

Stana D. S. designs

or on Lovecraft website:
link here

Elata Wrap

Thank you for visiting.

Nature, life and new knitting patterns

Today is one year anniversary since the storms producing tornadoes and macroburst passed through our community and wreck a havoc.
I wrote a bit about it in this post from last year:
Life

 After the storm

Life went on and even though the damage is still visible all around us we continue to live, dream, and hope. Nature is slowly recovering and in another ten or twenty years the damage will be hardly visible.

Today is warm and sunny day like it was last year. I hope that the weather will stay warm and sunny all day and my afternoon hike with the dog will be uneventful.

I hope to have some quiet time to knit few rounds on my latest project for third party company, and perhaps even start working on the pattern as well.

I also should post more information about the patterns that were published earlier this month and last month.

First it was my self published patterns for LM Wrap and LM Hat, both worked in Caron Cakes and completely reversible patterns.

LM Wrap

The patterns are both available in my Ravelry Store or you can purchase them by clicking on these two buttons:
LM Wrap:



LM Hat:

LM Hat

Also, my latest toy mystery KAL finished few days ago. just in case you missed it you can purchase the complete pattern for Dasher, the dragonfly in my Ravelry store or by clicking on the button bellow. Here is a picture of dragonfly knit in fingering weight yarn:

Dasher, the dragonfly

Dasher, the dragonfly:



I have two more patterns that were published in the latest issue of I Like Knitting magazine:
A fruity watermelon clutch, and a strawberry sandal motif.
Link to the latest issue of the magazine:

I Like Knitting, June 2019

photo by I Like Knitting

Watermelon Clutch

Watermelon Clutch

photo by I Like Knitting

Strawberry Sandal Motif

Thank you for visiting.

Knitting Pattern for Mosaico

Mosaico

A while back I had one of my submissions accepted into a book collection. I was working on the sample during the winter months of last year, and the book took a bit longer than anticipated to be published, but finally it is available to purchase.  The collection is just amazing. Check it out and see for yourself.

You may purchase the individual pattern here:

Mosaico

or you can purchase the entire book here:

Malabrigo Heritage

Thank you for visiting.

Knitting Pattern for Gaia Wrap

Gaia Wrap

This rectangular Wrap is worked flat, with columns of cables and seed stitch. The pictured sample is done in Knitpicks Color Mist Yarn, 4 skeins of yarn total, in 3 colors.
This wrap can be done in solid colors, or by using self stripping yarn. The options and creativity are endless.

Gaia Wrap

The pattern is available to purchase in my Ravelry store, or by clicking on this button:

Gaia Wrap

Thank you for visiting.

Knitting Pattern for Ocean Breeze Wrap

photo by Knitpicks

As we are heading into the warmer seasons I cannot wait for the evening strolls along the seashore or just sitting outside by a campfire.
This Ocean Breeze wrap will be a perfect project to knit. A rectangular shape, with some simple stripes and worked in sections of knit and purl stitches in bulky yarn is a fairly easy project for the newbies and a perfect TV watching project for the more experienced knitters.

The pictured sample is done in Knitpicks Billow yarn, a wonderful bulky cotton yarn.
For this pictured sample I have used 2 skeins of Natural color and 1 skein of Cadet color.
The wrap is 42" (107 cm) long and 20" (51 cm) wide.

You can purchase the pattern in my Ravelry store, or by clicking on this button:

Ocean Breeze Wrap