Stellar Burst

After many months of horrible pattern writing blockage, I am happy to release Stellar Burst, a hat and cowl pattern.

I drew this up after spending some quality time last year on Flickr, searching Finland, Sweden, Lapland, ect and pretend vacationing.  When the everyday grind of NY gets to be too much and I pretend vacation on Flickr or Craigslist, although checking out the prices of apartments everywhere else can sometimes exasperate the problem.  Anyhow, on one of my pretend vacation afternoons I came across a gorgeous pic of some spiky red stars hanging on a winter tree in front of a house with light blueish-grey shutters.  That picture was the inspiration behind this pattern.

The example cowl was knit striping a light gray and a light blue for the background while the hat got a solid background.  The instructions include one size for the cowl using DK weight yarn and two sizes, small/med (18 inches), and med/large (20 inches), for the hat using sport or DK weight yarn.

The chart background is striped.  This is optional and can be ignored if you wish to have a solid background.  The chart is repeatable horizontally and vertically except for the stripes which should be reversed if you choose to repeat the chart vertically (this is unnecessary for the projects in the pattern and only applies if you choose to use the chart for another project entirely).

The pattern includes yardages, and the needles and notions needed to complete the projects.


I hope you enjoy the new pattern, and remember, spring and summer are when you knit the things you wear in the fall and winter!

Time to Stop Being a Hermit

 I suppose since it is February, it is time to break myself out of the end/start of the year, "I want to go home!", "Home was so lovely why do I have to come back?" funk and stop being a hermit.  It has been a while since I've updated my poor neglected blog.  A couple patterns have been published, trips taken, and new obsessions have been discovered.

The Patterns:  

I have two new-ish (I published them in the fall of last year) patterns.  I neglected to blog about them here but somehow managed to stick them on the tumblr blog I started so I can fangirl about TV, books, pop culture and random stuff.

*my apologies on the scary coloring of the pic.

As soon as fall weather hits I cannot get enough of Pumpkin themed stuff.  Large glittered pumpkins ala Martha Stewart, nerdy carved jack-o-lanterns of Firefly characters, Trader Joe's pumpkin greek yogurt...  I think the only pumpkin thing I don't like is Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte's (I hate them with a fiery passion despite their excellent cozy marketing).  So this year I decided to whip up a quick pumpkin pattern that could be used before and after Halloweeen, something that could be worn a little longer than the Hocus Pocus pattern.  The chart for this one is fairly small so you can adjust the pattern easily if you wish to change the yarn weight, size of the cowl, or if you want to use it for something else altogether.

This winter hat was designed on a lark Christmas 2011 and is the first thing I knit using yarn I spun (the green and grey version).  The green yarn was an awesome sparkly batt I got from the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn a few years ago, post pool, pre riverside.  The grey yarn is alpaca that came from a farm in Callicoon, NY.  We visited the farm and got to meet all the alpacas.  If you have a chance to visit an alpaca farm I highly recommend it, they are adorable and so soft.  

The pattern includes instructions for a large or medium hat using bulky, aran, or dk weight yarn.

Christmassy Happenings:

Once again I went back "home/home" (CO as opposed to "home" which is NY) for 12th night.  Christmas day was spent in NY seeing Les Mis and eating Chinese food like 75% of the population of the city.  No lie, I took a lovely walk from the theatre in Chelsea to my favorite Chinatown dumpling place and I passed multiple people talking about Russell Crowe's singing.  

I decided to take a bunch of "Christmas in NY" pics this year.  I know it's a fairly common subject but NY does the holidays so well.  

If Christmasy pictures of NY are your thing, there are a lot more in my flickr.

A few days after Christmas I  took off of Colorado for some fresh air and family.  My deer friend came around to see me.

*please note that this is an absolutely horrible example of how to behave with wildlife.  Deer are wild animals and can hurt you.  If I still worked at the zoo I would be getting a stern lecture right about now.  Yes, I worked at a zoo in high school.

We named her Stella.  This is the second time she has visited me at Christmas.  Most of the deer are not afraid of humans but don't dare approach, Stella on the other hand is curious and will walk right up to our door and sniff until someone comes out to see her.  In internet terms, she thinks she's people.

The rest of the trip was lovely even though I was working through that dreadful flu that swept the country.  I saw high school friends, post college friends, and spent many marvelous hours sitting in the kitchen jabbering at my mom.  I also fit in a few trips to my favorite Colorado Springs places Panino's, Wimbergers, Salsa Latina, La Casita and fit in a movie, Silver Linings Playbook, with my dad at the awesome indie theatre, Kimball's, where they still allow you to bring ice cream from the the amazing Josh and John's next door.  Not so fun fact, movies are a good $5+ cheaper in CO than NY.  

OMG Have You Heard of This?!:

Lastly, over Christmas vaca I discovered Miranda.  

I'm completely obsessed.  I think I've watched every episode 10 times at this point.  Had to order this from Amazon UK which is surprisingly affordable and fast.

My mom, ever ready to replace TV watching with book reading, ordered Miranda Hart's book from Amazon UK as well.

It's going to live with Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling's books on the awesome and very funny ladies shelf.

Well it is lovely catching up with the dear blog again.  Now I am going to go enjoy the snow that fell last night.

Baktiari, The Hat

After months of being completely blocked, unable to come up with a name for this pattern and the attention span to sit and write, I am finally able to present...

Baktiari is a hat that can be knit in either a beanie or a slouch in size large (22") or small (18").  The large is knit using either aran or worsted weight yarns and the small is knit using either worsted or sport weight yarns.  The background can be knit with stripes like the grey, white and pink example or with a solid background like the teal and gold example.

The slouch hat chart includes a section that can be repeated if you wish to make a longer hat like a stocking cap.  If you march to the beat of your own drummer, you can even use the motif to make something bigger like a sweater, blanket, ect.

The pattern includes all yardage information.

Pom Pom and i-cord instructions can be found in my flickr account.  I do not include instructions for tassels but a google search of "tassel tutorial" comes up with many.

Thank You to my mom and sister for helping me try to name this thing.

Next up, a simple pumpkin motif pattern for October.

Blah

Does someone out there want to invent a machine that will take my excel chart and scan the things I knit and magically write the pattern and size it for me?  That would be super helpful right now.

I have knitting pattern writers block issues.

Had to put that out there in the world.

Sneak Peek alert...

I have posted a sneak peek of my next hat pattern on my Ravelry group's message board.  If you are so inclined please go check it out!

Gotham Skies... Available Once More!

About two years ago I designed a pair of steampunk inspired socks for The Sanguine Gryphon.  At the end of last year Sanguine Gryphon split into two separate companies and the sock pattern was no longer for sale anywhere.  Well as of this week I am happy to announce that the pattern is once again available for purchase!  You can find it on in my Ravelry pattern store, or you can purchase it through Cephalopod Yarns (soon) while you pick up some gorgeous Skinny Bugga to knit the socks with!

I am hoping to find the time to knit up one sock in a slightly heavier yarn and use it as a Christmas stocking.  My apartment has this awesome mantel and it needs some stockings come December.  

I need to thank my pal Carly for letting me use her feet to take pictures.  I like to ambush my friends at work and say "Pretty, pretty please can you model this so I can take pictures?"

My Ravelry Group

The day job is slow right now so I thought I would tackle a few things I keep putting off.  One of those things is starting a Ravelry group for Thea Eschliman Designs.  If you are interested please join!

I thought I would use it to announce new patterns, the occasional promotion, and as a place for people to post their finished projects.

Now, a Sneak Peak!

This is one of the projects I have been working on this summer.  I am hoping to have a cowl and baby blanket ebook by fall.  There are other patterns much closer to completion that will be published first but I am so in love with these mermaids I had to share.  The half a tail you see under the stitch marker is a seahorse :)

The picture was taken at Rockaway Beach in Queens NY.  It was my favorite place last summer, wonderful on the day I took this picture, but has progressively gotten more crowded and the crowds are leaving the place trashed.  Not cool.  Trash = seagulls = seagulls pooping on people.  NOT COOL.  If caught on the right day at the right time though, you can knit a way in crisp ocean air, which is at least 10 degrees cooler than everywhere else, while watching surfers.

Hope to see you in the Thea Eschliman Designs Ravelry group!