Magnificent Mittens from The World Knits Collection

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

Number 7 from The World Knits Collection - Magnificent Mittens.

Mittens are on every knitters bucket list and chances are you have made a few pairs - as have I. For this design, I wanted to offer two different versions sized for from babies to adults. After I wrote the patterns, I had no shortage of volunteers to make samples. Some of my sample knitters even made more than one pair as you can see on the photo above. 

The easier pattern begins with a border edging (there are many to choose from). After the edging/ribbing, the main part of the body is worked in stripes of Fair Isle designs. The thumb is worked as an "afterthought" thumb. Tip shaping is worked in a simple spiral method. This project is excellent for learning how to mix colors and patterns together. You can see many striped Fair Isle mittens in the following two photos. If you are a beginning mitten knitter, begin with this design.

The second mitten design follows a chart and features a pointed tip. This type of mitten is a common mitten shape in Norwegian and Scandinavian countries. Instead of the typical "snowflake" motif that are commonly seen on those northern mittens, I designed charts with a funkier vibe. Charts include a fish, flowers, cats, dogs, bird, leaf, and even a pre-Columbian doll. The graphed charts fit right into the shape of the mitten. There is a colorwork stripe at either side of the mitten and the shaping occurs at this point at the mitten tip. 

Both these mittens are a fun knit. There are sizes from baby to adults. I have included extra empty graph charts so that you can design your own charts. Although you may feel intimidated about designing your own charts, don't be. There is no penalty in trying and you may find you have a talent you didn't know about. There are also embroidery stitches given so that you can further decorate your mittens. 

When we were setting up the photo for the Magnificent Mittens, we were challenged by the shear number of mittens we had to show. We were shooting in the countryside so we built a scarecrow to use as a prop for holding all the mittens on strings. The scarecrow is wearing one of the hats from the Moroccan Fedora pattern. 

I hope you will give these mittens a try. Because there are 6 different sizes, you will have plenty of charts to experiment with and people to knit for. 

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

If you want to keep the pattern in your Ravelry Pattern Library, make sure you order via my Ravelry Store (not my own website). 

Marvelous Mukluks from The World Knits Collection

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

Number 6 from The World Knits Collection - Marvelous Mukluks

The idea for the Marvelous Mukluks came from a pair of handknit mukluks that my sister Jenn gifted me. I think they were made in Afghanistan. I loved those mukluks - I wore them as slippers for several years until they fell apart. When I started The World Knits Collection, I thought it would be fun to do a mukluk pattern for American knitters. At that time, there had never been one published - at least that I knew of. 

I called Meg Swansen of Schoolhouse Press and asked her about mukluks - since she was THE person who knew everything about knitting at that time. She said that she had a book that might help and inspire. It was called Anatolian Knitting Designs by Betsy Harrell and was published in 1981. This is the book below - still in my knitting library.  

It is a black and white book that is printed on very thin, almost newsprint feeling paper -- so thin that the printing on the backside shows through to the opposite side. It tells the story of the knitting community in Turkey that was based in a shanty-town above a castle called Rumeli Hisar. Anatolian Knitting Designs documents the different charts that the knitters in this community used. It has an anthropological feel to it as the author researched the community and interviewed the knitters who made the socks. There are a lot of footnotes (something you don't see in most books). Here is a spread of the charts. These are called Thousand Branches, Walnut Kernel, Tough Nut and Walnut Flower. I would assume from these names that walnuts feature in a lot of their traditional food. You can see how thin the paper is with the charts on the other side showing through the page. It is also nice that there are drawings to illustrate what the chart knits up like. 

Anatolian Knitting Designs is mostly black and white and has some very sparse directions for a mukluk at the very end. The thing I find most charming are the colorwork graphs shown above. Each chart has a Turkish name and an English translation. Upon looking at this book again, I must sit down and read it cover to cover. It is available on Amazon as a used book. It looks like Schoolhouse Press sells it also in a newer version with a spiral binding. I just spoke to Meg and she said she is going to get back to me if she can get a hold of it again. 

Considering the situation of the world right now, it makes me wonder about the knitters in this Turkish community - if the community and the knitters exist anymore. Are these traditional Turkish stockings still being knit? I have never had the chance to go to Turkey but if anyone has been and knows anything, I would love to hear. 

The big question for me when designing the Marvelous Mukluks was how to make the heel. The toe was shaped in a point like a traditional Scandinavian mitten - a technique I had done many times. The heel was shaped exactly the same but in the middle of the piece of knitting. The answer to how to do this was to do an "after thought thumb" but make it an "after thought heel". This technique was popularized by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I decided to begin at the calf and work the tube down in patterns until I got to the heel section. At the heel, I worked about half the stitches with a scrap of thread. The scrap would be unknit after the entire mukluk was made and then the heel would be shaped -- just like the toe. It really was very simple once I tried it. 

I wrote the directions for the Marvelous Mukluks in 5 sizes from baby to adult. My sample knitters went to town, making up their own versions using my charts and my selection of colors. 

We took the photo at a woman's house on the Rhode Island coast. She had an incredible red Aga stove that we could hang the mukluks on. We had extra mukluks so we rigged up a "clothesline" situation. I remember that everyone had to remain incredibly still - barely breathing - in order to get the shot. This of course was before the days of digital photography. We were using natural light. This is one of my very favorite photographs that I had the pleasure of having a hand in. And I have alway lusted after that red Aga. I will not ever have one of those Aga stoves but a girl can always dream! 

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

If you want to keep the pattern in your Ravelry library, make sure you order via the Kristin Nicholas Ravelry store (not my website).

I found this card inside the Anatolian Knitting Designs book. I thought I would post it here. How gorgeous - a beautiful wooly sheep juxtaposed against a wool rug full of beautiful pattern. I haven't been able to track down the image - otherwise I would give you the information. All info on back of card led nowhere. 

Sweet New Lambs

I got to the barn the other day and this mama had just delivered a beautiful set of twin lambs. It looks a bit gory but that is the afterbirth that comes out after a ewe has delivered. 

Here are a couple of close-ups. Nice healthy babies. They are in their own pen now and in a couple days they get let out to fun with the others. 

And here are some of the older lambs. Such a size difference quickly in the beginning.

We are up to 49 lambs so far with many more to come. We are having a break in the cold weather. All the snow has melted. That is good and bad because it does get disgustingly muddy when the ice starts to melt. Our dirt road has been in such terrible shape there have been times when I didn't know if we would get home. This too shall pass but it seems like we have had a lot of melts this winter and then back into the freeze. Still a couple months to go but I am looking forward to seeing signs of sugaring season coming soon. 

Magical Mocassins from the World Knits Collection

Available on Ravelry here

on my website here

Number 5 from the World Knits Collection - Magical Mocassins

The idea for these slipper socks came are twofold. When I was a little girl, my grandma would knit us slipper socks to wear in bed to keep our feet warm. They were the classic pattern - with a garter stitch back worked halfway through and then a 2 x 2 rib worked to the toe. My grandma didn't consider herself a knitter (she was an amazing crocheter and quilter) but she could make these for us. I loved them. 

In the late 1980's/early 1990's when desktop publishing was becoming a thing, I was invited to South Dakota by Elaine, David and Alexis - the owners of XRX/Knitters Magazine/ the Stitches shows. They volunteered to teach me how to use a desktop publishing program called QuarkXPress so that I could publish Classic Elite's patterns myself. This was incredibly generous of them. They were one of the leaders and early adaptors of QuarkXpress and they felt so passionate about the technology that they wanted everyone to know how to do it. My colleague Cathy and I went on a whirlwind trip -- so much to learn in a short time. My head spun every night from the shortcuts I needed to know and all that I was ingesting. In the evenings, we ate very well and shared stories. Elaine showed me her collection of Greek knit textiles which included some colorful slipper socks made out of scratchy handspun wool. (An aside: later I went out to Sioux Falls again and they taught me how to use Adobe Illustrator - the computer program that I still use to draw my textile designs and charts. What generous friends! I miss seeing them.)  

A couple years later, Pat Chew and I travelled to Greece after visiting the (Koln) Germany Handarbeit show to visit a cotton spinning mill in Athens. We wanted to strike up a business arrangement with them to purchase yarn. Alexis volunteered to be our interpreter. He met us in Greece and we had a crazy 3 day trip up and down the coast, staying at his friends' houses (he was born in Greece). When Pat and I travelled, we liked to stop at flea markets. We both loved to find old things to bring home and she was a great bargainer - even when she didn't know the language. I was determined to find some Greek slipper socks for my collection. 

I found an antique stall and found several pairs of very old handknit, handspun wool slipper socks. Below you can see one of them. 

They could not be worn as they had holes and were very fragile. I bought them anyway and they are one of my favorite things in my textile collection. I keep them stored away and only bring them out to look at them once in a while. 

The Magical Mocassins are a combination of my grandma's slipper socks and the ones I saw in Greece. They begin with simple garter stitch in colorful stripes. Then the stitches are moved to double pointed needles and worked in the round in a Fair Isle stranded pattern. There is a simple spiral toe shaping. 

They are a very quick project and are sized in 5 sizes for babies to adults. There are also instructions to add a border around the opening to make a bootie. For babies, you can add an eyelet so a drawstring can be threaded through so it won't fall off. There is also an elf-en toe version. The Magical Mocassins are a nice project to make multiples of to have on hand for gifts - especially the baby version. They don't take long and are so colorful and fun to knit and give. I hope you might give them a try some day. 

Available on Ravelry here

on my website here

If you want to keep your patterns in your Ravelry library, make sure you order through the Kristin Nicholas Ravelry store (not my website). 

Ferociously Funny Socks from The World Knits Collection

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

Number 4 in The World Knits Collection are my Ferociously Funny Socks. Sock knitting was not much of a thing back in 1992 but I could feel a trend coming on. This pattern includes 4 different versions of the Ferociously Funny Socks. You can see them on the cover of the booklet below. 

They don't seem very revolutionary now but back then, these socks were something quite different. Knit in Classic Elite's Tapestry Wool/Mohair, they were colorful, very fun to knit and quite addictive. They each begin with my favorite two color corrugated ribbing edged in reverse stockinette stitch ridges. Each design adds a bit more difficulty to them culminating in the sock you can see all the way to the left with Fair Isle Patterning and duplicate stitching. 

Sadly, my sample socks disappeared 25 years ago so I can't share them with you. It seems a world away from these first socks after all the twists and turns of the yarn industry, people going in an out of business, hand-dyers making sock yarn, me having a line of sock yarn with Regia (that's gone now). I'm not sure if knitters are making as many socks as they once did in the early 00's with those little needles.

Me, I will happily make a sock on size 4 double pointed needles just like the ones featured here. Classic and as easy or difficult to make depending on your wants and skill. There is also a pattern for a back and forth simple sock included. 

You can purchase the PDF Download for the Ferociously Funny Socks on my website here and on Ravelry here. There is a pattern page now for this design on Ravelry if you have an older pair that you would like to post as a project. Or put them on Instagram and tag me so I can see what you knit. 

Spread the word about The World Knits Collection. Thanks everyone! 

Outlandishly Happy Gloves from The World Knits Collection

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

Number 3 from the World Knits Collection are my Outlandishly Happy Gloves. 

Back in 1992, I had never knit a pair of gloves before. Mittens - yes - lots of them. Gloves - no. I had always been scared off by all the fingers. After making the pair of Andean inspired Eclectic Ethnic Dolls, I felt like I could attempt 10 fingers on a pair of gloves. I had no idea how to size the fingers. I found a book in my library from the early 80's by Belle Myers called Knitting Know-How. There was a rough plan for gloves. I cast on and made myself a pair. I charted out a flower motif and planned to embroider details on the Fair Isle design. You can barely see one of my gloves on the lower right of the photo. 

The gloves featured 2 bands of corrugated ribbing in different colors split up and edged with reverse stockinette stitch ridges. The idea was to mix a bunch of different colors together. Each finger would be a different color and they were tipped with reverse stockinette stitch in another color. 

I found several knitters who would do their very own version. For the photo, we grabbed a whole bunch of people and laid them on the ground in a circle. The photographer stood over them and directed the hands which way to move. It was quite a sight. 

These gloves have totally stood the test of time. Here is a second pair that I made (my first pair somehow sadly disappeared along with all of my projects from the World Knits Collection). As you can see - they were well worn and loved. I have had to reknit the fingers a few times with other colors of yarn. 

I hope you will give them a go - glove novice or not. They are a very fun knit and won’t take you as long as you think. Maybe you have a pair that you knit long ago. I invite you to add them to the Ravelry page that is now up. 

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

If you want to keep the pattern in your Ravelry Pattern Library, make sure you order through the Kristin Nicholas Ravelry Store (not my website). 

Andean Inspired Eclectic Ethnic Dolls

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

Number 2 in the World Knits Collection are my Eclectic Ethnic Dolls - a man and a woman originally knit in Tapestry Wool/Mohair, Caravan Camel Hair/Wool and Mouton Boucle for the hair. 

When I started perusing Cynthia Gravelle Lecount’s Andean Folk Knitting I was drawn to photos of small knitted dolls. I am assuming that many of these were made for the tourist market. They were such fun. Each little guy had their own quirks (see the little guy on the left with only one leg). 

With a little more research, it turns out that the dolls were originally made as little bags to carry coins and valuables. The women used to carry them with them and they took the form of animals and little people. How sweet. Here is a photo of a Bolivian monederos (that is what they are called) from the Jeff Appleby Collection at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. You can read the article about how the construction was documented and see the sample knit by the volunteer Jean Scardina at the DeYoung. Fascinating. 

I was inspired to try to knit my own pair of dolls but at a friendly gauge of about 6 stitches per inch. I knew it was a crazy idea and I had no idea if anyone else would want to make one. 

First I knit the girl doll and I named her Lindecita. She needed a mate so I knit her Alejandro. Sadly, L & A disappeared many years ago. Last year, I got a note from a woman named Noreen that she was downsizing her home. She wanted to send me her set of Eclectic Ethnic Dolls. Did I want them? Oh yes I did! because mine went missing 25 years ago. Here are her dolls sitting happily in my library now. Thank you Noreen! 

I can’t tell you how fun the Eclectic Ethnic Dolls are to knit. You will have to see for yourself. as they grow on your needles and you design their clothing. You can become as creative as you want with the clothing. There is graph paper included so you can design your own charts. If you knit your own and take photos, tag me on Instagram and upload the photos to Ravelry so others can see. 

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

If you want to keep the pattern in your Ravelry Library, make sure you order through my Kristin Nicholas Ravelry Store (not my website). 

A Hat Design - An Andean Inspired Ch'ulla

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

Let's start at the beginning of The World Knits Collection. In 1991, one of the most inspiring knitting books was released - Cynthia Gravelle Lecount's Andean Folk Knitting. Although I have never traveled to the Andes, I did purchase a lot of yarn from the commercial spinners in Peru. This book was mostly in black and white with a few photos in color of the author's collection of knits. It took her over a decade to write and is full of her own illustrations, B/W photos and some knitting patterns and lots of charts and history. It is a treasure and is out of print and goes for a good $ now used. My first copy fell apart so below is my newer copy. There is much history and explanation about the knits of Peru with some technique thrown in too. I was in love with the book. Too bad it isn't being published now because I can't imagine the color that would be on its pages. 

Andean style hats with ear flaps were quite popular on ski slopes and college campuses. When I began the World Knits Collection, I knew I had to develop one of these hats at a friendly knitterly gauge of 6 stitches per inch. This pattern is what I came up with. It is sized for kids and adults and features an easy to knit ear flap. 

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

Cynthia has just had another book published called The Textile Traveler's Guide to Peru and Bolivia. 

She also has a new name - Cynthia LeCount Samake.  The Textile Traveler's Guide to Bolivia and Peru is gorgeous - full color and besides a guide to travel there are lots of photos and stories of textiles. It is published by Thrums Books (a newish publisher of books by the former owner of Interweave Press).  Cynthia runs textile tours all over the world with her company Behind The Scenes Adventures and you can check them out here. 

Here is a lovely video of people knitting and sheep in Peru. What a feast for the senses. 

You can order my Peruvian Ch'ulla patterns now via PDF Download.

Available on my website here

and on Ravelry here

Introducing The World Knits Collection By Kristin Nicholas

In my life, January is for catching up on projects that I never have enough time for -- projects that take a lot of intense concentration and hours and hours of work. Last January, I built myself a new website using the Big Cartel platform. It was a ton of work and I learned a lot. 

This January I have been tackling another enormous project. It is finally done and I can tell you all about it. For those of you who have been following me for years, you probably know me as a knitwear designer. I worked for Classic Elite Yarns as the Creative Director for 16 years. CEY closed up shop in 2018. I wrote about that here. 

Back in the 1990's I developed a range of patterns and kits for Classic Elite Yarns. It ran over 4 years and was super popular. There were four new booklets and kits each fall season and they were sold in LYS. The booklets were packed in wicker baskets with six assorted colors of yarn and then shrink-wrapped. They were sold exclusively through local yarn stores. This was before the internet, before Ravelry and before so much in the yarn industry began to change. There was no such thing as an indie dyer or designer back then (there were probably those folks but those names had not yet been coined). 

I called the collection of these 16 patterns The World Knits Collection. They were inspired by my love of traditional cultures, costumes, and handknit, handmade, embroidered folk costumes. You can see the little booklets that I wrote and produced in the photo below. 

I would write and knit the first sample of the project (sometimes I knit them all depending on the project and time I had). Then I would find talented knitters to make the rest of the samples. Each little booklet had several versions of the projects in it. I would give the knitters the Tapestry Wool/Mohair yarn in the colors I knew would work nicely together. They got a typed out pattern and many charts that they could pick from for their project. They would make the project I needed and put their own spin on it if they felt like it. The projects would come back to CEY and we would photograph them. The projects would travel to trade shows and then find their way back to the knitters. 

I met the most amazing knitters through this project - many who became friends who I miss. I have sadly lost track of most of them now since I haven't been as involved with the knitting world for several years. These 16 World Knits Collection booklets really helped to cement my place as a knitwear designer in the industry. Several of the projects morphed into projects in my two most recent knitting books Kristin Knits (2006) and Color By Kristin (2009).

Over the years, the industry has changed so much. The little booklets were stashed in knitter's homes or thrown away. Knitters don't buy books so much anymore so all my designs have been locked away in my books that people don't read or reference anymore. My books are still in print but they are basically just taking up space in publishers' warehouses. It really is a very sad situation.

This past fall, I was able to purchase the rights to my World Knits Collection. I then had the opportunity to publish them on my own. But finding the time to do that was impossible with all the stuff I had on my plate with my pottery and our farm before Christmas. I decided to take January to get these things in order and so I have. 

I'm sure some of you still have these booklets or perhaps knit from them in the past. I'm hoping I can inspire some newer knitters to try projects from the World Knits Collection. Over the next few weeks I will be introducing each one here on my blog. The patterns will only be available as PDF Downloads, not printed. You can print them out yourself though. 

If you can and are interested, please help me spread the word in your knitting world. All the patterns are available for sale on my Ravelry store and on my website HERE as digital PDF downloads.  

#100DayProject - What will yours be?

I'm trying to decide upon another 100 day project for 2020. It will hold me accountable to my ceramics work or whatever and help me to keep moving forward. There is something about making a statement to the world - even if it is to my following on Instagram - most of the people who I do not personally know.

There is an official 100 day project which you can learn more about HERE. From what I see, the official project begins April 7, 2020. Check it out if you want to stretch your creativity and take on a project such as this. There is another 100 Day Project that begins January 22nd and ends April 30th. You can see that site HERE. 

I don't think it is necessary to belong to either of these projects - you can begin a 100 day project of your own anytime - that's what I did. I gave my project its own tag #100daysofvases and now I (and anyone) can look at that project on Instagram. It's incredible to look back to see what I accomplished. 

It's a big commitment and maybe you don't have time for it. You could also do a 30 Day Project and see how that goes. Let me know if you do one so I can follow along. 

"Your Storage is Full"

The other day I got an automated email from Google. It said that I was almost out of the free storage on my account. They wanted $1.99/month for me to purchase extra storage. It seemed reasonable and then I looked into where all this storage was being used. It turns out that most of the info that was hogging the space was emails from "promotional" accounts that I have never even read. Every day I trash emails but unbeknownst to me, they weren't really going away - they were just being moved to a different location on my account. I've have now tried deleting them from my account following Google's directions and I'm not sure it worked. It looks like I've got a bit more space on my account - depending on where I look. It's all a big mystery to me - and maybe you too. 

What I have done is un-subscribed myself from lots of the junk mail I seem to get DAILY from the same companies. Geez - how do those people keep sending me stuff? How could I possibly be interested in opening every single email from companies selling things I will never need and political candidates asking for money and my vote? I suppose it is a law of numbers and that someone will open every 5th email they send. But seriously.

With my on-line business I feel like I am bothering people by sending a newsletter every week or so. Obviously I don't know what I am doing because I don't send enough emails. 

What do you think? How do you deal with all the promotional emails?

Thinking On This New Tile Project.....

Looking forward to this year, I'm thinking about this....

I want to make a tile backsplash for the wall behind my stove shown above. Last year my 18 year old propane powered stove/oven finally could not be repaired. I had to get a new one that fit into the same spot. I had a beautiful Thermador tank that I loved but this time around, could not afford the price of a new one. The stove I got is okay but nothing like that Thermador cadillac. I'm used to it now but it is "tinny" feeling and I know it won't last as long as the old one. I will say, it has good power -- even more than my tired old stove. The last one had amazing insulation and the kitchen didn't get hot in the summer. This one's insulation stinks and in the summer I barely used the oven because it really raised the heat in the kitchen. I'm not a fan of hot kitchens - except in the winter like last night when it was 16 degrees outside. 

I'm not sure what the tile backsplash is going to be yet but these photos have got me thinking. I will probably use purchased bisqued tiles and decorate them with underglazes. I will not put them on the wall permanently but will mount them on cement board and attach that to the wall somehow - like I did on the tile surround in our library. (Photo by Rikki Snyder from my book Crafting A Patterned Home available on my website at a 2 for 1 promotional offer now.)

Hope I can get to this project soon. 

Me on Knitting and Books

I've hinted on my newsletter of late (sign up for it on the sidebar at the top of the blog), that I've got some new knitting content coming. It's actually not new but rather old but so old it may look new again! Yikes - how did that happen. I'm in my sixth decade of life. We have lived here on this farm for almost 21 years. How did it all go by so fast? How much time to I have left? Am I still relevant to anyone?

I'm in the midst of building PDF files for a rather large amount of work. I will be launching this project in the very near future. I'm hoping it all catches on but time will tell and I may be too much of a dinosaur to get any traction in the knitting community again. 

As I have been preparing the files, I've been looking back at some of my designing history. I haven't published a new knitting pattern since 2014. It was this cute Easy Aran sweater modeled by my little friend Emme who is now almost ten. 

I thought I was going to make a fortune. This was one of those patterns that used to do extremely well when I worked at Classic Elite Yarns. We'd sell tons of copies of designs like this. I was wrong, so wrong. 

I've sold a total of 29 of these PDF patterns for a grand total of $174 since 2014. This failure was what kind of turned me off to developing any new knitting patterns. Too much competition out there... who can find me.... I'm not relevant anymore.... nor am I feeling the knitting love and passion..... 

This break from knitwear design and the knitting world has been very good for me. I've moved beyond what I was known for and stretched my boundaries. I can't say I am any bit of a huge success but I feel good about the things I have done -- including writing two interior design/crafting books and republishing two embroidery titles. 

I pretty much feel that I am done with writing books for now. I've said what I have to say and until I find a new passion that I think the world needs in book format I will be working more on physical projects that I can share with my community on-line.

What are your thoughts on knitting and where do you buy your patterns? What are you looking for?  What are your thoughts on books? Do you even buy them anymore? Do you read anymore? All things to ponder as the world changes.