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And another design of mine was published on the same day! (see my other post below about Nocturne in Yarn Forward magazine). My pattern Scallop Lace Cardigan was published in the Classic Elite Yarns Web-Letter, issue 126. It is available for download for free here: Scallop Lace Cardigan. This design is exactly what the name implies: are cardigan with scallop lace detailing around the waist and on the sleeves It also features a low, plunging neckline and a garter stitch collar, hem and cuffs.

This was such a fun design to work on, and I completely fell in love with the yarn, Classic Elite’s Wool Bam Boo. The color I picked was Havanna Red and I used a set of vintage wooden buttons that I had bought on Amsterdam’s famed Noordermarkt (one of my favorite markets in the world to visit – with lots of wonderful vintage stuff and organic food, every Monday and Saturday, I highly recommend visiting it if you’re ever in Amsterdam). I had been waiting for the right design to use the buttons for and this was it! Here are some pictures of the cardigan:

I just had my first pattern published in Yarn Forward. I’m a huge fan of this British knitting magazine and I’m thrilled to have my pattern be a part of the April 2010 issue, Yarn Forward number 23! I’m honored to be one of the featured designers in this issue as well.

The pattern’s name is Nocturne and it’s a short-sleeved swing-style cardigan top. The design was inspired by the trapeze A-line silhouettes of the sixties and will flatter virtually any shape. The retro contrasting hem is also reminiscent of vintage designs, but a solid color version of this cardigan would look fab as well. Worked in an aran-weight yarn, it’s the perfect layering item for chilly early Spring days. Much of Nocturne’s shaping comes from the transition from k1, p1 rib to stocking stitch halfway through the pattern; consequently this is a fairly straight-forward project, perfect for a first-time cardigan project.

The pattern is currently only available in Yarn Forward. Yarn Forward is available at newsstands around the UK and can be subscribed to on the Yarn Forward website. After the summer the pattern will be for sale on my website as well. Here is a picture of the pattern in the magazine:

And here is a picture of the version I knitted for myself:

I have just designed and knit my quickest project ever! It’s a little baby beret for Noortje. We took some very cute pictures of it yesterday, and what’s nice is that because it’s a fairly loose-fitting hat, Noortje doesn’t mind wearing it. She’s not a big fan of tight hats. I plan to self-publish it so it will be up on the site soon.

I’m very excited that as of yesterday, one of my hat patterns, Kensington, is a part of the Knit Picks Independent Designer Partnership. Here is the pattern’s page on the Knit Picks website. I absolutely love Knit Picks yarn and often design with it, so it’s definitely a bit of a thrill to have one of my patterns for sale on their website. I would love to design more patterns for them. Also, as my sweet husband said when he saw the pattern page, “that’s where I got your Christmas yarn from!”

And speaking of Christmas gifts, this Christmas one of the things I got Brandon was the Tudors on DVD, and one of the things he got me was the Tudors on the DVD, too. We bought thought the other would like it, and we were both right. We’ve been watching it for the past week or two and we’re hooked! It’s not the most historically accurate series, and every once in a while we have to pause it to comment on things that aren’t right historically or that just seem very anachronistic, but it is really good, and very entertaining.

Other things I’ve very much enjoyed recently are the books Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. I’m such a fan of Neil Gaiman. His writing is just amazing and I love his imagination. We have several signed books by him and one of my birthday gifts two weeks ago was a Neil Gaiman poem, written in the very cool lettering of Todd Klein, who has also done the lettering for the Sandman graphic novels. It’s signed by both of them as well, a very cool piece of art!

A few days ago, I celebrated my 29th birthday. Can’t believe I’m nearly 30! It’s great though. I had a wonderful birthday, just hanging out with Noortje and Sophie during the day, and in the evening Brandon made a fantastic yummy dinner for me with some of my favorite things (I’m so lucky that he is a real “kitchen prince” as we say in Holland!). I got some amazing gifts too, and even got to blow out candles – something I hadn’t done in years! It was very fun.

Meanwhile, it’s been a while again since I last got to update my blog. We spent the holidays with our family in the Netherlands, which was absolutely wonderful. It was Noortje’s first Christmas and I think she was quite overwhelmed by all the many gifts! Meanwhile, it is also very nice to be home again, and to stay home for a while. The trip by car via the ferry is really a bit too long for our little one and after travelling back and forth three times in as many months, it’s good to take a break from travelling and get back to our daily routine for a bit.

Our girly is eating lots of solids now. She has a fruit or veggie in the morning and baby rice cereal in the evening, which she loves. I also keep running after her as she rolls around the room – she can’t even crawl yet and is getting into trouble already! She’s so much fun to hang out with, we have a blast playing at home together, going strolling in the park with Sophie and meeting with friends. Here are two recent photos of our Noortje. She has the biggest beautiful blue eyes:

As for knitting, I’m working on a few different designs. Most are smaller items, though one is a bigger one, a top. I’m also very excited about three designs that are all finished and will be published in the next month or so. I’ll be sure to post about it here when they’re published!

My very first Knitty pattern just got published in the Winter 2009 issue of Knitty Magazine! Here’s Duet:

The design can be worn as a neckscarf and a hat, as you can see from the pictures. I’m so excited to be a part of Knitty!

I published a new pattern on the site today. It’s a beret in a simple lace pattern and it’s called Kensington. My sample was knit in Knit Picks Andean Silk (one of my favorite yarns) in the color Hollyberry. I love how it turned out! This pattern is for sale for $4.50 and can be purchased here. Here’s a picture:

It has been forever since I last updated my blog, and as usual, we have been keeping pretty busy! Since my last post, we have visited our family in the Netherlands not once but twice. The first time, in October, was a trip planned quite a bit ahead of time, and the second time was a little unexpected. Brandon had to go to sea for a few weeks, which we thought was a good opportunity for Noortje, Sophie and I to go spend some more time with my parents. Both visits were great, but during the second time we missed Brandon a lot. Also, because I got a bit paranoid about the swine flu, we didn’t do some of the things we had planned to do, such as visit my old hometown (well, for 6 years while I was in college anyway ) Amsterdam. I’m not worried about myself, but Noortje is less than 6 months old so I’ve been worried about taking her on trips and into crowds and such. Once she is 6 months though she can get vaccinated against it, if that is still necessary then. As for Amsterdam, hopefully during our next visit we’ll get to do that! I haven’t been to Amsterdam in a year and half, I believe, and I kind of miss it sometimes – it is one of my favorite cities.

Noortje meanwhile has grown so much again since my last update! She can now roll over from her back onto her tummy and back again, and she can sit up well and has just started solids, which she isn’t terribly excited about yet, but I’m sure that will come. She loves doing things so much that it is much harder than it used to be to get her to take a nap, but this lack of sleep she compensates by going to bed much earlier, at a real “children’s bedtime” as opposed to just going to bed when we go to bed. She is quite interested in Sophie now, too, as well as in other babies which I noticed at our most recent meet-up with the girls from our NCT childbirth course. It’s amazing how big all the babies are already!

As for knitting, if it wasn’t for knitting while nursing, I probably wouldn’t get much done at the moment, but luckily there is lots of nursing time and therefor knitting time! I have finished two sweaters that will be published soon, which I’m very excited about. One of them will be my very first print publication. I’ve also finished a hat that was a gift to Brandon for our three-year “paper wedding” anniversary (our real anniversary is in April), for which I intend to write up the pattern sometime as well. And last but not least, one of my designs will be published in the next issue of Knitty! I had submitted several designs to Knitty in the past and this is the first one that has been accepted, so needless to say I’m very excited. I will definitely post here when this issue goes live.

Noortje and I are spending the day in bed. Or rather, on the bed and around the bed. This is because after my surgery I’m not allowed to lift anything over 15 lbs for four weeks – and nothing that is much heavier for six weeks. Noortje weighs over 15 lbs, although I’m not sure by how much because the last time she was weighed was at her 2-month doctor’s appointment, when she weighed 11.9 lbs. I can’t wait to find out how much she weighs at her next appointment, when she’s four months old.

Anyway, now that Brandon’s back at work, we’re spending the days on the bed because this is where I can feed Noortje, change her, play with her and talk with her, all without having to lift her. She also gets to practise holding her head up and such with a little bit of tummy time here and there. It’s only a tiny bit of tummy time though as she absolutely hates being on her tummy – it makes her cry within 5 minutes, if not sooner, the poor thing. Still, she’s holding her head up really well and also yesterday managed to roll over from her tummy to her back, but I think that was more accident than anything else (still, that is how it begins I suppose!). She looked quite pleased with herself for getting herself of her tummy anyway! She also giggled for the first time yesterday when her daddy was acting silly. She always smiles and laughs a lot but she had not giggled before, it was so sweet!

Spending all day in the bedroom also gives me lots of time to knit, read, and work on the laptop. It’s a lot less boring than I thought it would be, even though I sometimes itch to get out and wish we could go strolling in the sunshine. Well, soon! Sometimes our doggy Sophie comes to join us on the bed as well, so it’s very gezellig [un-translateable Dutch word that those who have travelled to the Netherlands often know what it means ]. It is very nice to have so much time to knit, too, especially as I have quite a bit of knitting to do! I’m very excited about two projects I’m working on. One is a design for a yarn company I love, and another is a design for a print magazine, which I love also. And of course I’m thrilled to have my first pattern commissioned by a print magazine!

I always write about how much I love vintage fashion, well here is one of the reasons why:

It’s a Lanvin print dress from the late 60s. I won it on Ebay for $46 and it’s a perfect fit. Love it!

At last I have a real blog on my website! Before, I was blogging, but not using any proper blogging software, so there was no calendar, no option for comments, no links section, nothing like that. Now, thanks to wordpress, I have a real, functioning blog. Very cool!

Almost two weeks ago, I ended up in the hospital needing emergency surgery for two crazy cysts, one of which had twisted my left ovary several times (major ouch – worse than labor!). Thank god, the surgeon managed to save my ovaries, so hopefully we won’t have any problems making more babies in the future. After a few days in the hospital and later in a nearby hotel together with my sweet husband, our little Noortje and my mom, who had immediately jumped on a plane to come to stay for a few days (so wonderful!), we all got to go back home. I’m almost all recovered now and happy to get on with more knitting!

One thing knit-wise that I’m very excited about is that my pattern Champs-Élysées Beret was published in the Fall/Winter 2009 issue of Popknits. Popknits is one of my favorite online knitting magazines, I love that all the patterns in it are vintage-inspired. It’s great to have one of my patterns be a part of this issue, which went live last weekend. The website is here, and the beret pattern can be found here: Champs-Élysées Beret. Here’s a picture:

As it’s quite late out here at the moment, I’m off to bed. Before I go though, I wanted to share with you a picture of Noortje (Eleanor’s Dutch “roepnaam” or nickname) and her very cute hair that always sticks up in the back (this was taken a few weeks ago - she’s already outgrown those pants amazingly!):

Isn’t she adorable?

Last but not least, since they’re not properly archived in any way, here’s a link to my old blog posts: