Last week I published my latest pattern, the Georgina Cardigan.

I was inspired to design Georgina by my dear friend Sascha. I offered to knit something for her wedding, and she requested a lacy little bolero to wear with her dress. After a bit of discussion (Sascha is the opposite of a bride-zilla, perhaps a bride-chinchilla) she decided on something a bit more like a cardigan, with 3/4 sleeves and waist length with buttons.

As some of you may gave noticed, I am a bit of a cardiganaholic. It is an affliction that plagues many a knitter, and I am nearly defenseless to its powers. The moment the syllables card-i-guuuh left Sascha's pretty little lips, I already knew what I wanted to do!

Here is one of the sketches I did when I was working out my idea:

I think it turned out pretty close to my idea!

We've just picked the yarn for Sascha's Georgina. It's Louisa Harding Yarns Willow Tweed in color 1. It is knitting up so gorgeously and will really compliment the antique lace in Sascha's dress. I'll be sure to share pictures after the big day.

The pattern is available for sale here at KnitDarling, and on Ravelry. I'd love to hear what you think, so please leave a comment below!

Look at what hand-made cuteness I got in the mail this week:

(Card and friendship bracelet made by my awesome sister-in-law, Susannah)

Multiple Choice Question: How adorable is Susannah?

A.  Cuter than a puppy wearing a bow-tie sitting in an upside-down top-hat?

B. More darling than a teddybear wearing a pink dress carrying a parasol?

C. Sweeter than a caramel covered, powdered-sugar dusted, doughnut eaten in the sunshine?

Answer: All of the above! (Thanks so much, Susannah!) You can envy more of Susannah's  work and bask in her stunning style at her blog, My Grammer of Ornament.

In other news, this exciting little package also came in the mail this week. What's in there has been absolutely dominating my weekend (in the most delightful way, of course):

I won't reveal its contents, but I will say that you should be on the lookout for my next delicious wooly design in the upcoming Wool People 2!

Wow, what a busy week! So much has happened that I don't even know where to start.

Last Thursday my husband and I went to San Juan, Puerto Rico for our first ever beach vacation. That same day I released my newest pattern, the Georgina Cardigan. Also this week, my feature spread in Knitscene magazine came out! I'll have more on both of those later. I also visited the Lion Brand Yarn Studio where I got a personal tour of the company's entire line.

I didn't get much knitting done in Puerto Rico. Being a beach babe and a knit darling don't really go together, but I did manage to fit in a few stitches!

The air was crisp and carried all the old wonderful and sentimental scents of fall on it's many gusts and howls; apple cider, pumpkin pie, and the cooking smells of some hearty, savory delight.

Photographs taken by my surprisingly eager and interested husband, Brian:

Me with Sabina, who is wearing her beautifully hand knitted Delancey Cardigan. She did a lovely job and I sepecially like her color choices. She was delightful, and I'm so happy I ran into her!

The sheep were fascinating and sometimes hilarious!

Laura and Mehgan holding an angora rabbit. What fun!

An alpaca parade! Go ahead, say it out loud. ALPACA PARADE! ALPACA PARADE! If it doesn't make you smile, I don't want to know you.

I had the best time at the sheep and wool festival! You can bet on seeing me there again next year.

I just finished editing a Design Demo video for one of my newest knitting patterns, the Vega Beret. As I mentioned before this pattern was part of the Brooklyn Tweed yarn company's "Wool People" collection, and is available for purchase on their site and through Ravelry.

I'd like to add that the Brooklyn Tweed Shelter yarn was a delight to work with, and if you haven't tried it out, I encourage you to do so. There's just something about the beauty of the colors in this line and the quality of the yarn itself that really make it special. One thing that I'd like to think makes my patterns special, is that I really try to consider the experience a knitter has while knitting my patterns. I want to bring you all the joy, and none of the frustration that knitting has to offer. Using a quality yarn can really add enjoyment and longevity to your projects.

I hope everyone enjoys the video and please tell me what you think in the comments section below!

I've had a few requests recently for a tutorial on how to make a knitted-on I-cord edging. This simple and attractive edging is very easy and looks especially good on hand knits for men. You can see that I used this technique on my East Hale Cardigan pattern in the fall 2011 issue of Knitscene magazine.

Keep in mind that this technique is not suited for every yarn. The best yarn will be smooth enough that any uneven stitches will even themselves out when the work is stretched or tugged-on. In this tutorial I use Cascade Ecological Wool and size 9 needles, which are the same yarn and needle size that I used for the East Hale Cardigan.

This tutorial explains how to do a 3-stitch I-cord edging, but the same method can be used to make a 2 or 4 stitch I-cord edging as well.

I hope you've found this tutorial to be useful! I'd love to hear what you think about the video, so please leave a comment below. Also, if there are any other techniques for which you'd like to see a tutorial, please let me know and I'll add it to my list.

I'm so happy to announce that my newest pattern, Chivalry Mitts, has just come out in the holiday gifts issue of Interweave Knits!

The pattern is for a pair of fingerless mitts with an adorable color-work pattern of little hearts. What makes this pattern special is that you can draw in your own letters or design into the thumb gusset (alphabet included in the pattern).

I love this pattern not only because it's fun to look at, but also because it's really fun to make. There's just something about color-work patterns like this that keep me motivated to do just one more row!

Soooo, double-negative haters be damned, I can't NOT mention the obvious here. Can it seriously already be that time again?! I'm still savoring the last little morsels of summer, in total denial of what must be nary a month or two away. And now, seeing a HOLIDAY GIFTS magazine on the shelf, is making me feel a bit nervous. Don't panic people, but there's only 100 more knitting days until Christmas!

By the way, I'm totally wearing a tank-top to work today.

I'd love to hear what you think in the comments section below. Also, if you're working on this project, I've started a knit-along on Ravelry, so come on over and join the fun!

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Johnny Vasquez for an interview on his site, Fiberstory.tv.

The interview was recorded via Skype and was my first time doing anything non-scripted on video. I was pretty anxious at the beginning (can you tell?), but soon loosened up because Johnny had so many interesting and insightful questions. After editing, the interview ended up being about 50 minutes. We really hit it off though and actually chatted for over 2 hours! I had such a great time, and hope to get an opportunity to do something like this again.

But WAIT! There's MORE! Johnny is doing an awesome give-away of my Delancey Cardigan pattern! It's super easy to enter the contest, just check out the page for my interview on fiberstory.tv for all the details.

Please watch the interview (yes, the whole thing!) and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Last week I went out to the South Fork of Long Island on the Hampton Yarn Hop which was a bus trip organized by the lovely Phillys Howe. From New York City to Montauk, we went to 3 great yarn shops and a llama farm where we saw a lamb sheared for the first time. We were joined on our trip by some notable knitting "rockstars"; Rosemary Drysdale, author of Entralac, and Carla Scott executive editor at Vogue Knitting and editor in chief at Knit Simple magazines.

Our first stop was Purl by the Sea where Kay Gardiner, coauthor of the Mason-Dixon Knitting books and blog, gave a little talk about some of her blanket patterns. It was really nice to meet Kay and the shop was just adorable! I bought a beautiful skein of Rowan Drift (prettiest shade of red you've ever seen) that I've already managed to knit up into a super top secret sample for something... (more to come on that (hopefully))

Next up, we had a nice lunch at Inlet where we got a beautiful view of Montauk Bay and the vast array of wildlife that live there (we even saw jelly fish!). The weather was great and I even managed to not get a sun burn for once!<!--more-->

[caption id="attachment_737" align="alignnone" width="495" caption="Hillary at our table overlooking Montauk Bay"][/caption]

After lunch we headed over to the Long Island Livestock Company where we met the very charismatic and talented Tabbethia who showed us where our yarn comes from (not the belly of a sheep, as it turns out). This was truly the highlight of the trip for me. I bought some beautiful brown shades of llama yarn that I can hardly wait to dig into!

After that we went to Knit! where we enjoyed some wine and cheese and a preview of the winter issue of Vogue Knitting complete with real samples of the garments and pages of the magazine. What a treat!

I met some really fantastic people on the bus. This is Cindy and Lisa who coincidentally were knitting my Gowanus Shawl pattern. It was quite a surprise when they recognized me from the photograph on the pattern! This is the first time something like that has happened to me, so I just had to snap a pic. They were really nice people that I'm so glad I got to meet.

I also had the pleasure of sitting next to Rosemary Drysdale, who, as I mentioned before is the author of entralac, which I coincidentally won in a raffle on the bus right before we met! Rosemary was just a lovely woman and we chatted all the way back to New York City. I really hope I get the opportunity to meet her again.

I had such a great time on this trip! I'd definitely do something like it again if I get the chance.

Today Brooklyn Tweed debuted their first collaborative designer series that they are calling Wool People. I'm delighted to count myself among the designers featured! I'd like to introduce you to Vega, a colorwork beret knitted in Brooklyn Tweed SHELTER yarn. Check out these beautiful photographs from their website:

The design includes two sizes and features a 2-color pattern worked from a chart on circular needles. The woven motif has integrated crown shaping that narrows to a charming little star shape at the top. This hat was a delight to knit not only because of the beautiful Brooklyn Tweed SHELTER yarn, but also because the chart repeats are easily memorized.

I'm just dying to hear what you all think! Please let me know by leaving your comments below.

And don't forget to buy the pattern!

(photographs courtesy of Brooklyntweed.net)