Here's a little something pretty. You can make it if you'd like.
I've been wanting to do more accessory patterns for a while now, but felt conflicted about devoting an entire "person" in the Family Trunk to, for example, a hat, which only takes me about a week to knit up. I wanted to spend more time than that with each family member, really thinking about who they are/were, and my relationship to them. So I decided to branch out and design some smaller patterns not specifically inspired by anyone in my family - more just knitterly exercises in style and form.
The Portlandia Cloche is the first pattern in the new series. I started working on it in Hawai'i, as a bit of a brain break after Charles Victor, and I think it turned out to be a nice, pretty little hat, lacy and art nouveau-inspired. It's one of my simpler patterns: the only skills necessary are knitting and purling in the round, k2tog, ssk, and yarnover. Not only that, but it knits up quickly to satisfy those short summertime attention spans. It's priced at an affordable $3.00, or two pages of your story.
I had some truly great test-knitters on this project, one of whom took it upon herself to create line-by-line instructions from my charts. Way to go the extra mile, Susan! I've included them in the pattern, as well as excellent comments and suggestions from my other test knitters. Thanks, ladies! You're awesome.
Anyway, I hope you like the cloche! I'll be spending the summer working on a whole slew of accessory patterns which I'm hoping to release en masse in the fall, both individually and as some kind of e-book. I haven't decided whether to show them to you in progress or not; they'll be largely cool-weather knits, and will seem more appealing once the air turns brisk and the dogs stop panting in the shade. Maybe we can compromise with some nice teaser shots as the pieces come together. Soon, too, there should be a non-trunk pattern page for easy browsing of all available patterns. Enjoy the your summer projects, and happy knitting!
