Assel Knits

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The Lost in the Woods Collection

Most of you probably know by now, that my last year was mostly spent working on a knitwear collection called "Lost in the Woods". And although the majority of the patterns were released in November 2016, I held back writing about it until today. Yesterday the last pattern was published as part of the ebook on Ravelry. I think I needed a bit of distance to be able to write about the whole project.

Back in late summer 2015 I felt that I needed a new challenge in my designing and self publishing routine. For a change I didn't want to face it alone, but rather with someone like-minded. A small collection with maybe 6 designs seemed like a good idea. The topic came quite quickly and naturally to me: the forest. When I free myself from everything and just...am, I am basically in a forest. The forest is where things are good, as they should be. It's quiet, it's slow, it's warm but also cool, it's monumental but also delicate. The forest is me, and I am the forest, although I am still just a guest, who comes for a visit. That was the image I wanted to convey.

So I created a moodboard and wanted to approach someone with this idea. Let me tell you I didn't have to look far or for a long time.

This post by Robynn Weldon appeared in my instagram feed just at the right time:

video.instagram, img.instagram {width: 600px !important; height: auto !important;} My happy place: cool woods, paths branching all over. I could go anywhere. by @woollythinker

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And I knew who I needed to talk to. Robynn suggested we could just as well form a team of three and ask her friend Emily K Williams to join us. And so I did.

Our teamwork over the following year and a half has been fantastic and I am incredibly thankful for this best working experience I've had in my life so far. The small collection I had planed grew to double the size – 12 designs –, and working together made it much richer in construction methods, textures, colours, yarn choices, imagery, and interpretation of the topic as a whole, than it would have been if I had worked alone.

Coincidentally Robynn is an editor, Emily a tech editor, and I'm a graphic designer, which enabled us to create the whole collection ourselves with just a little help from our families and friends. And here you can see the outcome, the lookbook of "Lost in the Woods".

You can buy the collection as an ebook on Ravelry for 25 €.

We are aware that "Lost in the Woods" would look amazing as a printed book. Right now we can't offer that, but we are looking into it. Yes, we'd really like to have that book on our coffee tables too. Let's see what the future brings. Robynn, Emily and I are convinced that "Lost in the Woods" wasn't our last collaboration, and that we could very well get lost in other places too.

Well, thank you Robynn and Emily, friends and family, and especially you, the knitter, who gave us amazing feedback and for whom we made this collection in the first place!

[asselknits]

Workoholic?

Once again it has been a little silent here on the blog, and I haven't even released many new patterns in the past few months – aside from the Meteorite hat of course.

So you might think that I am not that much into designing knits anymore, but in reality the exact opposite is the case. I'm working on designs more than ever; I just can't show you anything yet.

Best thing is, that I have so much fun doing what I do, that I have a really hard time NOT doing it. I begin to wonder what weekends are good for. Usually people try to do something fun on weekends, but work IS fun right now, so I just keep on working. I'm going on vacation tomorrow with my knitting group and initially wanted to take today off, pack stuff, and cool down before tomorrows action. I sat there, pondering about what to do...and I started grading a new design. You heard me right!

I am pretty sure that this phase will be over at some point, so I better embrace it now and do all the things as long as I enjoy them.

As hard work has to pay off eventually, expect some cool stuff coming in the latter half of 2016.

Side note: I inherited a smartphone. (Nope, hadn't had one before.) Hence I'm using instagram a little more than before. I'm asselknits over there.

[asselknits]

North Bridge Poncho

I've been away from the blog for a few months (, because I am a boring person...just kidding) and wooooosh: It's autumn.

Fortunately I am prepared for that, as my North Bridge Poncho is ready to enter the store.

This poncho started with my interest for tartan. I wanted to make tartan work with knitted fabric. What I didn't want was the stripes to turn out bold and prominent, because that is just not the look of a real woven tartan. The wrong side of striped garter stitch came to mind, hence the stripes there are not as defined as on the right side.

Since I was working with the wrong side, the 'good' right side was suddenly hidden and not visible. What a pity, right? This fabric screamed 'reversible'. Well, it also screamed 'fringe', because I was weaving yarn through it, and that left a lot of ends hanging from its edge. And that all together screamed 'reversible poncho'. It was very loud in my head. No, in fact it wasn't. In fact I was sick in bed, trying to work a bit next to a mountain of paper hankies.

Anyways, there was a striped side, and a tartan side, and that reminded me of something:

A few years ago I've been to Edinburgh, and I've found myself walking across the North Bridge, which connects the Old Town with the New. It's funny, you feel like you walk from one time into another. One side old buildings and tourist attractions, one side newer buildings and shopping streets.

Classic tartan, modern stripes...North Bridge. You get it, right?

I love this poncho, especially when knit in Drops Air. It is just so light and warm. (The yarn is on sale right now, guys. Do I need to say more?) In autumn one can wear it over a sweater, in winter over a coat. Also working on it is lovely. You cast on 1 stitch, and then you pretty much knit a blanket with stripes. Then, when it is about to get boring, you grab a tapestry needle and weave yarn through your blanket. It is exciting, because you have most probably never done that before. Then you get to ask yourself: “What is my favourite side today?”

Most days, mine is tartan.

[asselknits]

Of Ladies and Maids

Wow, time goes by so fast, I didn't even notice that the release of the 'Of Ladies and Maids' set is already half a month ago. Well, time that I say a few words about it.

'Of Ladies and Maids' is a set consisting of fingerless mitts and a loop. It is designed to be made from 4 skeins (1 x colour A, 1 x colour B, 2 x colour C) of Road to China Light, a sport-weight luxury yarn from The Fibre Company.

I had bought the yarn earlier this year when I was in Amsterdam with my knitting group. Although those colours are quite unusual for me, I knew instantly that they wanted to be used together in a project. Don't they look lovely together? Well, that they are really not me though turned out to be a tiny little problem when we wanted to take the pattern photos, because I have nothing in my wardrobe that matches them … other than a plain white blouse. And look what I wear in the pictures.

The 'Of Ladies and Maids' set combines noble lace (the lady) with a rustic flower stitch (the maid) and stripes. Yeah, I know you were curious what the name means.

You can buy mitts and loop together for a discounted price on Ravelry.

[asselknits]

What is the value of a knitting pattern?

In the past I've shared with you how a design comes together, regarding inspiration and design choices, using my Elytra sweater as an example.

Now I want to share with you how much work and time it needs to design a knitting pattern. I'll use Shifter as an example for this.

Usually I start with sketching the design on paper. Then I calculate all the numbers for the size I'm going to knit as a sample. How quickly that goes is very different. Some designs are just 'there', others need weeks of pondering about to get them on paper. Shifter was a fast one at the beginning, but it took a little longer to get the details done.

Next I knit the sample. I had completed the whole yoke of the sweater when I noticed that my calculations didn't work, so I had to frog and start new. Sewing in the zipper in the end took about an hour. Until here the whole process of sketching, calculating and knitting took me 114 hours.

Then I calculate the numbers for all the sizes I want to include in the pattern (, if the design comes in several sizes). This is called 'grading' by the way. This took me 18 hours for Shifter, which is rather long. Yes, the overall ribbing pattern gave me a lot to think over.

When all this is done I set up the PDF, take a few quick&dirty photos of the design, draw the pattern schematic, and get in touch with test knitters. I have no data on how much time I spent corresponding with the test knitters, but getting to the final version of the PDF took me 7,5 hours.

Usually the last thing I do is to take the final photos of the design, edit them and place them in the PDF. This went rather quickly this time, and took 3 hours.

All in all it took at least 142,5 hours to create the Shifter pattern. And we shouldn't forget that there is also the work that test knitters put into this.

If I would calculate with my hourly rate (22$) that I assess for graphic design services, which is rather low, the Shifter pattern would be worth 3.135$. That said I would need to sell the pattern 514 times to make it 'worth it'. Well, 500 to go!

Quite interesting to look at those numbers, eh?

[asselknits]

Shifter

After quite a while without any releases, Shifter has joined my shop. 

If you had told me that I would one day design a sweater with an overall ribbing pattern, I wouldn't have believed you. Because ribbing is just not my thing. Not at all. I even avoid ribbed hems. Ribbing, to me, looks kind of elegant, but in a rather cold, businesslike, and old-fashioned way. It's for old and arrogant people. (Don't take me too serious here.) 

But somehow inspiration hit me and said: „There must be a way to make ribbing into something you can be comfortable with.“ And I have to say, I really like the outcome. Shifter does look and feel elegant, but also modern and, if the zipper is opened, quite casual. 

Working with overall ribbing was a challenge, because it has, like for instance a lace pattern, a fixed width (in this case 6 sts = 4x2 ribbing). That means a sweater with overall ribbing can't be reproduced in every size. Fortunately though, ribbing is super stretchy, so it is not a problem that the sizes I could write the pattern for are each 4 inches apart in bust circumference. 

Now a bit about finding the right size and modifying the pattern: 

I would highly advise you to work with the schematic that's included in the pattern when choosing what size to make. Shifter is supposed to fit with some negative ease, but I think that you could also go up to the next bigger size, if you are more than 2 inches away from the smaller size and fear that there might be too much of negative ease. The fabric is really extremely stretchy and adaptive. If you choose to wear Shifter with positive ease, it might be a good idea to omit the notches in the front, because due to the “shift” or “twist”, as it is called in the pattern, the whole fabric tends to shift a little to the right. Usually the negative ease at the hip will hold the sweater in place though. But when that is not the case, the notches will wander off center. Leave them out, and everything looks fine!

Another option to modify the pattern would be to do full length sleeves. If you want to do that, it is a good idea to omit the notches that are located at the back side of the sleeves. 

Are you going to knit Shifter? 

Next I will write a post about the time it took to make the Shifter pattern happen, so look out for that!

[asselknits]

Sometimes the right decision is to destroy something in favour for something better

Sometimes the right decision is to destroy something in favour for something better. In my case it’s one of the designs I’m working on. 

This green thing below (lying on my new chair, which I love), is a jacket. I always wanted a jacket in exactly that colour, but green doesn’t seem to be a colour that dyers focus on. When I had visited Stephen + Penelope's at Amsterdam with my knitting group earlier this year, I had finally found this lovely colourway of Cascade 220 Heathers - I think it’s called Christmas Green -, and picked up 6 skeins, in order to make this jacket in my fantasy a real thing.

But actually back at home I worried that I might not have enough yarn to make a jacket in my size from those 6 skeins. That made me think it would probably be better to go down a size. And I did. And well, I ended up with a jacket, that was quite nice. I got compliments on it. Yes, but, it was a size small. I could feel it. And it didn’t feel great. And you know what? I had only needed 5 skeins to make it. Isn’t that unfair? Next I thought of my sister, who is pretty small. Perhaps I should give my beautiful green jacket, I had always dreamed of, away to her. So we met, she tried it on, and... it didn’t fit her at all. She has a swayback, and due to this condition clothes can behave a little strange on her. Nope, it wasn’t meant for her. 

Another throwback was this: I wanted the jacket to have special, unique buttons. Buttons I had to order online. I was excited. But the parcel came while I wasn’t at home, so I went to the post office to pick it up... and they told me that they had lost my parcel, and that they had no idea where it might be. Well that’s quite a while ago now. It’s lost - probably forever.

Now I have a jacket without buttons that fits nobody, and an extra skein of yarn. Know what, I will frog that thing and make a new jacket in my size even better than this one, with a fit that perhaps even my sister with her swayback can wear! And I will order new buttons..other special, unique ones. But not now. Now I have to draw schematics for a design I hope to publish in a week or so. Stay tuned for that! 

[asselknits]

Knitting sleeves with 12″ circular needles

I find knitting sleeves problematic, and I’ll tell you why:

The most common way to knit sleeves is probably to use a set of double pointed needles. This method has two disadvantages in my opinion. 1. I have to switch between needles four times a round, and that costs time and interrupts my workflow.  2. If I’m working on a textured sleeve with knits and purls there might occur laddering between needles. I could prevent that by working a few more stitches from the next needle every time, so that the gap between needles travels around the sleeve. But why would I bother with this? I want an easier way!

A second method would be magic loop. Many people love it, I don’t. I mean a sleeve in my size (36) has a pretty tiny circumference, and before I know it I’m already at that loop again. And then I have to pull it out somewhere else again, and where do I get needles with a really flexible cable anyway? For me it feels more like wrestling with my knitting. It’s a nice method, it’s good to know that it works, but for me it is rather only a workaround to solve a certain problem somehow, and not THE thing.

Then there was that idea to use two circular needles, but again, I don’t want to pull a 60 cm long circular needle through half my sleeve stitches twice a round, for the same reason that I don’t like the dpns.

There had to be something much more straight forward. 

And then I bought a 12 inch circular needle. Dadaaa..heaven! No switching, no pulling, no ladders! 

This needle has the perfect cable lengths to knit sleeves with in the round, just as you’d knit a sweater in the round. I’ve knit a worsted weight set-in-sleeve in size 34 with it, and it worked really well from the pick up (where I had 56 stitches) to the wrist (where I had 32 stitches). 

Some people say that those tiny needles are super exhausting to work with, because the actual needle part is so much shorter than usual. Someone in my knitting group said: “It feels like working with two magnets that repel each other.” I don’t have that problem, probably because my hands are tiny. But also I find that working with the 12″ needles becomes easier when I don’t actually hold the working needle, but rather the fabric directly beneath it. (As you can see in the photo below.) The only downside is that I now need to buy those needle in all the different needle sizes. But I’ve found a piece of knitting salvation. 

What method for knitting sleeves do you like best, and why?

[asselknits]

VAT again

I just wanted to let you know that there is going to be a new VAT-related thing happening April 1. 

EU customers won’t have to purchase my patterns through LoveKnitting anymore to be able to pay VAT. (I know that has been an issue to some, so yeeey!)

Also I will make it so that everyone in the world has to pay the same price for my patterns, meaning that I’ll have to make them slightly more expensive to make up for the VAT costs. As a result EU customers (outside of Germany) will have to pay less than before, German and non-EU customers will pay slightly more. I am happy that this is an option now, because it seems just fair to me. 

Well Germans and non-EU people, go grab my patterns before the prices go up! ;)  

[asselknits]

Back from Amsterdam

My knitting group went on a trip to Amsterdam last weekend (, mainly to visit Stephen + Penelope's, but I won't say that too loud, because I don't want to seem addicted to the y-drug.)

We had a brilliant time, even though the shop is maybe only a quarter the size it seems to be from the photos! I didn't take any pictures of the trip, so you have to believe me.

Above you can see some of the skeins I bought. It's 'Road to China', a blend of Baby Alpaca, Cashmere, Camel and Silk in the colours 'Garnet', 'Carnelian' and 'Feldspar'. They look so great together, and when you hold them against your cheek it feels like they melt on your skin. Aaah, well I'm not sure what to do with them yet. (I have one more skein of the 'Garnet' colour.) Suggestions?

Nope, this is not all I've bought there, but I think I'll keep those for another blog post. What I can show you though is my new design sketch book, that I've found in a tiny shop. I'm so in love with it! Too bad that my old one is only half full, so it will take a while until I can use this one. But one day my designs will be born inside of this beautiful thing!

Well, if you have the chance to go on a trip with your knitting group, do it! I know I will do it again, if I can afford it.

[asselknits]

Kheb - The Inspiration

A few days ago Kheb has joined the patterns in my shop – with a slight delay for my EU customers. Yes, the LoveKnitting solution has caused me some headaches, because one can only upload one file per pattern to the platform (unlike Ravelry), meaning that I have to merge the charted and written version for LoveKnitting. But then my computer wouldn't merge PDF files anymore, and I spent half a day figuring out why. Well, to hell with EU vat! And rant off.

You wonder how I came up with the Kheb pattern? I can shed light upon that: I've been watching too much Stargate SG-1. Here is a link to the intro on youtube. There is this huge, mysterious golden Egyptian figure with dark blue shadows. The shady blue parts with the random lines caught my eyes every time, and I still had a skein of madelintosh DK in the matching colour Manor in my stash. In the end the hat had not so much in common with my inital inspiration anymore.

„Chepresch“, by the way, is the Egyptian name for a blue crown – one of the pharaohs headdresses. „Kheb“ is a planet in the series. Chep..Kheb..we have a name for the pattern!

Kheb's special shape is created with a set of stacked German short rows, and the top is then seamed with kitchener stitch. The hat also features a folded brim. (Yes, I like folded brims.)

I'd say this hat is for adventurous knitters, who like adventurous clothing. It's probably not for everyone, nope.

[asselknits]

Arcade Mode Gloves for my Godmother

My godmother saw my Arcade Mode Gloves and wanted me to knit a pair for her in wasabi green. Before I could even start searching for a suitable yarn she phoned me saying that she had found a yarn in the perfect colour and bought it. Well, she's not a knitter. The yarn was a handspun bulky weight 2-ply wick yarn - unusable for this project. But - being the nice person I am - I unplied all the yarn and got something I could work with: a wick yarn ranging from fingering to aran weight. :D

It's been an adventure, but the end result looks pretty interesting. I really like the organic look. They are pretty tight though. Well, I'm not wonder woman, am I?

[asselknits]

Hello 2015! I wish you all a knit-happy new year.

It has been pretty quiet around me and Assel Knits for the past months, partly because I've been sick with an ear infection just before christmas. I've had such big plans: buying christmas presents, decorating our wee little christmas tree, rewriting a pattern, do a photo session. None of it has happened, unfortunately.

Now that I'm feeling better and I hope to be back on track soon. There are a few projects (patterns) I hope to be able to finish soon. (Spoiler in the photo above.) Also I've received a blender for christmas as a gift from my mum, so that I can finally make all the good tasty stuff I'd like to share with you on this blog. Remember, so far there is only my gnocchi recipe online!

Many of you might know this already: There are new EU VAT rules taking effect this year. Loveknitting will handle the VAT payments for me, meaning that you have to set up an account there to buy my patterns. Ravelry will direct you to Loveknitting automatically at checkout. Unfortunately this means that the VAT costs will be added to the regular cost of a pattern. This whole thing will only affect EU customers outside of Germany. For everyone else things will stay the same and patterns will be available through Ravelry as usual. I hope that this won't be a final solution but until now it's what we have to live with. Also I'd be much more comfortable if I could split the VAT costs between all customers and not only the ones based in the EU – that would be much fairer in my view.

[asselknits]

Piggies on Clouds

The past two weeks have been mostly knit-free and even work-free, because I just couldn't concentrate on those kinds of things and was way too excited. For a reason. We've been about to adopt two little guinea pigs. Yes!

I've had guinea pigs for the most part of my life, but had been without piggies for the past five years. A while ago I started to have returning dreams about guinea pigs (some titles were “Piggies on Clouds”, “Piggy Motel” and “Piggy Superstore”). In the end my boyfriend said: “You are going to have guinea pigs before the end of the year”, to make me feel better about those dreams.

And I was happy, but on the other hand the whole idea of getting pigs again turned out to become a very emotional thing for me. I didn't sleep well, I wasn't able to concentrate anymore, and of course I began to prepare everything for the two piggies we would adopt.

The original plan had been to adopt two pigs from someone who've had two accident babies. (Note: Neutered males can in some cases still make babies during the six weeks after surgery. This is how those two pigs came to be.) But shortly before we wanted to fetch up the two cuties, we'd gotten a sad call from the owner, saying that one baby had died in an accident with its comrades in the cage. The little one had somehow gotten between a hut and the cage wall, and had been crushed there. This was so sad, and we had to change our plan and find another second piggy. We still got the other baby though, but we also lit a candle for her sister that night.

The preparation periode is over now. The new piggies settled in and I can sleep well again. Hell, they are cute! We both love them dearly.

Wirbel [refering to Engl. 'fuss' and 'crest (on the forehead)'] is a Coronet-mix in sepia-gold-white. She is the cutest thing – smart, curious, loud, and impatient. Look at that beautiful face!

Fussel [refering to Engl. 'fluff/fuzz'] is a CH-Teddy in lilac. Basically she looks like a dust bunny with pink eyes. A real nightmare, but not so in character. She's rather quiet, easily startled, a bit whiny, and she needs her time to adapt to new things.

Both will have a bit longer fur when grown up.

I'll get back to work now. Promise!

[asselknits]

Weavly KAL

Knitters in my knitting group requested a KAL for my latest cowl design Weavly, and here it is! The pattern is 25% off with the coupon code WEAVLYKAL2014 until 22th of November when the KAL starts.

Everyone can make Weavly, it's really that easy and fast. So if you are a new knitter, don't fear - come join!

Due to it's unconventional construction, Weavly is also fun for the more experienced knitters.

With christmas ahead of us, this cowl would also be a lovely gift. 

What you'll need:

The patterns asks for 110 yards of a super bulky weight yarn. But you could get 220 yards of a bulky yarn and hold the strands double, like I did. This expands the pool of yarns you can choose from.  There is yet another reason why I like to hold two strands double for this project: 'Super bulky' is not always 'super bulky'. There are yarns out there declared as 'super bulky', that are 'bulky' in reality. Holding two strands of a bulky weight yarn double ensures that the strand is thick enough to meet gauge. 

Further the pattern asks for a huge button. Well, what is 'huge'? The button I used measures 3.5 x 2 inches, but I was able to push a whole smartphone through the loop aka buttonhole. (Don't ask me why I tried this. I have no good answer to this.) I imagine a button a bit smaller than what I used would also work fine, though. This is the reason why I didn't define the button size more precisely.

Apropos button, this is the project to use THAT special button for. You could for instance buy a handmade button from Etsy (or a similar site). Or you could make a button yourself, like one of my test knitters did. You'd only need a wooden disc, and a drill for that. Can one make buttons with Fimo? I think so.

Of course you will need knitting needles size US 15 - 10 mm, straight or circular.  

I'm looking forwards to see you in my Ravelry group for the KAL. Let's have some fun knitting along!

[asselknits]

Weavly

Today I've released a cowl pattern that I love, love, love to wear, because it's so cuddly. It's name is Weavly.

I had finished the sample on a cold autumn morning and put it right on (indoors) and left it there until I went to bed.

Again I've used yarn from "Wollfaktor" - this time "Mojo". Two strands held together got me a nice super bulky weight.

Weavly is also a perfect item to use this super bulky yarn for that is sitting for ever in your stash. Some of my test knitters were quite happy about that. 

I didn't really have this kind of problem, but Weavly has finally been a good reason for me to shop for a lovely, huge wooden button. I found a suitable hand made plum wood button here. I'd been stalking this shop for so long.

Knitting the cowl is super easy, because even though it looks as if there were cables involved, there aren't any. I took this method from T-shirt modding. I mod many of my shirts - especially band shirts. Ever tried wearing Fruit of the Loom as a female? Well, then you'll know my misery. As a result I usually buy T-shirts really big..as many Xs before the L as I can get my hands on, and then I'll decompse and recreate the whole thing. Below is an example from a few years ago. In the back you can see (very tiny) the weaving method I used for the cowl. 

I like when people mix other techniques with knitting. What about you? Have you seen that new pullover from Stephen West with an embroidered panda bear? 

What else? I'm trying Instagram without a smartphone. My name is assel_knits there. 

[asselknits]

Anaya and thoughts on pricing

My first hat design entered the store a few days ago. Anaya is a beret-like hat, worked from a DK weight yarn. It features a cable pattern inspired by Arabic architecture on a background of reverse stockinette. Also it has a huge tassel. I love tassels! I'm not so much a pom pom girl, you know. Basically it is a cuter girly version of a fez, that blends easily into a westerners wardrobe (, if you have enough abstraction ability). 

You know how to knit without a cable needle? Great! Anaya will be a quick knit then. 

On other news I have raised most of my prices. We'll see how that goes. Designing is in general a very badly paid job, and if you plan to be serious in what you do, you need to shift this situation around on your own (as a designer) or you won't be able to carry on doing what you do. No one else will change this situation for you. 

I can understand customers (and I mean customers of any design sector). You probably put lots of money into materials, and much time in your own part of the work. And now someone wants a lot of money from you, only to make your product look better. Why bother with this?  I won't go into detail here, because many other people have done this before me (See for instance 'The true cost of a pattern' by Woolly Wormhead'), but in the end most people will notice that they can't go without someone who does the design job. This someone needs to live, too, meaning that you need to pay him/her appropriately for the time and work. It's easy as that, and I'd wish less designers would (have to) justify themselves. Live and let live, it is.