New pattern: Heartpops

New pattern day! Heartpops is a cute textured tam or beret, with embossed hearts popping out from a lattice of cables.

I took advantage of the Valentine's Day display at the lolly shop for my photo props. ;) My sweet tooth is pretty much non-existent, so my flatmates will have to take on the task of eating the lollies now I'm done photographing them... I'm sure they won't complain too much!

This is what the bright blue yarn from my Wellington trip became - it's Madelinetosh Tosh DK in 'Button Jar Blue'. Tosh DK has great stitch definition and, best of all for someone who tends to do a lot of un-knitting in order to get a project just so, it's tough enough to stand up several rounds of frogging without getting damaged. And the colour is just unreal...

Features:

• textured pattern with embossed hearts and cable lattice
• 1/1 cables that can be knit without a cable needle
• the lattice flows out of the ribbing and into a star-shaped crown
• can be blocked into a tam/beret shape or a beanie shape
• a one-skein project for 100g of DK-weight yarn
• suitable for solid or semi-solid colourways
• four sizes (Child Small to Adult Large)
• both charted and written instructions.

Here's a link to my favourite tutorial on knitting small cables without a cable needle: Twisted Stitches.

There are a couple of special increases and decreases in this pattern, which are explained in the stitch glossary. They only occur a few times - mostly you'll be working plain old m1, k2tog, and ssk. This pattern would be suitable for an intermediate or advanced level knitter.

The Heartpops pattern is available to download as a pdf from Ravelry, Loveknitting, Craftsy, or Etsy.

You're invited: Join the Purls KAL!

For the month of February I'm co-hosting a knit-along or KAL with Morag of Vintage Purls, and I hope you'll come join in! If you haven't been part of a knit-along before, the idea is that a group of people knit similar-themed projects, and chat and post photos for the others to admire. The Purls KAL is one of the monthly knit-alongs held in the Ravelry group Budding Designers Downunder.

The theme of the Purls KAL is knitting any of my designs in Vintage Purls yarn. I'm offering a 25% discount on all of my self-published patterns and pattern collections during the first week of the KAL, using the Ravelry coupon code ALLTHEPURLS. You've still got until the end of Sunday to take advantage of the pattern sale. :)

Full details are in the KAL thread on Ravelry: February 2016 Purls KAL: Baroque Purls + Vintage Purls.

In case you've been wondering, yes there are prizes! Really cool ones too, if I do say so myself. Check them out:

2 Skeins of VP Sock in “Silver Arrow” + “High and Mighty”

2 skeins of VP Max in "A Handful of Silver” + “Man From the Sea”

A notions pouch (or pencil case) by Belinda Piper

A set of stitch markers by Marmalade Scarf + a small pouch (or coin purse)

Aren't they pretty?

And for some pattern inspiration, below are some of my designs using Vintage Purls yarns. They're definitely among my favourites, with their subtle, rich colours and great stitch definition.

Amy's Scarf

Droste Effect

The Beeswax Set

Quite a few knitters have already joined in and posted yarn-photos and work-in-progress photos. It's going to be a fun month! :)