Help Funding the Knitting Maine Pattern Booklet

I love a good knitting-related Kickstarter, and this one from knitwear designers Kristen TenDyke could use our support.

She’s looking for funding for the printing of her lovely looking pattern booklet Knitting Maine. That’s certainly a topic I can get behind because I love Maine (even went on my honeymoon there!) and I love knitting, of course. The designs, from the look of them, are classic with a twist, and Kristin is mindful to use ec0-friendly yarns in her designs, if that’s something you care about. All five designs — four sweaters and a shawl — are knit using yarn produced in Maine.

She’s hoping to raise $5,000 to print the booklet on recycled paper with soy ink with the help of a local, family owned printer. This is such a lovely idea for a project I was sure you all would want to hear about.

As I write this there are 12 days left in the campaign and she’s raised about $2,000. Thank you gifts include PDF and printed copies of the booklet or her previously published patterns, crocheted hearts, beads infused with Reiki energy and distance Reiki healings.

Check it out for more details and information.

[Photo via Kristin TenDyke.]

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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