Marie Grace Designs

Finley Knitting Pattern

Finley is a textured Gansey style coat designed for both boys and girls. The hood, long length, and turned cuffs make it warm and functional as well as beautiful.

For the knitter, Finley offers rich texture and classic cabling. The entire coat is worked from the bottom up and utilizes traditional gusset shaping at the underarms and neckline. The continuos front moss stitch bands paired with the gusset shaping means there’s minimal finishing and the overall textures and cables remain undisturbed throughout the knitting.

Sizes:
2-3 (4-6, 8-10, 12-14) years.

Finished Measurements:
Chest: 29.5 (33.5, 37.5, 41) inches.
Length: 16 (20, 23, 26) inches.

Yarn:
Vermont Organic’s O-Wool Classic
100% certified organic merino
3.5 ounces/100 grams per hank
198 yards/181 meters per hank
5 (6, 7, 8) hanks
Sample shown in color “Slate”.

Needles:
32 inch US#7 (4.5mm) circular.
1 set of US#7 (4.5mm) double point needles.
OR the size needle you need to obtain appropriate gauge.

Extras:
Stitch markers, waste yarn, tapestry needle, 6 shank buttons.

Skill level:
Experienced.

Skills Needed:
Working from a chart, cabling, underarm gussets, inverted neck gussets.

Gauge:
18 stitches/25 rows = 4 inches over stockinette stitch.

Price: $6.00
Your printable pattern will be immediately downloadable in Adobe PDF (v5.0 or later) format

In Living Crafts magazine...

So here it is, my post on my first design(s) to be published in a national magazine. I guess I'm supposed to be all professional and just lightly pass it off. Maybe post about what we had for breakfast or write about some deep and meaningful thought I had while stuffing dirty socks (not knit ones) in the washing machine this morning and then just sort of mention in "by the way" fashion that there's this design in this magazine and it happens to be mine.

But really, I'm totally thrilled with the whole deal and I feel a bit vindicated after all the crap I take for doing primarily kids designs. So if it seems like I'm bragging I apologize cause I'm really just trying to share a happy moment and I want to say thank you to those who dig the kid's stuff.

And not only did I get a call asking if I could come up with a really cute cape, of all things, but it even landed on the cover...

It was a really fun project to design and knit and believe it or not I've had a sketch of a hooded cape in my "someday" sketch binder for quite some time.

Little Red's cape is a bottom up knit that is designed to be easy to work. After the bottom seed stitch border is worked 2 front seed panels are established as well as 2 front cable panels. Once these elements are set in place they remain completely undisturbed for the entire project, clear up through the hood.

It's knit with O~Wool Classic which is one of my favorite wool yarns because its really soft and smooth and the color choices are fabulous. You won't find a truer red yarn anywhere. (I, however, still can't manage to photograph red colors properly so don't take my word for it... go get yourself a sample.)

The only tough part about this whole thing is that Tater was really disappointed that we wouldn't be keeping the cape so before I sent it off to Living Crafts I took her picture for her. (She's really gotten used to being a little model and can put on her "I'm a diva" hat rather quickly.)

And just to prove that I can, indeed, do something other than kid's stuff there's also a great Vest for Dad in the same issue...

Now I know there's a shortage of men's patterns and I know a lot of us drag our feet when it comes to knitting for the men in our lives but it doesn't get much more classic, or easier, than this.

Dad's Vest is knit in the round from the bottom up so it goes relatively quickly though the stockinette section. The texture across the chest begins after all the armhole shaping so you won't have to fiddle with decreasing and keeping a stitch pattern correct at the same time.

Green Mountain Spinnery's Cotton Comfort yarn is a pleasure to knit with and even the guys will be happy to wear it.

So there ya have it. I wonder what's next!

:-)

MS&W (the aftermath)

So here it is, Wednesday already, and I'm just now getting around to posting about Maryland Sheep and Wool.

This year was a first for me helping out as a vendor. I hung out with Meredith at the Llamajama booth where we peddled yarn, finished knits, wool care products, and of course my patterns. It was a very different experience from just being a spectator, much more tiring. Business was good and I had a great time talking to lots of knitters (except of course for Bezzie who was too much of a snob to stop by and say hello) and even ran into a few people from my home town.

Now, if you guys haven't figured out yet that I don't get out alone much let me tell ya... I don't get out alone much. In fact, I'm pretty sure I can't remember the last time I went somewhere alone for more than an hour or so therefore a 2 1/2 hour drive and an entire weekend away was a real trip... literally. I did my share of worrying that I'd get lost driving in Maryland (I didn't) or that something terrible would happen at home while I wasn't there (nothing did).

I had an amazing moment Friday night after the booth was all set up... there I was with 2 good friends and free beer... no man to claim me... no kids that I was responsible for... no livestock that I needed to feed... just open spaces, fiber vendors, friends, and beer. The really crappy part about it is that it didn't really dawn on me how cool of a moment that was until Tuesday morning when I was home and doing laundry in my basement.

So anyway, I did manage to do a little shopping of my own while I was there. Some yarn, festival shirts, gifts for the kids, and I even bought a pair of hand knit socks for Mac Daddy. Now he has knit socks... and I didn't have to knit them.

My favorite thing of all though is my new plate I got for my truck. If you've never seen the artwork done by Conni Togel you are so missing it! Our booth was really close to hers so I had a chance to talk to her and her husband and they were both exceptionally nice. Her artwork is so colorful and fun...

So now that I'm home and have had a few days to clean the house and get everything back in order after leaving Mac Daddy and the kids home alone for 3 days recover I'm picking up where I left off knitting-wise. I've got a new pattern to release and a tutorial to finish up. Also, the magazine work I mentioned a while ago is out and about and up there on my side bar. I'll give some details in my next blog post, hopefully tomorrow.

Off to Maryland Sheep and Wool festival...

So much for a decent blog post before I leave for Maryland.

Between getting my stuff and myself ready to leave in the a.m. and trying to make sure Mac Daddy and The Crew have everything they need before I go, there's no time for much of anything.

I'll be helping out at the Llamajama booth (outside East area). We'll have lots of yarn, printed patterns, and great ready to wear knitted items.

We plan to attend the Ravelry party Saturday night, too!

Stop by and say Hi! I'm going to have a hard time staying at the booth with all the yarny festivities going on!

Longwood Gardens

Warning: long post, photo heavy, does contain knitting content:

So, after the 1000 Knitters meet up at Wool Gathering we still had a lot of the day left so we decided to take the kids to Longwood Gardens. Now, I'll tell you I wasn't sure this was a good decision because I honestly wasn't sure that acres of flowers and planted gardens was going to hold my the kids attention for real long. I mean it sounds wonderful but how long can you keep a 4 year old and a 9 year old happy with nothing but flowers?

Not only was I surprised at just how much I loved this place but the kids had a great time. There's lots of beautiful flowers (of course) but there's also history to read and lots of room to just relax and be yourself. We strolled around for hours, ate in the cafe, and really just played like we owned the place.

The flowers are amazing to say the least and really the entire place is just beautiful...

I think this one was my favorite of the entire day:

That little bundle of the most dainty, perfect flowers I have ever seen truly looked as if it had been molded from wax. Just amazing.

As you can see I took about a gazillion pictures. I have a terrible habit of taking great pictures of the kids only to find out, once we're home, that there appears to be a tree of a kite or some other strange object sprouting out of somebody's head in the background so I figured I'd just go ahead and do it on purpose and get it over with...

Yes, I know this is a cheesy thing to do but I couldn't help it. It amused me to no end. The really funny thing is that this same boy thinks farting is hilarious but got annoyed at his mother taking pictures of a fountain sprouting from his head.

His punishment? I made him do it again... (and I laughed even harder the second time)

And the most amazing thing of all I found at Longwood Gardens? Well, another knitter, of course!

I spied her from a mile away... sitting on a bench all alone... knitting! You would think I could have composed myself enough to just say hello and make some sort of polite comment about her knitting , but no. I had to plop down beside her and say something really mysterious (and possibly a little scary) like...

"Ohhhh... I just have to sit here for a minute with you! Wait til you see what I have in my bag!"

I'm pretty sure she was really relieved when I pulled my knitting out of my backpack. See, she looks relieved doesn't she...

"So, what are you knitting... I'm making a hooded play vest for my son... oh... really... a baby blanket for a friend... how nice..."

"Ahhh... merino... how wonderful....."

"Oh yes, lets exchange email addresses... I think I have a pen... hmmmmm.... yes a lovely day.... have you seen the fountains...."

So, now there is proof that for every 1000 square acres of planted gardens there are at least 2 knitters.

Anyway... we all really did have a great time partly because the place is so big and open that there was no waiting in line and there was plenty of opportunity to just play. We hung out near the giant topiary animals for a while and Tater climbed a big grassy hill just so she could roll back down. Mac Daddy spent a good bit of time trying to find dirty words in the scientific plant names and was quite successful.

At one point the kids found a large area that had the thickest softest grass ever and they just flopped right down in it...

"Look at you guys... the grass is so thick you've almost disappeared! Oh my... where did you go... Honey, look... where did they go...."

Well, that was the start of Tater's mission to "hide" in every grassy patch she could find. (Ummmm.... hello... we're in the middle of a rather... ummmmm... large area that is rather inclined to have a lot of grass so you can imagine how this went, right?)

"Mama! Can you see me? Did I disappear again?"

"Mama! Look.... I dista-peeeerded again!"

"Mama! Come find me!"

"Daddy! Daddy! Where'd I go?"

"You can't seeeeeee meeeeeeee!!!!"

"I'm Innnn-bista-bull!!!"

She just didn't get sick of "hiding" in the grass. She wasn't just giggling she was belly-roll laughing the whole time. A long time, repeatedly.

I wish I was that easily amused. Then again, maybe I am. (See fountain pictures above.)