When I started writing patterns of my knitwear designs I promised myself that I would only write patterns for something that I've knitted for myself. I'm a selfish knitter after all, and I wouldn't want to waste time knitting something that I won't be able to wear. Well, 21 patterns later I've noticed that it doesn't really go that way... At least for me, that is. I used to knit my designs only for myself and I didn't care so much if they were perfect. Now that I've published my designs, I do want them to be perfect. The way I work, experimenting along the way, means that I typically knit a prototype, then write the pattern and knit the sample from my own instructions. This way I get to keep the prototype and still have the sample to show.

With my Circular Reference pattern I did it the other way around: I first knitted the sample (unraveling and re-knitting until perfect) and then noticed that I want one for myself, but in a bigger size. So I checked my stash and found one more skein of Onion Knit Tussah Silk, a purple skein that I bought to make a hat for myself. There were also just enough Madelinetosh Tosh DK leftovers from my Repeating Horizons pullover that I was able to knit the larger hat for myself.



What happened to the original gray Circular Reference samples then? Well, Young Warrior tried them on and said that he needs a hat and a cowl, so what could I say? I did negotiate with him enough to have the samples for my trunk show at Kässäkerho Pom Pom, but after that he took them and let's just say that they are not exactly in show condition anymore... Anyway, after he took them I had one jealous girl telling me that she also wants a hat and a cowl. I managed to negotiate that into just a cowl, as I reminded her that I knitted the Catwoman Returns hat for her last winter.



The cowl is a bit shorter than it's supposed to be, but I used all the yarn that was left from my hat and this is how far I got with it. Troll Princess is super happy with her cowl, though! Oh, and the shawl that I'm wearing, it's my modified Exploration station in Madelinetosh yarns as well, with some of the same Rose colorway.

It's CreaDienstag!