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Dun dun dun dun dun dun…

Posted on June 29, 2011

After rigorous overview and a test knit by me…

And then test knitting by five others…

And then more vigorous review…

Look what’s finally back after a 6 month hiatus!

Go check out the pattern page for the download link, and please PLEASE let me know if you discover any errors, and I will get on them posthaste. :)

I want to say a big big big big THANK YOU to my test knitters and other amazing awesome helpers this time around: Cindy/random-charm, lindaturc, quiltingkidd, Sharon, and everyone else who offered helpful tidbits and suggestions along the way. I haven’t got you all in the PDF of the pattern yet, but I will. You guys were CRUCIAL and so thorough in your constructive criticisms.Thank you thank you thank you. If I can repay the karma, just say the word!

Any errors in the pattern are MINE, not theirs.

I also want to thank everyone else out there for your incredible patience, kind words and encouragement. I felt way more beat down about this pattern than I ever thought I could, but it was short-lived. Everyone was really helpful and caring and, well, I just love the knitting community. Y’all rock and I’ll be pushing the karma forward.

Now GO KNIT SHARK HATS, all of you!

shark hat

[ 3 Replies ]

Shark Hat, Version 3.0. Finally.

Posted on December 12, 2010

by Ninja

After way too long, the new, and hopefully error-free Shark Hat is available for download. You can get it on Ravelry or on my page here. Special thanks to the lovely Kate (discosmurf on Ravelry) for making some necessary mods to this pattern and making my re-write much easier. Also for allowing me use of a few of her adorable hat photos:

It is entirely my fault for letting this pattern go on for TWO YEARS without the needed update. I should have shut it down and saved people the torment of it, but when I did, people wanted it back. What do you do?

I can’t help but be a little aggravated that very few knitters contacted me regarding the pattern’s issues, but many were adamant to complain loudly about it on their completed hat pages on Ravelry. Here’s the magic of Ravelry: I can see every hat linking back to my pattern. I can read the comments. I can see the errors for myself.

I wonder, sometimes, why people do not take a moment to contact the designer directly. I make it a point to always contact the designer if I have a problem with a pattern. Perhaps I’m just logical.

Anyways, it’s no one’s fault but my own, just a musing. I worked very hard to make sure this pattern version made sense, and had it proofread by one other person.

I ask here as well as everywhere else:

If there is a problem with this pattern, please please do not hesitate to contact me at allisonmacalister at gmail dot com. That is the fastest way I can track the problem and get an errata out there.

Thanks everyone! I hope the new and improved Shark Hat causes everyone a little more RAWR and happiness and a lot less frustration. :)

[ 13 Replies ]

Shark Hat and Travelling Sock

Posted on November 16, 2010

by Ninja

First, some big news. As many folks have learned, the Shark Hat pattern is… poorly written. It is my fault, having made a sore attempt to combine by test knitter’s efforts with my own and then failing to test knit once again. This time, I’ll be doing it right.

A lovely person on Ravelry has made the needed edits to my pattern, and with credit to her, I’ll be test-knitting and re-releasing the pattern soon. Watch for updates, and to all who have been frustrated by this hat, I give my sincere apologies. It is a lesson learned as a noob designer: Don’t be in a hurry to release your patterns. Be thorough and do your best to make sure it is correct the first time around.

In pleasant Shark Hat news, something awesome is going on over at Halos of Hope. One of my shark hats has been knit, named after a wonderful pit bull (which, given my other aspiration in life, fits perfectly), and took an inspiring voyage for cancer awareness. I have no place to brag in this awesome story; I am merely humbled that something as adorable and silly as my shark-eating-head hat could be an inspiration for something like this. Halos of Hope is an awesome organization; if you can spare it, throw them a donation.

Last weekend was spent in Virginia, up mountain at my sister (the Knitting Pirate)’s house. She is not my blood sister, but her and my two swornbrothers make it a point to unite ourselves a few times a year.

Sister and I knitted. Natch.

My sock is RPM knit in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi. It looks weird when not on a cylindrical object, but it’s knitting up very nicely.

Knitting and wine while watching our brothers cook was bliss. It was an enjoyable retreat and I look forward to their visit here in February.

Falling back into that comfortable knitting groove is nice.

[ 4 Replies ]

Mittens to Zoe

Posted on February 24, 2010

by Ninja

So, long story sideways, two days into the Olympics, I changed my Knitting Olympics project. The mittens will still happen, but not in that deadline. I have too many modifications to make.

I switched to something doable in the time left: Zoe. I used to wear scarves/bandannas this way all the time, and I’d love a spiffy one to wear while the last of the chill in the air fades away. I’m using Noro Kureyon Sock in colorway 164.

Progress moves well, and I’m loving the colours as they’re knit up.

The only issue? Zoom in here. Two accidental yarnovers. One I attempted to fix and wound up Doing It Wrong with a string of stockinette. It kept doing that no matter my method, so I just left the other yarnover the way it was.

Meh.

I like this section of colour best.

I’m loving being able to knit again. Stress relief supreme!

Ferret Sweater Pattern

Posted on November 7, 2008

by Ninja

I come bearing patterns. A pattern for a cute little ferret sweater. :D

Palom, my adorable, huge boy in the photos, was kind enough to model the sweater for me. In fact, he’s still wearing the Noro one. And napping. He loves his sweater.

I made two, a blue stripey one and one from leftover Noro sock. If you’ve got ferrets, it’s a great stash buster for leftover sock yarn!

Palom got a treat for being so photogenic, and to beg forgiveness for scruffing him for an underside shot in the second photo. Sorry, little man. Enjoy your peanut butter chew.

Pattern will be in my pattern list to the right momentarily! (Decided to do the post, first.)

[ 2 Replies ]

Getting started

Posted on September 4, 2008

by Ninja

Death to sleep. Who needs it? Not I, I say.

We’re finally moved in to our new, beautiful home. there are boxes everywhere, as well as things-not-in-boxes. It’s mess, untidy and I cannot for the life of me find the charger for my cell phone that’s been dead for four days, but we’re here, and that’s okay.

Yarn stash is next to be in two large bins. Well, most of it.

The shark hat pattern has finally been errata’d. Thanks to my pal Janis and some smatterings from some other folks who have emailed me errata, the pattern SHOULD be completely workable now. I feel like a heel for taking so long, when everyone showed so much appreciation and awesome for the hat. Sorry folks. Life got in my way, I hate when that happens.

Rogue is progressing. I’m currently about to start the front-side, which starts on the cable detailing for the hood. We’ll also be introducing some new furry friends to the household next week that, unlike my chinchilla Yuffie, can totally have things knit for them. Stay tuned.

There’s some big changes afoot in my life. The last day at my job at the boarding kennels is on Sunday, and after that, I’m taking steps into a whole new direction; I plan to start a business that revolves around my two loves: pets and knitting. Again, stay tuned!

Knit on, everyone. I’ll have photos to show soon!

[ 1 Reply ]

Sunny Rogues

Posted on April 7, 2008

by Ninja

Knitting. <3Like most, if not all knitters, I find knitting to be fantastic thinking time. I can sit with my knitting and some music on in the background, and sort out my thoughts.

Granted, I sometimes pause to make some notes in my notebook, but the knitting goes on, still!

I’ve been working on creating my own business out of the freelance design work I’ve been doing. It will take some time to get set up, but I have other work to supplement, and it will be worth the work, in the end.

Wait a second, you guys come here for knitting. I got sidetracked.

It was actually a sunny day today, perfect for taking over-sunned photos of the Rogue in progress.

For a change of pace from dark colours and cabling, I’m knitting a…. Cabled… Newsboy Cap. In black.

Never was one for intelligent choices. At least it will replace my completely worn-out crappy acrylic newsboy cap.

I was reading some sections of my Rogue pattern the other day while letting Yuffie chill out on my lap. I’m not sure if she approves or disapproves of Rogue.

All I know is, she sure as hell isn’t getting anywhere near the finished product with those teeth!

[ 1 Reply ]

ARF ARF

Posted on January 17, 2008

by Ninja

Any gamer worth two cents has played at least ONE of the Mario games. Thusly, nearly every gamer knows of the mighty Chain Chomp.

An enemy in the Mario Bros. franchise, they first appeared in Mario Bros. 3, as a black ball with eyes and teeth, attached by a chain to a block. The chain would lunge itself at Mario, teeth a-chomping, if Mario was within its range.

In later games, the chomps could appear on a loose chain, trailing after Mario and friends. They also adapted their own sound effect, a doglike, rumbling ARF ARF. In the latest release in the franchise, Super Mario Galaxy, Chomps are seen chainless, rolling around happily in their natural habitats. They have long been one of the many instantly-recognizable entities in the Mario world.

I designed this hat on a whim, inspired by discussions with my geeky friends awhile ago, about how relatively simple it would be to design. In the last few days, I drew it up and knit it on the fly, taking notes as I went. The result is a Chomp that has happily broken free of its chain, only to latch itself onto an unsuspecting gamer’s head.

Pattern is available on the sidebar! More photos accompany the pattern.

Enjoy! I sure enjoyed designing this. :)

[ 14 Replies ]

Mind concoctions

Posted on January 9, 2008

by Ninja

Jack’s blanket is sure to have arrived. I’ll need to call the sibling and find out.

In the meantime, knitting has been a bit slow, but on the uprise. Between beating illnesses and getting some profitable freelance work done, the time for knitting has been narrowed to movie-watching. Luckily, that was the Christmas gift of the year, so I had a lot of fodder.

I unearthed this gem for some nice mindless, but enjoyable knitting:

A simple basketweave scarf, knit in Rowan Felted Tweed in Whisper.

It’s a scarf I started a long while ago that sort of got buried. It would be nice to finish it in time to wear before winter is gone for good.

A few other things have found their way to the needles, too. The second Jaywalker is on its way…

I even achieved, without much effort at all, an identical cast-on.

The Jaywalker is the current “travelling” project.

The current “this takes up every fibre of my being” is sock designing.

It currently consists of using the leftover yarn from my Monkey socks to swatch up some lace designs, while I fill up graph paper with concepts and designs.

There was an offer from a lovely yarner for free yarn to make your pattern with, if the pattern gets posted on her website for sale (split profits). I figure it’s yet another awesome way to get my designer foot in the door, and an excuse to design really nice socks. Which I’ve been meaning to do for awhile. The process will probably take a while, since I want these to look really cool. I have a few sketched-out ideas, we’ll see what works out!

[ 2 Replies ]

Jack’s Beanstalk Blanket

Posted on December 15, 2007

by Ninja

Whew! Hello, blog. I had actually meant to update this ages ago, but WordPress was giving me a headache with my login. It has been fixed.

What’s been going on? Well, this is Jack.

Jack was born on December 7th, 2007 at about 3:00pm. My brother called me to announce him at about 4:00pm. Not a word of a lie, I cast off at 3:38pm for this.

This is Jack’s Beanstalk Blanket.

It was a name that was suggested by three seperate people after hearing his name (Ninja-Boyfriend, friend Janis, and friend Kevin, for credit’s sake) and I liked the name, so it has been named.

The lace columns are a Vandyke lace pattern, split with columns of stockinette stitch, and a seed stitch edging all around.

Knit with Patons Decor, a soft acrylic and wool blend, making it both machine washable and warm. The final measurements are about 30″ wide by 31″ tall.

Took me a total of two months to knit, smattered with other knit things, here and there. Mostly focusing on the blanket. The pattern is an original design by myself, and I will be publishing it soon.

But first.. I need to finish the painting I’m doing for Jack’s nursery and get this parcel sent off for Christmas. :)

[ 3 Replies ]

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