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Pigwidgeon Cowl PUBLISHED!!

Much excitement my friends! My first, actually completed and tech edited pattern is finally for sale!! It’s a simple, fluffy, super warm cowl. You can get it at <a href=" http://www.ravelry.com/purchase/elizabeth-kramer-designs/499773 ">buy now</a> It really brought home to me how very complicated a polished, published pattern is. Although the pattern itself is only about 4 lines long, the amount of information I had to include made it hard to fit on a single page! I may have to revamp the way I write patterns. I’ve been so focused on getting the stitches in the right order and the charts correct before I do anything else. Right now it’s a very organic, disorganized and rather sloppy methodology that takes a lot of time to clean up. I know there has to be a better way, I just don’t know what way works best for me. As many books as I’ve read about process, and they still say, “it depends on the person.” Why can’t it be like math, and have an established pr
Recent posts

Top Down Fingerless Gloves

Quick and dirty free pattern: I came up with this while my hands were twitchy at work. Stopped by my LYS, picked up some discount yarn and made a thing! If there's interest, I will make it look pretty and create a download on Ravelry. This version assumes you know a bit about knitting and reading patterns. Yarn: Merino Plus, by Mondial: 100 grams/125 meters Needles: 4.0mm (size 6 US) double points or use the magic loop method. The pattern is written assuming DPNs. Gauge: 5 sts/ inch or so, it's stretchy. Size: measures 3-1/4" laid flat across the fingers above the thumb gusset. It's stretchy, so it should fit most women's hands. Cast on 33 stitches using long tailed cast on. I actually used the alternating cast on, if you know what that is, it's pretty nifty variation of the long tailed cast on. Knit 12 rows garter stitch flat. This is the section that flips over your fingers. If you want more finger coverage, then knit more rows. Next row distrib

Callbox Blue Ideas

The lovely ladies over at ModeKnit Yarns (http://www.modeknityarn.com) gave me a discount on some of their wonderful yarn for pattern creation. I have the Call Box Blue in ModeWerk Fingering. Now I just need to figure out what to do with it!

Duck Island Enterprises RELAUNCH

As you may have noticed, updates around here are rather more sporadic than might be desirable. Also, the pattern offering is awfully thin for someone who creates as much as I do. The problem is not my innovation or time to knit. Rather it is in actually FINISHING a written pattern. Then taking pictures of the finished item and putting it all together in an easily knittable form for you, my dear readers. Times, they are achangin! Thanks in large part to a new endeavor with my photographer Joanna Holland, which I will announce in due course, I have been inspired to give Duck Island Enterprises a facelift! I'm putting together an actual business plan and real goals (shocking as that may seem). I've discovered mind-mapping and a different way of tracking tasks, not to mention an easier way to translate the patterns from my head to the page. Follow me here or on my new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Duck-Island-Enterprises Thank you for reading! Elizabeth Kramer

Meg's Hat

Hello my Knitters! Today's pattern offering is a simple hat. I originally designed it for my day job, since I thought maybe, giving out hand knit hats for Christmas with our logo would make us stand out with valued customers and vendors. That little "homey" touch. The higher ups agreed it was a nice idea, so I got permission to test out how much time and cost it would take. Ultimately, they decided against the idea for this year at least. I had made the sample hat and pattern already, so... How the hat got the name: My dad had a birthday. I wore the hat to the celebration. Brother in law called it "Meg's Hat" after the hat Meg Griffen wears in the show Family Guy. It seems to fit, don't you think? Meg's Hat Yarn:  HiKoo CoBaSi DK, one skein (two skeins, 2 skeins) Contrasting color for Bind Off, can be any DK yarn that visually works with your main color Needles: set of 4 double point needles or circular needle 30" or

Working Hard!

I'm hoping to flood this blog with a plethora of patterns for free and for sale. My Red Onion Sweater is finished! (Pic) I just need to write up the pattern all pretty. The pattern is written so that I can read it, but not so much anyone else. So I write it up and for different sizes, and then it will be for sale on my Ravelry page. I'm also re-writing my "Ribbed To Fit Boot Socks" pattern!! The girl wore through the original pair, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to improve the pattern. It will be knit in Vintage Worsted. I'm writing down "Jared's Flippy Mitts." His original mittens were wool, and then there was milk, and his roommates washed the things and dried them. In the Dryer. So he needs new mitts. Vintage Worsted this time, since I don't trust his roommates. Speaking of mitts, I've charted a pattern for Odin's Eagle's mosaic to turn into mitts that are made of fingering weight yarn. Ultra Alpaca, specific

Too Many Skeins

I am an avid follower of r/nosleep, which is a subreddit for original horror stories. One of my favorite authors, /u/iia, wrote the series Runner, which you can find here: https://unsettlingstories.com/index/ It's graphic and bloody and disgusting and glorious. I was cleaning up my craft room the other day and discovered I had some yarn that would make a lovely scarf! It's the same color and kind as: https://www.etsy.com/listing/210387956/tahki-stacy-charles-shale-3-pumpkin-gold?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_d-craft_supplies_and_tools-fiber_and_textile_art_supplies-yarn_and_roving&utm_custom1=606f097f-c654-4610-be92-b5efbc258b88&gclid=CjwKEAiAg5_CBRDo4o6e4o3NtG0SJAB-IatYYpQmxuPPXSZElip_DgmtCENKKMssg21_fkLD6uoZNxoC1h3w_wcB I will replace that link with a picture of actual yarn when I remember to take such a picture. One of my hanging shelves broke last night, thus yarn EVERYWHERE...and of course this happened when I was just