Bonanza redux

The people have spoken – or rather, have not – in response my Bonanza, published recently with very little fanfare. 

And I listen.  So in an attempt to amp up her versatility, you'll find Bonanza now reconfigured – her glorious fringed collar, detached.

Ever the optimist, I'm glad for the required changes that have made this piece better than before.  Fringe on both sides of the moss stitch cowl doubles the fun, and with it separated you can wear it with other outfits too!  It's definitely a win-win.  And the resulting crew neck of the pullover? – loving that – so, a win-win-win, right?  Yup, I'd say so.

Marlene had a facelift

Following Hilda's lead, Marlene had a facelift – not a big one, just a few tweaks here and there.  And although she was certainly fine as she was, she feels great about herself now.  So do I :).

In addition to modified abbreviations, phrasing, and enhanced schematics (that now include centimeters), I took the liberty of normalizing a few of the measurements across sizes.  All finished measures are shown below.  Having fully internalized my dad's constant mantra that "neatness counts," I simply had no choice :).  It's doubtful that anyone will notice – besides me and dad, of course. 

If anyone who purchased Marlene does not yet have the pattern upgrade in her or his library, please don't hesitate to let me know. 

Meanwhile Mildred's revision is hot on her heels.

Evolution

I love to see how processes evolve, and mine surely have over these past 5 years of knitwear designing.  Most recently, with the publication of my Linda Scarf by Quince&Co and following their formatting protocols, my pattern writing has undergone transformation too – abbreviations have been tweaked, phrasing made clearer, and given the reach of the internet it's obvious to me now that measurements must include centimeters along with inches.  It's all good.  Except – the revision of all of my 50+ existing patterns is going to take me some time, but so I begin.

Thanks to questions from a knitter in France, I've decided to start with Hilda – that also happens to be my oldest. Although published after Marlene, this piece was derived from a design I had begun a few years before, that I had circled back around to.  Knitters will now find my revised Hilda pattern available for purchase (or in their download libraries if purchased already), complete with aforementioned changes, and since the addition of centimeters has pushed the envelope on page spacing, it also includes a new table format that compliments associated schematics, like this:

I'll aim to post revised patterns every few weeks or so, fit in between my new designs.  Next in the queue is Marlene.

Ernestina

Family historian Hilda (Lillian) recognized the name Hoss when she learned about marriage plans for me and Pete, and dug into our tree to find out more.  "Edwin Ziegler married an Ernestina Hoss," she reported. 

In 1871, Hans Ziegler and his wife Anna Habisreutinger traveled to the United States from Switzerland with two sons and settled in Malden, Massachusetts.  Their sons had sons – Jacob begot Edwin, and Ulrich, my great-grandfather Albert.

c.1979

c.1900

Later Pete's mom verified the connection, "Of course," she said, "Aunt Ernestine."  They knew each other well.  Edwin, my 1st-cousin-3-times-removed married Peter's great-aunt.  My husband and I are related.

Six degrees of separation, it turns out, exists in both current space and over time.

Ernestina will be the name of my next design – slowly coming into focus.  More on that soon.

Update – Ernestina published 9/15/2015.

Haze of childhood

When I was 8 I had a birds egg blue vinyl spring jacket – that may or may not be the one pictured below, but no matter, close enough.  And through the magic of photoshop it now is. 

Aren't so many of our selections in life based on memories from the haze of childhood.  It's my recollection of this vinyl jacket that has prompted my design currently underway – a garter stitch cardigan made from Quince&Co's lark wool in birds egg blue.  Zippered instead of buttoned and a bit more hip, I like to think, but its essence is surely this.  And it's almost done, just in time for spring.  I'll post soon.

Update –  Connie published 4/26/2015

Linda

I'm thrilled to announce the recent publication of Linda, my scarf design included among so many other lovelies, in Scarves, etc 4, a pattern collection by Quince&Co.

I named this piece after a dear cousin, who perhaps sent me luck in my submission to Quince's annual scarf call last fall.  It happened to coincide with some explorations I was doing at the time on knitted trims having just rediscovered Nicky Epstein's book Knitting on the Edge.  Lots of interesting stuff there but it was the fringe that caught my eye.  

I had given Marlene a scarf some years before with horizontal fringe.  I liked the twist on the classic – you didn't need to get to its ends to see it and when she wrapped it twice around her neck the fringe was everywhere – very fun!  So is Linda, I think, and I'm certainly grateful that Quince did too :). 

Mitt research

My pal Bev and I often talk about our creative work when we're together, and as we do the similarities in our processes have become apparent.  She's a writer (here's her blog). 

I decided to set a few weeks aside in January to focus on fingerless mitts.  They'd be easy, I thought, allowing me time to rest a bit before taking on a next, more strenuous, cardigan design.  I started by studying patterns from other designers to understand mitt fit and measurements, then set out on my own.  A 1960s knitting dictionary I rediscovered on the shelf yielded several fresh abbreviated lace patterns (what a find!) that fit well into the condensed mitt format. I was right, the mitts have been quick to knit (and fun).  Their design, however, has come with unique discipline, that made me think of Bev's blog posts and her challenge of creating a complete story with fewer words in a limited space – that she does so well.

I'll be posting an ebook with 4 patterns in a week or so, named for my girl – Juliet's Lacy Mitt Series – because she clamors for them, and now so do I.  We'll share.

Western obsession

My girlfriends can tell you all about my fascination with cowboys.  We've had more than a few laughs about it over the years :).  So in keeping with my patterns' personal naming theme, I dub this, my latest knitting design (with cowboy fringe!) – Bonanza.

Dad and I used to watch this 1960's tv series on Sunday nights, before (or after?) Ed Sullivan.  Maybe this is where my western obsession began.  Is it an accident I married a Hoss?  hee hee, a topic for my therapist..

Creating the fringe, a new-to-me technique, turned out to be very fun and easy.  Fabulous testers are working now to proof the numbers and text of my pattern, that I plan to launch mid-January.  It will be my first for 2015 – a nice start for the brand new year.  Yee-ha!

Crosshatch

Super cute, no?  (The sweater too.)  Juliet and I had a fun day yesterday over breakfast, picture-taking, then lunch!  I got to spend lots of quality time with my favorite girl – who, by the way, is recently engaged to the wonderful James!  Smiles all around.

Recalling art school days, and drawing 101, Crosshatch seemed a fitting name for this piece with its variegated yarn crisscrossing vertical ribs.  Testers are finishing up as I prepare to launch this pattern over the weekend.  I'll provide a link when I do, but I just couldn't resist the early posting.  I get so excited.

Paper toys 2014

Christmas in September! at least for me, as I put aside my knitting and orchestrate annual gift giving assignments and their paper toys for special delivery to my 16 brothers and sisters-in-law.

We lost our brother Bill this year – our marathon runner.  All the Hoss men are athletes and by now most have settled into golf for sport.  Bill remained a runner to the end, competing in 66 marathons during his lifetime.  He, and we, are particularly proud of his 1981 Boston Marathon – finishing first place for his age group in a time of 2 hours, 34 minutes, and 15 seconds.

This one's for you Bill.

Estelle's Envy

Lillian Hildegarde, my great aunt, was born in 1898 – the oldest daughter in my grandmother's family.  I knew she had polio as a child, that she had walked with a cane since then.

I knew she was the keeper of our family tree.  I spent one preteen summer with our royal typewriter re-keying her name lists onto new clean sheets.  I still have these pages.  I'm their keeper now.

Unlike most young women of her day she went to college. Single, independent, she lived alone in an apartment on Park Drive. Through family albums I learned more about her work at MIT.  She was a librarian. I saw her smiling back from photographs taken at her retirement party.

But it wasn't until much later that I discovered she was a writer – a writer of steamy novels never published, about life, love, romance, and heartbreak. She wrote her chapters in Scribble-in Books – little blank hardbound journals.  I have the one with pages numbered from 626 to 778.  I wish had more more.

As sweater tribute to my novelist, I plucked the fitting family-inspired name of my latest design from one of her characters – a young woman named Estelle.  

Introducing Estelle's Envy – a slim pullover with alpaca collar abundance. Pattern writing and testing are underway – EPD (estimated publish date) 9/15/2014.

Innamorata

I'm having a great summer of knitting. Let's Dance and Beach Weekend are published and my most recent, Innamorata, is nicely underway.  

This design is named for a Dean Martin song circa 1955 (almost before my time).  Marlene was a fan and if I close my eyes I can hear it playing from the stereo in our living room. 

Innamorata, Italian for "in love" and I've also seen translations as "sweetheart" and "soul mate" – all of which I find fitting for this simple, delicate, and thoroughly romantic summer tee.

I hope you'll agree.  

Goings on

Let's Dance was published on June 23rd – hooray! – after another delightful experience with a great group of test knitters (thank you!). 

This design is a first for me – top-down – and mastering that turned out to be a great experience too.  So much so that currently in test is Beach Weekend (below), that I spun off from this one.

Beach Weekend , named for a favorite pastime and because it's where much of its knitting happened, reused the Tilting Blocks lace, but this time I placed it on the sleeves, that are elbow length. The neckline is deeper, and the bodice is shaped instead of a-line.  My hoped-for publish date is July 21st and so far so good.  Test knitters seem to be having fun.  Me too :).   

Busy days at the Deb Hoss Knits enterprise :).

New Ravelry Group

Regretful blog silence for the past few weeks as I've turned my writing attention to posting in my newly formed ravelry group of same name – Deb Hoss Knits (banner above).  I think you have to be signed on to Ravelry to participate.  If you are, you'll find it here.  It's been thrilling to have fellow knitters join me.  I'm very grateful.  Some have offered to test knit upcoming designs too, prior to release – another exciting venture resulting from my new found community.

My latest design, May Replay, is an updated version of May, an earlier piece, this time worked in the round, with slightly longer sleeves, and a variation in cables. 4 gracious knitters are currently testing and giving welcomed feedback along their way.  I'm aiming for a May 15 launch, though putting NO stress on my testers.  I left my day job a few years ago to get away from that kind of stress and just won't allow it to resurface in my favorite pastime :).

Here's a peek at May Replay modeled by the fabulous Juliet.

Both sweet, no?

Oh Johnny Lee

One of the many things I like about my knitting enterprise (the design work, website, and blog) is how its "branding" evolves.  Over the past 3 years I've changed my website format a few times, which has spawned like changes to my business cards, the pattern font and layout, etc., and each time I'm tempted to go back and change all of my prior patterns (38 published at this writing) to match the new look – but I resist.  (Truthfully it's an ongoing internal dialog.  I can be that kind of perfectionist.)  Such would be crazy work, I tell myself, and would get in the way of my knitting. 

The latest in this evolution involves the naming of my designs.  Up until now I've used my family tree as source, beginning with my mum – Marlene.  By now I'm running out of family names, and since I expect to never stop this work :), I need another plan.

I read recently a blog post by knitwear designer Bristol Ivy (Where the Red-Winged Blackbird Flies) where she recites a Shaker spiritual, "by turning, turning, we come 'round right."  She's a wonderful writer and I found this passage particularly poetic.  I've thought of it a lot since and as often happens, I notice, when timing is right ideas come together.  From this I've decided to name my pieces lyrically while keeping their basis in my history and family story.  It feels right, and consistent, hopefully opening up a whole world of naming possibilities – though currently I'm thinking only of the next.

Oh Johnny Lee – mum's first crush, as written in her teenage diary that I found and secretly read as a scoundrel child, then broadcast to the family, as we laughed and laughed. Mum laughed too, though I never saw that diary again.  I don't think she'd mind me using the memory.

Launch of Oh Johnny Lee forthcoming.

At last

Today I left my down coat in the closet and went out in Elsie , unzipped, just like this.

Oh happy spring – at last.

When one thought leads to another

I regret blog silence for the past several weeks, January's been a busy knitting month.  Submissions to hoped for publications, and my routine monthly self-published piece have taken all attention.  And as I await word about the former, for now a word about the latter – Emily, my January offering.

Dear Emily has certainly taken many forms along the way.  The fact of her being a vest is the only vestige (smile) of her original self.  She started as an idea for garter stitch, in the manner of Mary and Elsie.  I am smitten with the silent shaping that this stitch allows. I made garter swatches in Quince's owl, then chickadee, and finally settled on lark as my desired thickness for this chilly weather piece.  Then, with deadlines looming, she took a back seat to submission planning that had me scouring my idea stash.  By the time I returned to her, rib stitches had seduced me and she was transformed. I do like when this happens, when one thought leads to another. My husband Peter re-collages his artwork, my writer pal Bev erases, cuts and pastes, and I reknit. Emily got shorter, a bit slimmer, and shaping stitches were reconsidered.  And although I thought about making her work as she was, I knew I was on the right track when the decision to start over with new-found knowledge was a relief rather than a burden.

I'm wrapping up pattern writing now, checking my math, and will be taking pictures over the weekend.  (Thank you Pete for this preview!)  With luck my January offering will launch by February 3rd.  Close enough :).

Trying something new

I decided to set my own design work aside for these last few weeks in December, needing some last minute and thoughtful gifts.  Hats – quick – seemed just right.

I know nothing about hats.  I don't wear them and therefore don't understand their fit and form – a perfect opportunity to try out the patterns of another designer whose work I follow, Amy Christoffers of Savory Knitting. 

It's nice to let someone else do the thinking for a change and I think I'll defer to Amy for all things hats from this day forward.  I've been having a grand time with Lazy Jacks Hat (2 finished above) and Cider Press Set (currently on the needles), all worked in Madelinetosh Vintage wool – another first for me.  I'll finish all 4 in plenty of time for our gift giving dinner.

Happy holidays!

Corinne

Yesterday I launched this lovely, leafy, wrap – spawned unexpectedly from some swatching experiments and sparked further by Shibui Knits rich merino alpaca wool.  I'll definitely use that again.

I named this piece for my first friend, Corinne, who was lovely too.  You'll find the pattern here.

Rockin' a moto sweater named Elsie

Well, maybe I'm not rockin', but if you ask me, Elsie the sweater sure does!

I finally got this moto design out of my head and onto my needles.  The resulting knit is quick – aran weight wool, the fabric dense and weighty – all garter stitch, and the zippers substantial and prominent – adding a bit of sparkle.  Yum.

Pattern writing is wrapping up now and I plan to launch tomorrow.  Just couldn't resist posting this peek – I'm loving this moto!