Announcing: The Rock & Roll Collection

It's a well-known fact that I wear a lot of black. It's a holdover from my 'punk rock girl' phase. In my defense, it also makes it easy to get dressed in the morning - no decisions! everything matches! coffee stains don't show!

It's also a well-known fact that I like knitting in black. It's boring to look at, very difficult to photograph, and my optometrist doesn't like me doing it, but I love the results.

It's also pretty well known that I'm a big fan of the yarns of indigodragonfly. And she has a series of shaded black colorways, her "High Fidelity" series, named after quotes from a most excellent music movie.

It seemed like fate, really.

I'm thrilled to announce my The Rock 'n' Roll collection (feat. indigodragonfly)! Kim and I are launching it this weekend, at KnitCity in Vancouver: .

Rickenbacker, a slightly off-center triangle shawl worked in a single skein of fingering weight yarn:

Hofner lace socks:

Gibson cabled fingerless mitts in fingering weight:

And the Fender hat, in worsted weight:

Each of these is designed specifically to be simple and fun to knit in dark colors, and each is slightly off-kilter in some way: the socks and mitts have lefts and rights with mirrored patterning The shawl is mildly asymmetrical, and the hat... oh, the hat... it looks like an innocent ribbed watchcap, but it holds a secret: the ribbing is an irregular repeat. Some k1s, some k2s, some k3s, some p1, some p2s, some p3s, maybe even a p4.

You could knit them in colors, and they'd be fun and not-too-challenging projects. But if you've always wanted to knit rock and roll style, this could be your answer.

As is my way, the hats, mitts and socks come in multiple sizes, and the sock and mitts patterns are written to be worked on any method: DPNs, magic loop or two circulars.

You can buy the entire collection for $12, on Ravelry or Patternfish, or the individual patterns for $5 each - Ravelry links: shawl, socks, mitts and hat; Patternfish links: shawl, socks, mitts and hat. (Print copies of the patterns are available for $7 each or $15 for the collection at KnitCity, and look for them at a couple of key stores in the near future.)

Major kudos and thanks to the artists that helped make this idea happen: Kim for her yarns, Lauren Ogilvie for her photography, and Zabet Stewart for the graphic design. They got what I wanted and ran with it.   And then thanks to Ruth Garcia-Alcantud, who kept me on the straight and narrow, technically.

I'm honoured to work with such a great team.