Stitch 'n Bitch Superstar Knitting - Free Pattern: (new and improved) Squirrelly Mittens
Years and years ago (also known as 2007) I was a fairly low-key knitblogger with a couple of free patterns, just hanging around doing my knitbloggerly thing. I'd never published a pattern in a magazine or book...the thought had never even crossed my mind. So imagine my surprise when one day, out of the blue, Debbie Stoller, Queen of Stitch 'n Bitch e-mailed me wondering if she could use my Squirrelly Swedish Mitten pattern in a new SnB book.
Yeah. You'd be excited too. There may or may not have been heart palpitations of delight.
Never one to keep things simple, I decided to improve the pattern a bit for the SnB version. Peasant thumbs have never worked very well for me, so I reworked the thumb into a stripey side-tab thumb (just like I'd recently designed for my Herringbone Mittens pattern) and I proudly knitted my samples in a slightly bilious orange and blue color combination.
yeah, I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking either
It wasn't long before I got an e-mail from Debbie asking if she could have them re-knit in different colors (she was very polite, citing contrast issues...but my guess is that she couldn't quite figure out why we'd gone with that color combination either). I happily gave her the go-ahead and some party unknown did a re-knit* with some very nice colors of Jamison & Smith 2-ply Jumper Yarn.
Then there was a bit of a wait (2.5 years or so) while the book was shuffled around in Publishing Purgatory, as sometimes happens.
In the intervening years I've published nine other patterns in magazines and books, and self-published a couple more too. So, as strange as this seems, I'm pleased to introduce you to my VERY FIRST PUBLISHED PATTERN:
Ta-da!
Oh, and the icing on the cake? You can totally have a copy of the pattern. Here you go!** New and Improved Squirrelly Mittens for everybody!
Tomorrow (Monday, November 1) Stitch 'n Bitch Superstar Knitting is officially released into the big wide world. I'll be doing a little review and a book giveaway, so stay tuned for that!
*unfortunately, whoever knit them didn't do a great job. oh well. live and learn.
**this is a pdf file. you'll need a recent-ish verson of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader to open it (free download here).
Comments
The Elliphantom mittens! Everybody loves them! I personally think that you are very talented and I love the style of your mittens! Congratulations for this VERY FIRST PUBLICATION!!!
Posted by: Maryse | October 31, 2010 9:40 PM
You'd think the model would be afraid of the mug slipping through her mittens and dumping hot cocoa on her lap.
But I'm totally going to make those mittens!!! The tiny squirrels are adorable.
Posted by: Sara | October 31, 2010 9:51 PM
Congratulations!!!
I can't wait to make them!!
Posted by: Angelia Batson | October 31, 2010 10:23 PM
This is funny because when I was living in Sweden a few years ago I discovered Ravelry by accident. I knew I had to go beyond the realm of scarves. I found your mittens and thought how fitting because I was living in Sweden and the mittens had tall pines etc etc So I decided to try my fate at not only color knitting and mittens, but dpn's
All of them were a first for me and I love my mittens. I still have them too. Thank you for the pattern!
Posted by: Kimberly | November 1, 2010 7:31 AM
Congrats Elli on your first published pattern! Its super you get to give it away as a free pattern too :-)
Posted by: Diana | November 1, 2010 10:10 AM
Congratulations! They are adorable.
Posted by: Laura | November 1, 2010 10:43 AM
Congratulations and thanks for the updated pattern! I knit your squirrelly mittens a couple of years ago and loved the pattern. I had tiny holes around the thumb joins, though, and am delighted to have a new pattern with "side thumbs". I shall knit them again!!
Posted by: robby | November 1, 2010 11:11 AM
I will give them a try! These will be my second pair of mittens, although I have been knitting for decades! I hope I do a good job ...
Posted by: max | November 1, 2010 1:29 PM
Yay! I'm so proud of you :-)
The new thumb placement sounds like a good idea- it doesn't bother me that much on my squirrelies, but I find that those fit much better in general. It's kind of where your thumbs ARE, right? ;-)
thanks for the new free pattern!
Posted by: mamaofpurl | November 3, 2010 10:23 AM
I love these and squeed when I saw them in the book. Hubby loves squirrels...don't ask *eyeroll*. I decided to knit these for him. I hope heloves them :)
Posted by: Cora | June 15, 2011 12:52 PM