buying patterns

I’ve been buying patterns. Normally, I don’t buy a pattern until I’m ready to knit it. But there are are lots of designers who are donating some or all of the proceeds toward helping Haiti.

So I’ve purchased patterns that I was going to buy anyway and discovered other patterns that I might not otherwise have considered. I was amazed to see that Cosmicplutoknits has already donated $1,000 from these sales.

One of the pattern designers I discovered in my search was Heidi Kirrmaier – specifically, the pattern ‘Snowbird‘ – a gorgeous cardigan sweater that was released last week. I want to knit this. I want to knit this more than any sweater I’ve seen to date. It’s got positive ease, it’s long – going below the hips, it’s got pockets and it has long sleeves, which is hard to find when you have long arms like me.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you might have noticed that I have never knit a sweater. There are two major reasons for that:

  1. Intimidation
  2. Cost

One of the things I’m working on this year is to ‘Be Brave’ – To try those things I’ve been afraid to try; fight that fear of failure. I mean, in the end, it’s just knitting. Besides, it’s not really the knitting that intimidates me, it’s the figuring out what size to make so it will fit the way I want it to. That’s hurdle I need to overcome.

I suppose I could try to spin the yarn for this, making it a little cheaper to make, but I love this pattern so much, I do NOT wish it to be the first sweater I spin for. Therefore, I am researching yarns to see how in world I can find a nice tweedy wool blend yarn that won’t break the bank.

Another note about this designer, if ‘Snowbird’ is not your cup of tea, as it were, she has several more very lovely sweater patterns, some of which are free.

Happy Knitting!