too big

I thought Immie really should have another Immie Tee (as you saw in my previous post).  I sized one up to be a 3-4 year so there's room to grow (the pants, too!).

yarn: tern
color: mist

packback

Confession: I cheated.
I was going to make Imogen a fancy backpack from an Oliver+S book, but I decided the pattern was a little too difficult for my current skills. I have the pieces cut out...it will be made...eventually. And without a time pressure (I "needed" to finish it for her first day back to preschool).

Lucky for me, Purl Soho sent out an email with this pattern. Done.

I'm guessing Immie is just as happy with this "packback"as she would have been with the other one.

fair isle style book winner

And the winner is Gigi!  She wrote: Cutest booties! I've been looking for something to knit for a,friend's new baby - these would be perfect. And I'd love to win this book.

Thank you for all those sweet comments!

Gigi, please email your shipping address to maddermade(at)gmail.com
 

fair isle style / blog tour!

Hi there...posting again today! This time to share with you Mary Jane Mucklestone's new book, Fair Isle Style, which is chock-full of fun, fair isle projects.

Favorites? Lucinda Guy's birdie, Gudrun Johnston's dress, Norah Gaughan's shrug, Mary Jane's socks, Courtney Kelly's pullover, Kat Coyle's skirt....oh my goodness, so, so many.

My contribution is a pair of Peerie Weerie Booties. Worked in Quince & Co. Chickadee (carrie's yellow, egret, and kumlien's gull), they are soft and warm for the little ones. I really wanted to mix stripes with the fair isle...it was exciting to see these come together. And even more thrilling to see them photographed with a KITTEN! This picture really makes me smile:

The book was photographed beautifully here in Maine, by Chris Vaccaro.

Thank you Mary Jane for including me in this collection!

And thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of the blog tour:

Monday, September 23:  Norah Gaughan - Mareel Shrug
Tuesday, September 24: Courtney Kelly - Fara Raglan, Kate Osborn - Scandi Sukkalegs

Wednesday, September 25: Gudrun Johnston - Bressay Dress

 Thursday, September 26:  Kat Coyle - Keltin Skirt

Friday, September 27: Kirsten Kapur - Hap-Lapghan


I almost forgot: Leave a comment below for a chance to win a  copy of Fair Isle Style! Comments will close at the end of the day this Sunday, September 22, 2013. Comments are closed.

reminisce

 

Thinking back...
In 2005 I ran a gallery, Fort Nest, with two friends on India Street in Portland. It was a fun time—a time of endless ideas and dreams (I was in my mid-twenties!). It was in this year that the word madder became Madder, a small clothing line, possibly with hand-dyed fabric. I was going to convert the gallery into a shop. Ha! That didn't happen. So then Madder evolved into a line of hand-printed fabric. Rather quickly, again, the idea shifted—I was going to revive a magazine I tried to start in 2002 when living in Seattle, this time under the name Madder Megazine (in fact, my first domain was maddermegazine.com). Oh the dreams....

Well, it did not take long for me to realize that I lacked the skill set required (as in all the above ideas) for launching a magazine. Obviously committed to the fact that Madder needed to be something, I nestled into the idea of creating a website with a broader name (madder made). This way I wouldn't be locked into any one direction. I decided to focus on what skills I did have at the time—photography and knitting swatches. Alas, maddermade.com kicked off with the release of my book—Swatch Diaries one: Away / Japan. The book was a photographic exploration about inspiration and the process of creating knitwear (ie: swatching). There was book one, then book two (Marina), and then...life took over. A full-time job, a new baby, and honestly the idea sort of fizzled for me.

But, as you may have read in a recent post, I am finally working on a third "book" (more like a lookbook). I think it's mostly because this time of year is full of inspiration—the change of season from summer to fall is so beautiful. Swatching begins again, the desire to have wool in hand is re-awakened.

So...if anyone is interested in seeing the first two books, I'll be previewing them on my website as lookbooks for a few weeks each. First up: Away / Japan, then Marina, then....stay tuned.