New pattern! The Elder Tree Shawl

Monday 4 November 2013
Hi loves,

I've published a more intuitive version of The Lonely Tree Shawl. Finally you can make this beautiful pattern out of whatever weight yarn you want. Even thread weight if you're into that. Or light fluffy mohair. Whee!

The Elder Tree Shawl is here to help!

The chart for the Elder Tree is smaller, easier to memorize and you can repeat it forever and ever and ever until you lose your mind (or run out of yarn - whichever comes first).

Hope you enjoy!



Thanks to my lovely models Nicola and Ady! They are gorgeous as always <3

The Heartwood Cape

Thursday 10 October 2013
Cool guys! I published a lovely free Lonely Tree Inspired cape pattern! For your cold shoulders this fall. 

It's called The Heartwood Cape


A callout for sample knitters!

Monday 16 September 2013
Hey lovely blog people!

I'm wanting to reshoot and restyle my pattern The Lace Mess Shawl for fall/autum weather. Anyone interested in knitting a sample out of some lovely fall yarn? I'd provide the yarn and you get to keep the sample, I would just need it for a week or so to photograph. It would be due soon - so hopefully finished in two weeks of starting.

Hit me up on ravelry if you think that sounds rad!

Hopefully you'll be in Vancouver, that would make this easiest, but if you are overwhelmed with interest in doing this, and live somewhere else, we might be able to set something up with the postman.

You're all awesome!

~ Sylvia

Small Bones updated!

Saturday 14 September 2013
Cute new pictures of my Small Bones hat pattern! Nicola makes me barf with adorableness. 

It's out of one ball of the Malabrigo Rios! Lovely. 





Some lovely photos I took for The Red Fox and Gown!

Wednesday 11 September 2013
Whoa, look at that. 
I took some beautiful photos (if I do say so myself) for The lovely Rena of The Red Fox and Gown

And they got published in KNITTY

So lovely. So so lovely. 


Zomg adorable. 


Yay exciting! 


I am literally the worst blogger in the world

Wednesday 28 August 2013
Okay, maybe not that bad... but pretty damn bad!

I hope you've been keeping your eyes out for me on other formats - like my instagram (look me up under "softsweater") or maybe even just by friending me on ravelry (I'm also under softsweater there)

If you haven't and you're only following my blog then I am sorry. I have been a horrible blog-friend and I haven't been keeping any of you up to date on my knitting world.

I hope you'll forgive me and that I can start to update you all again now!

Fall is nearing! I've published two patterns this month that reflect my INTENSE EXCITEMENT about this fact.

Take a look!

First off was Late August. Which is a beautiful lace blanket which can also be a shawl. It is done in two weights and there are two different modifications for each weight. So you can really just go to town with the options for this beautiful thing. I have knit many (four now!) and they're all lovely - no matter what weight of yarn you choose. Inspired by my mother's back yard (which happens to also be my great grandmother's back yard) this pattern was named Late August because that is when the blackberries start to come out!









Then, this morning I published The First Few Fallen Leaves! This pattern is a very adjustable geometric shawl pattern, it can be made as small or as large as you'd like. Knit a shawlette version out of lace weight for the early fall chills and move up to a beautiful huge aran weight version for when fall turns to a more sharp crispy winter. This pattern can move from season to season with you.









I've started charging money for most of my patterns! I still have some residual guilt about this fact. I like to be accessible to everyone - but it's been really helping me to put my designing to a new though. I'm providing even better quality, and putting more time (which is awesome for me!) into my designs.

As always, just let me know if you don't have access to a credit card, or if you just can't afford the patterns and I will likely gift them your way. I'd rather you knit these lovely things than not!!

Hope all you lovelies are doing well! I will try and keep you more updated with my knitting world. I miss blogging!

~ Sylvia


Ooops! I forgot to post this!

Sunday 23 June 2013
I've published another pattern! It's a lovely linen summer shawl called 

Salt Water!


Me and Caitlin (and her hubby Arlin) and Nicola all went down to Centennial Beach last week to take some foxy photos in some lovely bathing suits with the shawl! I think it turned out great! Take a gander! 






A new pattern! And I'm asking money for it.

Wednesday 1 May 2013
                                                 Hey folks,



I'm excited to introduce my first for-pay pattern. A lovely little hat called Small Bones!!!



But this post is more about the fact that I'm starting to charge for my patterns.

I wanted to write a thing here about asking for money for patterns. I'm not especially comfortable asking for money for things. I have a hard time doing anything creative for pay. But financially I have hit some hard times. I'm living on my own in Vancouver B.C. and rent is expensive. The cost of living here is dumb, people who live here know what I'm talking about.

I have three amazing jobs and although i'm doing okay, there's always a threat of financial instability looming over my head. Just like lots of other people, but the thought sometimes it keeps me up at night!

When I talk to people about this lots of them will say "Why don't you charge a bit of money for your patterns?" and I go into my shpeal about how I want my patterns to be accessible to people who don't have credit cards, or people like me, who can't really afford to buy a whole lot of patterns off the interwebs. More than anything I want people to look at my patterns and knit them and love them and to not have to pay for them.

So here's been my dilemma since the Lonely Tree Shawl got so popular, do I start to charge for my patterns? I put a lot of work into them. The Lonely Tree Shawl took months to put together. Test knitting, designing, photographing, layout. It took a hundred hours at least of conceptualizing and knitting the shit out of that thing. But I had a passion to do it, so why should I ask other people to pay me? I was going to do it anyway, wether or not people liked it, why should I charge?

I guess the bottom line is that I am broke, but the core part of starting to charge for my patterns is that my time is worth some money. My skills are worth some money. I do everything myself, from conceptualizing, to designing, to knitting and test knitting, to photographs to pattern layout and design to publishing and also to dealing with the 1-5 questions I get a day from lovely knitters wondering about aspects of my patterns.

I use years and years of skills I have paid to learn, and lots that I didn't pay for, but spent hundreds and hundreds of hours perfecting. I think I deserve your $3-$5! But that being said, if you don't have $3 to give me send me a PM on ravelry and I'll probably send the pattern to you for free. Because I'm there. I don't really have $3 to give either :-)

So there's my speech, I'll get off my soapbox now. Money is hard to manage!

So let me summarize. I hope you feel my future patterns are worth the money! If you think they're worth the money but that you don't have it, hit me up and I'll send you an expiring link to my pattern for you to download!

If there were a "pay what you can" feature on ravelry I would do that for sure.

I want to thank everyone who has been supportive of me through this whole learning curve! Lots of love to all the folks who knit my patterns and who send me such kind messages about them! You're all awesome and man do I love knitters a whole lot!

~ Sylvia



Whoa, it's been forever

Monday 22 April 2013
Hey everyone,

It's been FOREVER since I last updated. I've been knitting lots, and designing even more! I've got a few cool things coming up soon, stay tuned to my ravelry page!


Jane Richmond Book Launch at Baaad Anna's Yarn Store

Monday 21 January 2013
Hey folks,

Baaad Anna's yarn store is doing a book launch for Jane Richmond's lovely book Island! The launch is going to be THIS Saturday January from 7pm onward! 

I knit her hat Renfrew yesterday (in one day!) and it's a lovely pattern. Very cleverly constructed, and quite a beautiful design. 


I love getting interviewed!

Thursday 17 January 2013
The lovely blog OwlPrintPanda interviewed me for the Cuppa & Cake section of their blog! You can find the interview here. 

Thanks Amanda for thinking of me! 

xoxoxox 

Cozy Friendship - a cozy cowl pattern!

Friday 11 January 2013
Ohai there,

I published a simple cowl pattern on Ravelry this morning. Want a look? 


A couple new cowl patterns and some photographs!

Sunday 6 January 2013
Happy new year loves!

I hope you're all finished your Christmas knitting and are knitting for your lovely selves again. 

I thought I would pop by to let folks know that Baaad Anna's published their first pattern! A cowl made out of Briggs & Little's Country Roving. 


I got to model for it, Nicola took the photos and man I think they turned out pretty well! 




Also, I thought I would start updating again with photos I've been taking. 

This week I did a photo shoot with one of the Baaad Anna's regulars. His name is Barth and he's knit a lovely sweater pattern that's in the work of being published. I'll update here once it's published!

Here's the link to his finished object page for this sweater. 





I've got a cowl pattern that is really just a store sample at Baaad Anna's that I'll be publishing so that folks who want to knit it have a place to find the pattern (which is what most of my patterns are - store samples out of our lovely yarns)

It's out of the new Eco + that we have at the shop. I chopped the huge ball into three smaller balls and knit them all together with massive needles (15mm)

Here are some photos of the new cowl, and also some insight into my editing process! These ones are pretty heavily edited because I just couldn't resist with that green background! Lends itself well to high contrast and a cross-processed feel



Nicola is so adorable, goodness me! 

I love to see before/after shots. You can see just how much editing can go into a photograph, and it demystifies the whole process, which I love. 
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