Closure of The Inside Loop

Some days ago I got a message from The Inside Loop to let me know that the website will be taken down in a few months. This is what they wrote in The Inside Loop group on Ravelry:

Diane and I have decided that The Inside Loop website will be taken down sometime shortly after 31st January 2010. Due to other commitments we will not be producing further issues, and have therefore decided to take the site down rather than keep it up indefinitely with no updates.

The patterns and articles will remain available to download until the site closes, although we have already contacted everyone who has contributed to the magazine and expect that everything will still be available somewhere. :-)

Thank you for your interest in The Inside Loop. We have really enjoyed running the magazine.

Diane and Kate

This is how my patterns looked on the website:





Those were my first (and so far last) published patterns (not counting the self-published ones). Especially the mittens have become much more popular than I ever expected, with 2256 faves on Ravelry today, and 70 projects. You can see some of them here.
Thank you, Diane and Kate, for letting me be a part of this magazine, and good luck with whatever you wish to do in the future.

My patterns will still be available on Ravelry, probably still as free downloads. Until 31st of January, they will be found on The Inside Loop website.

Sad news

I had my first patterns published in The Inside Loop, and I found many other interesting patterns in the magazine, so I was sad to hear that there will not be any more issues, at least for some time. Yesterday, Diane wrote this in The Inside Loop Ravelry Group:

We regret to have to announce today that we will not be running any more issues of The Inside Loop until further notice. The economic climate is affecting us, and at this stage we are unable to offer the quality of publication that we believe in.

The archived issues will stay exactly where they are for now, and will never become unavailable. If we descide to restructure the hosting set-up we will let you know, but they’ll always be somewhere!

We hope to return when circumstances allow. We have really enjoyed running the magazine and the opportunities it has given us to work with many very talanted designers. Thank you all for your continued support!

Finished Armenius

I finished this on Christmas Eve, and I'm quite happy with the result. It was a quick knit, because it's mostly stocking stitch, but still interesting because of the cables. I like the simplicity of it, and the way the sleeves and the hem just roll up. If I were to knit it again, I'd choose a solid coloured yarn, to make the cables show better.

I used a thinner yarn than suggested in the pattern. My tension was 21sts/10 cm, in the pattern 17sts/10 cm. I followed instuctions for size M, and got a boy sweater, size 9-10 years.

Pattern: Armenius by Kai Mistry
Yarn: Juvel by Idena
Needles: 4,0 mm

Handball knitting

I started this project in the beginning of December, because I needed some stocking stitch knitting to calm my nerves during Norway's matches in the European Handball Championship. Now I have to try to finish the Happiness knot before tonight's match against Denmark.

I like the pattern, it's Armenius, from The Inside Loop's winter issue 2008, by Kai Mistry. I'm using a different yarn, Juvel by Idena, which is thinner than suggested in the pattern. My tension is 21sts/10 cm, in the pattern 17sts/10 cm. Following instuctions for size M, this should fit a ten year old boy, if my calculations are right.

I'm published!

I usually do not surf on the Internet at work. But today I had to check out the new Winter Issue of The Inside Loop. And there they were, my two patterns, the cowl Amiga and the Hippocampus mittens. Along with many other beautiful patterns. I'm thinking of downsizing the Armenius jumper, to fit a 10 year old boy, and the gorgeous cabled scarf, Blowsey Ruffles is also in my queue.

Thanks to Ragnhild for modelling the neckwarmer! You can see more amiga photos here.

I notice that esecially the mittens have had a nice welcome on Ravelry. Until last spring, I had accepted the fact that mittens were not my thing. But that was before I discovered the "magic loop". It's not that dpn's are so terrible to knit with (although I try to avoid them if I can). My problem has been the "second sock (mitten) syndrome". When I start a project, I already have several others on my mind. And after finising one mitten, it's hard to get on with the second one... But the magic loop has saved me (thanks, Ravelry). But this lonely guy is still suffering:

Blog start

Some days ago I received a mail from Kate in The Inside Loop: "There's just a week until the Winter issue of TIL goes live on 20th November. If you would like to start plugging the fact that you have a pattern in this issue on your blog, Ravelry, etc, then you are welcome to start doing so!"

I actually have two patterns in this issue - I don't really believe it till I see it, though, my first published patterns! So I figured this was a good occasion to start blogging. I'm not allowed to show pictures of the projects yet. So in the meantime you can have a look at my Wintergreen mittens, finished earlier today. It's a lovely pattern, and a fun knit.