Wild Knitters Needed

I have a really, truly, exciting project on my needles, and I'm really excited to be able to share it with you so early on.

I'm working on a hoodie based on Max's 'Rumpus Suit' from the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are movie. (<= link to movie website w/trailer, etc), based on the book by Maurice Sendak (you love this, book, I know you do!).

The hoodie will be available in what seems like a MILLION sizes from little kid to big adult (finished chest circumferences 26", 28", 30", 32", 34", 36", 38", 40", 42", 44", 46", 48", 50", 52", 54", and 56"), and will be a button-up cardigan-style sweater with Monster Ears and a removable tail. The smaller sizes (up to the 36" finished size) will be knit in worsted-weight yarn w/a gauge of 5 sts/in, while all sizes from 38" up will be knit in chunky/heavy worsted/aran yarn at a gauge of 4.5 sts/in. The body of the hoodie will be knit flat, the sleeves knit in the round, and all of them joined on one long needle for the shoulders and hood to be knit "flat" (back-and-forth as opposed to in-the-round). Skills? Knit, purl, buttonhole (explained in pattern), knitting in the round, increase, decrease, kitchener stitch/weaving/grafting.

The pattern will be a FREE downloadable PDF, and my goal is to make it available mid-September, so that fellow Wild Things out there can knit it prior to the movie release on October 16th (notice how I just assume that there are knitters out there as dorky as I am, who will want to wear the hoodie when they go see the movie?).


If you are interested in TEST KNITTING this hoodie, please email me at: TricotChico [at] SplendorKnitting.com and let me know what size you'll be interested in knitting. Keep in mind that this is kind of a super-tight turnaround because of the anticipated release date. I'm working on the first draft of the pattern as we speak, and will email it out to test-knitters Friday morning.

ETA: when I say "super-tight turnaround", what I mean is that I hope that test-knitters can finish their projects w/in 2 weeks in order to have pattern notes an comments back to me for editing. :o)

ETAgain: I've added a couple of smaller sizes to (hopefully) include toddler sizes. The pattern now goes down to 20", 22", and 24". I believe this should cover sizes down to 12 months.

Ummmm...I think that's all the relevant info...definitely email me also if you have questions before deciding to test-knit.

"And now...let the wild rumpus start!"

So...What'cha Been Up To?

I fear it's slightly gauche these days to make two wordy, pictureless blog posts in a row, but I'm not sure what to post to illustrate this one...we'll see what comes to me as I write.

It's been an interesting month, to be sure, and "learning to walk" comes to mind as a metaphor. I spent some time doing nothing, then some time wanting to do something, but not sure what to do, then some time with ideas of what to do, but no motivation to actually do it, then feeling yucky about not getting anything done, then I had a change of plan, and this week has been pretty productive, I'd say.

I think, more than anything, the whole cycle is a pretty good illustration of how important it is to Do What You Love (warning, preceding is a self-congratulatory link the other post where I talked about this idea a couple of months ago). See, I had this idea for a pattern that seemed like a super-great idea and (more than anything), I thought it would popular. Read: I thought it would sell well. It probably would; even non-knitters who heard about the idea were pretty intrigued by it. I spent several weeks thinking about this idea, drew up several charts, re-drew charts, started knitting a prototype, decided it needed it to change, drew another chart...but it just never seemed to come together. It just wasn't working out. In addition to some technical challenges in making it work, said pattern wasn't really something I'd wear, so it wasn't something I was super-excited about designing. It just wasn't me. Once I admitted that to myself and started thinking of how to change the design into something I could get excited about, though, the creative-ness just started flowing like whoa. I sat down to re-draw the charts (and watch a few episodes of Ugly Betty), and BAM! Before I was done for the night, I had three strong new ideas that only needed a bit of refinement.

This week has started a new up-swing in productivity for me, though (is that business-talk? Weird!). I've been swatching like a fiend, working on the prototype of the aforementioned "suddenly very exciting" project, calculating and sketching. Knit design! Wheee! Also, I bought a ball winder and swift, and I'm patiently awaiting the delivery of a couple of bundles of yarn that will be knit into samples for patterns we'll be releasing in September. See? Productive like whoa!

Oddly, the ball-winder and swift make me feel like I'm serious about knitting now. Nevermind the several rubbermaid containers full of yarn, or the fact that there's more on its way. Nevermind the stacks of knitting books, the Addi Turbos in just about every size, the color cards I just ordered, etc, blah blah blah. Yeah, it's the gadgets that make me feel like I'm a serious knitter.

Hmmm...no pictures yet. I try to avoid making posts that are like, "consumerism! Whooo-hooo!", but, that said, I added this kid to my collection several weeks ago:


Yep, that's Ugly Betty! She's a Madame Alexander doll that was apparently released in 2008, though I got mine on eBay--for less than retail, even after shipping! Go me! What's better is that she's wearing a poncho that Davitron and I jokingly considered writing up as a pattern. We were gonna call it the "Guadala-man-cho". Dodged that bullet, eh? ;o)

Alright, Knitters! Stay tuned, and I promise the next post will have real pictures, more exciting info about the super-fab projects we have for this fall, and you won't have to wait a month for it!