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Camp Hoodie Knitalong Preview!

January 3, 2011

Hi Spud & Chloë Friends,

I am happy to announce today that I will be hosting a new knitalong for the Camp Hoodie vest that I designed for the very first printed pattern collection for Spud & Chloë back in the summer of 2009. Today is just a brief post to let you know about the upcoming knitalong so you can start to gather your materials if you’d like to participate with me. This is a fun and satisfying little knit and the pattern is already written. This knitalong will be a lot simpler than having everyone write their own pattern like we did last time. With this being said…

You can already see that I modified my original design a little bit here and there for my second go-round. I don’t know if any of you feel this way but it is difficult sometimes to knit the same thing twice, especially when it is a garment. I didn’t change much and actually leaving off the hood was the main change. Boy did that make it go even faster than the original. I left the hood off because I want to wear this under my winter coat without the added bulk of a hood.

One other thing I changed is that I left out the waist shaping. I personally don’t like snug knitwear but that’s probably due to my age a little bit (or maybe due to too much pie over Christmas). You can work it either way.

Merri, a Spud & Chloë staff member, is making the Camp Hoodie for her daughter and has added a zipper to the front. She has kindly drafted up all of her pattern changes and I will be making that available for you in pdf format for you if you are interested in this modification.

I changed out the fair isle pattern for a stitch design in my favorite stitch dictionary of all times, Super Stitches Knitting. I highly recommend this book. It’s a winner and I have great plans to keep using it. If you’d like to try a new color work design you should pick up a copy of this book or any other book with color work stitch patterns to plug in. I’ll give you more details later in the specific design I used in this version of the camp hoodie.

I made my Camp Hoodie in the medium size. It fits so great. I used 4 hanks of Rootbeer, 1 hank of each of Splash, Ice Cream and Cider. All of these great colors are in the Spud & Chloë Sweater. Let me tell you that this yarn is so wonderful for color work of any kind. It is crisp and clean and the colors really pop. What a joy to work with.

Click here to view all of the colors in Sweater! You’ll see that you really can’t go wrong. The color choices are all so beautiful.

Okay, that’s enough of me in my brand spanking new vest. I am pretty excited about the fit and the wearing possibilities. A piece like this is so right up my wardrobe alley. It couldn’t be any better. Click here to see all of the pattern and yarn details and the original made in a couple of colorways. We will be sticking to the pattern sizes but that doesn’t mean you can’t make changes on your own. However, please kindly note that I won’t be re-writing the pattern for individuals during the knitalong. Remember all of those skills we learned from the Easy Raglan Knitalong? Now is the time to put them to use! You can adjust lengths, sizes, armhole depth, edgings, neckline shaping, stitch patterns, etc. The sky is the limit.

On a sidenote, the fact that I have no shame about the photos I post of myself for thousands to view is not lost on me. Sigh. I am no professional model by a long stretch and I’ve come to accept that. But maybe, just maybe I could slap on a little make-up now and again. You’ll just have to live with me and try to focus on the knits only please. lol.

We won’t start for a good couple of weeks so you all can get organized with your pattern and materials. The pattern for the Camp Hoodie is available at local yarn shops carrying our yarn and products or at many, many big and small online yarn shops. Please click here to see our stockists list. You can also use a Google search to find out where you can purchase the pattern and yarn.

Note: The pattern is not available as a pdf to download. It is a pattern from our printed pattern line that is sold in local yarn shops and online yarn shops only.

Scrunchy and yummy are two words that come to mind.

I hate to play favorites but Sweater is my favorite Spud & Chloë yarn. You can make anything happen with Sweater. It is a dream to work with and the best for fair isle or striping lots of colors. I simply adore Sweater.

Aren’t these colors fantastic together? With a pair of jeans and my brown clogs and a crisp white blouse underneath? The. Best. This is my new uniform for almost every occasion. I don’t dress up much.

Okay, let me know if you are in! There is no deadline to sign up but I’d love to know if you will join me in a couple of weeks to knit the Camp Hoodie with our Spud & Chloë friends as a group. We will have so much fun.

Above is the original Camp Hoodie that is featured in the pattern. It comes with directions for the fun hood.  The turned hem around the hood provides a fun peek of color and the ties and poms are always a plus in my book. There is a simple checkered fair isle pattern that is incredibly fun and simple. I added some simple embroidery to spice it up after the fact.

I’ll be back in a short while with the free pattern for this little gem for you, too. When I first started making the Camp Hoodie, I made the Camp Hoodie Hat as my gauge and color work swatch. I will get this pattern in order so you can do the same if you’d like. As far as the yarn amount is concerned, if you’d like to make this hat you may want to order an extra hank of the main color. However, if you are leaving off the hood on your vest, just order the original amount listed in the pattern and then you will have enough for the hat along with the vest!

Love you, dearies! I’ll be back soon….

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