ICEHOUSE
Let's face it. This is an intense pattern.
I designed Icehouse while working on my Iceland-inspired mitten book Frozen: Aurora Borealis Mittens. It is similarly based on historic Icelandic textile patterns, remixed into a whole new layout and design. Who am I? I'm the author of a dozen knitting books, including The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design, but my job as publisher at Cooperative Press keeps me busy 24-7 with our magazine Knit Edge, our books, etc. As such, I don't have a lot of time to knit any more! I know! IT IS TERRIBLE. But I do have an entire publishing house to back me up when I want to do something crazy like this. You can take this pattern and just knit the scarf. Have fun! Enjoy! But if you want a challenge, and a shot at several cash prizes, read on. I originally envisioned this pattern double knit with Kauni's multi-color Effektgarn in blues and oranges, to reflect the fire (volcanoes) and ice of Iceland. But this scarf is bigger than just me: I want to see what YOU dowith it! Here's the deal. Knit your version of Icehouse the way you want. Double knit, stranded, with purls instead of colorwork: whatever speaks to you personally. We'll host a vote for the top three favorites, who will win \$200, \$100 and \$50 respectively. Not a scarf knitter? Want to put the motif on a cowl? A sweater? A hat? Go for it! The deadline is 25 February 2015. Depending on the number of entries, we may publish a book or ebook containing variations by you. If you are one of the people chosen for publication, we'll sign a contract. I'm not going to steal your ideas and run! But I also have no idea how many of you will try this, so it's tough to say what will happen. This is an experiment. We've never done this before. But we can, so let's try! Meet up in the Cooperative Press group here for the mystery knit along (KAL) support thread. Good luck! Shannon aka @knitgrrl on Twitter, Pinterest and just about everywhere else. Please note the pattern rows are not numbered. If you choose to do a cowl or another variation, you'll want to take the sections of the pattern that are most applicable to you, i.e. shortening, etc. so you'll probably want to write in your own row numbers. 1 HIGHLY RECOMMEND GETTING SOME HIGHLIGHTER TAPE. That stuffis great for working on patterns as complex as this one is. Click here to see what I'm talking about. Need ideas or help to make your contest entry memorable? See below, I've got some ideas for you. Want to double knit it? You can learn how from Alasdair's class on Craftsy. Need help shooting better photos of your knits? Try Caro's class. Are you a quilter and want to try it in fabric instead? I support that kind of lunacy. Click these buttons and see my recommendations class-wise...
The charts have been divided into 4 sections. Work each one from the bottom up, as usual, if you want to knit the scarf. You can also print them out and section them up/tape them into a cowl configuration, etc. Hint: take your gauge swatch and desired length, then determined how many pattern rows you need to fill that space and cut/paste accordingly. And with that, I wish all of you luck! Oh, and if you use the discount code ICEHOUSE at Cooperative Press before 25 February 2015, you'll get \$5 off any order of \$50 or more.
