Link to my online shop
Come Play in My Yarn Shop!
See My PDFs on Ravelry
Subscribe to Two Strands
Cholla Blossom Fingerless Mittens Kit
Calling Scotland Hat and Fingerless Mittens Set
Catalina Highway Pillow Knitting Kit
Allamanda Hat Knitting Kit
North Star Hat Knitting Kit
Flourishing Scarf Knitting Kit
Polar Chullo Knitting Kit
Spice Route Gloves Knitting Kit
The Author:
The author hiding out in her Ivy Headband.
Contact me:
See my Ravelry page:
-
Author Archives: twostrands
Fair Isle Hat, Vogue Knitting Fall 2011
ETA: Link to PDF available through Vogue Knitting. That’s my “#08 Fair Isle Hat” that just came out in Vogue Knitting Fall 2011. While I was waiting for the black and white Cascade 220 Sport to arrive from Vogue Knitting … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Vogue Knitting
Tagged circular knitting, color, colorwork, Dale, Dale of Norway, Dalegarn, design, fair isle, fair isle knitting, hat, Heilo, Kidsknits, knit, Knitting, knitting design, knitting magazine, knitting pattern, knitting pattern pdf, Mary Ann Stephens, nordic, nordic knitting, norwegian, Norwegian knitting, pdf, stranded, stranded knitting, vogue, vogue knitting, wool, yarn
2 Comments
A few Heilo shades added to the Yarn on Sale page
Check out the updated Yarn on Sale page – I’ve added 4 discontinued shades of Heilo – yep, H-E-I-L-O – to the clearance page!
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
Dale’s Ladybug design in my Girlybug colorway
Dale of Norway has an extraordinary number of beloved designs for children, but I guess the most beloved of all would have to be their “Marihone”, or “Ladybug”, sweater. I have more than a few customers whose first reaction, upon … Continue reading
Booties for a Special Day
OMG, these were so much fun to make! I’ve done so many adult-sized things lately that I had nearly forgotten the thrill that comes from the quick turnaround of knitting little babies’ things. Of course, I wasn’t looking for lightening … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs
Tagged babies, baby, baby ull, booties, circular knitting, cuff, Dale of Norway, Kidsknits, knit, Knitting, lace, layette, Mary Ann Stephens, newborn, pdf, slippers, socks, yarn
2 Comments
Wintergarden now available as PDF through Ravelry
I have two quick bits of news for you. First, I’ve finally gotten around to formatting my ladies’ Wintergarden Pullover as a PDF and it’s now available through Ravelry. Secondly, it turns out Gracie is a knitter! (I guess that … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Uncategorized
Tagged dog, fair isle, golden retriever, humor, knit, Knitting, knitting pattern, noro, norwegian, pdf, stranded, wintergarden, yarn
4 Comments
Yarn on Sale
I’ve just made a bunch of updates to the “Yarn on Sale” page. (See also top right of menu.) Definitely check it out – there are some beautiful deals here! Since they’re predominantly discontinued yarns, email me at mas “AT” … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, Miscellaneous, Special Sales
Tagged ara, carry along, cheap, clearance, close out, closeout, cotton, Dale, discontinued, discount, discounted, fair isle, flamingo, harlequin, knit, Knitting, nordic, norway, norwegian, on sale, popcorn, reduced, sale, silk, stranded, svale, wool, yarn
Leave a comment
Tulip Mittens, a Fair Isle / Norwegian / Turkish stranded knitting design
I knit my ladies’ Tulip Mittens in 3 shades of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift jumper weight wool – two 25g balls for the medium blue, “Merlin”, one ball of the light “Natural White” and one ball of the dark “Prussian Blue”. … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Special Sales, Uncategorized
Tagged circular knitting, design, fair isle, fair isle knitting, jamieson's, jamieson's spindrift, Knitting, knitting kit, knitting pattern, knitting pattern pdf, latvian mittens, mittens, mitts, Norwegian knitting, pattern pdf, shetland spindrift, shetland wool, spindrift, stranded knitting, wool, wool yarn, yarn
3 Comments
Happy Thanksgiving – a free chart
Click on the image to see a larger, clearer version.
Rosalia Encore: the longer version
I used Dale of Norway Falk for my original Rosalia, mainly because of the great range of colors available in that line. But there are plenty of other sport weight yarn options you could use, like Dale of Norway Heilo … Continue reading
Posted in Blogroll, Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, On Twist Collective, Uncategorized
Tagged cardigan, Dale of Norway, fair isle, falk, Heilo, kimono, knit, Knitting, Mary Ann Stephens, norwegian, Rosalia, stranded, sweater, twist collective, winter 2010, yarn
7 Comments
Rosalia: a Fair Isle / Norwegian / Asian design
My “Rosalia” is now out in the Winter 2010 edition of Twist Collective. For those of you asking “What was she thinking?!?!?!?!”, I offer the following excuses: When I was a child, unless it was Christmas or Easter, we simply … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, On Twist Collective, Uncategorized
Tagged asian, cardigan, Dale of Norway, Dalegarn, danish, falk yarn, happi, kimono, knit, Knitting, knitting design, knitting pattern, knitting pattern pdf, Mary Ann Stephens, norwegian, pdf, Rosalia, steeks, stranded, sweater, twist collective, washable wool, wool, yarn
5 Comments
The dearest beast is dead, long live the dearest beast!
Ah, autumn, at last! I hope you all had wonderful times this summer. We did, too, although the summer began with great sadness: we lost our dearest beast, Bubba. He was 14 1/2 years old – downright ancient for a … Continue reading
“Norwegian Sweater Techniques for Today’s Knitter” by Therese Chynoweth
I’ve been looking forward to getting my hands on “Norwegian Sweater Techniques for Today’s Knitter” by the wonderful Therese Chynoweth. At last, it made its merry way to my desk last week. What a treat! I’m so delighted by this … Continue reading
Amaryllis Hat knitting pattern PDF added to Ravelry
Okay, okay, I give up! I’ve just added the PDF for my ladies’ Amaryllis Hat to my Ravelry store. It just kills me to say “No!” to knitters! When the Amaryllis Hat debuted on my Kidsknits.com site a few months … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Uncategorized
Tagged amaryllis, amaryllis hat, baby ull, beret, circular knitting, Dale of Norway, fair isle, fair isle knitting, hat, jamieson's shetland spindrift, knit, Knitting, knitting kit, knitting pattern, knitting pdf, norwegian, pdf, shetland wool, stranded, tam, wool, wool yarn, yarn
1 Comment
Answering the dreaded PDF question
I like knitting pattern PDFs. I’ve bought a few myself. In fact, even though I’m usually more inclined to relish diving into a long, deliciously-complicated, painstakingly drawn out design process for most anything I knit, I needed to knit a … Continue reading
Posted in Mary Ann's Designs, On Twist Collective
9 Comments
Amaryllis Hat, a Fair Isle / Norwegian knitting design for a ladies’ hat
My new ladies’ Amaryllis Hat coordinates with my old Amaryllis Mittens. Kits for the hat and/or mittens are now available through my Kidsknits site.
Vancouver – Back at it!
I had a little time this weekend to finally get back to my Vancouver v-neck. The solid portions make for great spectator knitting but, boy, am I ever happy to be back into colorwork!
Posted in Knitting, New From Dale of Norway, Uncategorized
Tagged circular knitting, Dale, Dale of Norway, Dalegarn, daletta, knit, Knitting, Olympic, sweater, v-neck, Vancouver, Vancouver 2010, yarn
2 Comments
Vancouver V-neck 21302 – errata
I’m plugging along happily on my Dale of Norway Vancouver V-neck. However, I have stumbled across a couple of minor errors in their Vancouver V-neck #21302 pattern that I thought I’d mention, since I know many of you are just … Continue reading
Polar Chullo on Winter ’09 Twist Collective – a Fair Isle earflap hat design
Polar Chullo, sized for adults, knit in Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift That’s my Polar Chullo design which you can now find in the Winter 2009 Edition of Twist Collective. The pattern, either printed or as an emailed PDF, yarn packs and kits (pattern … Continue reading
Posted in Mary Ann's Designs, On Twist Collective, Uncategorized
Tagged cap, chullo, circular knitting, design, earflap, earflap hat, fair isle, fair isle knitting, hat, jamieson's, jamieson's shetland spindrift, knit, Knitting, knitting pattern, knitting pattern pdf, Mary Ann Stephens, nordic, pdf, polar bear hat, polar bears, Polar Chullo, shetland wool, shetland yarn, spindrift yarn, twist collective, yarn
11 Comments
A dpn bag with a pedigree
Remember “Home Ec” class? If yours was anything like mine, maybe we shouldn’t even dredge those dreary memories up. Fast forward to 2009 and I bet you’ll be impressed with some of the ideas that are swirling around the “Family … Continue reading
Posted in Miscellaneous, Uncategorized
Tagged craft, DIY, dog food bag, double pointed needle, dpn, Knitting, knitting needle bag, needle, recycling, reuse
Leave a comment
Vancouver Progress Report #2
I’m just past the base of the neckline now. I think it really helps to put a marker on either side of those steek stitches so that you know exactly where to make your decreases:
Posted in Knitting, New From Dale of Norway, Uncategorized
Tagged Dale, Dale of Norway, Dalegarn, daletta, knit, Knitting, Olympics, sweater, v-neck, Vancouver 2010
Leave a comment
Transatlantic Name Calling
Last week, all eleven new Heilo colors arrived. What fun! Delving into that colorful pile of woolly goodness brought back memories of leaping into piles of freshly-raked leaves and revelling in nature’s colors or filling goodie bags from the candy … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, New From Dale of Norway, Uncategorized
Tagged color, color names, Dale of Norway, design, Heilo, Knitting, nordic knitting, Norwegian knitting, yarn
2 Comments
Vancouver V-neck progress report #1
All three of my sons play football, so I’m a very busy spectator, this time of the year. Vancouver is the perfect project for my purpose – simple enough that I can blast through the stockinette portions without missing any … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, New From Dale of Norway, Technique, Uncategorized
Tagged Dale of Norway, Knitting, knitting project, nordic, norwegian, olympic knitting, olympic sweater, Vancouver
2 Comments
Boggled by Toggles
Have any of you seen the ready-to-wear version of the Dale of Norway Vancouver sweater? You can see a great photo of it here. Now compare that one to the handknit version shown in DofN’s Vancouver 2010 Book 213 here. … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, New From Dale of Norway, Uncategorized
Tagged Dale of Norway, design, Knitting, norwegian, olympic sweater, toggle, Vancouver
2 Comments
Birds of All Feathers – a stranded and felted knitting design
The “Birds of All Feathers Bag” pattern is for sale as a downloadable, personal-use PDF through Ravelry. The first time I was out in the world on my own, I encountered one particular problem: Apparently, I was too friendly. I … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Uncategorized
Tagged binghamton, charity knitting, fair isle, felted bag, Knitting, stranded knitting
3 Comments
Decisions, decisions…Fun with choosing yarn colors
I really want to make the new Vancouver v-neck, but I’m not the copying type. As much as I like the light blue model… I feel the need for a different colorway. So… I’ve been playing around with some possibilities. … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, New From Dale of Norway, Technique, Uncategorized
Tagged colorways, designing with color, fair isle, Knitting, norwegian, stranded
21 Comments
Vancouver 2010 is in!
Just a quick post to let you know it’s here; I’ll post links as soon as Phil gets a chance to add it to the site. (BTW, it’s $13.95 + s/h) Update: here’s the link to the Vancouver book on … Continue reading
Two Strands Headband, a free knitting pattern
Some folks in my Two Strands Ravelry group recently asked me to recommend a great project for a first try at stranded knitting. I could point out a few fine places to start but, to tell you the truth, I … Continue reading
Posted in Blogroll, Free Knitting Patterns, Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Uncategorized
Tagged beginner knitting, beginner pattern, circular knitting, color, colorways, colorwork, Dale of Norway, Dalegarn, fair isle, falk, floats, free, free chart, free knitting pattern, free pattern, headband, Knitting, Mary Ann Stephens, nordic knitting, Norwegian knitting, star, star chart, stranded, stranded knitting, two strands, two strands headband, yarn
22 Comments
First Glimpse
Although the US pattern booklet for Dale of Norway’s new Olympic design won’t be released until mid to late August (whaaaaa!), they’ve sent out a peek at some of their new designs for Vancouver: Of course, there will be the … Continue reading
Posted in Blogroll, Knitting, New From Dale of Norway
Tagged Dale of Norway, Knitting, Norwegian knitting, Olympics, skiing, sweater, Vancouver
Leave a comment
Marisa brings Høxbro to the nursery
Once in a while, I’m lucky enough to receive photos of some of the truly gorgeous work my customers do. Here’s one showing a magnificent baby blanket, knit by Marisa from Portland, OR. Marisa used Dale of Norway Baby Ull … Continue reading
Posted in Blogroll, Knitting
Tagged baby blanket, Kidsknits, Knitting, Vivian Hoxbro
Leave a comment
Like the blog? Join the group!
I’ve just started my own Ravelry group, “Two Strands”. I’m hoping it will grow into a fun place to discuss stranded knitting in general and my work in particular. You’re all welcome to join in the fun, talk about whatever … Continue reading
Vancouver 2010 in Fall 2009!
I’ve just hung up from a conversation with folks at Dale of Norway US and, boy, do I ever have good news for knitters! There will be a Vancouver 2010 Dale of Norway sweater for the Olympics. It’s scheduled to … Continue reading
Posted in Blogroll, Knitting, New From Dale of Norway
Tagged Dale of Norway, Knitting, knitting design, Norwegian knitting, Olympics, Vancouver 2010
3 Comments
Sleepy Monkey Blanket, a reversible stranded baby blanket knitting design
Monkster has something he’d like to show you: That’s my Sleepy Monkey Blanket which I designed for the Spring 2009 edition of Twist Collective. No, that’s not a second blanket – it’s reversible! Nifty, huh? My 3 boys aren’t babies … Continue reading
Posted in Blogroll, Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Norwegian Knitting, On Twist Collective
Tagged baby, baby blanket, baby knitting, Dale of Norway Freestyle yarn, fair isle, knit, Knitting, knitting pattern, lovey, mary ann, Mary Ann Stephens, merino, monkey, monkey blanket, nordic, norwegian, play mat, reversible blanket, sleepy monkey, steek, steeked, steeks, stephens, stranded knitting, stroller blanket, superwash, twist collective, valley yarn, washable merino, washable wool, wool, worsted weight yarn
5 Comments
Postwar Mittens on Winter 2008 Twist Collective – a stranded knitting design
Woohoo! The Winter 2008 issue of Twist Collective is out and guess who got a chance to join in the fun: Click here to go straight to my mittens. (Thankfully, they’re infinitely better with the camera than I am. And … Continue reading
Steeks
A number of knitters have been looking around this blog, wondering where the heck I’ve hidden my steeks article. Actually, it’s on my Kidsknits store site, right where it’s always been. You can get to it through the menu bar … Continue reading
Chrysanthemum Mittens – a free knitting pattern for ladies’ Norwegian mittens
UPDATE: This pattern has been moved to my new knitting website, MaryAnnStephens.com. Here’s a link directly to the free Chrysanthemum Mittens page.
Posted in Free Knitting Patterns, Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Norwegian Knitting
Tagged charity knitting, colorwork, Dale of Norway, fair isle, falk, free chart, free knitting pattern, free pattern, Heilo, Knitting, knitting pattern, mitten, mitten pattern, Norwegian knitting, stranded, stranded knitting, yarn
18 Comments
Fair Isle Repeat Offenders – managing motif layouts in Fair Isle knitting
We all learned at a very young age that even numbers split nicely and odd numbers create those troublesome leftovers, remainders. For some, that thought alone is the only seed needed to sprout an appreciation for optimal knitting design layout. … Continue reading
Chrysanthemum Mittens and the Mystery of Hauk vs Heilo
UPDATE: This post discussed the fine points between the two long-ago-discontinued yarns used for this free pattern. While I can’t get you those yarns anymore, my free Chrysanthemum Mittens knitting pattern pdf is available on my new website, MaryAnnStephens.com. Here’s … Continue reading
Posted in Blogroll, Free Knitting Patterns, Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs, Norwegian Knitting
Tagged Dale of Norway, Hauk, Heilo, Norwegian knitting
3 Comments
How to knit a hem
A few knitters have asked me lately how I finish a knitted hem. I just came across the above old photo and thought it might be useful in answering that question. This photo shows how I slipstitch the hem inside … Continue reading
Posted in Knitting, Norwegian Knitting, Technique
Tagged circular knitting, hem, hemmed knitting, knit, Knitting, knitting design, nordic, nordic knitting, Norwegian knitting, stranded, stranded knitting, sweater, technique, yarn
1 Comment
Monkster Gets Stranded – Free Knitting Pattern for a Fair Isle style teddy bear sweater
I’ve just added the free knitting pattern for these Norwegian Teddy Bear sweaters to my Kidsknits.com site. You’ll find links to this and a few other free knitting patterns I’ve designed on the left-hand side of my homepage, Kidsknits. You … Continue reading
Rosy Outlook Vest – a Fair Isle style knitting design
I’ve just finished my new Rosy Outlook Vest. It’s made in 7 colors of Dale of Norway “Daletta” 100% washable wool. It’s knit at a gauge of 27×27. That’s slightly looser than the ball band gauge of 28×38 – the … Continue reading
Posted in Blogroll, Knitting, Mary Ann's Designs
Tagged Dale of Norway, fair isle knitting, vest knitting pattern
5 Comments
Grafting 911 – How to save your knitting with kitchener stitch
Knitting patterns start with the presumption that we will all follow every direction to a “T”. Experience teaches us that none of us is perfect, and, no matter the skill level, we will all eventually make some mistakes. Furthermore, it … Continue reading
Posted in Blogroll, Knitting, Norwegian Knitting, Technique
Tagged grafting, kitchener stitch, Knitting, knitting technique, knitting tutorial, Norwegian knitting
10 Comments
