My New Obsession!

I am in love with Swiss Darning! It totally rules! I bought this really cute shrug sweater at Banana Republic (on sale at the Camarillo outlets!) and decided the back needed a little pizzazz. I used the simple Swiss darning technique to add a crown and some jewels to the back of the sweater.
I LOVE IT!!!!!
Here's how I did it:

1. I found a picture that I really liked of a crown. I did a google search for images of crowns.



2. I plugged the image into a cool program I found here: http://www.microrevolt.org/knitPro/
This website turns pictures into knitting charts.



3. I printed this chart and found that some of the squares were not clearly defined, so I used some blank graph paper to map out the exact crown I wanted, with the help of the computer-generated graph.



4. I used my new graph to add the crown to the back of my sweater. I finished with some jewels at the tips of the crown.


Now i just have to wait for the heat to go away so I can wear the darn thing.

I am teaching a class on Swiss Darning with TONS of pattern ideas and tips this Thursday night (6-9 pm) at Yarn Garden in Studio City. Call Tiffany if you are interested in signing up 818-980-6667. $30 for all the materials you will need during class, plus a huge packet of graphs I have done and loads of blank graph paper. And, I think Tiffany is still offering an incredible discount on yarn to people in the class. Call for more details. You don't need to bring anything with you, but if you have a sweater of other project that you want to add an image too, bring it with you and we can go from there!