Qwist of Fate

This yarn. This pattern. They were meant for each other. A beautiful halo that just makes you wanna reach out and touch it. Then the texture? When you do reach out and touch it, because you couldn't help yourself, you're gonna keep running your hands back and forth over it. It's borderline inappropriate.

The just debuted pattern Qwist by one of my faves Melanie Berg, on the new base Sno by Woolfolk Yarns in color 1/2 is such a beautiful marriage. 1/2 a very low contrast marled colorway, and the stronger contrast ones may lose a bit of the visual on the texture. I had just ordered the yarn and then the pattern collection Texture is the New Black was released serendipitously within days. I can't wait to knit a few of these up in Pepperberry cashmere.

The pattern is designed for Malabrigo Yarn Finito, but I have loved Woolfolk since I first got my hands on a skin of Får about a year ago, and it was already in my stash. Barely.

Fringe Hatalong No. 4 Laurus

The fringe hatalong has been a fun way to find new hat patterns and use yarns from my stash that have been waiting for the perfect project. It's a series of free patterns, using different techniques and a great way for a beginner knitter to get support in trying something new, or for practiced knitters to change things up. With a pretty huge stash to dive into, it's been fun to see what a difference changing up the suggested yarn in a pattern can do. 

Last night I fell down the rabbit hole of the Amazon show Transparent, and by the end of a few episodes I was casting off my Laurus! It's a simple colorwork hat that can be knit fitted or slouchy and with three different brim sizes. A beautiful intro to chart reading, it's a six-stitch repeat, and only 7 rows long. The rest is ribbing for the brim and then straight stockinette, followed by a really clean decrease.  So, if you've been anxious about trying colorwork, this is the one. 

I used YOTH yarns Big Sister in Poppy Seed for the main color and the darkest green from an OOAK gradient stick for the contrasting color.

Dianna Walla of Paper Tiger designed this hat for the hatalong, and her blog provides so much information on colorwork. When I knit the Pinebough Cowl last year (also by her) the one piece of advice that she offers that is really helpful, is which color to hold in which hand. If you hold your contrasting color in the left hand, that color will sit on top and the colorwork will pop instead of sinking back into the fabric and getting lost. 

Bradway MiniKAL

She's done it again. Shannon Cook of Very Shannon published another pattern that I loved knitting. A couple weeks before she published the Bradway Shawl she put out a couple of teasers with yarn requirements and a mini knit-along that would be launched on the day the pattern went live. I saw the call for Brooklyn Tweed and I was sold.

I had been itching for a chance to try Brooklyn Tweed yarns since I learned they were moving back to the PNW. Aside from having loved his patterns for some time, it's fun to have a local connection.  Jared Flood is a Portland native who started Brooklyn Tweed as a blog in 2005 when he was a newer knitwear designer and had just moved to, wait for it, Brooklyn. Brooklyn Tweed yarns are the result of a passion for American wool from sheep to skein and is a targhee-columbia blend from ranches in Wyoming. I love to use really soft and luxurious yarns, but I was so incredibly impressed with the experience of knitting with Shelter. It's a rustic wool yarn, minimally processed so you do have to pick out the occasional piece of 'salad' (bits of hay, grass and other flora) from the finished yarn as you knit, but it knits up into a fabric that is both sturdy and soft and the color options are absolutely gorgeous.

Sap, Fossil and Nest make up the trifecta of color for my Bradway shawl

The textural changes throughout Bradway serve only to enhance the hand-feel of this yarn and I can't wait to cast on another. One thing that I love about Shannon's patterns is that they're very accessible. From the graphic lace of Schwimmen to the chunky texture of Bradway the results are stunning, but the instructions are clear and concise and I think that advanced beginners could knit any one of her patterns. I started on Monday morning and bound off Sunday at lunchtime. I even took it with me to knit poolside when it was 112 degrees out, and I am the sweatiest of sweaty girls, so you know it was an addictive knit!

texture for days...

I'm waiting on blocking wires to get the final result, but even without a soak to make the fibers bloom and blocking to define the stitches, I love, love this shawl. I can't wait for these 100+ degree temps to drop so that I can wrap up in it! What are you working on right now that makes you dream of cooler days?

Still Sally

I'm just going to pretend like there hasn't been a four month break in posting and pick up where I am today.

Miss Stella June just one week old. Photo by Gigi Hickman Photography

The fam just before Stella joined the ranks. Photo by Gigi Hickman Photography

Adding baby girl on November 30th made me mom to four, she is a fantastic baby but I had a much harder time with my recovery this time around both emotionally and physically (especially in hindsight).

After that first six whirlwind weeks, I slipped back into my old shoes pretty comfortably; feeding my brood, driving a monster SUV, wearing uggs and leggings (and not just in the privacy of my own home), reading a great book here and there, working on shedding those pesky lbs once and forever, pretending like there'll be a day when I run long distances again, knitting some really fun new things...and finally drinking wine again. Oh vino, how I missed you.

My first day as the mama of a baby girl.

One of my favorite projects was this Pine Bough Cowl knit with Pepperberry Cashmere and Spincycle Dyed in the Wool which was a KAL that started the day after Christmas and was my first real colorwork project. You already know I'm a huge fan of Heidi's cashmere, but it was even more beautiful when worked with the changing colors of the spincycle. That vibrant green just popped as the background to the motif worked in rusted rainbow. After being super intimidated by it for too long, I am now a huge fan of stranded color work! You can bet I've added quite a few projects to my queue.

Last month, I was chosen by Melanie Berg as one of the test knitters for her new shawl pattern The Joker and the Thief using a gradient of our choice. The pattern was knit with Sunshine Yarns, so we had the chance to work with Dani of Sunshine Yarns to pick our own. I love Melanie's aesthetic. I never thought I'd be a shawl knitter, but she has absolutely changed that for me.

This yarn was so wonderful to work with and it was dyed just for me! I said I wanted the finished piece to feel like a day at the beach and she worked her magic-it's gorgeous.

All of Melanie's patterns have great lines, are clean, and can be styled in a number of ways with a million color combinations that somehow all end up looking absolutely stunning. Now that I've knit one, I want to knit them all. She recently released a knew set of patterns, Five Shawls, which are all knit in Owl by Quince & Co.

I finished The Joker and the Thief late last night. The two things I like least about knitting are seaming and weaving in ends but, alas, they are necessary evils if you want pieces that are actually finished. So for the next hour or so, I'll be tangled up in blue, and then it's off to soak and block and I'll photograph the finished shawl.

Speaking of tangles, my mom came two weeks ago and helped me corral my crazy yarn hoard stash once and for all (or for now). I can't wait to show you my bonus room because it's gone from the dumping grounds of which we did not speak to an organized guest room/office/crafting wonderland. All of my yarn is now sorted, labeled and contained so that it's easily accessible and I can actually see what I have. Which is a lot. And that is a very good thing. Have you tackled any big projects in your organizational life lately?

The weekend of March 6-8 I'm headed to the Rose City Yarn Crawl with a girlfriend and I'm trying to go with a short list of projects for which I can buy yarn so I don't succumb to the swoon-worthy displays and buy all of the things. Stay tuned...

Seamless Transitions

I wrote this post yesterday, because as you're reading I'm probably busting around the house, packing the lunch I'll likely forget to pack tonight and trying to get my new third grader out the door on time and stress-free with photos taken, backpack remembered and kisses placed tenderly on forehead. My kinder has another week before he starts, so this is just my warm up. Happy Fall y'all!

Remember what I said about hating seaming? This sweater was started during last summer's SSKAL (summer sweater knitalong) hosted by VeryShannon. I took a hiatus from it because I got chosen to be a test knitter for her Antrorse sweater which was SO much fun to knit and required no seaming. Bliss.

I kept picking the sweater back up and would work on a few rows at a time, but life happens and this pattern was like picking a novel with too many characters back up after a month, so by the time you're up to speed you've spent your allotted time on it. Anywho, the SSKAL for 2014 rolled around and I decided I was going to finish my sweater for reals this time.

The front and back are knit separately and then a three-needle bind off along the tops of the live arm stitches (right sides together) seams them effortlessly.

Still love my purty spindle.

'All' I need to do is seam the underarms

The horseshoe cables and pretty orange color scream 'fall'. Now I just need a PSL to sip while wearing it.

I'm happy to report that there are no longer any live stitches in sight and all that needs to be done in order for me to finish the sweater during this year's time period is to seam the underarms on each side. Right, there's the catch. I have until September 24th to create two approximately three foot lengths of stitching. Simple, right? Who wants to place a bet that I'll be sweating it out on September 23rd creating said seams? Me. I'm the world's worst procrastinator, especially when it comes to tedious tasks that I don't wanna do. There are so many other things I'd rather be doing. Like cleaning the toilets. Folding loads of cloth diapers. You know, the really enjoyable tasks in life. Stay tuned to see if I get 'er done and photographed in time to be included in the 'Featuring You' post at the end of the knitalong this time around!

Buy You a Penny Lick

For my fellow Downton Abbey fans, the Penny Lick shawl gets its name from one of the last lines of season four when Bates offers to buy Anna a penny lick as a peace offering after a season of tension and brooding between them. Plus, I'm like a twelve year old and it sounded kind of dirty, so...

Jimmy Beans Wool hosted a mystery knitalong for this season of Downton Abbey, the result of which was this beautiful and cozy shawl that I knit from Pepperberry Knits 100% cashmere in a retired colorway Mixed Berries. I've had this particular yarn in my stash for about two years, but because I had significant yardage of a single color (as opposed to enough to make one hat) I wanted to find just the right project and I think I did!

Crescent-shaped with a seashell lace edging, it will wrap around people of all shapes and sizes, swathing you in comfort, with the cashmere adding a touch of luxury. Whether you're going to work or curling up with a book on the weekend, I think this piece fits the bill! I had a lot of fun knitting it, and if you love it as well it can be yours! Just click on over...

It's a Mystery

I have not been remiss in my promise to create, but it has coincidentally been the case that a lot of my crafting has been as gifts for friends or test knitting that hasn't been approved for posting yet. So, in a show of good faith, here are two of the projects that I am working on.  They used some crewel embroidery wool, a canvas bag and about a skein and a half of LB Collection Merino Wool yarn.

As you can see by the mist covering the red wool, this project is d-o-n-e done and is pinned to the blocking mat. More to come on this one later in the month!

Also, my Downton Abbey Mystery KAL shawl is cruising along. It's going to end up being a crescent based on the increases and is a really basic pattern that isn't all that impressive. However, worked in Pepperberry Knits cashmere (handspun by a Boise artist) in a really pretty mix of purples called Mixed Berries that I've had in my stash for almost four years, it is going to be so soft and luxurious. Somebody's gonna love it! There are only a few weeks of this season left, so when it's complete and blocked, I'll post about it again.

Julia Gulia

Alas, I'm only to the arm increases on the back of my Hitch sweater, because I'm really good at gauging how much time I'll have to knit half of a sweater in tiny yarn on small needles. Having it completed for my week one project was not realistic.

However, Pepperberry Knits posted a knitalong for their Julia boot cuff pattern, which I've had in my queue for some time, and I have more pepperberry cashmere than I care to admit. Actually, strike that, I love my PBK stash but hoarding it in my bonus room instead of knitting it up into projects is not doing it justice. I chose Tangerine Twist, because I love the meld of cream, tan and orange for a bright pop of color on a winter day. With a sweet double ruffle and tiny buttons for a bit of detail, these will look really cute peeking over the top of your favorite boots, but won't add bulk at your ankles like full-on boot socks would. Made from 100% cashmere they're luxury, warmth, style and function all rolled into one. Without further ado, meet Julia.

Attaching the ruffles one at a time with a three needle stitch.

I love the extra detail of the slipped stitch in the ribbing.

tiny buttons, also from my stash

52 Weeks of Stash-Busting

Christmas is over and New Year's Day is looming on the horizon. I'm not really a big resolutions gal because I just break it in a month with the rest of the nation and then feel like a loser. So, this year, I'm setting some goals.

Like this gorgeous attic craft room...

With visions from pinterest dancing in my head, I've begun to formulate a plan to transform our bonus room from cavern of crap to sweet WOman cave/crafting haven with a guest space. Aside from a wall of books, the majority of which I'd love to transfer to nice bookcases downstairs, there are DVD's, CD and then a whooooole lotta random items purchased for crafts that never came to pass...but that doesn't mean I don't want them to.

I have found that my etsy shop is a great way for me to create something beautiful and then have a good venue to pass the finished product to somebody else. However, I have learned the hard way that I need to be realistic with the amount of time I have to devote to it, and also to guard my passion. It's wonderful to make a pair of socks that I hand-knit from beautiful yarn and relax, and watch the stitches glide off the end of the needles row by row. When I get to try a new technique or pattern at the same time, it's so satisfying! Making three pairs of basic stockinette socks right in a row to fill an order as quickly as possible? Not so much. It's what turns a hobby into a chore, and it was completely my fault for letting it get to that point. Plus, inevitably, the one color I don't have is what's requested, so in addition an opportunity to cull from my stash is lost.

It was in looking through a small bag of embellishments I'd purchased with the intent of making notecards to list in the shop, but never had time for, that the idea for the year of stash-busting came to me. Sure, I've seen lots of people commit to not buying yarn for a year, but my supply hoard goes a little deeper. From chalkboards to fabric for maxi-skirts and everything in between, I've probably got it. Not massive amounts for each thing, but enough to complete one. From works in progress, to those never begun, I've got plenty to keep me busy for the year, and my goal will be to bring any one of them to completion each week. I will create, photograph and blog about the project and then list on my etsy shop if it wasn't purchased specifically for someone...and cross my fingers that it sells so that I don't end up with the new problem of hoarding said completed items. 

Idea firmly planted, where to begin? I thought a good place would be with the sweater I started for the Summer Sweater Knit Along, which I paused in knitting so I could test-knit the Antrorse Sweater for Shannon Cook. That test-knit was exactly the kind of project that makes me giddy with creative happiness. The front of my sweater is complete and I cast on the hem stitches for the back yesterday, so that I can complete it by next Sunday, enabling me to actually wear the sweater while it's still cold enough to do so. 

Here's to a year of stash-busting, please look for a new post each Sunday night! I'll work on creating a badge, and will post when it's ready, who else has a stash that they'd like to bust along with me?

School Daze

This morning I woke up at 6:45 and realized my house was still silent...and it was the first day of school. The only alarm I set these days is for my 5am running date, but I've been struggling to motivate for that 4:30 wake time lately as my neighbor, who I've been training with, was diagnosed with a stress fracture so will be resting almost right up to her marathon. Time waits for no mama, however, so it was out of bed for us and into a routine. I try really hard to make school mornings, especially the first day, as stress-free as possible. Even though I woke later than I wanted, the kids were dressed, fed a healthy breakfast (egg and cheese with ham on whole wheat english muffins; a favorite of the whole clan), hair and teeth brushed and then it was off to the front porch laden with supply-filled backpacks and lunchboxes for a quick picture or twelve.

H became increasingly somber as we approached his school, but by the time I left him he was smiling and comfortable in his classroom. Last year, Charlie cried every day for the first few months that I left him but this morning, he was able to say good bye, which was good since there was already one little boy screaming hysterically.

Back home, I walked in the door to be greeted by relative silence-until I realized I should probably turn around and get Jack in from the garage. Laundry whirring, counters wiped, and babe laid down for a nap, I have some free time-I think I'm gonna like this.

Every knitter's dark hour is when they have to insert a lifeline of waste yarn and rip back...If I continued with my modification it would end up being a maxi-dress. Good thing I have some dedicated knitting time today!