First Snow and a Textured Shawl

So we finally had our first snow of the year, it was beautiful. The next day we went up to NY State and it was even heavier there. Forgot my camera, but there was a 5" blanket of pristine white coating everything we drove by, it was glorious!!

On a knitting note ... here's my textured shawl, pictured here with a make-shift blocking board. You can see my Textured Shawl recipe here and it will connect you to the original 'recipe' as the designer calls it. I used 4 hanks of Blue Sky Alpaca's 100% alpaca sport weight yarn. I wasn't sure if it would be itchy to wear, but I wore it for the first time today and it's wonderfully soft and warm. The alpaca does shed a little, but it's still worth anyone out there giving it a try. Especially for those who are wool-sensitive, you'll love it!!

I was also thrilled because the pattern allowed me the freedom to use almost every last bit of yarn I have, all that was left was the tiniest remnant leftover. So exciting ... it's the little things, right?!

See an upcoming post for the shawl cast on that makes the smoothest edge.

Gail! My New FO

Although it's been months since I've blogged, I actually have been knitting! Lots of hats and quick knits for other people, and a baby blanket that I should have finished at least 5 months ago (because the little guy was born in June, oooops!!!!) Recently I've been on a search for a shawlette/scarf for myself for the winter transition. Something luxurious and green. What I found was one absolutely gorgeous skein of Halcyon Gemstone Soft Twist Silk yarn (sport weight/100% silk) ... a perfect match for my miniature version of Gail (aka Nightsong). You can find the original here, there are also some pages that will help you to knit this pattern here.

This was an incredible treat for me, a sumptuous yarn to knit with, which made knitting a dream. I was almost tempted to frog the whole thing and start all over again just so that I could knit with this yarn. If you try you'll never regret it, you'll love it and anything you make with it!!! Guaranteed!!!!

More Lace Knitting

I've been working on a few projects up to this point that are lace, not very successfully or happily, but recently there have been a few lace patterns that looked irresistible, also I have yarn waiting in my stash to be used ... calling out to me to knit it ...


The fine lace pattern is from the Spring 2009 Interweave Knits magazine, it's called Fountain Pen Shawl, love working the pattern ... really well written and very comprehensive, the designer even includes a lace BO so that you can achieve looseness while blocking your FO. For this pattern I had some Malabrigo Lace in the Purple Mystery colorway just waiting for me to knit it up. The yarn is really soft and cozy, yet light and airy too!! I'm really excited to continue with this pattern!!

This beauty is the Hemlock Ring Blanket and it's a free pattern (follow the Ravelry links to locate the original pattern). This pattern satisfies my desire to knit lace without it taking a year to finish the pattern. Also the Cascade Ecological Wool that I'm using is so beautiful to work with, plus I love the fact that it's not dyed or chemically treated ... always a plus when looking for 'Green' knitting projects!! This blanket should be a smaller blanket, like a lap blanket, so I'd say I'm almost half-way finished. I'm excited to finish this and I know it will be beautiful once finished and will perfectly coordinate our blue/beige couch!! Thanks to Jared Flood for making this version available!!!

Thank you to the ladies at Saybrook Yarn who are so sweet and helpful when ever I shop there!! I went in to buy The Cascade Eco Wool and originally I wanted a chocolaty brown, but they only had one hank left. I stared at two different colors for what must have been an hour. That wasn't working to help me see if I should have the color ordered or use the color they had in stock, so we found a skein of yarn that matched pretty closely to my sofa and compared to the colorways we were staring at. It turns out that the color they had in stock was an even better color, so I excitedly brought it home and cast on!! I was really surprised to find that what looked like charcoal in the store looks dark brown in my living room ... go figure!! It is so important it is to find a great LYS (or multiple LYS's) who are so patient, willing and helpful!!!

I've also been tackling a men's hat, like a Newsboy hat from the 1930's. I should probably say that the hat has been tackling me instead. I am determined to get it done before the spring officially arrives (my poor friend's head has been freezing all winter!!). I will post the pictures when I'm finished, if it's ever finished, not sure if I'm going to post the pattern though ... have to see how much finishing work is involved, it may not be worth passing on.

Lacey Stole

I was watching Knitting Daily a few weeks ago on PBS and saw Eunny Jang showcasing a Knit Along of the beautiful and simple Lacey Stole with Louet Linen yarn. It seems like something that would keep me interested and yet still knit while carrying on a conversation or watching tv. I purchased some lovely 100% baby alpaca lace weight yarn from my LYS, pictured above is Baby Alpaca Lace from Plymouth Yarn in color #2020.

This is my first official lace pattern, i.e. the yarn is lace weight, et al., so I'm a little nervous that it will take millions of hours to finish. My hope is that I won't get bored with it and them change my mind, which seams to be my MO. You can find my progress and the free pattern on Ravelry, and once I have a sufficient amount of it finished (and figure out how on earth to post my pictures) I will post some pics. I'm modifying the original pattern just a little, since the original pattern is in sport weight yarn, and mine is in lace weight, I will add a few extra rows of garter stitch all around the entire border for some more stability.

Ever Enough?

After trying to knit, rip, re-knit, rip, re-knit, rip (I think you get the idea)...can I ever just be satisfied with something and finish it? Well, this pile is what's left of a couple of scarves, the blue one is fingering weight bamboo/merino/nylon blend from Pagewood Farms, so soft, maybe those would be better as fingerless mittens? The purple is some lovely angora/merino which will become something fuzzy and warm. In the meantime, between tearing apart the painstaking work of many days, I found a new LYS near my house. This is no trivial matter, it's something I've been hoping for all year. I have my favorites, which are at least 30 minutes away, not that I mind driving over 25 minutes to an LYS where I can find my favorite Malabrigo yarn or where I can talk to someone who is excited about knitting like me, but it is sooo much better when local!!

My husband is always asking me when the yarn I buy is ever enough, I guess the answer is, "NEVER!!!" What is it about the sight of colorful varieties of yarn in merino, silk, bamboo, even...dare I say...nylon (for the sensitive-skin-type) that sparks every knitter's heart a-fluttering and their mind going into 500 project directions at once? (Maybe it has something to do with the icy, grey New England weather we've been having?!)

So many projects in the works, and yet I buy more yarn...why is that? Why must we knitters always buy more yarn and add to an already growing stash? With so many other projects I shouldn't move onto anything new, but I just couldn't help myself. Maybe I'll finish something one of these days (novel idea)!

On-the-needles: Looking to start a 'Newsies' cap, you know the old style paper-boy cap, a classic look. I found some Sirdar Eco-wool dk that knits up pretty softly, yet will hold the shape of the cap nicely. I also found some absolutely decadent Baby Alpaca Lace from Plymouth Yarn, that will probably become a lace hat for myself.