live and in person

one of our regulars at the shop (hi jane!) stopped by the other day to show me this smoke ring made from my pattern. colorwise, it is actually crisp bright red. what was really cool about this whole thing is seeing one of my patterns, knit by someone else who doesn’t know me, in person for the first time.  although jane knows me and my stuff, she didn’t knit this. her cousin (who did not know that jane knows me) made it for her and gave it to her as a gift! how cool is that?!?

p.s. the free pattern links on the side work again – i had no idea they weren’t working! sorry about that.

keep your neck warmer

i got a lot done yesterday while at knit one! knitting group was fun so i stayed late and then there was no reason to go home… because stacey – the owner – bought pizza for the ravelry meet-up. then i came home and finished and knit a bit more. today i might move on to snow bunnies. we’ll see.

red feather and fan neckwarmer

ingredients:
recycled banana republic merino wool
semi-solid wool from fearless fibers

please pass the greens neckwarmer
the button needs a bit better attachment

ingredients:
my hand dyed recycled banana republic sweater yarn seen here
41% rayon/36% wool/16% nylon/7% angora
wee bit of lamb’s pride mohair/wool blend

antiqued handspun neckwarmer

ingredients:
my handspun, hand dyed wool

and we all know how much i like that they can be converted to head gear – cause i’m a dork like that :) here, here and here. know that i was mildly amused during all of those photos by the sheer dorkiness. what can i say? i like to be warm and these allow me to be warm in two ways rather than just one :)

on the other hand, i don’t like photographing these very much, although i think they wear well and are pretty otherwise. too much risk to get my face at very very unflattering angles :) ah well, it’s done. look at the knitting, not at me.

in internet knits news – traci finished a very nice train tam and dropped me a note on ravelry so i could see it. thanks traci! looks great. and also these two cuties showed up on flickr wearing my knits! i get so very excited when i see people wearing my knits because it’s such a rarity to see. their mama commented the same about the amazing dolls that she makes. the list of handmade goods for the children we haven’t had yet continues to get longer and longer :)

hope you all have a great day! i’m going to drink tea and (guess… bet you can’t guess…) knit. knit. knit. and listen to howards end from librivox of course.

p.s. i put everything in edit mode over at the etsy shop in preparation for handmade… if you’ve been thinking about/watching something and want to buy it, give me an email and i’ll put it back up reserved for you.

old shale smoke ring

my vacation is pretty much over – we leave on a plane tomorrow – and indeed, my vacation knitting is also done. i’ve had many of you ask about this yarn, so the specs are below and here’s a free pattern to boot!

katie, my mother-in-law, does not like to wear hats. but unlike my other friends and family who don’t like hats, she lives in alaska and can’t get away with a headband. so, this is the perfect accessory for her. she already has quite the collection (including a white, lace quiviut one!). why does she like them? they don’t squish her hair, can be worn many ways (like this or this), and they are warm and toasty. here’s another pretty shot of the colorway taken during our walk downtown.

as i said before, Katie is my only knitting relative, so when she came to visit ben and i in montana, of course we had to go dig through the bins of mill ends at mountain colors. she bought a whole bunch and hasn’t had the chance to use much of it yet… so i took it upon myself to borrow some from her stash to make her this smoke ring. it is mountain colors bearfoot – 60% superwash wool/25% mohair/15% nylon. we think the colorway is sagebrush and it was probably about 4 oz, because we tend to buy mill end bearfoot in sock-like quantities.

Anyhow, here’s the super simple pattern. Enjoy!

Old Shale Smoke Ring

Yarn: fingering weight wool

Needles: size 7 US, 16 in. circular

Final measurements: 12 in. across and about 14 in. tall

CO 144 stitches
join, being sure not to twist

row 1: purl
row 2: knit
row 3: purl

old shale pattern (stockingnet version)
row 1: knit
row 2: knit
row 3: k2tog 3 times, (yo, k) 6 times, k2tog 3 times
row 4: knit

repeat until you get towards the end of your wool
and end
third to last row: purl
second to last row: knit
last row: purl
BO loosely

block to make the ends behave themselves and loosen up the lace a bit
keep warm and enjoy!