hello winter

A little while ago I was so thrilled when I saw Connie had written up the sweater that had haunted my dreams since she knit it last winter. She agreed to let me join her testknit, and it was such a fun experience. 

 

The yarn is Knitpicks Swish worsted in 'Amethyst Heather'. It's super soft and lovely to work with.

The Japanese buttons are from Kirsten's shop here. I've had them for awhile, waiting for a good application. I love them on this.

Gorgeous cables all over the place never let it get boring. I love how they're balanced on the piece so perfectly. An idea for a sweater so much like this had been tumbling around in my head for ages, so it was almost creepy when I saw Connie's. Also, thrilling that she had already forged the path. I've worn this many times already this week since it's been so cold. Perfect sweater!

Note: my girl took the photos and she has had a thing lately for dramatic angles - I wasn't actually leaning.

busy knitters

Thanks so much for all of your comments letting me know what you're up to. The cold weather makes me want to do nothing but curl up and knit, so it's nice to see I'm not alone in this pursuit. And thanks for stopping by my oft-neglected little blog. I really love having you here.

So, the winner of the giveaway is Craftivore! Hopefully some new yarn will cheer you up after your project disaster.

Happy knitting!

blogiversary 4.0

Things have been busy lately. And half my energy is going towards just keeping warm in these frigid temperatures. But I will have knitting to show soon. In the meantime, I realized it's my blogiversary next Tuesday, so I thought I'd do a wee giveaway. Leave a comment telling me what you're knitting, or spinning, or thinking about in general. I'll pick one randomly next week on the 29th and that person can pick an item of their choice from my shop.

Stay warm!

gift parade

Happy New Year! I hope you've recovered from the holidays. I'm very grateful to have some time off to relax and recharge.

So, a few months ago I vowed to take this year off from gift knitting because I had too much else happening. I promptly fell off the wagon and made the following:

Pattern: DROPS dogs coat
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in 'Ravelry Red'

(My Mom has a small and adorable dog. She was getting chilly).

Pattern: A Grey Loop by Helen G
Yarn: Doodles in String Merino DK in 'Why Don't You Marry It?'

(My friend L, with whom I share a birthday, had the fabulous idea to exchange items, so I made this for her. I will post photos of the lovely gift she sent me soon).

Pattern: Chevalier Mitts by Mari Muinonen
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in '1960'

(This is my new favourite mitt pattern. Great fit, interesting construction, challenging cables. I made these for my daughter's violin teacher).

Pattern: Chevalier Mitts, again
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish worsted in 'Cobblestone Heather'

(These were for my sister-in-law).

Pattern: Squall Hat by Glenna C
Yarn: Miss Babs Yowza-Whatta Skein! in 'Blackwatch' (held double)

(The minute Glenna released this pattern I knew it would be perfect for gift knitting. I made 2 in this colour from the same skein, one for my niece and another for my friend S).

Pattern: Squall Hat, again
Yarn: Doodles in String Merino Worsted in 'Understory' (held double)

(This one is a bit smaller, as I didn't have quite enough yardage. It fits my daughter well, though. I also made a 4th Squall Hat using Knitpicks Swish worsted in Cobblestone Heather for my friend M, but didn't have any daylight hours to take a photo).

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A
Yarn: Hedgehog Fibres Sock Yarn in 'Secret'

(Fun, quick pattern I plan to make again. These were for my Mom).

OK. I guess I enjoy knitting gifts. I shouldn't fight it.

Happy Holidays!

Peace and joy

bonne fete

Today's my birthday, so in my tradition of doing something here on this day...everything in my shop is 40% off with the coupon code BIRTHDAY2012! Yay for treating yourself to new yarn and fibre now that you're totally done all your other holiday shopping, the house is organized, the baking done, etc. haha.

Well, you deserve it anyway.

Happy Friday!

whirlpool thinking process

The idea for my Whirlpool vest started almost a year ago as a collection of  vaguely related sketches in my notebook

Then I charted and knit this swatch with a certain idea...

...but decided I wanted something that was less linear, more interlocking, but still vaguely circular. Which led to this:

and this:

because I thought, at first, I would make a dk-weight stranded cardigan:

and got this far. It has quite a thick fabric and might work well as an outdoor (or hockey-watching in cold arenas) jacket, but I began to think a smaller, lighter-weight sweater would be something I would wear most often, so it morphed into a vest.

When Twist released their gorgeous mood board for the Winter issue it included several images of naturally-occurring repetitive elements that reminded me of this project so I decided to try my luck and submit it. I'm so happy they liked it, too.

photo by Carrie Bostick Hoge  for Twist Collective