Jay Astrid Cowl

I recently finished a cowl for myself, which I'm really happy with.  I love the pattern and I really love the yarn.  I used Colinette Jitterbug for the yarn, which is 100% Merino wool.  The color way is "Jay" which explains part of the name of the cowl. I actually bought this yarn a few years ago and have kept it in my stash, waiting for the right pattern.  I finally found it!  It's really beautiful yarn with extra splashes of color that offset the main blue and black.

I found a pattern on Ravelry called Astrid by Delusional Knitter Designs.  It's not free, but it's definitely worth the few dollars I paid for it.  It's a great pattern and I've already used it again!  In this case, I changed it slightly to suit what I wanted.  I cast on 232, which is a bit less than what the pattern calls for, but I didn't want it quite as big around.  I also removed a few rows as I didn't want it as wide as what the pattern called for either.

I'm thrilled with how this cowl turned out.  I look forward to wearing it regularly when it's chilly again!

Going Away Gift

Some good friends from church recently moved out of state.  I've known them for 25 years, so I was sad that they were leaving.  I decided to make a shawl for Cathy to let her know how much I appreciate her friendship and support over the time that I've known her and her husband.

I had a skein of yarn in my stash that I thought would be great to use for this gift.  It was Anne by Schaefer Yarn Company.  It's 60% Merino wool, 25% Mohair, and 15% nylon.  According to Ravelry, this yarn is now discontinued, which is a shame because I thought it was really nice to work with.  The pastel colorway of the skein I had was called "The Brontes."

Through Ravelry I was able to find a free pattern to use called Multnomah by Kate Ray.  It's a relatively simple pattern with the edging being a little more complicated, but still fairly easy.  I made this shawl larger than what the pattern called for, partly because I thought it looked too small when I got to the point where I should start the border, and partly because I just wanted to use all of the yarn that I had from this skein.

I knit the body of the shawl until I had 331 stitches and 53 yo’s. I then knit the border until I didn't think I had enough yarn left for another repeat. I didn't note how many repeats I ended up doing, but I think it might have been 8.

I'm really very pleased with how the shawl turned out.  Even better, Cathy was thrilled with it!  I was able to get a couple quick pictures of her wearing it during a visit back to the area.  Unfortunately, because they were quick pictures, I think I caught Cathy with her eyes half closed.

I hope she feels like this is a long-distance hug any time she wears it!

Mom's Christmas Gift

I made a shrug to give Mom this past Christmas.  It's a fairly simple pattern from Berroco and can be found here for free.  The pattern states to repeat rows 2-4.  I was a few rows into it before I realized that, and I didn't want to pull it out and start over, so mine looks a little different since I repeated rows 1-4.  The edges of the shrug curl a little more than they would if I'd followed the pattern exactly, so I wouldn't recommend it, but it's certainly not a disaster.


I used Madelinetosh Vintage for this project.  This yarn is 100% Merino wool and is machine washable, which I figured would make care of the shrug a little easier for Mom.  It looks comfy, don't you think?

Thank You Scarves

I was able to visit with some extended family at the beginning of the year.  It was a great trip and I really enjoyed getting to visit with people that I love and don't get to see very often.  To thank them for their hospitality, I made two scarves - one for each of them.

RuThan's scarf used beautiful Malabrigo Twist yarn in the Piedras colorway.  The scarf was a free one that I found through Ravelry a while back.  It's called Fence Rows Scarf and can be found on this blog.

Tom's scarf was knit with bright, bold yarn from Virginia van Santen Painted Yarn, which is 100% merino wool.  I just used a simple shifting rib pattern, since the yarn provides a lot of color and texture on its own.

I hope they enjoy their thank you scarves!

Shawna's Dickie

When one of my new coworkers learned that I knit, she said that there was something she'd love for me to knit for her.  She has a motorcycle that she rides regularly (during the nicer part of the year), but her neck and top of her shoulders/chest/back keep getting cold, even though she has layers on.  She was wondering if I could knit some sort of dickie for her.

Fortunately, I was able to find a free pattern on Ravelry that was exactly what she was looking for - Basic Neckwarmer by Anna Hromova.  It's pretty simple except for when it calls for a 3-in-1 stitch, which I'd never heard of before.  Apparently it's also called a kyok (kint-yarn over-knit) and I was able to find a short video on YouTube that showed and explained how to do it.  Once I got that down, it moved along pretty quickly.

I bought a couple skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in Thunderstorm colorway, although I only used a little bit of the second skein.  I probably wouldn't have needed it at all except that I knew I would need more than what the pattern called for since I would need the bottom part to be a little bigger.  Shawna insisted on paying for the yarn, so I only asked her to cover the first skein, since I still have most of the second skein to use on something else.

I was happy with how it turned out and Shawna was thrilled when she saw it.  She used it for the first time over Labor Day weekend on a day that was quite chilly, windy, and rainy.  She said it was perfect and kept her completely warm!  Another successful project!

Mom's Milkweed Shawl

After knitting a Milkweed shawl for myself, I decided that I liked the pattern so much that I wanted to knit one for Mom as a Mother's Day gift.  It took me a while to find the yarn I wanted to use, but I finally decided to use some sugar cane yarn that I had on hand.  Mom already has a sugar cane scarf that I made for her soon after learning to knit, but I know she likes it, so I just chose a different color.  Mom seemed really happy about it, so I hope she enjoys wearing it!

Birthday Yarn

For my birthday back in April, Mom sent me a few skeins of lovely Noro Chirimen yarn.  I was thrilled!  There was a shawl pattern I'd found a while back and had set aside, not having the right yarn for the project yet.  The pattern is called Milkweed Shawl, which I found through Ravelry.

I decided the use the Milkweed pattern for this Noro yarn.  I got so into it that I completed the project quicker than I usually do!  I ended up running out of yarn a few rows before the end of the pattern, but I was close enough to the end that the pattern still looks good.  I love how this shawl came together with the yarn!

Lettuce Knit

A couple months ago I completed a scarf made from one skein of Socks that Rock!  It's a colorway called "Lettuce Knit" and the colors just make me think of spring and Easter.

I gave it to Mom as part of her birthday gift last month.  She loves the pattern, which is called Alternating Diagonals and is part of the Vogue Stitchionary Vol. 1.  It's a pattern I've used a few times because it's great at providing texture to colorful yarn.  I hope Mom enjoys it!!

Just Sleeves

A while back I was talking to my Aunt Kelly about if there was anything I could knit for her that she would want and use.  She said sleeves!  There are times when her arms get cold, but putting on a sweatshirt or something makes her too warm.  She just needed sleeves.  So that's what I did!  I used Dream in Color Classy yarn in a mix of red and black, since those are colors that Kelly likes.  I made the sleeves in a simple K2, P2 rib about 13 inches long. This picture was with one sleeve finished and the other nearly finished.

First Ever Clothing!

Last week I finished my first ever knitted garment!  I chose something fairly simple for my first piece of clothing, so I purposely wanted something without sleeves.  It took me a long time to complete this project because I kept setting it aside to work on other things, but I was thrilled to finally finish it.  I used Cascade 220 and the pattern is called Cherry Bomb.  Here I'm showing it off at River City Yarns!

Mochi Plus Scarves in Oklahoma

Last month I sent two scarves to my Great Aunt Lois in Oklahoma.  I told her to keep one and give the other to her daughter Stephanie.  They were made from the same yarn (Mochi Plus) and the same colorway (567), but I used different patterns for them, both found in Vogue's Stitchionary Vol. 1.  Here they are!

First Socks & Almost Hat

I took a workshop in May to learn how to knit socks.  I finished my first pair last week and finally wove in the ends a couple days ago.  So here's the first pair!

I recently finished a scarf made from Malabrigo yarn and I had enough left over to make a hat. I think the colours in this yarn are so beautiful!





I'll be selling this hat and the matching scarf when it's all finished, so stay tuned!!

Mom's Birthday Gift

When Mom came to visit at Christmas, I asked her to look at a little book of shawl patterns that I have.  She made notes on a few that she thought she might like, so I knitted one for her birthday last month!  It's a Pocket Shawl made with alpaca yarn.  So here a couple pictures of me modelling Mom's shawl before I sent it to her:



This was my silly "artistic" photo:

Hitchhiker

A couple weeks ago I completed a project I'd been working on and was really excited about it.  It's a shawlette called the Hitchhiker.  It's a pattern that can be purchased at Ravelry for a few dollars.  It looks great and it's unique.

I was really looking forward to wearing this to work.  But when trying to wrap it around my neck, it just doesn't seem to lay right.  So far, I haven't figured out a way to wear it in a way that I like.  I'm hoping I can sort something out soon.

Baby Alpaca Scarf 2

Just today I finished weaving in the ends for my baby alpaca scarf.  I really love the feel of it, and I finished it in time for a serious cold snap!

Finished Cotton Supreme Scarf

I finished this scarf earlier this week. I'm thrilled with how it turned out and have been wearing it the last few days. It's soft and colourful and I love it!

Robin's Scarf

I recently finished a scarf for my cousin Robin.  I used a pattern that I found in Volume One of Vogue's Stitchionary, the Double Stockinette Stitch (#208 if you're looking in the book).  It creates a double-faced pattern.  I used Merino Wool yarn from Virginia van Santos.  It's beautiful hand-dyed yarn; I loved the colours!  Here's how it turned out: