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!

Mochi Diagonals

I recently finished a lovely scarf made with Mochi Plus yarn, which is 80% Merino Wool and 20% Nylon.  I used a pattern called Alternating Diagonals, which can be found in Vol. 1 of the Vogue Stitchionary.  I've used it before with a different colorway of this yarn.  I think it provides great texture without being too busy for the changing colors.  What do you think?

Here's what it looks like to be worn, without wrapping it around my neck:

This soft scarf is for sale and will go to the first person to comment that they want it. The cost is $35 to cover the cost of the yarn, plus whatever additional cost for shipping if it needs to be mailed.  If there are any questions about it, don't hesitate to ask!

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!

Donated Scarves

One of my coworkers is a member of Rotary and she's heading up a big dinner event next month.  Part of it is a silent auction, so I donated two scarves to be bid on in the silent auction.

The first one was a merino wool scarf made with Punta yarns Merisoft yarn.

The second scarf was knit with Mochi Plus, which is 80% wool and 20% nylon.  I used a neat cabling pattern from one of my Vogue Stitchionaries.

I've asked my coworker to try to let me know how much they go for, but whatever the amount, hopefully they'll be a bit of help for a good cause!

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!

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!!

New Yarn

There is a yarn I bought a couple skeins of back in August, some beautiful Manos Maxima.  It feels so wonderful and the colours are really nice.  Here's a photo of the lovely scarf I made from it:

Initally, this was the only colour of Maxima that the LYS had in stock, but they finally received several more colours.  I bought two skeins each of three gorgeous colours:

I can't wait to knit with them!

Malabrigo Hat & Scarf for Jiffy

As I mentioned in my last post, I was almost finished knitting a hat and scarf from Malabrigo yarn. They're now finished and I've even found a home for them! They will soon be sent to live with one of my best friends, Jiffy. Here are a few pictures of the finished products as I was modelling them!

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!!

Merino Wool Scarf For Sale!

I recently finished a lovely merino wool scarf knit with Punta Yarns Merisoft yarn.  It's hand-dyed yarn, so the colors are quite varied but still muted.


The stitch pattern creates a double-sided scarf, so there are two different "looks" to it. This pattern also creates a fairly thick fabric, so it's great for cold weather!


To give you an idea of how it looks on, here it is on me!


The cost of the scarf is $35, which is to cover the cost of the yarn and the cost of mailing it to whoever buys it. The first person to comment here that they want the scarf will be the lucky buyer!!

Edit: This scarf has now been donated and is no longer available for sale.

First Cotton Supreme Scarf

Except for weaving in the ends, I've finished the two scarves I was working on for my co-workers.  I blogged about them in my last post.  I'm really pleased with how both of them turned out, and it's going to be hard to wait to actually give them their gifts!

My aunt Cyndi in California sent me two skeins of Cotton Supreme yarn a couple weeks ago.  She said she knew it got cold up here, and she thought I'd like to make a scarf for myself!  I'd never felt Cotton Supreme before.  It's so soft, it doesn't really even feel like cotton!  The two skeins she sent were "Eggplant" colour.  It was a great colour, but I really like using verigated yarns or somehow having more than one colour in a project.  The only real exception I've found to that, so far, is if I'm making something with a real pattern.

So I found a couple yarns to pair with each of the Cotton Supreme skeins.  The first one is a skein of Mini Mochi, a beautiful merino wool yarn.

I'm just doing garter stitch, switching yarns every two rows.  I'm really happy with how it's looking so far!

Christmas Presents

I'm knitting two scarves for my manager and my other team member at work.  I really like how they're coming along.  The first one is pink alpaca.  I'm just doing a shifting rib stitch pattern; every 12 inches I shift the ribbing (K2, P2) over by one stitch.

I'm also knitting a merino scarf out of Ella Rae yarn.  It's a relatively simple pattern that involves increasing and decreasing and using two different sized needles.

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:

New Yarn

I bought new yarn on Monday. The first one is for a tank top that I'm going to be knitting. It's Cascade 220 Heathers, so it's 100% Merino Wool.

I also bought six skeins (two of each colour) of Cadenza yarn, which is 80% Superwash Merino wool and 20% Tussah silk.  These colours were so beautiful I just had to buy them even though I don't know what I'll be making with them yet!