Snow, Men's Colors, and Other Important Things

Winter is back. While I would say that I love how delicate the snow looks, gracefully lining the branches. And that it inspires me to knit lacy knitted things with cashmere (for warmth of course!). And all these things are true . . . .

But! And that's a large but! I'm not a fan of the -40 degrees. It's just too cold. Having to remember to wear as many layers as 6 samurai, is too much.

At least I found some delish new yarn. When I was visiting The Loop the other day, I stumbled upon Mimi from Lotus Yarns and boy is she a beauty! Yum.

This yarn is so soft and cozy. David's birthday is coming up in a week and I want to knit him a new hat. He has quite a few hats but he always wants more and he loves unique fibers - so this should be perfect.

It's quite a thin yarn - probably best suited for a lacy shawl that is incredibly soft and lightweight. That can be my next project with this yummy yarn.

I love the grey - most of David's hats are black or really dark grey. So to have a light grey will be a change. I always used to joke (but was mostly serious) that men's colors are:

• Black
• Dark Grey
• Dark Navy

I know some men are more adventurous but after selling yarn for over a decade, if you just pick one of the above colors, you will almost always have success. 

When you pick a color (like 70's orange) that he once mentioned on a trip to your crazy Aunt Sally's in the middle of the summer, while the temperature was +45 and he was suffering from heatstroke etc  . . .you get the idea - just resist! Resist the idea to knit your next present in bright magenta, 70's orange and babypoo brown. So tempting - I know! Just please resist. It will be a waste of your time. 

And if you do have a man in your life that wants those awesome colors - then good on you! Knit away brave color soldier :) Knit away!

And the Winner is . . . .

Today's the day!

The winner of our free pattern contest is Julie Snook! I have sent out her pattern this afternoon to her Ravelry account. I hope she enjoys it :)

I wanted to thank everyone who posted a comment!

There will definitely be more contests and giveaways in the future, so check in regularly to see what's happening.

I'm hoping to run one quarterly or perhaps every 6 months . . . depends on how many new patterns I start :P

Kaffe Fassett comes to Calgary!

Photo Left: Loraine, Moi, Kaffe Fasset and Janet.

Last night was ladies night. The ladies and I found out that Pudding Yarn was bring in Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably to do a color inspiration lecture. So, of course, we went!

We started our evening with some delicious sushi at one of my favorite sushi restaurants, Kinjo.

I introduced Susan to the yummyness that is sweet soy sauce! They have calamari strips that are always fresh and hot. The chefs fry them perfectly and when dipped in Japanese mayo mixed with sweet soy sauce - the taste is divine!

I have to find a store that sells sweet soy sauce . . .

After far too much sushi, we moseyed our way over to Christ Church where Kaffe & Brandon were ready to charm the masses and give a lecture on color inspiration. It was a great night. I thoroughly enjoyed listening and watching the slide show. Kaffe was very eloquent, quick witted and very interesting to listen to. What a great night!

Sneak Peak!

Okay! Time for a sneak peak - a wee preview of a pattern that will be released on October 8th!

Can you guess what it is?

Clues! :

*There are clearly some buttons - are they functional or just pretty? Do they fit into something?

*There is lace and stocking stitch - are you wondering where this will fit on the garment? and on the body?

Leave a comment below about what you think the finished items are. After the pattern comes out on October 9th, I will draw one lucky winner on October 11th and send them a free copy of the pattern!

New Pattern: Oratorio Cowl

© Willow Yarns

I am so excited to share with you a new pattern - Oratorio Cowl.

This fun to wear cowl was designed for the Willow Yarns company using their 100% superwash wool (Willow Daily Bulky). It is also available as a kit too!

It balances between having stocking stitch and a weaving back and forth lace stitch. The lace stitch is easy enough for beginners to learn and would be a great intro to lace!

 I loved how quickly this scarf knit up! 8mm needles and a few hours and this accessory is ready for Fall!

New Pattern: Snowdrop Tam

 © Willow Yarns

I am so excited to share with you a new pattern - The Snowdrop Tam.


This is a cute slouchy hat that was designed for the Willow Yarns company using their Willow Prairie, a 100% fine merino superwash wool.


I loved how soft the yarn was while working with it. I wasn't sure about the texture, as it is a thick and thin yarn, when I first started knitting it. But as the hat progressed, I began to love it!






This pattern is available through the Willow Yarns Website and through their mail order catalogue.

I've added some of my own photos to show off the beautiful, but easy to knit, texture in the main body of the hat.

The texture of the hat is made up of slipped stitches and knitting underneath the slipped yarns from the rows below - which is actually a lot easier than it sounds!

I know I'm going to make another one for myself this fall :)

New Ravelry Group!

Today we launched a group on Ravelry for the knitters who knit my patterns. This will be a great place to ask questions, get help and share pictures of finished items! I'm hoping that this will be a place where knitters can get inspiration. I can't wait to interact with everyone, answer questions and see pictures. Join here today :)

Fab Finds Friday: The Mud Button

Last year Diana, Susan and I went to the Festival of Crafts at the Stampede Grounds. I always love to see new, local artists showing off their wares.

Diana was looking for potters to make yarn bowls for Gina Brown's - so she talked to every potter that we saw and asked them if they were interested.

Last Friday, Anna Rasmussen called and had some prototypes to show us. Her company, Gammel House Pottery, has just started creating yarn bowls and beautiful, unique buttons.





I love interesting buttons. What is the point of spending a fair amount of time, money and effort on knitting a beautiful garment and then using some ugly, plain buttons?

If only you could feel the texture of these buttons in real life. Some of the glazes are matte and a bit rough - think earthy feeling. Some of the glazes are slick and almost cold to the touch!

The buttons are hand crafted out of porcelain clay and need to be hand washed. The hand washed aspect to buttons, never plays apart in my decision as to whether or not I will purchase said button. My theory is that nice things are worth taking care of. And, realistically the yarn that was used to create the objet d'art that now features the button; probably needs to be hand washed anyway.



This button makes me think "Quoi?" said with an upward lilt.

I love the all over print of Q's. When I asked Anna what her inspiration was behind this button, she told me of her trip to China. There she took many pottery classes and learned from some amazing artists. The Q's come from a roll on print that she bought while she was out enjoying the markets in China.







This rounded, bubble texture button has the most incredible feel to it! I could rub it all day - okay that sounded bad. Let's try again. I could . . . . anyway. I have no idea what I am going to knit for these beautiful buttons, but I can't wait to show you when I do!

Another One In the Works

Another new project. Can you guess what it is? I'll give you a clue - It's incredibly soft and I can't wait to wear it soon!

These yarns are just wonderful!

The Turquoise(Lucky) and Grey (Birch) are BFL Sock from Sweet Georgia Yarns. The multicolor is Malabrigo Sock Yarn in #852 Persia.

 At first I was only going to use the Turquoise and the Grey together, but when I saw the multi colored Malabrigo and how it brought out the subtleness of the colors I just couldn't resist!

If you were thinking that you have seen this yarn before - you would be correct. I did post about it earlier when Susan brought it home from the Sweet Georgia Studio. I can't wait to show you the finished . . . . project :P

Flit, Flit, Fly

I saw this cute little guy the other day when I was coming home from Pick Your Project. His wings were so beautiful!

I love the way dragonflies flit around; they always seem like they are on a mission - did you know they can fly up to 45 miles per hour?

Apparently seeing a dragonfliy is good luck - which is always a good thing. Although I was told once that dragonflies should remind you to reflect on your deeper thoughts and desires. Dragonflies have short lives and must live life to it's fullest.

And here I thought he was just a cute bug!

New Yarn!

Susan went on vacation last week and spent a lovely week cruising around Vancouver.

While she was there she visited the Felicia Lo's studio, Sweet Georgia Yarn.

Susan and I are big fans of Sweet Georgia Yarns. The have amazing base yarns and incredible colors. Both Susan and I have designed patterns from her yarn.

I asked if she would mind picking me out some yarn while she was there, as she was already going to be buying lots of yummy-ness anyway. I couldn't wait to see what treasures she would find there!

I said to her in a cryptic message on Ravelry:

"Think teals / purples / greys. Think rich and yummy - a bit of contrast between the balls so that you can see the changes within a few stitches or rows but not enough to be tacky. A really nice silvery grey ball and a semi solid to go with. . . purple or teal. Think a delish shawl with a pop of color for winter . . . like grey, grey, grey, oh my TEAL! (or purple) . . ah I'm not worried, you have great taste."

Fortunately Susan knows me well enough to see where I was going with my idea.

I love the subtle-ness of the semi-solid colorways. I bought two skeins of Malabrigo Sock that matched perfectly with these two - I just can't wait to get started on this project.

The Perfect Bag

I don't know about you, but I always have a hard time finding the perfect bag. There is something that isn't quite right - I wish the pocket was here; not there etc.

I finally found an excellent bag! It might not be completely perfect but it sure is trying :) My newest purse is from Street Level. Most of the Street Level bags are made from vegan leather which is kinda neat. I discovered it while on the "fun" day, during my latest trip to Vancouver, at Barefoot Contessa.

Everytime I go to Barefoot Contessa, I find something cute, whimsical and amazing. Barefoot Contessa delights it's patrons with vintage goods, local and handmade items varying from dresses, jewels and purses to housewares and the occasional book. Love!

This cute doctor bag has 3 compartments: a middle one - perfect for keys, phone, wallet, and 2 outer ones - perfect for knitting! The fact that you can put a project on one side with it's pattern and not worry about the yarn getting caught on all the regular purse stuff is just delightful. And! The inside of each of the compartments has a vintage, flower print feel to it. Too delightful!




And yes! That is 2 hundred gram balls stuffed in there with a pair of addi's! Isn't that just great!

Little Green Dress

When I got back from Seattle (and Vogue Knitting!), Maria had a list of little knits to be done.
      You're probably thinking -  I've seen this dress before and you would be right! I posted about the Girly Dress from Lana Hames before. Two years ago, I knit 2 little, white dresses for Maria's granddaughters.
        Apparently, the girls love to wear them! Now that they have grown, Maria wanted to get them new ones and have a couple made for the new granddaughters.

Zongpai - A Dropped Stitch Slouch

Last Tuesday, Hengpai - A Drop Stitch Slouch came out as part of the Malabrigo Quickies program! As promised I'm releasing the sister hat to it today. I was so inspired by Hengpai and drop stitches that I just knew I had to create another hat using that technique! (And there just might be 6 more ideas along the same lines bouncing their way through my head! Don't be too surprised to see, next fall, a delightful assortment of drop stitch items - both accessory and garment.)

Here's a recap from last week: 

 

As I was knitting Hengpai and Zongpai, I was thinking about how both of the hats are very similar in their stitch pattern but yet a little different as one is knit vertically and one is knit horizontally.

In Chinese writing, one can write horizontally which is known as hengpai and one can write vertically which is known as zongpai. After reading about hengpai and zongpai, I knew my hats had their namesake."

Here are the details:        

                                 

* Malabrigo Worsted -1 Skein, Color Shown is # 37 Lettuce

         - approx. 145-165 yards

* 5mm / US8 Straight Knitting Needles

* 5mm / US8 16" Circular Needle

*Tapestry Needle
 

 

Enjoy!

 

A pic to help visualize the decreasing at the top of the hat.

Malabrigo Quickie: Hengpai - A Drop Stitch Slouch

As part of the Malabrigo Quickies Series, I present to you, Hengpai - A Drop Stitch Slouch. I've been wanting to knit something out of the Malabrigo Worsted  in Taureg since the moment I saw it. The color is just the most amazing teal-y blue; very rich and wonderfully semi-solid. Huge thanks to Malabrigo for their yarn support!

As I was knitting Clapo-Ktus, I just knew I was going to design something with a drop stitch pattern to it. I loved how easy it was and yet so effective.

The first of the hats I designed was Hengpai. This hat is knit sideways in stocking stitch using short rows to create the round shaping for the crown. Once all the short row sections are worked, the hat is cast off and the stitches are dropped to create the dropped stitch openwork pattern. Once the seam is sewn, stitches are then picked up and knit for the brim. I used a grafting technique to sew the seam for the back of the hat.


The second hat was Zongpai. This is a vertically worked drop stitch pattern knit out of Malabrigo Worsted in Lettuce. It will be released next week here and on Ravelry.

As I was knitting Hengpai and Zongpai, I was thinking about how both of the hats are very similar in their stitch pattern but yet a little different as one is knit vertically and one is knit horizontally.

In Chinese writing, one can write horizontally which is known as hengpai and one can write vertically which is known as zongpai. After reading about hengpai and zongpai, I knew my hats had their namesake.

Here are the details:                                         

* Malabrigo Worsted -1 Skein, Color Shown is #98 Tuareg

         - approx. 145-165 yards

* 5mm / US8 Straight Knitting Needles

* 5mm / US8 16" Circular Needle

*Tapestry Needle

Enjoy!

See you next Tuesday, when I will release Zongpai. I can't wait - it is quite the beauty!

A Little Milo

David and I are leaving in a little over 2 weeks to go to Seattle for a vacation and Vogue Knitting Live! I am still way too excited about this little endeavor. Until . . I realized I still hadn't finished a present for Lizzie, David's two year old cousin, for whom I was knitting for before she was born! Yikes how time flies!

So, last night (1:30am) I jumped onto Ravelry and began immediately looking for super cute but quick patterns I could knit up just in time for our Seattle trip. I found 2 really cute patterns and realized I couldn't make up my mind as to which sweater I wanted to knit - as to whether it was because they were both just too cute or because it was now 2:00am I'm not so sure . . probably the cute thing! I decided to start with the vest pattern and I will work on the sweater if I still have time before we leave.

This cute vest,  Milo, is from designer, Georgie Hallam. I omitted the cable on this little vest because I felt that it wouldn't show up the way I would like with the self striping yarn. The yarn is Riot DK from King Cole - Color #401 Cool. I can't wait to make another Milo. The pattern is easy to follow and quick to make. Love!

A Wee Bit of Love

I wanted to make something little and cute for David this Valentine's Day,  so I decided to make him a wee heart filled with love! 

Here's the pattern:

 

A Wee Bit of Love

Materials:

Katia Espiga – 1 Ball 50 % Cotton, 50% Acrylic, 121 meters/ 50 gram Ball

Or: Any Double Knit Cotton – 15 yards

3.5mm/US4 80 cm Circular Knitting Needle (for working magic loop)

Gauge: 24 sts = 4"/10cm

Size: 1.5" tall x 2" wide

                      

Instructions:

Cast on 4 sts. Join evenly in the round making sure not to twist stitches.
Round 1: Knit.

Round 2 (Increase Row): *K1, M1, knit to end of 1st needle.M1, K1. Repeat from * for second needle.

Round 3: Knit.

Repeat the last 2 rows until there are 32 sts total.

Next Row (Dividing Row): Knit 8 sts. Slide the next 16 sts onto waste yarn. Knit remaining last 8 sts. When working magic loop, each needle will have 8 sts.

Next Round: Knit.

Top of Right Heart Shaping:

Round 1: Sl1, K1, PSSO, K2, K2tog, Sl1, K1, PSSO, K2, K2tog.

Round 2: Knit.

Repeat Round 1 & 2, once more.

Using the kitchener stitch, fasten off.

Stuff heart with filling before starting to knit other side.

Top of Left Heart Shaping: 

Redistribute 16 stitches from waste yarn onto needles. When working magic loop, each needle will have 8 sts.

Next Round: Knit.

Round 1: Sl1, K1, PSSO, K2, K2tog, Sl1, K1, PSSO, K2, K2tog.

Round 2: Knit.

Repeat Round 1 & 2, once more.

Using the kitchener stitch, fasten off.

Make these cute hearts to share with the people you love!

Enjoy!

Grace - A Top Down Slouch

Model is wearing the size Large.

Grace is a top down slouchy hat with simplicity and style.

I love the look of faux cables - and the ease of knitting too! Grace is knit in stocking stitch for the main body and then the brim adorned with faux cables.

Grace can be knit in the round using double point needles or using the magic loop method. I used the magic loop method as it is my favorite!

A Close Up on Detail

Grace was designed for my Top Down Hats class. I wanted to use a medium weight yarn, so that the students would be able to get quite a bit of knitting done during the class. As soon as I saw Malabrigo Rios in Sand Bark, I knew that was the perfect yarn to use! Grace only takes one ball of any worsted weight yarn. The sample is made from Malabrigo Rios because it’s washable and the colors are amazing!

I've posted more picture below for a good look at the detail and all the angles! The slouchy look is pretty universally flattering even for self-professed non-hat wearers.

Here are the details:

* Malabrigo Rios -1 Skein, Color Shown is # 131 Sand Bark

Or:

210 yards of any worsted weight yarn

* Knitting Needles: 

             If using the Magic Loop Method:

                                                           5mm/8US 40" Circular Needle

                                                           4.5mm / 7US 40" Circular Needle 

            If knitting in the Round:

                                                           5mm/8US Double Point Needles

                                                           5mm/8US 16" Circular Needles

                                                           4.5mm/7US 16" Circular Needles

The main body is worked on a 5mm / US8 and the brim is knit on 4.5mm/US7.

Enjoy!

PS. Look who was out in the courtyard today! And his colors have changed since we saw him last time!

Cold Haven - Infinity Cowl, Scarf & Wrap

The snow is falling and it's a tad chilly - by a tad I mean -9°C. l Which really isn't that bad considering it's been -20°C lately! 

I've been wanting to create a multi-wear / multi-use, 
cozy, squishy thing to cuddle up in, when the weather
isn't cooperating.

One of the lovely ladies in my Pick Your Project
class on Wednesday nights was looking for
such a thing. So I took a pieve of paper, wrote
out a pattern and gave it to her. Once she had
finished the first one, everyone in the class
wanted to make one! Then, the ladies wanted
to make a a few of them and I knew we had
something great!

At this point I thought, I should make this into a pattern - especially since there had been a few requests to have one once ladies in the store saw what that class was making!

As we were preparing for the Gina Brown's Day After Boxing Day sale, I asked Diana if she wanted to use the pattern to create kits for the sale. We made up a ton of kits and everyone loved them! I was so excited. Then I knew I had to share with you!

The delightful part of this accessories is that you can wear it 3 ways. On the left hand side there is a picture showing each way.

1) As a Shoulder Cover/Cowl/Capelet!
2) As a Pull-through scarf!
3) As a Vest!

And I'm sure that with a shawl pin, you could do a lot more!

The pattern comes with a schematic with measurements to show you where to sew on buttons if you decide to wear Cold Haven as a vest.

Here are the details:

* Sirdar Persia Chunky - 5 Skeins, Color Shown is #

Or:

425 yards of any standard chunky weight

*Knitting Needles: 9mm/13US

*5 Buttons - these should be small enough to fit through the work so that
buttonholes don't have to be made.

Enjoy!

It's a delish birthday indeed!

Kristina and I decided that the only way to celebrate our birthdays (we are 3 days apart) is to get a Jelly Modern Doughnut birthday cake and it was perfect! We got 4 flavors - Coconut, Marshmellow, Ninshi's Salty Caramel and Maple Bacon (of course!) Best birthday cake ever! On to a new, and better year :)

It's A Birthday Sale!

Today is my 26th birthday, so I'm having a birthday sale so everyone can celebrate with me :) All patterns are 26% off when you enter the coupon code: 26BIRTHDAYGIFT. Sale ends on Sunday, Jan.6/13 at midnight.  Have a great day!