mismatched

As the weather gets colder, I find myself walking around the house exactly like this – a mismatch of flannel p.j. pants, hand knit socks, a scarf or shawl and a cozy sweater…

I hope you all have a cozy weekend full of wool and knitting.

{images via toast uk}

christmas red

Is there anything lovelier than a freshly wound ball of red woolen yarn? I am currently working on knitting my Christmas sweater (the pattern is a test knit for Dona).  I can’t wait to share it with you…

good morning!

This picture of dirt may not look like much, but we are very, very excited about it…because in six short months, this will be where our lovely new house will stand! It will have:

• four bedrooms
• an eat-in-kitchen
• a dining room
• an office
• a family room
• two and a half bathrooms
• an upstairs laundry room! 

This is a sketch of what it will look like when it is finished:

Cozy, isn’t it? The siding will not be yellow- it will be Coastal Sage, a calming, medium-shade of green. I can assure you that is the only color my husband and I will agree on, so we may need your help picking our interior paint colors…

Have a lovely week!

holiday knitting…

I have decided to put my Hedgerow socks down so that I can start to focus on my sorely neglected holiday knitting! This is the Shaleyn shawl, and it will be a Christmas gift for my sweet mother-in-law. It took three attempts, but she is officially on the needles! The yarn is Cascade’s Pima Cotton, and is a light, lovely DK weight with a beautiful sheen. No wooliness here.

The pattern called for size US9 needles, but the fabric was way too loose/open for my taste. I tried it again using 7′s, but still wasn’t satisfied. I broke out my trusty 5′s and it looks like we have a winner!

I love how the increases are made by M1L and M1R, all on the right side of the shawl…no yo increases along the top edge or the spine! When I think about all that I still have to knit, my brain starts to hurt. How about you? How is your holiday knitting coming along?

 

 

earth & sky

A few months ago, Stephen West was kind enough to ask me to test knit the Earth & Sky pattern for his mystery knit-along! I was extremely honored and excited to be a part of this project. After much deliberation, I decided to knit the pattern in Llama Lluxury – a supersoft wool that has a texture very close to cashmere.

This is quite a masculine, geometric pattern – and I think the neutrals do a great job of highlighting the architecture of the shawl.

As I have said before, don’t let the intarsia scare you off! It is very clearly explained in the pattern. Yes, there are a few ends to weave in, but as long as you weave them as you go along, it is not so cumbersome. Here is what the intarsia wraps look like from the back:

And from the front:

The shawl is started at the top-center, then worked down to the simple garter-stitch border:

It is a warm and cozy little shawl…

Here are the details:

• Pattern: Earth & Sky by Stephen West; $6
• Yarn: SWTC Llama Lluxury; Midnight, Pewter; Cream colorways
• Needles: Size US5 32″circular needle
• Size Made: small

You can see more of Stephen’s amazing work here. Happy knitting!

a little yarn shopping.

Would you like to see what yarn I bought at Seed Stitch this past weekend? I definitely wanted to get some new sock yarn, so upon entering the store, I went directly to the Spud & Chloe display where I immediately plucked these two skeins right off the rack:

The colors? Red Hot and their new colorway – Hippo! I thought this wintery, long-john inspired color combination would be perfect for a cozy pair of socks. The pattern?

Hedgerow! I have been wanting to knit this sock for quite a while, and thought that the texture would pair beautifully with the red and the gray. While browsing the shop, my husband called me over to look at a little shawl knit in Cascade Ultra Pima. He liked how crisp the stitch definition was due to the lack of fuzzy wool or alpaca.  He called it “hi-def knitting.”  How cute is that? I was glad he pointed this project out, because the yarn was the perfect choice for the shawl I have been wanting to knit for his mother!

Sadly, she is allergic to wool, but this soft, shiny cotton is perfect for highlighting the stockinette and lace stitches in the Shaelyn pattern, don’t you think? It was so hard to leave the store with only four items…there were so many lovely skeins I wanted to adopt! It would be so easy to walk out there with tons of yarn to have on hand, you know, ‘just in case’…but I was very good and only bought what was needed. Off to cast on my Shaelyn!

Salem, Massachussetts

This past weekend, the hubby and I took a drive up to Salem for our anniversary. The weather was perfect – crisp, sunny fall days, and not a stitch of rain until the ride home. The first full day we were there, I immediately dragged my husband to Courtney’s yarn shop for some shopping…the store was in full Halloween dress, of course!

Yarn on the brain -  this definitely resonates with a lot of knitters! I love Seed Stitch Fine Yarn…it is always beautifully decorated, with lots of little projects around to inspire creativity. Sadly, Courtney wasn’t there – maybe next year we will get to meet up for a little knitting session!

I did purchase some goodies, of course! I will share with you tomorrow, once everything is photographed. We took a day trip over to Marblehead, MA – and completely fell in love with the beauty of the town. We stopped at Crocker Park, which had the most amazing view of the harbor…

While walking through the winding streets of this sweet little town, we stumbled upon the house of one of my favorite bloggers! I was so excited! Can you guess who it is by the picture below? We thought we caught a glimpse of her in the window; she was probably wondering who the two crazy people were standing outside her house pointing. I wanted to cross over to the other side of the street, knock on the door and ask to see how pretty the Verte De Terre living room paint looked in person, but decided that might be a little stalkerish…

This town was so picturesque and lovely, that we are seriously considering a move here once the kids are all out of school.   We always enjoy our trips up to New England – there is something about it that just feels like home to us. The car rides were long, but I was able to finish my alpaca mitts, and get a head start on crocheting some small Christmas gifts…

I have a few more days off this week, so I plan on photographing some of my finished knits and casting on with my new yarn! I’ll share more tomorrow…

knit. wear magazine, premiere issue 2011

I am in love with the cover of the new knitting magazine, knit. wear. It is so beautiful and simplistic…I am mesmerized by those gorgeously chunky, wine-colored cables.

Don’t you love when knit wear is both cozy and elegant?

The pattern is called Shaped Capelet with Braided Cables, by Erica Patberg., As always, click on any of the pictures to Ravel it, or buy the premiere issue here.

 

October Etsy Love.

Cool weather and changing leaves marks the beginning of the knitting season…it’s time for pumpkins, wool and buttons:

1. Autumn Fall Coffee Mug Cozy with Wooden Button, $17.00 at Chic n’ Warm
2. Halloween Pumpkin Photo (4″x6″), $9 at Amelia Kay Photography
3. Set of 8 Wooden Buttons, $8.85 at Woods of Narnia
4. Set of 6 Orange Fabric Covered Buttons, $7.25 at Heyday Handmade
5. Silky Merino Sock Yarn in Spiced Pumpkin, $21 at North Loop Yarn
6. Set of 6 Pumpkin Fabric Buttons, $5 at The Sunday Flower

Happy Fall!

hello again!

It has been quite a while, hasn’t it? The fall weather is upon us, and it is only natural to want to get back to the things I love the most – knitting and blogging. It has been a challenge for me to find balance between my new life as a working woman and my old life as a homemaker, but I’ve slowly begun to find my footing! There are four projects that have been completed since I have been back to work, but I thought I’d start with my most recent cast-on.

My dearest Dona sent me this lovely alpaca wool for my birthday back in May. It is a gorgeously fuzzy wool in my favorite color – gray! Initially, I was going to knit a pair of socks,  but then decided to use it for something that I could wear more than once a week. Since the weather has been increasingly cooler, I thought a simple pair of fingerless gloves would be a perfect use of this wool!

The yarn is a 4-ply fingering weight, and is knitting up into such a delicate fabric – they are warm without being bulky, which means these can be easily worn inside or outside the house. Since  I really didn’t have the energy to search for a pattern, I am just making this one up as I go along…

…but, I am taking plenty of notes so that I can share the pattern with you, if you’d like. These are so easy and knit up quickly – they are perfect for knitters seeking some instant-gratification. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!