New Knitting Pattern - Greyhaven Hat

I'm happy to announce the publication of my latest design for hand knitting, the Greyhaven Hat. 

The hat, along with the coordinating Greyhaven Cowl, 

was inspired by the lush imagery of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series (more details can be found in this post).

The Greyhaven designs feature an arched, leafy stitch pattern worked seamlessly in the round from the bottom up. 

Integrated shaping creates a soft, slouchy silhouette that continues into the patterned crown of this design, 

and an easily memorized stitch pattern using just one skein of decadent Primo Worsted yarn from The Plucky Knitter make this hat a luxurious treat to knit! 

The patterns are available individually or as part of a set including both the hat and cowl. I've finally gotten around to setting up coordinating patterns in an 'e-book' format on Ravelry. Although it's really a simple combining of the PDF patterns with a cover, it's just one of those things I hadn't gotten into. Now though, I love the idea of being able to put like items together, especially when this way makes it easier to offer a savings on the multiple pattern set.

I want to give a great big thank you to my wonderful test knitters Laurie, Josefina, Connie, Paula, Julia and Kim. These ladies are all super-talented knitters and lovely people to work with. 

It's been a long week and I'm looking forward to getting out into the sunshine and working in the garden today and going for a long run tomorrow. I hope you have some fun plans too. Thanks for stopping by my studio today, I wish you a wonderful weekend and much happy knitting!

Monday's Muse - Diligence

What we hope ever to do with ease, 

we must learn first to do with diligence.

- Samuel Johnson

Garden Matters & (shhh...) Crochet

Full spring has arrived all at once, along with the liquid gold blossoms of forsythia. 
 

The colors of these photos have not been enhanced, the blooms really are this brilliant!

   

The ground has finally warmed and dried out enough to allow for gardening, albeit somewhat later than usual. I've been pulling weeds, cleaning out debris and planting the vegetable bed with kale, lettuces, radicchio, snow peas, onions and radishes. Tomatoes and peppers must wait until the soil warms more thoroughly, they're usually in by June.

The little bit of green on the right is lemon thyme and the green shoots in the background are chives, both plants that overwinter beautifully here in our US zone 6 climate. 

Since the completion of my Greyhaven hat pattern (currently being test knit by my trusty team of intrepid knitters: Josefina, Laurie, Julia, Kim, Paula, Connie and Cheryl), I've taken some time to do a little crocheting. 

The photos above and at the top of the post show my current project, a lacy cardigan worked in grayish-natural color silk and wool blend yarn from Drops, called Silke-Tweed, that's been in my stash for years. 

The negative attitude many knitters exhibit towards the C-word (crochet) bemuses me as this lovely art form is simply another interesting way to combine beauty and utility through fiber. Although I don't perhaps love crochet nearly as much as I do knitting, I enjoy this alternative yarn technique for a change of pace.

At present I'm also swatching ideas for my next knitting projects now that the hat pattern is about ready. Look for the hat release announcement here very soon.

Thanks for stopping by today, peace, blessings and happy stitching to you!

Out Like a Lamb & Happy Easter!

There is a saying that if March comes in like a lion (cold & wintry), then it will go out like a lamb (mild & spring-like) and vice versa. Thankfully, as our first day of the month was cold and lion-ish this year, this saying held true and this weekend was warm and gentle. I love winter, but this has been a long one and I'm happy to see it go. 

Although the weather is warming, I'm still knitting, crocheting and working like crazy on my next pattern project, a hat to match the Greyhaven cowl. 

The hat pattern will be ready for test knitting very soon.

Thanks for stopping by today, and I wish all my friends celebrating Easter a very happy holiday!



photo via pinterest

Welcome Spring!

Although it's technically been spring since the first of the month, most people traditionally use yesterday's vernal equinox to demarcate the beginning of the new season. 

Today it was chilly in our area, but the sun was out, the snowdrops are blooming in great white swaths through the brown forest, and my garden is beginning to send forth signs of life.

I thought the words from this poem very apropos:

“Awake, thou wintry earth —
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!”

from 

"An Easter Hymn" 

by 

Thomas Blackburn, 1916-1977
English poet and novelist

I wish you a very happy spring! 

 

KAL Mania, Continued...

It seems that this time of the year is a popular one for KAL's (Knit A-Longs) if the many newly-formed groups on Ravelry are any indication. In my last post I mentioned a couple of KAL groups featuring my scarf patterns, and this week Kathleen Cubley, editor of Interweave Knits' Knitting Daily announced a new cowl KAL, including my Orbs Cowl design as a nominee. 

The Orbs Cowl pattern originally appeared in the Knitscene Accessories 2012 magazine and has been knit in some very lovely and creative variations on Ravelry. 

This little pattern is super easy to knit, and makes a cute accessory in a very short time. Orbs can be worn inside out, downside up, or any way you wish as it is completely reversible! I love the rugged, 3-dimensional chevron texture of the stitches inspired by the rough surface of the moon. If you are interested, you can read more about it in the publication release post here. 

If you don't have the issue of the magazine that the pattern was published in, not to worry! You can download the individual pattern PDF from the Interweave website. 

Knit-A-Longs are a lot of fun; group members encourage each other, answer each others' questions and share project notes as they work together through the pattern. If you'd like to participate, be sure to go to the Knitting Daily post and vote for your favorite pattern to join in the fun. Even if you are not interested in participating, you can still vote and follow along vicariously as others knit.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post today. I wish everyone a terrific weekend and happy stitching!




Modeled photos via Knitscene Magazine

KAL Mania!

I love scarves - they're fun and relatively fast to knit, don't require a huge amount of yarn, and are stylish to boot. This week I was thrilled to learn that both of my scarf patterns have been selected as KAL (knit a- long) choices for two groups on Ravelry.

The Frostlight pattern, shown above, has been chosen by the Malabrigo Junkies Ravelry group as one of the projects for their annual Malabrigo March KAL festivities. 

I'm also happy to have had my Bosc Scarf design chosen as the official March KAL project in Anastasia Wraight's For The Knit of It blog group. Anastasia recently also set up a Ravelry group.

It is an honor to have my designs included in these wonderful groups and I offer my thanks for being selected. 

If you would like to knit along with others, make new friends, receive support and cheer others on in their stitching endeavors I highly encourage you to join in one (or both...) of these opportunities, they're a lot of fun!

Monday's Muse

Inspiration for creating can strike me at any time or place, but I admit to being very influenced by certain things, especially nature, architecture and art. One place where I find connection to these elements, when I catch a few minutes for a short break from work here and there throughout my day, is on the Pinterest.com website. Great diligence is required in keeping to the idea of short since gorgeous photos and inspiration abound on that site and it's easy to get lost in the beauty!

I've been on a bit of a white kick lately, but that seems to be waning as this week's 'muse' has been inspired by dusky twilight tones like that of the lovely blue-gray Plucky Bulky yarn shown above.

Here are a few other favorite photos from my Pinterest pins.

 

  

Last weekend I also happened upon Taylor's (Nightmorning on Ravelry) latest Sothia shawl, knit in Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light, colorways Nebula & Graphite.

This knitter has made five gorgeous Sothia shawls, equalling my total! Another of her lovely versions is this one in colorways Georgia & Cove. 

Taylor certainly has a wonderful talent for combining colors.

What have you been inspired by lately? 





Photo links via Pinterest.

February is for Knitting

Is there a month more suited to knitting than any other? I love to knit all year around, usually with wool or other warm, soft fiber regardless of the weather. Still, I have to admit that the chill of winter inspires me to knit even more than usual, and to think about it more when I am not actually doing it. 

It seems like December and Christmas are always such a hustle and bustle, and in January I tend to hide out from the world, recovering from aforementioned holiday craziness, spend less time on the internet and work on other projects, leaving the deeper cold of February as inspiration for what is often my most knitterly month.This February is proving to be no exception as I've been busily stitching away on my next pattern and currently have a huge pile of knitting on my desk (I'll show a peek when I get a chance to take a few photos). 

Our cold season is not usually extreme but has already been much snowier than usual - hurray! - and I believe all that white outside has had an influence on what I've been working on, although I'm normally a much more colorful person and I've already got some beautiful color combinations in mind...

Here are photos I took about a week ago:

 

Taking loads of photos has helped me learn to use the Nikon and various new lenses, and the snow was so beautiful I couldn't help but be inspired to get out there and take a lot of shots.

The knitting photo at the top of the post is a swatch I did in garter stitch with some vintage 90's wool given to me by my mother in law. I've no idea what the brand is but I love the thick-thin, nubby texture and beautiful natural white color. This swatch is not for my next pattern, just some ideas I'm fooling around with, but I might look for wool currently on the market with a similar texture. Since this ball is only 100 gr or so, it is destined to become an accessory of some sort but I haven't decided what.

Thanks to my friends who've emailed, PM'd or otherwise inquired as to whether I've fallen off the face of the earth, I'll be in touch with everyone asap, and I hope you've all been enjoying some time to cozy up with your knitting, crochet, spinning or other creative pursuits too. I'll continue to hibernate a little, waiting for the snow to melt and the flowers to appear, inspiring more photos and different sorts of knitting projects. 

What do you think? Is there a best month for knitting? Do you knit year around or does the weather affect what you knit or yarn you choose? Drop me a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Needles at the Ready

I love how every moment of every day we get a chance to make a fresh, new start. But there are few moments as poignant as the beginning of a new year and I especially love the feeling of possibilities that the change of calendar brings - the feeling that a fresh page has been turned and anything can happen. 

Even the projects I began in 2012 and carried over into this year will develop and come to their full potential (I hope!) and completion as 2013 FO's.

Remember this post? 

I'm happy to say that I did become more organized and I'm mostly pleased with my completion of, or progress towards, many of my knitting and life goals last year. I'm also thrilled about the ideas for knitting and designing I have to work on this year, and I certainly have concrete ideas for what I'd like to accomplish. But I'm in somewhat of a different mood this January, so accordingly I decided to think a little differently when deciding on my 2013 goals. My goals for this year are: 

1. To love more
2. To share more
3. To forgive more
4. To be more thankful
5. To be more kind
6. To work hard
7. To have fun

I believe that some of these goals will be easier to reach than others, but I hope I can incorporate creating and relating into all, or most, of them. So with needles at hand, I stand ready and look forward to 2013 to be an exciting year of knitting (and crochet, spinning and other fiber-ous pursuits) adventure, learning and life.

I hope you are excited for 2013 too, and I wish you a very happy knit year!

Happy New Year 2013!

 

Thanks to everyone for being such wonderful blog-friends in 2012, I wish you a  Happy New Year filled with much love, laughter and stitching. May your yarn stash be bottomless, your stitches be even and all of your projects a perfect fit!

For last year's words 

belong to last year's language
And next year's words 

await another voice. 

And to make an end 

is to make a beginning.

 
~T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"