In September 2027, I’ll be heading to Alaska aboard the Discovery Princess for a very special knitting cruise – Dancing Lights: Alaska 2027.
I’ll be teaching knitting workshops, sharing two specially designed projects, and, of course, there will be plenty of knitting, laughter and time spent enjoying Alaska through a designer’s eyes.
The cruise information is now live, and I’m delighted that I can finally share it!
There is so much more to come. Over the next year I’ll be sharing peeks at the projects, yarn, inspiration and some of the preparations happening behind the scenes.
It is July already and I am not quite sure how I got here. How are you feeling? Is time getting faster in your world this year?
I have really been focused on The Blanket Project, Threads of Colour – A Year in Squares for the last six months. And the Renovation. And now the final bit of the last years move – the Organization. In between I try to fit in some life. This last week had a lot of “life” in it.
La Dolce Vita – living a life.
It has been a beautiful Sunny week. With a little bit of rain here and there. We popped up to Fanny Bay Inn to meet some family on Wednesday and had a lovely lunch. it was a gorgeous day and the views were spectacular.
On Saturday we drove down to Victoria to catch some baseball with our Grandson. The afternoon before the game we popped over to Cadboro Bay for lunch and a wander down to the beach. Tom had read about a new Olympic sport being practiced there. It was a combination of running and rowing and then running again – Rowing Beach Sprint. It was being run in timed heats. It showed potential I think.
As for the game – the Harbour Cats won the night and Logan was thrilled.
We stayed the night and made our way leisurely back up Island. We stopped at Goldstream and wandered a bit. Checked out the Farmers market and had lunch with some friends… A very satisfactory week in all.
So I took a few photos over the week as we travelled.
A beautiful view with a perfect Gary Oak at Fanny Bay Inn.Fanny Bay Inn has a lovely little garden.Rain dapple Hydrangea – I love watching how these flowers open up.Roses in the rain.Sun reflecting off the Moon one morning this week.Cadboro Bay – watching a new Olympic sport develop. Running and rowing.Sun dappled new growth at the point of a broken off branch! Such a vivid green.Looking Waayy up at Goldstream Park.More new growth at Goldstream.
Threads of Colour – the July Square and Fancy
I have a new block and a fancy for you today.
For the block I went with the tried and true. One of my favourite Shetland Lace patterns, Old Shale, is always beautiful and always effective. Here it is representing Waves. Reminding me of Summer leisure time, idling away hours at the beach, swimming and reading.
Are you a Summer reader? I read more in the Summer than I do in the winter. Light reading, science fiction, mystery and romances to while away time when I feel too hot to knit. And not so light reading, research for my fall classes and patterns – I love delving into my knitting book collection and playing with ideas!
So this month I took a look at double knitting and decided the technique would create a fun fancy. How about a bookmark to go with the Summing Reading.
This one is light weight, totally revesible and was a really fun, quick knit!
The July block is the start of the second half of our block collection. If you have knit all of the blocks so far you will have 8 blocks completed. I am having fun playing with technique and colour and hope to add a few more colourful, textural options in the next couple of months.
Planning Ahead
If you have been knitting every block you will have 8 blocks completed. I will be knitting 20 blocks for my blanket (maybe 24) so I have to decide which Squares I like best and knit an extra one or two. If you want a more Afghan sized blanket your will need to double up on a few of your squares as well. The 12 or 16 squares I have planned for the year will make more of a lap robe sized blanket.
I have started to play around with how to connect our blocks into an interesting and useful blanket. Of course we could keep it simple with just the basic connections outlined. Those ideas will be covered. As well as a few more unique ideas. More on that in the next blog post.
Happy Knitting
And Happy Canada Day!
Lynette
Our Collection to date. Only the February fancy is not here. It is currently attached to a hat, which is somewhere in my very disorganized yarn room.
I love working with beads in my knitting. I try to add them to lace knitting at every opportunity. These are a few of my favourite pieces. They each have a story.
Some, like the beaded lace hat, Galadriel’s Gift, I have knit multiple times. The painted circular shawl is the Garden Gate Shawl, showing my favourite pictures of one of my painted pieces. The Shetland Fascinator, the little lace shawl, has the prettiest little beaded tassels.
Rhiannon’s Wrap, the purple shawl, is the most beautiful thing that I ever knit, that never won a prize. A story for another day. I never wrote a pattern for this large version. But there is a pattern for a smaller version, the link is attached to the beaded tassel photo in another gallery in this post.
And Covid Be Damned – The Impulsive Shawl – rainbow, bees, butterfly’s and beads – there are so many ways to add beads.
If you want to know more about the pictures below click on the picture. Some of them are linked to patterns.
But when I discovered bead knitting (beads knit into every stitch) I thought that here was a pinnacle of achievement. I have been working towards that pinnacle every since. My inspiration and resolution just got a big boost.
Treasure
I was in Victoria not too long ago, spending some quality granny time looking after my Grandson. As he is in school I had some time to wander around during the day. I visited family, met up with a friend and got myself into trouble of the best kind.
My daughter lives close to a wonderful little second hand store. I have been there a few times but this last time I found something I had never seen in real life, not outside of a museum. I have seen pictures in books or magazine articles – I found a small, exquisite, circular knit, beaded bag!
I did not buy it immediately. I went back to my daughter’s and slept on it, as it was not cheap. It was not useful and I wanted it. So I didn’t do much sleeping! I kept thinking and thinking and in the morning rushed back to the store and looked at it again. Who was I kidding – it was mine!
It is tiny, only 3 inches across and about 2 and 1/2 inches high, maybe three inches high if you include the closure. But it is perfect. A perfect little coin purse.
Kid Leather lined, designed to sit upright on a table, lavender cotton lace top and a beautiful, twisted silk cord… And the BEAD work!
Micro Bead Knit bag with Pink and Yellow and roses, deep green leaves and the bottom is a beautiful spiraling bottom, in a leaf and bud pattern. There is just 1 loose bead, you can see it resting in the center of the bottom of the bag. For its age it is in great shape!
This bag is roughly dated to the 1920’s and 30’s and unlike most beaded bags, which were designed only to hang this bag was designed to sit on the table and hold a few essentials, a bit of “mad” money, a compact perhaps, just the necessities necessary for a evening on the town.
These bags were mostly knit in Europe at this time. I can see a woman in a garret apartment in Paris madly knitting away and creating a bag for her month’s wages. I have knit with beads, a lot. But knitting circularly with such fine thread and micro beads… it boggles the mind.
My other beaded treasure was a gift from a customer, someone who wanted the bag saved and appreciated. I call it the Napier-Hemy bag to reflect the name of the original owners. This bag came to me in pretty rough shape. It is losing beads and had started to fall apart. But it is still beautiful. The work that went into such creations. The beads are smaller in this bag than in my new treasure. That allows for greater detail in the design. The colours are stronger too – less light exposure perhaps.
You might have noticed that I have been creating a few things with a tiny circular cast-on. lately I am playing with a crazy idea – I think I want to try knitting a small bag like this one.
I won’t knit my bag with such tiny beads, I am thinking of size 8/0’s and then of course what kind of pattern do I want to tackle with my beads? It can’t be too complex – I am not totally insane.
So Many Styles of Working with Beads
I am not without some experience in working with beads. I have tried a great many different beading techniques over the years. I have knit quite a few other beaded bags. Or shawls and tassels with beaded details. Beaded bracelets as well. I could incorporate aspects of these into a circular bead knit bag.
Beaded Mesh – Knitting with Beads
The yarn is BC Garn Tussah Tweed Silk
This is the Victorian Beaded Mesh Bag. It is a lot of beads and not quite so much knitting. But is was the start of my fascination with beads and beaded bags in particular.
I also designed a scarf, Victorian Beaded Mesh Scarf to co-ordinate with the bag. It is a little short scarf with beads at both ends. I have just started knitting myself a new version.
Being a small piece, knit in two pieces and grafted – it knits up relatively quickly and gives a great finish! It is also fun to wear!
I am making myself a new version just long enough to tie around my neck. You can see it’s progress in the pictures above.
You can use beads in so many ways in your knits! Below are just a few. Some of these are just pretty pictures of my work (well, I think they are pretty). If you want to know more about the pictures below click on the picture. Some of them are linked to patterns.
Just in case you want to be crazy too! Here is some information on different styles of working with beads in your knitting.
Beading Techniques:
Placed while Knitting – knitting with beads – beads are placed in pattern, but not creating a solid beaded surface
This technique is the most commonly used technique in modern knitting. A bead is carefully placed on a stitch as your knit. It can be placed before or after the stitch has been worked. When you place the bead determines which row it sits on.
The bead is placed with a small crochet hook or beading tool. The size of the hook is determined by the weight of the yarn and the size of the hole in the bead. I have a small collection of hooks from a .60mm to a 1.25mm. I always try to use the biggest hook possible, but some beads, especially the ones with the beautiful finishes have smaller holes.
.60mm hook with 8/0 bead – hook is ready to pick-up the stitchpicking up the stitchbead has been slipped onto the ststitch is ready to be worked
This technique allows you to place beads exactly where you want them as you knit. It requires a very small crochet hook – 0.6mm – 0.75mm most commonly (bead holes can vary, sometimes a bigger hook will work). Pick up a bead with the tip of your crochet hook, use the crochet hook to remove the next stitch from the left hand needle and then slide the bead down the hook and onto the stitch, return the stitch to the left hand needle and then work the stitch.
Beading Techniques: Pre-Strung Beads
Three beading techniques requiring pre-strung beads that I use; beaded long-tail cast-on, beads between purl stitches and knitted in beads. These are all pre-strung beads, easiest in one colour, more complicated with several colours.
Notes on Pre-stringing beads: All three of these techniques require that the beads be strung onto your yarn before you start knitting. The first time that you try knitting a pattern with beads I recommend that you work a pattern with knitted in beads, keep the pattern simple. A small repeat something that mistakes won’t show as much or will be easily fixed. That way as long as you have enough beads there won’t be any problem with beads not being strung in the right order. This is the simplest way of learning.
After the first time you will be able to decide if you want to knit in a coloured pattern. When working a coloured pattern the beads must be strung in the correct order. In order to do this you string the beads in the reverse order that they are being knit. The first bead knit is the last bead strung. Flip your chart upside down and use the reverse chart for the bead stringing order.
Pre-stringing Fixes: If the beads are out of order you will need to cut your yarn and fix the problem. An extra bead can be crushed with pliers. Work very carefully if crushing a bead the sharp edges can cut the yarn.
Beaded long-tail cast-on – beads are pre-strung and I usually bead every stitch or every other stitch, but for special beads, a different shape or size, the beads might be added less frequently. These beads are on the the tail (the length of yarn over your thumb). Start with your slip knot and immediately pull up 1 bead to rest close to the slip knot. *Cast on 1 (2 ) or desired number of stitches and then pull-up another bead.* Repeat from * to * until you have run out of beads and then finish your cast-on – this should give you the right number of stitches for your cast-on, if you had the right number of beads. Always check your count.
Beads between purl stitches – This is the easiest of the pre-strung beading techniques. The beads are pulled up and placed between your purl stitches The purl stitches hold them in place. This technique does not work well between knit stitches as they will fall to the purl side.
Fretwork mitten cuff – beads on the cast-on and beads between stitches in the ribbing.
Bead Knitting – creates a solid beaded surface
Method and rules: Knitted in Beads –
1) When knitting in your bead you will always knit into the back of the stitch on which you wish to place your bead. The twisting of the stitch by knitting through the back of the loop insures that the bead will be locked into place.
2) When the needle is in place in the back of the stitch, pull up the bead up to approx ¼ of an inch away from your knitting. As you knit the stitch, pull the bead through to rest on the front arm of your stitch.
3) The bead will be furthered anchored when the stitch on top of it is also knitted through the back of the loop. This is done when knitting the next row of beads in place. If beading the next row you will automatically twist the stitch with your current bead. If no bead is being knit into place simply knit into the back of the stitch above the bead to finish the anchoring process.
The beads have been knit in and are sitting on twisted stitches. You can see the twist below the beads. The bead have just been pulled through the stitch and the stitch is about to be removed from the LH needle.
If you are looking for more information on Knitting with Beads or Bead Knitting the Mary Thomas Knitting Book is still one of the best. It was originally published in 1936 and most of the modern writing on the topic references back to this book.
A New Project in the Planning Stage
I have collected so many colours of beads over my years of knitting. More than enough to create a completely bead knit bag. I would work it in Handmaiden Lace Silk. I have a good quantity of that to hand. It would certainly be easier to work with than a linen thread – if I could find some of this thread strong and long enough. The yarn for bead work like this has to be strong and long with no knots if I plan on stringing thousands of beads. And I am. Am I crazy?
So am I crazy? Or what? Are you crazy too?
If you are interested in more – I have just been looking at beads for the background. I usually order from Bead F/X in Toronto when I need a larger quantity of beads. They offer design size pkg of beads – approx 9000 beads per 250 grs of 8/0’s. These are the three possible colours that I am considering. Maybe you might want to check our some options for beading your knits.
Crystal AbSparkle PewterLight Steel Blue
I will probably only order two colours, but first I have to decide on my pattern colours and then pick the background! This may require some swatching. I dusted off my swatch instructions for bead knitting. If you are interested in giving it a try, this swatch is a fairly inoffensive way to begin.
Flowers play a big part in my love of colour. Vivid colour, mixed colour and glorious abandon to colour.
One of the exciting things of a new home is watching the garden come to life. This garden is more minimal than my last. That will change as the season progresses and I get to work on my landscaping plans.
I have discovered that I have a Lilac bush. It is small right now, but the blooms are mighty. These blooms are fragrant and they are purple, lilac purple. They are glorious!
Does anyone know the name of this Lilac? The colour is so beautiful.
How is your garden progressing? What are your favourite Spring Flowers? I am looking for suggestions for my Landscaping projects – any and all ideas are welcome.
May Blanket Squares
Like the blooms this month brought on a lot of inspiration. So there is the May Square, Little Puff Leaves. And the May Bonus Square, Indian Twist Stitch Square. I really played with colour when creating them and you can see that the bonus square pulled the Lilac purple out of my stash!
The wonderful thing about sampler patterns is that you can try out new stitches without a major commitment. The little puff leaves remind me of all the greenery that is showing up on the bushes and trees as we walk through the local parks right now!
Now the Indian Twist Stitch is pretty cool. This stitch pattern has fascinated me for years! I decided that a sampler blanket was the perfect place to try it out!
This pattern looks a little tricky, but is really quite easy. Only two of the rows involve patterning and while slow to work they do pay you back by filling in a great deal of space. This is the simple version in that the twisted sts all line up. I am going to work another version were the rows of twisted sts offset each other. There is a photo tutorial included in the pattern.
This square can be worked in the two colours as shown, but is also effective in a single colour!
Last fall a friend gave me a couple of Lavender Sachets. The lavender was fresh from her garden and the scent is fabulous. I decided that this month’s Fancy is going to be a Sachet, in my case a Lavender Sachet, but you can fill it it with anything you like.
I did not use the worsted weight yarns for this fancy. I am using a light fingering weight. But you can use any yarn you like, just up the needle size to 1 size smaller than the recommended size for the yarn.
The renos on the Great Room, Main bathroom and Laundry Closet – I can’t really call it a room – are complete.
The laundry closet is a perfect gem – stacked washer and dryer on one side and a stainless laundry tub on the other side, complete with a drop down counter and handing space for the delicates to hang dry!
It started out with a washer and dryer on each side of the door with small cupboards above each. It didn’t work hard enough. And as I really believe in a large laundry tub I figured out a way to add one. It so useful to have an oversize sink somewhere in the house.
It is a pretty swank laundry tub. A Costco special.
The counter is a salvaged flooring sample with a piano hinge. It is the perfect size.
The Wool Room is rumoured to be complete today. Which only leaves the outside jobs, siding on the Wool Room, replacing the rotten boards on the deck (almost done) and then painting the deck and the final cleanup. All to be finished soon!
I will do a photo shoot on the Great Room once it has been tidied up. Which will be after the Wool Room is complete. There is stuff everywhere!
I have been living though a major renovation and the cold of the year over the last month. The cold, though as aspects of it linger, is finally moving on. The cough is the pits and surprises at the most annoying times.
The renovation is now in its final stages, except for the Wool Room! Finding that the small room needed a new roof was a bit of a setback. The rest of the kitchen is coming together though.
The main room has been painted. It currently looks like a store backroom. Everything is piled up and covered in drop cloth. You can see that the new flooring has been covered with heavy cardboard to protect it from all of the activity!
Cabinets are being installedI found it interesting seeing how the uppers are being supported.We have countertops.And lighting, and appliances. The new dishwasher has been delayed and the new microwave needs to be installed!.
Knitting
The laundry room is finally back in action and I got to felting the Granny Blanket Swatch!
My machine is newer stacking Samsung front loader and it did the job well. I threw the swatch in with a few small napkins. I dialed the heat up to the highest and added the detergent. It took a while – approx 2 hours but it worked beautifully. My swatch shrank at approximately 30 percent. It has become a lovely soft and cozy fabric. So the Estelle Eco Shetland Worsted is a great felting yarn.
The center weave and seam felted well. You can’t see the weave or the seam as separate from the fabric. Each segment also shrank to the same size. Something I had been worried about. Sometimes the dyes can affect the felting of the yarn. But this turned out perfectly.
Before FeltingAfter Felting
The swirl shrank from approx 37 inches to about 28 inches.
Before Felting.After Felting.
Next steps, decide how wide I want my blanket to be and start the knitting. I will also need to update the pattern download. You can expect the updated version to be available next weekend.
I was originally gong to fold the swatch and turn it into a half circle pillow. But now…. maybe I should keep it a full circle. I love the effect!
You can have a lot of fun with AI. I love this version of my original sketch. But I am thinking about changing…
Of course I have kept on knitting, not as much as I normally would in this time frame. I was sick or recovering for much of that time.
I am thinking a fall class and new sweater for myself.Two new projects, one for me and class and another a new baby/toddler pattern.
Spring is Springing
I have discovered that I have a Forsythia in the garden. it is small bush, but it wil grow.
I didn’t know it last spring because we moved in too late to see the blooms. The bright yellow flowers add so much cheer to the grey surrounding us right now. These are so fabulous for Spring colour. I did not have any in my last garden. My neighbour had a huge bush so I got to enjoy it fully every Spring.
I love watch the birds darting around right now. There are so many showing up, Robins, Sparrows, Finches, they are so much fun to watch! Everything is waking up.
I hope that you have a great week! I know I will. The kitchen and main room should be fully finished. The main bath and laundry should be finished. And maybe the Wool Room started!
This is going to be a short post. I am not sure when the dry walling team are arriving. Most of the tradesmen arrive around 8:00 am – which is when I like to work on the computer.
The work on the house is progressing. They are about to drywall the kitchen and bathroom. After that paint, then cabinets and finishing. I am told that things are progressing quite well. The possible finishing date is March 7th or 8th.
My yarn room has hit a snag, they are sorting it. But nothing to report there as yet! There are always glitches when doing a renovation. On the other hand…
Now for the Knitting news. No glitch here.
Isn’t it looking great! I am loving the colours and texture. I wonder what fulling will do to the garter st texture?
… the Granny Blanket swatch is almost done. The swatch and blanket are going to be built with 13 wedges. That is official. The swatch is just about there. I will finish it tonight (or maybe tomorrow night!) LOL!. I won’t be able to full the piece for the next 3 weeks. It will take that long before I get a laundry back!
And how beautiful is the world we live in.
Sunday was glorious so we took the opportunity to get out. We went for a walk at Piper’s Lagoon.
LOOK! at the texture. It all started with a wood bug, add time, water and then weather. A somber kind of beauty is the result. Could I recreate it somehow?
I hope that you get the opportunity to go for a walk wherever you live. It is good for anything that ails you, including a renovation.
It has been very foggy around here for the last few days. It does create a very different world when it surrounds and softens our world. Even as it lifts in the morning it leaves behind traces of singular beauty.
The Frost this morning was amazing! It gives of the sparkle of diamonds in the sunlight and rims each petal and leaf in lace.
Today is Wednesday, the middle of the work week and my day off. To rest, grocery shop and work on my knitting, patterns and blog! Maybe to nap as well. LOL!
Now it is Thursday – yesterday got interrupted by some serious knitting. I am almost ready to place the thumb stitches on my glove onto some waste yarn!
The Qing Fibre is so pretty.
My project/sample knitting is going along swimmingly while my pattern is writing lagging behind my knitting. Which is normal because I would rather knit than write! I am much better at the knitting and struggle with the writing. I blog because it does in improve my writing abilities and it fools me into thinking my pattern will write themselves, so far, this has been proven to be a fallacy. LOL!
As a knitter and as a designer I love texture and colour. Slip stitch knitting offers so many opportunities to combine both! Slip stitch knitting is very similar to Mosaic knitting in that you are never working with more than one colour at a time. The other colour in the round is slipped as you come to it. The Jelly Bean is a good example of slip stitch knitting.
I have been working on the pattern for the Jelly Bean Hat. It is just about ready for release. The charts are done and the pictures. It just needs some fine tuning.
The yarn is Juniper Moon Farm Patagonia Organic Merino in 4 colours. But it could just as easily be worked in 2 colours or every stripe of “jellybeans” could be a different colour. Knitters choice 🙂
My remainder of the samples for the Winter/Spring classes are coming along. I really only have two samples left to knit.
It is getting bigger. I am just a little ways away from dividing off for the underarms.
The Puffy Vest, which will take a while as it basically knitting two vests and then knitting them together. AND…
The Beaded and Twisted Cast-on which won’t take very long even though there are two variations on the same theme.
I am going to use gloves and socks for the samples, Which will keep the sample knitting The beaded and twisted start really could be used on almost any garment or accessory. It’s just that I particularly love it’s effect on smaller items!
The basic gloves for the class will be sampled with one of the versions of the beaded and twisted cast-on. They were started with a long-tail beaded cast-on. The yarn for the glove body is Qing Fibre Sock in the Blackhare colourway, paired with some basic black sock and size 8/0 beads.
Version 1 – gloves started with the beaded long tail cast-on and then twisted.
Version 2 – socks started with the beads randomly spaced on the knitting and then twisted.
The other example will be my Sailors Knots Socks. In this twisted and beaded cast-on the beads are placed randomly as you knit.
Epic Fail
I really struggle with the technological aspects of being a small business person in our modern world of computers. Every improvement in technology requires a new learning curve. Usually it doesn’t involve the blog but…
Yesterday I got a note that one of my posts had an error – there were two different versions, so there was a conflict. I had to pick one version. I picked wrong. SO….
My Granny Blanket post has suffered some kind of calamity and will have to be rewritten. I will work on it this weekend. Apparently it was a “me” problem I jigged when I should have jagged! I mangaged to delete the whole thing. I somehow still have a draft version that was never finished so I will use that as a base.
My Granny Blanket Swatch is building quite quickly though. I will be working less wedges than I thought (originally 16). I am currently thinking that 13 or 14 wedges might make the circle.
I hope that you are having a wonderful week. With lots of knitting and no technological glitches!
We went for a walk at Hemer Park this morning. Hemer Park is beautiful all year round. Ducks, Swans, Yellow Iris, Indian Pipe, Beavers and birds, so many birds. But this the time of year that the Swans start to show up!
I had been hoping to see a swan or two this morning, I had seen them many times before, but that was not to be this time. We saw a few in a field driving home from Duncan on Wednesday! So I was hopeful.
It was beautifully sunny in Nanaimo as we headed out. But as we got closer to the south end of town and Cedar it got foggier – like pea-soup fog!
So instead of swans we saw a different kind of beauty. Fog enshrouded tree tops, ducks floating across invisible water, modern art as interpreted by drowning trees, burbling water across dead marshland and that awe inspiring quiet that comes with a foggy day!
The sun was trying its best to clear the fog, but the fog remained, grey and all encompassing. So quiet and so serene.
The fog was all encompassing,it was above us,and all around us.The sun almost made it through.The only noise was the burbling of water.The ducks seems to float across the water.Fungi emergingA green goddess bridge, fallen and twisted.Natures crown – lichen.Reflections and reality, modern art on the water.Still foggy as we left.
The colours made me want to pull out a range of yarns, in greys, blue grey, green grey, golden grey and every shade in between. Those colours, they could be the base of a new fair-isle hat design, that seems to be floating around my head.
Wednesday in Nanaimo was gorgeous. The sun was shining, the skies were clear and it wasn’t even looking like rain. Rain which had been pretty continuous before Wednesday and again after Wednesday was nowhere in sight. This morning the skies were dark grey and the rain was pounding down and, at times the rain was a little chunky with bits of snow!
So, in this wonderous sunny break my husband and I went for a walk around Buttertubs Marsh and it was beautiful!
We saw basking Painted Turtles, a Grey Heron, well camouflaged by the marsh itself, loads of duck, mostly heard and not fully seen and and the Marsh itself, beautiful in tones of golden brown, deep brown and green with sharp notes of red Hawthorn Berries and soft notes of downy bullrushes. There is something percolating in my brain. There might be a pattern here.
Do you walk in your local parks? What are your favourites? I hope that you get a chance to walk in the sunshine yourself. It is a wonderful way to relax, enjoy your surroundings and be inspired.
This week I also saw the windup of the Winter session of Classes at Mad About Ewe. Last Saturday I taught the second workshop with the feather stitch. This is the Feather Slouch.
The right hand hat was knit with Mecha in the Piedras and Rosalinda. The left hand hat was knit with two shades of Highland Alpaca Chunky.
I also finished up the Top-Down Yoke Intensive. I have to do a little more work on the pattern to make it Ravelry ready. I will let you know when that happens. The pattern is called Ocean Legend.
Ocean Legend was knit with 3 shades of Eco Scandinavian Chunky. A couple of years ago I designed a hat, Legend. I loved the pattern on the hat and always wanted to turn it into a sweater yoke and so Ocean Legend came to be created.
I have got a tentative plan for Winter/Spring Classes and have already started knitting some samples. And if you haven’t heard I am planning a blanket for next year. A square a month club, free from my blog. All you need to do in subscribe below.
My Feather Mittens Class went well yesterday. Well enough that I released the pattern on Etsy and Ravelry this morning! You may have noticed the Video blog I released earlier today!
And I have already started on some new things! Right now I seem to be attracted to all shades of Green. It is Winter here so the predominant colours are shades of Green and Grey. We (I) am always influenced by the colours around me.
Tomorrow I will be releasing by Christmas Pattern so look for the blog post and links in the morning. It will be free for the month of December until Midnight January 1st. It is green too!
I am thinking of working with these two colours. I took this photo yesterday, in a planter in the courtyard outside of the store. Now that is a vivid contrast! Maybe Gloves? On a side note, does anyone know the name of this beauty?
I hope that your day is going well! With lots of knitting and tea!
