These last few months have been consumed by work, and family and a kitchen reno – which is still undergoing! And always the knitting.
Every year at Christmas time I release a pattern that is free for the month. This year I was running a little late and Legend wasn’t released until yesterday! So it will be free until Jan 15, 2022. I hope that you like it! It is a fairly straight forward fair-isle pattern in worsted and just two colours!
I am very pleased at how well Legend has been received on Ravelry! In 24 hours it has gone from unknow to number 3 on the Hot Right Now board! Legend has been knit with 2 shades of Noro Haunui.
I am working on a special secret project for a big yarn company right now – something for next year sometime. I will share when I can!
The kitchen reno should be done early January. Right now I am working with temporary countertops. Once the countertops and tiling are done I will share some before and after shots – it is going to be so fabulous!
I hope that you all have a very Merry time this holiday season however you celebrate!
This already started out as a crazy month and the rest of November is about to get crazier! Not that I needed it to but life always happens at once. I have been on my contractors list since March and it is finally going to happen, I am getting the new kitchen cabinets, appliances and the etc’s that go along with all that. I am so excited. They start removing the old cabinets tomorrow. I will share before and after shots when they are done. Everything but the counter should be in by the end of the month, not sure when the counter is arriving – but they will install plywood counters until it does arrive.
Are we ready for this? Mostly! Almost everything has moved downstairs. Some stuff into boxes and the rest into Dad’s kitchen! Heaven help us all to survive the next 3 weeks or so! On the up side at least we have Dad’s kitchen!
I have been making my regular prompts for #wovember and working on my knitting, but I have been distracted, so distracted that I erased the pattern I was working on this morning. I took that as a sign and had a nap! I will start again on that pattern tomorrow!
I did release a new pattern last week. It is a free one, knit with Plotulopi, a lovely roving style yarn that knits up both light and warm! It is called Salmon Run and is available on Ravelry.
Christmas is coming up blazingly fast! I have a few things that are still being thought out. I may be in trouble this year. So many things going on right now. But I do want to knit something for Logan. I think it may have to be knit with a heavier yarn this year!
I hope that you are keeping as busy as you want to be and keeping well at the same time.
I am participating in #Wovember this year. Not sure how I missed it in past years – it has been around since 2011! Though I suppose I live it everyday. I am a proponent for all things woolly and wonderful and have been as long as I have worked at my LYS!
What is #Wovember you might ask? It is the celebration of all things woolly! It is the sharing of wool related knowledge! It is your favourite wool sweater and how it came into being! It is your favourite yarn store! It is the person who shears the sheep! It the person who dyes the wool! etc.
Or, you could check out the link in the first paragraph and learn the history of how and why it started, or you could just join in and follow @ithoughiknewhow on Instagram. She will be posting the list of prompts on Wednesday October 27th. You can participate by posting to Instagram something based on the prompt of the day. The start date is November 1st!
Other ways to participate in #Wovember, include but are not limited to…. you just need to share anything woolly that you are doing with the #wovember hashtag, comment on other participants shares and/or wear something woolly every day!
Below is an example of a prompt sheet from.a couple of years ago.
The idea is to use the prompt to post something that is on topic for the prompt. Ie why wool? Is the prompt. A picture of my favourite wool sweater might be my answer, because it keeps me cozy. Or it could be intrepreted as why is wool important to you? Environmental issues, Sustainability issues could be part of your prompt. You decide.
I will be participating. I am also going to figure out a way to offer up a pattern a day as a prize through my Instagram feed. Just not sure how as yet.
Today I released a new pattern “Jacobean”. It is a heavily embellished hat, worked in two colours. It combines an embroidery style stitch, fair-isle patterning on the crown and beads throughtout. It was knit with Ancient Arts hand dyed Lascaux Fine in the “A Walk in the Woods” and “Scent and Scensibility” colourways.
One of the stitch patterns used is a “drawn” stitch and is a variation of the pattern used in the Big Leaf Maple pattern. It is the first of 3 hat patterns that feature the drawn stitch, each one worked differently than the original pattern.
The link to Big Leaf above contains a short video on how to work the “drawn stitch” pattern.
In Big Leaf Maple I used the stitch exactly as I found it. Two colours, striping in pattern. With this pattern I isolated the “drawn stitch” part of the pattern and used it as an detail stitch only, working it in as a contrasting colour pattern worked over the main colour, almost like an embroidery stitch. The look of the stitch reminded me of an Embroidery technique called Jacobean couching. Hence the name Jacobean.
I am a big fan of embroidery, unless I am the one doing it. I am not very proficient and have never taken the time to figure out how to change that. With stitches like the “drawn stitch”, various knitted quilting sts and “Roositud”, an Estonian embellishing technique, I find that I don’t need to learn how to embroider. I just work the techniques as I knit.
Brimmed Cap
Floral Bulky
Big Leaf Maple
It is going to be a stormy day here! Lots of heavy wind and rain! Time to pull out all the woolies and get ready for the rest of Fall and the Winter ahead!
Have you heard of Wovember on Instragram? I just read about it yesterday. I am thinking that I might participate. I will fill you in when I know more.
Are you competitive? Have you participated in sports your whole life and love the “high” you get by participating and even winning? Or are you an observer, standing on the side lines and enjoying the movement and energy on the field? Until about 10 years ago I would never have considered myself competitive! But now I know myself differently. I have found that I enjoy the challenge of competition. My area of expertise is not the playing field however, it is in the area of design, knitting design. Offer me up a design competition and I am in there with needles flying.
Who knew?
In 2011 Vogue posted the Magic of Mohair design competition. A friend sent me a link and said I should try. Another friend printed out the information with a post it note and said I should try. And another friend….
So I tried.
Images from Vogue Early Fall 2011, images copyright Rose Callahan
And I came in Second!. Which won me an interview and publication in a Vogue Magazine. I went on to publish for quite a few more issues of Vogue. Maybe you have seen them?
VK Winter 2011 photographed by Rose Callahan at Alina’s loft, Brooklyn, on Oct 18-19, 2011
VK SS12 photographed by Rose Callahan on Dec 7, 2011 in Staten Island
And then the Buffalo Wool Company was looking for a design…. for a very special yarn, a 100% buffalo fibre threaded with a 24 K gold thread! limited amounts of yardage and a western theme – what could I do with those parameters? And so Yippie Ki Yi Yay! was created and submitted. And I won that one. Which lead me to become their in house designer for the next 5 or so years. And I made some wonderful friends to boot!
Yippe Ki Yi Yay! knit with 100% bison yarn with a 24 K gold thread running through the yarn, embellished with 24K gold delicas
While working for the Buffalo Wool Co, Which is owned by Ron and Theresa Miskin, there was a call to design, to create a “showstopper” shawl for Stevie Nicks to wear in an upcoming concert. Ron and Theresa ecouraged me to enter and helped me every step of the way! For the shawl Ron dyed 2,400 yds of Sexy, 50% buffalo and 50% silk laceweight yarn, in a deep blue/purple called Rhiannon, plus we ordered 20, 000 24K gold delicas and gold washed crystals. So with the yarn, beads and a couple hundred man hours later, Rhiannon was born. This was truly a show stopping piece. One that I could never repeat. One that was never considered, everyone has a different idea of “showstopper”!
But for me, for us – it was perfect! It was seen at quite a few Stitches runways over the period of a few years. It was and is truly a showstopper.
There was something of a break between this flurry of competition and there were a couple of others that I contemplated but never found the time to try until a couple of years ago. And it was a Kate Davies design competition for her new yarn Milarrochy Tweed. A fabulous fingering tweed in a wool/mohair blend! She was looking for hats to showcase her new yarn.
It was the colour of the yarn, a glorious purple called Gloamin’ that pulled me in. Purple is my favourite colour, Roamin’ in the Gloamin’ was my Grandmothers favourite song, and so “Roamin’” was born. And it was one of the hats included in her book Milarrochy Heids.
I am always looking for inspiration. I find in many places, images, feelings, comments and in calls for designs – the mood boards they include – and sometimes in the call to competition. To surpass the basic and look for the special, the unique, the unexpected and to rise to the occasion.
Who knew! That competition for me was in the knitting needles, in the ideas in my head and hands and in the sharing of those ideas!
Not too difficult, just interesting enough to engage the mind. And a perfect pattern for any gender. Knit it in one of the bright bold colours that I love. One like the Reywa Embrace sample or knit it in a classic, naturally coloured wool, this hat will please anyone on your list. The yarn weight is DK, making the hat a lovely trans-seasonal choice, cozy on a cool evening any time of year.
Cables and travelling stitches move up the garter stitch background, creating “tiles” out of the moving stitches. The garter stitch background pulls the hat down and shortens the body, if knit with a purl background the hat may become deeper. Let me know what happens if you try that out.
Textured Tiles as shown is a slouchy toque, but a beanie option is also included in the instructions.
I hope that you enjoy.
Be well and Knit Happy!
Lynette
Why not try working the hat in this eye popping Peony colourway.
Is a hashtag that I use all the time, because, you know, I knit all of the time! LOL!
As a crafter I really appreciate the hand work of other makers, like this gorgeous Pear Wood bowl by Terry Marshall of Bowled Over Woodturning. Sorry he is not on the Internet, but his bowls can be found at Mad About Ewe Fine Yarns.
Not a yarn bowl, but a notions bowl, something to keep all my bits and bobs in line. Made of Pear wood with brass filings filling a crack in the bottom of the bowl.. Very cool..
This week I have been working on the eb00k, Just Playing Around. and today I added two hat patterns to the book. Just Playing around is still available at half price until May 14th or 15th.
Practically Perfect and Perfectly Practical, a aran weight simple cap that is a free download for all. Knit with Noro Kureyon.
I started a pooling project for the Just Playing Around ebook as well. Have you ever tried pooling – it is deliberately setting up your hand-dyed yarn to stack and form columns of glorious clear colour.
Pooling with Llama Lace and Pine Cone lace pattern.
Jana, my test knitter has finished her version of the stole, Plumier 2 and now I need to finish my version, Plumier 1! No rest for the wicked. Plumier 2 is knit with Handmaiden and Fleece Artist Flyss in the Tourmaline Colourway – look for this pattern to come out sometime early June.
BC Garn Bio Shetland GOTS for Plumier 2. I am well into the second half, but still have about 2-3 weeks of knitting left.
So that is what I am up to! What about yourselves? I hope that you are all making up a storm of things to eat, wear and share!
Be Well and Knit Happy!
Lynette
A beautiful Pink Dogwood Bloom to celebrate this glorious Spring Day.
How do you celebrate Valentines Day? Do you mourn lost loves and hold those memories close to your heart? Do you gather your family close to you and hold them dear? Where does your heart lie?
I do them all. My family keeps my heart. Husband, children and grandchild, all are loved equally well in different ways.
My Father is still with me and loved as well.
But my Mother and Grandmothers and Grandfathers are all gone. They are always loved and always with me in Memory.
Granny Baptie would approve of the Scottish themed Greetings for the Day.
I have always found Valentines Day awkward. It usually speaks of only one kind of love when we know there are so many other kinds of love out there – family, friends, activities, yes activities! How much time and effort do we pour into all those things that we love and enjoy!? I know my heart and it lies with many.
Do we love those things for only the one day? No, but we do make that special effort to love them all harder I think. We take the time to contemplate life without them and we mourn those whose love is lost to us.
Mother on the right and Grannie Baptie to the left, Myself and Beth, 34 years ago. Three years later both my Grandmother and my mother were gone. So many memories.
It is snowing here. A serious snow, coming down hard, not the kind we usually get, big lazy flakes that melt as soon as they hit. This snow is lying and accumulating at an amazing rate. It is a wonderful day to stay home and contemplate the energy of the skies as they send snow down upon us.
Snowy days are perfect for hats. We don’t get that many of them here. And yesterday I was lucky enough to get pictures of hats in snow on Elise for some new patterns. A couple of those patterns were released today and the others will be released over the next few weeks.
Todays releases are Valentino and Dahlia! Two fabulous (well I think that they are fabulous!) fair-isle hats with beautiful crowns. Fair-isle hats are very satisfying hats to design. While they can start very plainly, they almost always finish up with a bang, a pop, a fabulous farewell in the design of the crown. Usually, the name of the hat comes from the design that ends up on the crown.
They are part of what I am calling a Hearts and Flowers Special. Purchase Valentino on Ravelry and use the code Sweetheart to receive Dahlia for free. Happy Valentines day.
It will be blackberry pie today – the berries are thawing right now.
The rest of today will be for my family and my other love, knitting. Working on some fingerless mittens to go with the FlatIron hat.
FlatIron in the Snow.
Be well and spend the day doing what makes you happy and loved. Love your friends and family as you will and task yourself with only the things you love to do. If that is PJ’s and coffee – so be it! Do it with all your heart!
Why knit one hat when you can knit three?! I have really been loving knitting hats lately! And I can’t seem to stop – though I have this new idea for another shawl niggling in the the back of my mind!
I love the new wools I have been playing with, BC Garn Bio Shetland and now this new one from Ancient Arts Yarns, Lascaux Fine. I knit up a little cabled hat this week, I think that I am going to knit up some co-ordinating fingerless mittens as well!
Lascaux Fine is an intriguing blend of Manx Laoghtan wool and Punta Arenas Wool. Manx is an old breed – lots of horns and brown toned wool. Punta Arenas is a new breed and is a merino variant.
Together they create a wool that handdyes with a heathered brown undertone. Very rich and deep colours that blend beautifully!
Aren’t they wild?
Flatiron – cables and twisted mini cable flat ribs. Check out the brown heathering.
The colour is very hard to capture with a camera, it is really more green than blue. But I think that you can see the richness. Ancient Arts is having a sweet giveaway of this yarn right now on facebook and instagram. It is open until midnight tonight!
There was no baking this weekend. I did contemplate brownies, maybe next weekend. But the knitting, and the Superbowl (a great excuse for knitting) won out.
I am working on another hat in the bio shetland (this will be my third hat in the Bio Shetland) and I really want it done for next weekend – its called Valentino for obvious reasons – but why is it when you set yourself a deadline – everything conspires to make sure that it will be a challenge. My next move on the hat will be frogging the last 7 rounds. Such is life.
Valentino under construction – before ripping back!
It was a gorgeous day yesterday we went walking at Divers Lake. They have done a lot of work there recently. The Cedar walkways were so fresh and aromatic, they added a lovely scent to the air. Blackbirds were singing and darting from tree to brush and the ducks were just hanging around. There were squirrels overhead scolding us as we walked by and the air was crisp! I love the marsh right now, the dead growth is just as intriguing as new growth, sometimes more so!
I hope that you had a great weekend as well. What were you up too? Were you knitting, sewing, baking, or something comepletely different? Are you a walker? Or a more serious hiker when a glorious day shows up?
Also, I finished a hat, Started the first sleeve on my sweater and of course went to work. Work is kind of a hazardous place to be when you are something of a fanatic about yarns. All natural yarns at least! I use man made fibres for some projects of course, they can be very useful. But much less than natural fibres. Man made fibres generally make me itch, they just don’t breathe.
Wools are my favourite, Blended wools, those that are spun with Bison, Silk, Yak, Cashmere or Alpaca are right up there too. But wools, non-superwash, hand painted or dyed solid, they slay me. I like a slightly textured yarn, one with a bit of bite. I don’t find these yarns itchy at all – they just knit up into a beautiful texture that suits me!
This week, quite a few boxes arrived from our suppliers. In one was the new Super Bulky Hand Painted Colour Story by Estelle yarn – 150gr, 75m of wooly perfection. It is so new that it isn’t even on Ravelry. Check out the colours of the Colour Story Sock – the bulky is in the darker tones that are also available in the sock! So I dropped the sleeve (isn’t it wonderful how knitting will wait so patiently) and Thursday evening started to knit. This easy distraction is one of the hazards I was speaking about! Perhaps it is also part of my personality – never short of ideas!
Well this morning I finished a new vest – a shorty version of a jacket vest with a properly notched collar and single button style closure – Classic Lapel Vest. I knit it in the Tapestry colourway. Pattern to follow in a couple of weeks.
Last post I was starting a hat. I wanted to play with a few of the the colours of BC Garn’s Bio Shetland. I am working up to designing a fair-isle vest. The next step is a new fair-isle hat that will utilize the colours and patterning that I would like to see in my vest.
Well, I started this first hat with 15 colours, took away 3 that just didn’t work and added another colour that did! So it takes 13 colours to knit as shown, but it could easily be simplified. It will be a great stash buster! the hat is now complete and I am so happy with it that I wrote up a pattern!
It is called Filigree and I had so much fun knitting it. I hope that you will too! Click on the button below to download.
Yesterday we went for a short walk at Bowen Park. I could hear the water roaring but we never went close. I did see an unusual flower – I think that it is a type of Rhododendron, at least it was on the edge of the Rhodo Grove. It is the photo at the top of the post. Does any one know what it is? We were expecting snow today but that hasn’t materialized – but maybe this evening.
What is your winter like? Full on snow, wind and cold. Or mild like our west coast weather. I have lived in northern climates and in cold prairie climates, even tropical climates, but my favourite is winter here. Some grey mists, cool green foliage and all the rain you can handle – OK – the rain can get a little old, but the rest of it is just my style!
I love the look of the devolving petals, they start to look so lace like.
Today I am making what my mother always called Matrimonial Cake. It is really just date squares, but I think that Matrimonial Cake sounds so much more elegant. I don’t use baking soda and I do add lemon juice and a little fresh lemon peel to the dates. I also make it in a 9×9 pan. Yummm, that way the pieces are deeper and moister for more flavour!
It is almost time to take the Cake out of the oven.
