Freeze-Thaw

Freeze-Thaw is a fun take on a necessary practicality. Named for the all too familiar cycle that characterizes winter in my home state of Virginia, and seasonal transitions further north, this pattern is a great way to add a little color and creativity to your next lightweight hat!

This hat is knit flat and sideways, using short rows to form the familiar shape. Knit each wedge in a different color for a bit of extra playfulness. It also makes for a great way to use up a collection of mini-skeins or scraps!

Freeze-Thaw gives you opportunities to practice a number of techniques explained in this blog, including short-rows, provisional cast-ons, and Kitchener stitch. Check out this quick knit today!

Diamond Collection

I have a new collection out, just in time for holiday knitting! I am thrilled to introduce you to the Diamond Collection. This collection contains 3 patterns available separately, or at a discount as an e-book.

The first and easiest pattern in this collection is Centenary, named for one of the largest diamonds ever unearthed. This fully reversible scarf is surprisingly beginner friendly, consisting entirely of knits and purls with no shaping at all.

The second pattern in the collection is Orlov, named for a diamond in the Russian crown jewels. Appropriate for intermediate knitters, this is actually quite a fast little pattern if you’ve knit gloves before. Ideal for a last minute gift!

The final and most adventurous pattern in this collection is Koh-i-Noor, named for a diamond in the UK crown jewels. This giant, super-slouchy beret will keep your head and ears toasty warm all winter long.

If you’re looking for a luxurious matching gift set to give this season, or just something beautiful to keep yourself warm, I hope you’ll indulge in the Diamond Collection!

A Productive Christmas for a Happy New Year

I’ve gotten SO much knitting done since school let out. Thankfully, I did not run out of knitting while visiting Hubby’s family, but it did get a little dicey one day when I overestimated how much I could safely leave in the hotel room! So what have I gotten done in the last week?

I finished the socks for my sis…

and the gloves for the Husbeast…

and a hat for me! Recognize Brumby Jill from my Sharon Boswell interview?

I’ve also made big progress on an upcoming design that’s not quite ready for sharing yet. So to distract you, look what I got for Christmas!

That’s 3 skeins of Cascades Baby Alpaca Chunky in colorway “Emerald City” and 2 skeins of Art by Eve Anne in colorway “Emerald”. I’m seeing a theme here. Isn’t it interesting though how two different dyers could take the color “emerald” and come up with two such radically different colors? Even funnier, neither one really matches what I think of when I think of emeralds. Colors are such an odd (and fascinating) thing to me.

P.S. Tomorrow is my birthday, and like other years, I will be giving away presents to Feel Good fans! If you’d like a chance at winning free patterns, make sure you have some FGK patterns in your Ravelry wishlist!

Hepatica

Well hi there strangers! I can’t believe I haven’t posted here since the last time I published a pattern. I suppose that’s the hazard of testing season. 😦

In any case, I have a fun springtimey hat for you today!

Hepatica features a beautiful floral motif that is perfect for spring. Its elegant, lightweight silk blend and lacey pattern make it ideal for bridging the gap between cold and warm seasons.

Named for a common spring-blooming wildflower, this hat is knit top down and features both charted and written instructions. It’s a great one-skein pattern that knits up quickly and makes an ideal weekend stashbuster. I hope you’ll try it!

Spring Fever

I am alive! Spring has arrived and I’ve been a bit distracted by real life lately, so forgive me for not posting much on the blog!

As much as I’ve been doing lately, there’s really not much to talk about! It’s mostly been teacher stuff, which is often time consuming but not really that interesting to hear about. There has been plenty of knitting and pattern writing though. The next pattern in the tie collection is only waiting on photography. Can’t wait to get it out there!

Things are also happening over in my Ravelry group. If you haven’t taken my KAL survey yet, please do! I’m hoping to launch one soon! I’ve also got a test knit starting soon. Want early (and free) access to my upcoming hat pattern? Come test it for me!

Some Selfish Knitting

I finished the Colophon mitts! Now my poor hands won’t freeze when I first get to work in the mornings. You’ll have to forgive the photos today. There’s little enough daylight this time of year to begin with, but with all the rain and “wintry mix” this past week it’s really just been a lost cause.

I also cast on Nubby last night, not because I need another hat but because it makes me happy. Also making me happy is the fantastically green Cascade 220 I’m using, which I picked up at my LYS last (Small Business) Saturday. That was another goody I didn’t really need. Sometimes being selfish is awesome.

What are you making this cold, windy Sunday? If the weather where you are is as nasty as here, I hope you’re taking advantage of this prime knitting time!

FO-fest

I can’t believe how much I’ve been slacking on showing off FO’s! I seriously finished my Hatteras Hat almost a week ago. Voila:

 

I did indeed run out of yarn at the brim, so I switched to some pretty purple I had in stash. Purple is the recipient’s favorite color, so I think she’ll be pretty happy with it.

 

Last night I ALSO finished…dun dun dun…the Black Hole Sweater!!!!

 

It is nice and cozy, and for all the hours I put into it I will sure as hell wear it. Sadly even with my alterations it’s still not that flattering though.

 

The back-waist shaping and the narrower sleeves just weren’t enough to keep it from overwhelming me. Oh well, it’s still going to be well-loved as cold as this winter’s already been.

I ALSO also finished my very first skein off the wheel this week. Well, I finished plying it. It has yet to actually come off the wheel and take a bath.

 

It seems to be about worsted weight, overall, but it’s definitely not my most consistent skein. Still, not bad for a first attempt with a new tool. Let’s hope my next skein is more up to my standards! Since this week has been a week of Finishing All the Things, I think next week(end) I will let my Start-itis roam free. There’s no way that can go wrong, right?

Balance

After last week’s chaos, I think I have recovered a bit of balance. It’s showing up in the fact that I’m sleeping better and don’t have so many inexplicable aches and pains, but it’s also showing up in my crafting. I’m in a mood to finishing things (so much better than start-itis, by the way) so I’m slowly plugging away at the last bits of the silk-merino I was spindle-spinning before I got my wheel.

 

I’ve also put in enough work on the Black Hole Cardigan to get to the underarm on the second front. At this rate it may be done by spring. 😉 Several hours at the mechanic over the weekend also means I got a fair bit of the Hatteras Hat done.

I love the way the lighthouse cables are knitting up, and am intrigued by the beginnings of the waves cables too. It’s a nice little bit of summer back as I work on it, and a nice bit of the waterfront back now that I’m living here in the hills. Not that Cape Hatteras was ever home, but it certainly is familiar territory, and similar enough to other places I’ve lived to make me nostalgic. By the way, this hat is part of the Gift-A-Long, which is still going strong. There are still tons of prizes left to be given away, and with all the participating patterns (including 20 of mine) there’s a good chance you’ve got one in progress already anyway! You should definitely join us!

Alas, even the lure of the rare and beloved finish-itis is not all-powerful. This week I had a sudden craving for a sweater that only exists in my brain, and I wanted it so bad I could not wait for a publisher to pick it up. So I also ordered yarn and swatched for a new design this week. I’d pretend I’m embarrassed but I’m way too busy being excited.

 

 

Field Trip Knitting

Wow, this week blew by! I did indeed finish my Visiting Linda hat before the field trip.

 

I don’t like it on me as much as on the needles, but I think it will be very lovely on someone else. Someone’s getting lucky this Giftmas! So with that hat finished and no purse project, I rather shamelessly went back and bought another GAL pattern (the patterns are all still 25% off for a couple more days).

 

This one will be the Hatteras Hat, because apparently I’m on a hat kick. The hat and I (and the kids and chaperones) spent several hours on the bus together this morning before we toured Fort McHenry in Baltimore.

 

Then we meandered over to the Maryland Science Center for the better part of the day, where the teachers and I chatted and laughed about our ridiculously excited (and sometimes just ridiculous) students and I got a very little knitting done.

After that it was back on the bus for a nice long drive home! I hit a minor snag with it though – my size 6 circular needle is with a friend right now, and somehow I only have one size 6 circ. That will be remedied shortly. Until then it’s not like I don’t have any other knitting I could be doing!

The Operation Gratitude Collection

I’m excited to finally share with you my latest e-book, the Operation Gratitude Collection. This one’s free, because I’m hoping knitters will choose to send their FOs off in care packages, or otherwise be generous with them. There are 3 patterns in this collection, all of which are reversible and all of which are on the easy side compared to many of my patterns.

The Commando Watch Cap is probably the most difficult of the patterns, as it requires you to be able to work in the round as well as to k2tog and p2tog. It is a nice, generic beanie which looks interesting enough to keep me happy, but my husband assures me is “plain” enough to keep actual servicemen happy.

 

Its mate the Commando Scarf is even simpler, requiring only knit and purl stitches with no decreases. It is also worked flat, but matches the hat nicely.

 

The third and final pattern in the collection is the Sgt. Reckless Scarf, named after a rather famous warhorse in American history. This scarf requires the same beginner-friendly skills as the other scarf in this e-book, but also provides an opportunity to practice changing colors and attaching new yarn.

All in all this is a bit of a departure from my usual work, but I’m proud of it and hope that you’ll at least take a peek. And if you’re wondering about the collection name – yes, I am donating the samples to Operation Gratitude.