Pinecone Cowl
Here is my latest design: the Pinecone Cowl. I have been a bit obsessed with lace lately and I thought I would like to design a bit of lace for myself. While I’m not ready to tackle a full shawl (soon, but not yet) I returned to a format I love: the cowl. I love knitting cowls for so many reasons. They are a great small project amid my sweaters, blankets, fair isle, and other larger projects. Cowls are also a great way to try out a yarn.
A sweater is a big yarn comittment. You are going to be spending some serious time and energy with that yarn both while knitting and while wearing it. Cowls are small and you can get a good feel for a yarn. Working a small project of any kind is not a bad way to get to know a yarn. 
This pattern is knit in the round so there are only 2 little ends to weave in! After working on (but not finishing) 2 fair isle sweaters I can really appreciate minimal finishing required. The yarn, Blue Sky Alpacas Suri Merino, is an absolute dream! I picked up this skein from the good people at BSA as a little thanks for my free pattern they recently featured. This colourway is called dusk and I found it quite charming. Almost a mushroomy brown.
The lace pattern is inspired by the shape of the mighty pinecone. Although this cowl is a little lacy there is still more than enough warmth for those chilly Spring evenings.
To puchase this pattern for $5 you can get instant gratification through Ravelry here
or you can purchase it through paypal here and a PDF of the pattern will be emailed to you shortly.
Kind of a Big Deal
The lovely people at Blue Sky Alpacas have chosen my free placemat pattern as their staff pick for the month of March! When I found this out a few weeks ago I immediately told my husband that I was kind of a big deal on the internet. He thought that was pretty funny. I thought I would use this moment to recap some great BSA patterns and projects I’ve done. For more on this pattern you can check it out here.
First up are the placemats. They are a VERY quick knit since they use a worsted weight cotton held doubled on 8mm needles. I used the colours Ladybug, Dandelion, Wasabi, and Pumpkin. They were fun and kind of Springy. They remind me of when I first started kntting and I would make blankets out of sampler strips. A different stitch for each one to make them ecclectic.
Next is the ever popular Antler Mittens. These are knit with my latest favorite yarn, BSA Worsted Hand Dyes. They are soooooo soft, a 16 stitch gauge, and they have very subtle colour variations. So beautiful to knit with and as a finished product.
I’ve also knit up a 2×2 cable scarf in the bulky. This scarf was originally knit in a thinner yarn on smaller needles but on the larger scale I quite like how it stands up straight. Plus, any excuse to use big fat buttons must be taken!
Last but not least are my two fair isle mitten: Birds Nest and Maple Leaf. These are knit with BSA Sport and Melange and the Birds Nest mittens are lined with the sumptious brushed suri. I knit the Canada mittens a couple of times, a pair for Mom for the Olympics and my pair resides at Urban Yarns.
Thus concludes my adventures with Blue Sky Alpacas but I’m working on a little somthing with the Suri Merino right now, I’ll let you know about it shortly!
Lace and Any Spun Thread
Long time no post! I have been dying up a storm, Gourmet sock is back in stock at Urban yarns and and it is now available at AnySpunThread. This is a cute online shop run by the charming and witty Sheryl. We met a while ago when she attended my Fiddlehead mitten class and it was love at first Simpsons reference. She has the whole run including the New Tofino Fern colourway. Although this pic is from a summer trip it’s kind of fitting that it’s coming out now because I just got back from a lovely weekend there with Emily, another charming knitter. I’ve also been dying up some new base yarns which will be coming soon!
Well, the Olympics are over (it’s been a week, when does the sadness go away?) and my sweater is still not done. While I do feel like a bit of a failure I have had lots of reassurances that it was a really hard project and I’ve done well. This tells me I have surrounded myself with nice people who had more reasonable expectations of how much they could knit in 2 weeks and a couple of days. Anyway, I’m over it and I moved on to a couple of new projects in the beautiful Cashsilk Lace from SweetGeorgia. I spent the weekend taking serious advantage of Emily’s lace expertise.
and Sunflower
They sound like hippy children kind of.They are coming together beautifully! I’m on a mission to master the world of lace this summer in an effort to knit all of the amazing lace and sock yarn I seem to have accrued. My hubby is out of town next weekend and it is time to reassess the stash. It could get ugly!
