Miss Babs, The Snow Angel, and "Wheat"

***My newest birthday acquisition: Miss Babs "Yummy" Fingering 2-ply superwash yarn in the colorway, Verrassing. Content: 100% Merino Wool, Yardage: 400 yds. Hmmm, what to make of it, what to make of it! I love their yarn, they have the most wonderful color combinations. It was very hard to make a choice! Find more yarn here. 

Also, check out Marly Bird's post about Miss Babs. 

***This is one of their new offerings: "Kilimanjaro" Fingering yarn in colorway Surpriza made up of 85% Superwash Blue Faced Leicester/15% Nylon putting up in approximately 1,750 yards.

***The Snow Angel has brought us even more snow, as you can see.

***"Wheat" is almost finished save three inches of garter stitch work, and then I will be binding off! Such a good feeling when you finish something, right? What are you all finishing up out there? 

Has anyone else knit with Miss Babs yarn before, and if so, what have you made? Send me a picture, I would love to see!

Well, this is all I have for today. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Get some knitting done! I'm off to watch Knitting Daily, love that show.

A Little Snow, A Little Knitting . . .

***It is beautiful where I live right now, with the sun shining on the iced trees, snow covered gardens, a sight to behold for sure. It is God's gift this morning even though it is in the single digits! 

***Update: It's starting to melt! This, outside my back door.

***My newest knitting gig from a previous post, a project I have been working out which is going to be the "Aya Scarf". Here are the facts:

• Yarn: Noro Aya
• Colorway: No. 9
• Fiber Content: 50% cotton, 35% silk, 15% wool
• Weight: DK 
• Needles: #6 straights
• Gauge: 6 sts per 1 inch,  7 rows per 1 inch
• Stitch Pattern: Welting Fantastic, consisting of garter stitch welts worked straight across with purling on the odd numbered rows. The chevron formation of the background makes the welts go up and down in a wave pattern which I really like.

It has been going well, and I am very pleased with the outcome so far. I did find that working with Noro yarn is a little different than previous yarns in that it is a little "grabby" probably due to its silk content, it doesn't work that well with bamboo needles, so I had to switch to metal and the pointier your tips the better! I love the color changes in this yarn and the way in which it does change which is beautifully and gracefully and also the texture it brings to the table, wonderful! I have always been enamored with Noro and the results it produces.

***Here is one of my favorite uses of Noro yarn in this POP blanket by Emily Wessel of Tincanknits.

• How about this Noro Taiyo Cardigan here.
• Or this Lizard Ridge afghan by Laura Aylor.
• And the Noro Scarf V from Brooklyn Tweed.

I have decided for now to shelve my previous design-in-the-works due to just not being able to get it to work. I need to bone up on my colorwork techniques and being able to figure out how to make the color changes come out looking right. I am a work-in-progress myself. Anyone out there relate?

I hope you are all staying warm and happy in this "snowmaggeden" we have been experiencing! Have a great weekend, until next time.

xoxo Shannon

A Little Crafty Collage

//The paper scrollwork you see is something my son made in school along with some of my hand-dyed yarn (although, not dyed by me). The pillow was my grandmother's and eerily enough, the cat closely resembles my own Ms. Squeakers. I'm not sure if my grandmother made this or not, although she was pretty crafty, making all of her own clothes. It looks like the design was hand embroidered with yarn. Anyway, I thought you all might enjoy seeing this!

//Here's another example of hand embroidered yarn work. This makes me want to try my hand at embroidery!

xoxo Shannon

On The Seventh Day Of Christmas. . . And Some of My Favorite Things

//On the Seventh Day of Christmas . . . for all of you crochet lovers out there - Crochet beauty, the Lucia Sweater. I haven't quite mastered crochet yet, but would love to!

//These are a few of my favorite things, namely knitting books. And this is an abbreviated showing. I have a lot of books I like but these are a few I pull out fairly often. Let me know some of your favorites.

xoxo Shannon

Some New and Not So New Projects

 My progress so far on the Wheat Scarf from Tin Can Knits. It is coming along very nicely and is quite easy to knit and satisfying at the same time. So if you are in search of a gift for someone special this holiday, this might be it! Again, the yarn is a worsted weight from Alpaca With A Twist, Highlander made up of mostly baby alpaca and merino wool. It has a very soft hand, beautiful! Check out their yarn here.

Here is my latest endeavor from Vogue Knitting's new The Ultimate Hat Book. This is Beanie by Linda Medina. So far I have cast on and knitted 11 rounds of the hat's rim in a k1, p1 rib and have just started to begin the spiral pattern which consists of a yarn over, some k2 tbl and skp's. The yarn I'm using is from Madelintosh, it is her tosh merino dk 100% superwash merino wool in the colorway Cathedral. It's a great yarn and is knitting up beautifully.

//A note about Top Ten Tuesday posts for those who drop by now and then: I feel I need to explain why there wasn't one last week. I have found out it takes a lot of work to round up all of those items, get permission to use photos, etc. While I loved the finished outcome of these posts, it takes too much of my time right now. So they are going on the back burner and may return in the future. Or maybe I will do an abbreviated type of list. Anywho, enough about that!

How about a few of Ravelry's top patterns for the week:

//A shrug/bolero called Chateau by Melissa Schaschwary published in Dandiliongirl Designs.

//Kamille Cardigan by Judy Furlong.

//And here is one I just plain love: a wrap called Sari by Kieran Foley.

Well, I guess that's it for today. Hope you are having a good Monday and have plans for a great week!

xoxo Shannon

Top Ten Tuesday (A Day Late)

1. Knitting Whimsy: Is this too funny or what? Check it out here.

2. Colorwork: This colorwork pattern, Catacomb from Vogue Knitting.

3. Embroidery: And from Hey Porkchop again, this adorable snow scene.

4. Knitting: Wonderful color combination and pattern with such great stitch definition and sheen to the yarn. The yarn is from Sweet Georgia Yarns, from their Cash Luxe Fine line in colors, charcoal and oxblood. This is a picture of their two-colour kitchener stitch tutorial included in the pattern, Bloodwood Cowl by Mitenae which can be found on Ravelry.

5. Yarn: Love this Himilayan recycled sari silk yarn from here. I am so intrigued by this type of yarn, the combination of textures, thick and thin and the riotous color!

6. Sweater Design: Check out this fun and beautiful design by Anna Wilkinson published in Pom Pom Quarterly, Issue 3

7. Embroidery: A collage of truly inspirational and unusual work from Gipsy Bazar.

8. Quilting: The ever wonderful Kaffe Fassett.

9. Felt Work: This pillow from Sweet C's Designs.

10. Food: Yum, (Idiot Proof) Peanut Butter Chocolate Chex Mix Bars from Half Baked Harvest.

Hope you have enjoyed!

xoxo Shannon

More Knitting Updates

Happy Monday everyone! Well I have finished the Oat cowl and it is a beauty! So easy to make and quick, just what you want in a knitting project, right? Check it out:

I have cast on for another of the Tin Can Knit projects I told you about recently, the Wheat scarf (see below). I have barely started, cast on and knit about three inches worth, but I think it will be every bit as easy and quick as the last project. I am knitting it up in Alpaca With a Twist's Highlander which is 45% baby alpaca, 45% merino wool, 8% microfiber and 2% viscose in a worsted weight, 3-ply. It is a very 

soft heathery yarn in the colorway Hawthorne Pink, #3014.

I also realized I have never shown you my very first knitted design, the "Sunflower Wrap" knit out of a handpainted 100% superwash merino, worsted 4-ply by Yarn Daze in the colorway Sunflower. The main pattern is a diagonal weave with a garter stitch edging. I was pretty happy with it being my first design and it wasn't too hard to execute. It's not something I want to publish, I want to keep pushing myself to do better things! Below, you will also see a great little book I use to keep my design notes, swatches, etc. in called "Knit Notes" by Nadine Curtis of Be Sweet yarns, you must check out her website to see all of her great yarns as well. It is great for keeping everything organized as it relates to knitwear design.

Hence, the finished product:

xoxo Shannon

Top Ten Tuesday

1. Knitting Whimsy: this little guy is so cute found here.

2. Colorwork: Talk about color explosion, love this.

3. Embroidery: How about this for your next Christmas project?!

4. Knitting: Lovely. Rustic. Natural. French.

5. Yarn: Yarn pick for the day. This is so rustic looking and beautifully colorful at the same time. Rose    from Portugal dyed this yarn. Check her out at her blog.

6. Sweater Design: Here's an amazing sweater, Oshima by Jared Flood being modeled by Tanis Lavallee from Tanis Fiber Arts and done in her beautiful yarn TFA Blue Label in Atlantic and Red Label in Stained Glass.

7. Crochet:  Adorable doll by Lydia Tresselt.

8. Quilting: Bloom quilt by Amy Butler.

9. Felt work:  Weekend Getaway Satchel by Marta McCall.

10. Food: How about some apple cinnamon baked doughnuts with brown butter glaze! I know, this is not something I usually indulge in either, but it's that time of year, right? And how can you go wrong with anything from Joy the Baker?

Okay, those are my top ten for the day. Hope you all had a great weekend and you are enjoying the beautiful fall weather! 

Knitting updates: I am still working on my Oats cowl I showed you in the last post. I'm just finishing up the knit 1, purl 1 rib, will bind off and weave in my ends, and I'll be done!

The striped hat swatch I revealed a while back  is still waiting for me to figure out a pattern for it which I will do and will show you the results. I don't know about you, but I do struggle with finding enough hours in the day to get everything done. I guess it's called prioritizing, and it's something I need to get a handle one. Any pointers? This blog has been great for keeping me accountable though and that has been a very good thing!

The garter stitch coat is still a WIP. I have come to a stopping point (in other words, I'm stumped and don't know what to do). I'm at the point where I need to start the collar and can't quite figure out the directions. I. must. finish. it. 

//I'm going to leave you with this quote for the day:  

“Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either.”
― Elizabeth Zimmermann

xoxo - Shannon