off the needles: trellis scarf

Trellis Scarf by the Purl Bee

Started: July 22, 2015

Finished: August 23, 2015

Fiber: Purl Soho Flax Down, 2 skeins in "Desert Blue"

Notes: This scarf was originally never supposed to be. The Mr. bought me these two beautiful skeins of Flax Down when he went on a trip to NYC in March, and I knew that they were destined for a shawl of my own design. I restarted the design twice, but two months later it was still sitting barely touched. (Maybe that design will come to fruition someday.) When we were getting ready to move, I found it again and just decided spontaneously to rip out the whole thing. It was too lovely to sit there unfinished, and I have heard knitters describe this phenomenon as being able to feel what pattern the yarn was supposed to be destined for. And now, I have a scarf that is lovely, and that I can't wait to wear. Flax Down is single ply and has a great halo, on top of being so soft. It almost has a natural, kind of handspun quality to it that is a little hard to describe.  I would love to someday knit a whole sweater with this yarn. The pattern is wonderful as well, one that was on my list for a while, and uses the same technique that I had just knit in the L'Arbre hat! After a few repeats it was easy to memorize, which is my favorite type of knitting these days. Interesting and beautiful, but simple.

The only modification that I made (outside of the yarn substitution) was to do one less repeat in the total width. I almost wish I hadn't - it is plenty long but I can wrap it around my neck a few times for extra warmth, so I'm not too worried.

Now Fall - please show up!!

Is it too early to make a post about winter?

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To be fair, it was recently Christmas in July. And while I agree that Christmastime deserves recognition during more than one month of the year, something about it being 87 degrees at night just doesn't get me in as festive of a mood. :)

Anyways - as we inch closer and closer to the start of school, bouquets of sharpened pencils, end of summer clearance, and the like, I get so excited. I've been enjoying seasonal summer food this season in a new and wonderful way with my job at the farm; our whole menu this week has been planned around ripe tomatoes. Glorious. But still - on some level, summer is a season I get through to get to fall and winter. It might be blasphemous, but it's true. 

What's exciting about planning my fall and winter knitting is that I actually already have the yarn for all three of these projects! The Lila Winter sweater is a bulky variation on a shape that has really been popular this year, and I have plans to dye some wool for it before the season is over that I currently have in my stash. The Trellis Scarf is already in progress in worsted weight, after frogging a failed shawl design and refusing to let the 2 skeins of Flax Down that the hubs gifted me go to waste on a crummy pattern. And then, Timberline. I'm a bit scared of this pattern. The schematic is comprehensive but daunting, this will be my first seamed sweater, and the charts, while very doable, are LONG. Just what I get for letting B pick out whatever men's sweater he liked from my favorites on Ravelry ;). It will be a fun challenge, but I can see it also being a marathon. The swatch alone took me an hour. But we've bitten the bullet and decided to go for Knit Picks Wool of the Andes for the beautiful color and affordability. (And they answered all of my questions on where they source their wool, which made me pretty happy.)

The great thing about these patterns too, they are all so cozy. We don't get "real" winter in NC the way so many others do, but I literally get so excited thinking of snuggling up in all of these knits with snow falling outside and watching a movie. It's going to be glorious. 

Only 148 days til Christmas!

And only 79 days until the NY Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY! I just found out today that I'll be going again with Virginia and her crew. Anyone else planning on going this year??

Love: fringe

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As I write this post, I'm catching up on the season premiere of the final season of Mad Men, so I can't even pretend that that doesn't have something to do with my recent knitwear loves. The 70s seem to be coming back in a big way, and I love it! Lexington was love at first sight when I saw it in BT's Winter Collection (along with this, and this, and this, and let's be honest everything). The big pockets sold me, and of course, the fringe. Farmhouse is so fun, because I feel like it's such a classic looking shawl, but with the fun twist with the long fringe added as well. And Selsey is just such stunning colorwork, and it's knit up in one of my favorite yarns, so it's basically perfect. 

I don't know what it is, but the fringe is just really such a favorite of mine recently. The pairing of oversized, squishy, huggable knits and the long fringe makes me really happy.