lovely randoms: vol. 1

My brain isn't quite working completely cohesively today, what with the several different projects on my needles, several different projects I am meaning to start before Christmas, and the general business and detox of the brain that comes after hosting guests for a whole weekend. Here are some lovely random things I am thinking about today: 

I had a dream about Tolt Yarn & Wool last night. It was a lovely dream. I've apparently been doing to much yarn ogling pre-bedtime the past few days what with the launch of their new website. All that to say, if anyone has the desire to sponsor me a trip to Washington state...I'd be most appreciative. 

Recently through Fringe Association I discovered Dottie Angel, a whimsical blog that I have come to love perusing the archives for. Her "wooly tattooed" mittens are the image at the top of today's post. I also really love her  thoughts on tidying up that she shared this week. Also, I want to make a petition to re-instate tea time, and using the word "pants". As in, "Oh, pants! I just dropped a stitch!" Too good. 

Speaking of Fringe, their first holiday catalog. Wow. Put me down for one of everything, please. 

Knitbot is having a little hat knitalong this coming month and I am thinking about joining. The beret is a shape I haven't attempted before, and I just received about 200 yards of O-Wool Balance that I think would be a great yarn for the worsted version! 

Knitpicks is having a mega-sale right now, and I am finding that as I look at my yarn wishlist for the holidays, I'm considering this post from Woolful a little bit everytime I come across a superwash wool now. Knowledge is power!

That's all for tonight. Hope everyone is staying warm out there tonight, and that you find yourself surrounded by pies this week. 

Love: swinging hemline sweaters

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Brooklyn Tweed released Wool People 8 this week, and as always, it's love at first sight. I think it's so fun that the design team at BT can produce so many different types of patterns and still stay true to their signature style. Stratum, above, was my favorite piece in the collection with it's effortless, relaxed elegance. The swinging hemline is flattering on everyone and is just lovely, so I thought I'd do a little round up of some other sweaters with flowing hemlines for today's post. 

It's hard to believe it's only a week until Thanksgiving day, so tonight I'm also working on my Christmas wishlist, catching up on Scandal, and knitting some two-at-a-time socks for a certain brother-in-law. This is my favorite time of year, life is so sweet!

Off the needles: Mountain Moss Shawl

Started: October 2014

Finished: November 2014

Fiber: O-Wool Local in colorway River Oat, 2 skeins exactly

Notes: At Rhinebeck this year, I picked out a good bit of O-Wool classic worsted for some hats, and was so excited about it that before we left the festival I swung by their booth again and on an impulse picked up these two skeins of Local. The yarn has this lovely variegated quality to it that goes from thick to thin and back again, but is mostly a worsted weight. When I was looking for the perfect pattern for this yarn, I was looking through my favorite patterns on my Ravelry page, and almost settled on something simpler, woolier. The original Mountain Moss Shawl pattern is knit in a fingering weight with a bit of drape to it, neither of which was true of Local. But for the past few months I've been reading through Jared Floods'old Brooklyn Tweed blog and inspired by his love of lacework knits in chunkier weights, I decided to go for it. While the original pattern calls for US 5 needles, with the worsted weight I moved the needles up to a US 8 and cast on!

This pattern is an awesome mix of simple garter stitch and the challenge of a lace edging, which is a world that I am now so excited to jump into more. The edging is added as you go, binding off and attaching simultaneously, which eliminated a bind off row and any seaming. Genius! 

Things got a little hairy towards the end, as my calculations for the yardage weren't exactly, let's say, precise? The whole last foot or so of the edging I was terribly afraid I was going to run out of yarn. In the end, I finished with just two yards to spare! If I ever take it off, I'll see if I can add the final gauge and measurements in case anyone is interested in doing a similar adjustment.

I love this pattern and love this yarn. O-Wool is making it's way to the top of my Christmas list this year for sure.  

Love: knit jackets

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It seems as though fall has finally graced us with her presence here in NC as of this weekend. Halloween night the temperature dropped to around 40 degrees, and remained chilly the whole weekend, and a little rainy, which was just fine by me. It is unashamedly my favorite weather. Cozy weather, shawl-knitting weather, tea and biscotti weather. I digress. 

Ever since I fell in love with Gina Rockenwagner and her City Cape I've been noticing more and more knit outergarments, not sweaters, exactly, but something more like a jacket or heavy cardigan. The three here are ones that havec caught my eye, the third image an ode to my husband, who is being so very patient with me as I knit a thousand Christmas gifts, and promise that someday, he will have a handknit sweater to call his own. 

In other news, I just spent my entire evening reading Mimi Thorrison's first cookbook, "A Kitchen in France". Good gravy, that is a beautiful cookbook. Full of shallots, wine, and duck fat. I want to make every single thing. 

In the meantime, I'm also working on a new shawl, in O-Wool (from Rhinebeck, of course!). It deserves it's own post, I think, so I will save that discussion for later. 

Off the needles: simple skyp socks

This is a story of some simple socks. The story starts around this time last year, when I was determined to become more accomplished at knitting, and decided that the next big project I needed to tackle were socks. I got some lovely sock yarn for Christmas last year, and some tiny double pointed needles, and in March of this year, I started these "Simple skyp socks". 

Unfortunately for the socks, this past spring and summer I planned a wedding, went on a honeymoon, moved, and had lots of other general life transitions. Life settled down again, and I picked them back up in September. "The first sock done! Success! Alright, what's next?" You guessed it. I got second sock syndrome, hard. The overwhelming desire to knit literally anything but that second sock (poor thing). I knit a kercheif, a hat, a cowl, and then, finally, another sock.

Simple Skyp Socks

Started: March 2014

Finished: October 25, 2014

Fiber: Quince and Co Finch in Apricot (about 275 yards for the small size)

Notes: Other than the narrative above, the yarn was lovely, and the color is just perfect for fall! I liked learning the skyp stitch, and the kitchener stitch went down much more easily the second time thanks to the Purl Bee. You can find this project with more photos of the socks in progress on my Ravelry page here. They were far from perfect, but I love wearing them around my apartment. I feel like a real accomplished knitter with them on. It's a good thing too, because socks are the #1 most requested item in my family for Christmas this year. Toe up socks are being tackled next!