An Audrey Of My Very Own!

After seeing so many gorgeous Audreys pop up on Ravelry (111 projects to date) I've been wanting to make another to add to my own wardrobe. The original is still with Twist Collective and in a shade of red that's not the most suitable for my tones.....and I plan on giving that one to my sister who immediately coveted it on it's publication!

I seem to be particularly drawn to purple these days and found the exact shade I was looking for in Soft Sea Wool by Great American Yarns. This yarn also has great stitch definition so the Unst Lace really pops.

Buttons were picked out yesterday at WEBS (I think they're tagua nut) and sewn on this morning.
So happy to have a new cardi!

Squam Art Workshops!

Hey what are you doing in June?
Looking for a fun filled artsy retreat by a lake in the woods?
Come to Squam!
I'll be lucky enough to be there as a teacher this year and I'm very excited! I'm offering a class on the Traditional Hap Shawl and also a class on my Aestlight Shawl.

There are many other wonderful offerings from many other wonderful teachers.
Jess and Casey will be there to host a Ravelry party and Stephanie Pearl McPhee is also going to be hanging out!
Registration for classes opens tomorrow....go and check it out!

....and here's something I made earlier!

I signed on to Ravelry this evening and saw that this had been added to my design page! I did indeed design it for Classic Elite several months ago but didn't know it would be out already.
I'm particularly proud of this one.....and I love Soft Linen!

ETA: I made the sweater below at the same time....it just showed up today on my Ravelry page!

The Conway Cloche

My friend Jenn's birthday is on the 24th of December and for a several years now I have always knit her a hat as a present. This year I even designed one especially for her (she's a very good friend). I've been drawn to the cloche style recently and decided this would suit her too. I chose to use the same ribbing as seen in my Tanit's Jacket. This texture is wonderfully dense and therefore creates a really cozy layer, which is much needed in my neck of the woods at this time of year!

I admit that I was also taking my own considerations into account when designing this, knowing that I would be making one for myself too. One of the major things when it comes to hat wearing for me is to have my ears nicely snuggled inside. It ruins a winter walk for me if my ears get exposed! So the Conway Cloche is nice and long in the body. The folded brim also adds to the length and even has a nice little contrast of colour on the inside which I find very pleasing to the eye!

You even get a choice of whimsy to add for decoration!

Size
21-inch circumference at brim of hat. To fit head size 21-24 inches. The ribbed pattern is very stretchy!

Yarn
215 yrds of worsted weight yarn. Shown in Berroco “Vintage” yarn in blue and Berroco “Ultra Alpaca” in red.

Materials
US 7/4.5mm 16-inch circular needle US 7/4.5mm set of DPNʼs US 8/5mm 16-inch circular needle Small amount of scrap yarn (in contrasting colour to hat yarn) Stitch Markers
Tapestry Needle Button (optional depending on which flower is added).

Gauge
20 sts and 35 rows = 4 inches in ribbing pattern on US #7/4.5 mm needles. 19 sts and 28 rows = 4 inches in stockinette st on US #7/4.5mm needles.

$4.00

All proceeds of this hat pattern will be donated to MSF for their relief work in Haiti from now until the end of January.

Hats and a Man Scarf!

My Xmas knitting was mostly about hats this year. It was great to get around to knitting some designs that I had queued on Ravelry.
There was a Thorpe, Wurm, Ripley, Miller's Hat and a couple of Koolhaas'

(Not all pictured here obviously).

Yes I was still knitting on Xmas morning but it was worth the stiff fingers to see so many delighted recipients!

I even managed to squeeze in a new design....(the flapper style hat you see below).....I'm making a couple of changes as I knit up the next one but this should be available pretty soon.

David has been jealous of all my shawl wearing recently so I made him one of his own! This is of course Stephen West's Daybreak pattern. After a wee lesson in how to wear it I think David is enjoying the benefits as he sits in his chilly office working on Book Three of his Acacia series!

Maya also got in on the knitting action and made this....er blobby thing.....requested by her friend Sedona....as you can see she is mighty pleased with it!

The crowing glory for me though was the gift of this beautiful antique cedar chest from my now yarn-conscious husband! Best gift ever! Percy is of course a little perplexed as to where all my baskets of yarn have gone....as you can see I did leave one out for decoration!

Hope you all had good times!
Here's to having many more in 2010...CHEERS!

Sending festive and jolly holiday vibes to all my lovely readers!


(Image by Maya)

Hap for Georgia

Well I'm back home in New England and finally able to get together a wee blog post to document the knitting I was working on in Scotland.
I"m afraid I wasn't a very prepared auntie and did not have this anywhere near finished before I arrived to see Georgia. So in between holding my little niece and other domestic bits and bobs I worked away on this Hap shawl so that I could leave having done my Shetland duty!

I went with the "in the round" construction on this shawl. I started with the central square, picked up sts around the edge and worked outwards from there. I didn't do the traditional knitted on edging however and instead went with an I cord bind off (as Jared uses in his version of the Hap).

I did use Sharon Miller's Hap Shawl book for reference but had to change a lot of numbers as I was using a heavier yarn- Rowan Scottish Tweed DK.

As you can see I went with very Scottish landscape colours....the photo below being Georgia's immediate surroundings....so she'll blend right in!

I had a wonderful visit with my Scottish clan but it's also lovely to be back with my kids and husband in beautiful snowy New England!