My own free cowl pattern

This comfy Crofter’s Cowl is worked in a Shetland lace pattern with great stitch definition. Two halves are worked in the round then grafted together providing a mirror image of the Horseshoe lace. Something to take the chill off the neck for those long cold days of crofting!

Skills needed: Easy stuff!
Casting on/off, Grafting, simple lace pattern.

Finished Size
Circumference 18.5 inches
Height approx 8 inches from scallop point to scallop point

Materials
Approx 150 yrds worsted weight yarn (shown in Malabrigo Worsted- Colour: Azul Profundo)
US#8/5mm 16-inch circular
US#7/4.5mm 16-inch circular (can use a smaller 16 inch circular or scrap yarn. This is only used for holding the live sts whilst the grafting is being done)
Stitch Marker
Extra Stitch Markers (optional-for marking repeats of lace pattern)

Gauge
17.5 sts and 24 rows= 4 inches in Horseshoe lace measuring from the deepest point of the scallop for length.
NB Gauge isn’t crucial just try to be close if you want a similar finished circumference. If adjusting the number of lace repeats to make up for gauge issues then remember to increase by 10 st increments.
Finished Size
Circumference 18.5 inches
Height approx 8 inches from scallop point to scallop point

Download the pattern Here

Birthday Kitty

Holey Moley.....another post already!!
Today is my Daughter's birthday....last year of single digits......and I made her this kitty...very last minute....as in I knit all day yesterday and stayed up until 1 am to finish!

Some of you may think there is something familiar about this cat....you're right...it is a modified "Sophie" by Ysolda!
The head and body are the same but the appendages are modifications on the original....cats don't look so good with long floppy ears!

Maya loves it and has called this one Varjak after a character from one of her all time favourite cat novels ever...Varjak Paw...a Mesopotamium Blue with some Zen-like martial art skills!

Knitscene Fall 2008

The preview for Knitscene Fall 2008 is up and I have a design in it!! (thanks to Cirllia for the heads up)

Very exciting to see it photographed and modeled (in what is my first print magazine publication)!

Love the look of this issue...my kind of colours and lots of projects I'd love to make (by designers that I'm honored to be alongside)...go check it out!

My design is a nice easy fast knit with no seams and minimal shaping....it's very cosy...
Here's one I made for a friend out of Malabrigo:

Been There...Done That!

I was sucked into the knitting mania of the February Lady Sweater over on Ravelry and can now say that that is off my chest!!

I was a little concerned it would come out to small but the yarn grew just enough during blocking.
I think my blue tagua nut buttons go nicely,picking up the small accents of blue in the yarn.
I love the finished product and enjoyed the process of the knitting (mostly done whilst in cooler weather during a recent camping trip to Angel Island in San Francisco).

(Sorry about the colour variation)!

Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne aka Flintknits
Yarn: Dream In Colour Classy, Gothic Rose from woolgirl.com (really love this yarn)

Too Hot To Knit......

.......Crisp, dry, white wine in my favourite antique glass..a gift from my mum.....

Try it.....

...the flickr game...

How it's played:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name? Gudrun
2. What is your favorite food? Tofu (and many other things)
3. What high school did you go to?James Gillespies in Edinburgh
4. What is your favorite color? Deep Orange (even though it's not a colour I wear)
5. Who is your celebrity crush?James Mcavoy (yes a Scot....and yes my my African-American husband is well aware of this crush)
6. Favorite drink? Dry, crisp, French, white Bordeaux
7. Dream vacation? Don't exactly have one but picked Greece
8. Favorite dessert? Sticky Toffee Pudding
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Content
10. What do you love most in life? Watching nature do it's thing
11. One Word to describe you. Impatient
12. Your flickr name. gudruncjohnston-except when I searched for myself it claimed to not find me...what's up with that?

Links to credit the above flickr photos:1. Gudrun, 2. fried tofu, 3. Bruntisfield House, Edinburgh, From 'Castles and Mansions of the Lothians'. 017, 4. Deep orange, 5. James McAvoy, 6. PREPARATIF D'APERO, 7. Downstairs to the volcano, 8. Sticky Toffee Pudding, 9. Face of a Contented Man, 10. Nature rekovers, 11. impatient model, 12. Shetland Hap Shawl

What's HAPpenin?

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on Shetland Shorty! It's been a lot of fun to watch the activity over on Ravelry... .. 24 projects already! Quite bizarre to watch the instant response over there....those guys go nutty over knitty!! (Quite rightly so)!

This is what is HAPpenin with me (I couldn't resist the play on words with this one):
My first wedge of my latest project- A traditional Shetland Hap Shawl
I posted about these almost a year ago and now have need of making one for a friend's baby due August 1st!

Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift in various shades.

I'm using the pattern from Rowan 42- 'Bressay Hap Shawl' and the book 'Shetland Hap Shawls' (both by Sharon Miller) the latter of which goes into detail about the history and various constructions.
I'm using the 'Traditonal' method which is knit in 5 pieces as opposed to knitting the whole thing at once in the round.

There are 4 wedges where you begin with the edging and then pick up stitches for the border which are then joined to a central square. In her book, Sharon speculates that it would have been easier to work on one smaller piece, rather than an entire shawl, whilst getting domestic and crofting work done at the same time!
I may well try my hand at using my Shetland knitting belt seeing as I have not done so yet...not sure that I'll manage to do much else at the same time though!

This lovely ball of yarn is 'Dream In Colour Classy'(- Gothic Rose) and is destined for the popular February Lady Sweater- a grown up version of the Februray Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman...this version has kindly been written up and shared by Flintknits and is causing quite a knitting frenzy over on Ravelry......which I happily wandered into without another thought!
I began last night and have a little yoke of gorgeous garter!

(I ordered this delicious yarn from Woolgirl.com and have to sing her praises as the package I received was beautifully wrapped and came with little extras and a handwritten note-so thoughtful)!

So, designers being featured for the next two months will be Sharon Miller and Elizabeth Zimmerman ala Flintknits!