ishbel

I've never had a triangular shawl before, but somewhere along the line three shawl patterns ended up on my "must knit" list. I like that small shawls can be worn like scarves and that they usually only take one skein of yarn. This shawl pattern is Ishbel, and I made it with a skein of green Malabrigo lace that I have had for a while. I had started knitting a scarf with it, but hadn't knit a single stitch on that scarf in over 2 years, so it was ripped out in favor of this project.

I have to say (now that I have my first triangular shawl) that I actually prefer the triangle shape to the typical long rectangular scarf. For some reason, to me it seems more versatile. My favorite things about this particular shawl are the scalloped edge and the amazing yarn. It is so soft and fine and I love the subtle variegations in the yarn. It feels really light around my neck and I didn't want to take it off after photographing it today, even though it was 60 degrees outside.

This was a really great fun pattern, a little addictive (my family did a lot of groaning as I ignored them to work on this one), and I'm really happy with the outcome. There is definitely more shawl knitting on my schedule for this winter!

simple blue hat

It is so funny trying to photograph a baby because you never know what you are going to get. For my last post, I had a very cooperative little boy who basically just sat in the grass and smiled at the camera. This time, when I tried to photograph this little blue hat, I literally chased Levi around the house for at least a half hour. He was moving around so quickly, and I was determined to not use a flash, so most of the dozens of pictures I took were just blue blurs. Somehow though, I got some seriously adorable pictures of Levi (check out the drool in that above picture!) that show off the blue hat quite well!

It is a very simple hat, scaled down from this pattern (yeah, I know, I even managed to get a basic hat pattern from Jared Flood), but it is a gorgeous turquoise blue, which is perfect for my little blue-eyed boy. The yarn is the super soft Malabrigo Worsted in color Touareg. Once again, I purposely knit it on the big side, with hopes that he can wear it next winter too.

little cobblestone

I finally knit my baby boy a new wool sweater. This is the Cobblestone Pullover, yet another Jared Flood design. I'm not going to lie and say that this is the last of his designs that you'll be seeing from me - I think 4 of my next 6 projects are his patterns. A little obsessive maybe, but I really like his designs and they suit my style of knitting very well.

I have had the magazine with this sweater pattern for a couple years now, as I have been planning to knit this sweater for Adam. Other knitters have scaled the pattern down for children, and that (along with the fact that I happened to have a few balls of random tweedy yarn laying around) inspired me to knit this for Levi.

One really great thing about the sweater is that it will definitely fit him for at least another winter, if not two, and he can wear it now with the sleeves rolled up by about 2 inches. This was my goal - a longer-lived sweater for Levi. I got really sad putting all his tiny newborn handknits from last winter into storage, and was determined to knit something with a little more staying power. I really love this little sweater - it was super fun and easy to knit (all in one piece = no seaming = wonderful!), and it looks really cute on little Levi. Hopefully I'll get around to knitting this pattern for Adam, and then the two of them can be adorably matching in their cobblestones.

quincy

I love this hat so much it almost makes up for the fact that our fall weather didn't last very long this year before cold wintery temperatures kicked in. At least I can wear wool every day! I knit this hat from the pattern book "Made in Brooklyn" by Jared Flood. I almost never buy pattern books, but this one has about 4 patterns that I seriously want to knit (or maybe I just want to wear) right this very second. And because they are designed by Jared Flood, I really couldn't resist buying this book - his designs are so elegant and usually involve very little seaming, which is the kind of knitting I love.

This is the Quincy hat, which I knit in Classic Elite Ariosa. It is a super soft blend of merino and cashmere and is pretty bulky, so it knits up really fast. The hat pattern is amazing. You basically just knit a long garter stitch band, twist it, sew the ends together, and then pick up stitches for the top of the hat. Super easy, but brilliant...and I love wearing it. Oh yeah...and did you notice the lack of handknits on my poor cold baby? That is being remedied...stay tuned!

peat

Here is my latest handspun yarn. It was spun from (yet another) Pigeonroof Studios roving, in color "peat." It's 80% merino, 20% tussah silk. I have to admit that I started spinning this about a year ago and then got wrapped up in teaching and taking care of Levi, and it got ignored. Well, with all this goat frenzy as well as wanting something to enter in the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival, I finished the spinning over the past few days.

It is navajo plied, which is a method of getting a 3-ply yarn from a single strand of singles yarn, and I did this to preserve each individual color of the roving. So, instead of ending up with all the colors plied and blended together (resulting in a tweedy yarn), I got a yarn that will give a more stripey effect when I knit with it. I'm really happy with how it turned out and now have 3 skeins of yarn to enter in next week's wool festival!

Speaking of the goat frenzy, it seems that there are at least 3 other people, if not more, with way more votes than me. That's okay, we'll be patient until the day when we finally have some fiber animals of our own. I am grateful to all my family and friends who solicited votes for me. I'm especially grateful to my siblings, who got involved in this quite passionately. I didn't know that they understood my passions and interests as well as they apparently do...and I feel very lucky to have such supportive people in my life!

angora goats

Please vote for my essay in the amazing goat giveaway from Hudson Valley Fiber Farms. This would be a dream come true for all of us! All you have to do is click on the star below my essay and your vote will be counted for me. There are almost 50 entries, but it's worth a shot! The winner will be announced on October 2nd.

ocean

Part of the fun of watching Levi grow up is seeing his reaction to new things. If his interests as a 7-month old were any indication of what he would grow to love, this baby would be a botanist. Every grass spike and flower we show him is met with such interest...pursed lips, outstretched hand, close inspection.

But water is a different story. We've tried to acquaint Levi with water in the form of bathtubs, lakes, and most recently the ocean, and he's never really loved it. He now tolerates baths, but only with me, and only for a short while. We couldn't wait to show him the ocean...and on a recent trip to visit family in Newport we stopped to dip his little toes in. To say the least, he was not immediately thrilled with it...but I think he'll come around eventually!