Noordzee and a special Wonderwool Wales offer

I think most designers would agree that sometimes the hardest part of the process is finding the perfect name for our latest creative endeavor. That was certainly true of this month's pattern, until serendipity stepped in with the perfect solution.

I've been working on this lovely little shawlette for the past few weeks, using some absolutely divine yarn from Linda at Kettle Yarn Co (more on that later). It's just the perfect little tidbit to whet your knitting appetite: beads along the border, a bit of lace, some mindless stockinette with short rows to shape the body, and ta da! In very little time you've got a lovely scarf to throw over your shoulders on those slightly chilly spring and summer evenings (aka all of them in the UK). But as of Easter weekend I still didn't have a name. I was well and truly stuck.

On Easter Sunday, I took myself, my new shawl and my husband to the beach to get some photos.  But not just any beach - this was a beach in Holland, where we were visiting for the long weekend. While the girls built sandcastles and entertained thoughts of wading in the water, Himself snapped a bunch of pictures, and commented that the colors of the shawl and the colors on the beach were the perfect match. When I looked at the photos later, I knew I'd found the perfect name: Noordzee (otherwise known as the North Sea).

Noordzee is a fairly simple knit, but the beaded edging and changing short row intervals give it a bit of interest along the border and a somewhat unexpected shape. The short rows first draw the border up in a curve towards the shoulders, but then swing outwards and down, flaring into a shape that looks almost like wings. The piece can be worn as a shawlette (particularly if you block it somewhat aggressively to get the most coverage) or as a scarf for a bit of warmth around the throat.

The yarn for this piece is Kettle Yarn Co's glorious Westminster, a 50/50 blend of camel and silk. It is soft and beautiful to work with - I didn't find it at all splitty - and the silk gives Linda's incredible dyeing skills a lovely shine and luminosity. And here's where the special offer comes in...

If you are at Wonderwool Wales this weekend, I would encourage you to go visit Linda's booth and cuddle her yarns for yourself. If you are inclined to purchase any Westminster while you're there, she will give you a coupon good for 15% off the purchase price of Noordzee. I'd bet you could even find the perfect beads while you're there...

You can find the pattern page for Noordzee here, or click below to purchase it from Ravelry via Paypal. Happy knitting!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

So. So. So...here's the (very vague) skinny: my reality-based, non-knitting life is in a bit of an uproar at the moment, and it may be a while before everything shakes out and settles down. It's a time of serious transition for us as a family, and I flip flop between being convinced that everything is going to work out just fine and absolute panic. There are big changes in store, and while I try to look at the situation as a great opportunity for new things, it's also really stressful and scary. Six months from now, all of this will be long behind us, but I'm afraid I really just want to get to that point and skip the intervening hubbub.

So the blogging entries may be a bit sparse over the next couple of months. I hope you understand, and keep an eye out for when things pick up again in this little corner of the internet. Cheers!

Teaser

A few shots from this weekend of April's upcoming pattern...

Worked in Linda's spectacular 50% camel/50% silk Westminster yarn. It has beads...

If it's April, it must be hooking time

Not that kind of hooking, gutter mind. This kind of hooking:

Once again, I am participating in the spring Potholder Swap run on Ravelry. This time around, I've challenged myself by using slightly thinner yarn (sportweight vs. last year's DK weight) and a pattern that uses some new techniques.

The pattern I'm using is the Crochet Flower Pot Stand by Lindervrouw, using the English translation of the original Dutch pattern from rubyredeclectic.blogspot.com. I made a few changes to stay within the swap designated size, so instead of working 10 rounds, I'm only doing 9, and they're coming out at about 7.5 in across.

I've gotten 4 out of the 6 sides done - since the potholders need to be double thickness, I'm making both sides the same. I actually have done five sides, but somehow I managed to make the second purple/green version with 16 petals instead of 15. No idea how that happened, but there you go. Thankfully I've got enough yarn to make another one, so I'll keep the mutant one for myself.

Next up on my list of WIPs to finish off this week: ummm...maybe the grosgrain ribbon backing for my Unravel sweater so I can actually wear the damn thing would be a good plan?

Happy Porpoise Spin-Along

This is an example of how Twitter is either the greatest community builder of all time or a path to a lovely tropical hot spot paved with good intentions...spinner be warned!

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Jacqui Tweeted about her new book, and about how excited she was to spin in all sorts of new and exciting ways. Her Tweet reminded me about my excitement when I got the same book, and how I'd meant to spin my way through the entire thing. One Tweet led to another, which led to emails back and forth, which has now led to:

Button courtesy of J's brilliant children

The Happy Porpoise SAL, in which we work our way through the brilliant Sarah Anderson's "The Spinner's Book of Yarn Design", thereby expanding our spinning skills, and broadening our handspun horizons.

Everyone is welcome to join us in this quest: we're running it out of my Ravelry group, the Porpoise Pod for ease of having everyone in one place, so grab whatever is in your stash and come play with us! 

We'll be going chapter by chapter, and starting the frenzy tomorrow (April Fool's Day seems like a reasonable beginning date, no?) with Chapter 2: Singles for plying. One of us will start a thread tomorrow morning in the group, and we'll be off and running! I, for one, will be running to catch up, because I'm pretty sure Jacqui hasn't been able to restrain herself...

Hope to have you all join us in our spinning adventure!

March pattern release: Echinoid hat

A few years ago we took a family trip to Paris, and spent one very rainy and wet afternoon in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. In one exhibit, there was a mezzanine walkway lined with glass cabinets, and I was quite taken with the display of sea urchin shells of every size. My designer brain immediately decided that I needed a sea urchin hat, and thus, Echinoid was born.

This hat is worked in worsted weight yarn (Knit Picks Wool of the Andes for the sample), starting with my new Most Favoritest Cast On Ever™, the tubular cast on. The body of the hat is worked mostly in seed stitch, with five equally spaced columns of knit stitches that mimic the five-fold symmetry of the sea urchin shells.

SKILLS NEEDED
Knitting, purling, increasing and decreasing, tubular cast on (pattern includes links to a video tutorial, but not extensive directions for the cast on)

SIZES
Small (medium, large, extra large), to fit head circumference of up to 18 (20, 22, 24) in/45.5 (51, 56, 61) cm. Actual hat circumference is 16 (18, 20, 22) in/40.5 (45.5, 51, 56) cm.

YARN
Pattern requires approximately 95 (115, 135, 165) yds/87 (105, 123, 151) m worsted weight yarn.


NEEDLES
US 5/3.75 mm and US 6/4.0 mm double pointed needles or 16 in/40 cm circular needle.

GAUGE
20 sts/24 rows per 4 in/10 cm in seed stitch on larger needles.

Pattern includes both written stitch pattern directions and charts.

Echinoid $5.00

The Other Sweater

There's lots of knitting going on in my world right now, but sadly most of it is not for public consumption (yet). But I do have a project to share that I've been working on in fits and starts for the last few weeks, feeling guilty about it all the time.

This is Automne by Ruth Garcia-Alcantud, from Knit Edge Issue 4, worked in Elann Highland Chunky.The yarn arrived and I cast on for a gauge swatch, I mean sleeve, immediately.

After a fingering weight sweater, working with chunky yarn is instant gratification. I've finsihed both sleeves and made it through the waist shaping, which is done with cable crosses.

This is the Other Sweater because I was cheating on the Unravel sweater with it, and I will continue cheating on my current deadline projects with it whenever I get a chance or can carve out a moment for it. I think the back will get finished this weekend, and then it will be on to the fronts...