Moonstruck Cardigan

I finally had the chance to photograph the Moonstruck Cardigan (rav link) I'm working on. It's so hard to lay out the pieces and get a decent shot. I finished the back while at the coast and decided to pin it together to try it on. Thankfully it fits! I am the same size as Maud here, only definitely not as curvy! So I pinned it all on her and tried to get some decent photos together. It more or less worked. it's not quite that glaring blue, but you get the idea of the shape. I think it will come together very nicely when I finish the sleeves and work on the collar. I'm so excited to finish this sweater before it gets too cold out!

It is knit with one strand of Blue Moon Woobu (Merino/Bamboo) in color Twilight and one strand of Peru dyed by me. I used to carry Peru, which is Alpaca/Merino/Silk, but I never liked how it dyed up. I saved about 2lbs to make a sweater for Blair, but never got around to it. Then Blair told me that he really prefers socks to sweaters, so I reclaimed the yarn for myself. I dyed it blue to go with the Woobu. It is so warm and squishy!

I thought I would also share an awesome trick I just learned for pinning a sweater together. I have seen this often from my friend Jill when she is showing people how to sew a seam together. She uses a long knitting needle and "sews" it along the seam, which holds it together so it can be sewn. I think of it as knitter's basting. I thought this same technique would work very well for trying my sweater on. I used regular coiless safety pins for the shoulders, then carefully "sewed" my side seams together with one of the longer cords of my addi clicks. It doesn't matter what size the needles are as long as they go through the fabric well. After I was finished I simply took the tips off and ta-da, I could try on my sweater!

Vacation

We are home from a wonderful trip to the beach. I love going in the fall. It seems like a good way to wrap up summer. We definitely needed the break! Here are some photos from our trip:

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach. This is the view from our hotel room.

Here is a closer view (both above and below) with my new macro lense Blair got me! I love it!

It was sunny and beautiful most of the time we were there. We even had temps into the mid-70s, which if you know the Oregon Coast then you know how very rare that is, especially in October. 

 This picture reminds me of my inspiration for my Cannon Beach colorway. I love the Blue/White/Brown combo. I think it might be nice to knit up something for a boy out of it too.

 On Wednesday the fog rolled in. It looked so cool! It was so beautiful!

We saw flocks of Sea Gulls. If you click the photo you will see there are two different types of Sea Gulls, which we thought was very interesting.

We also saw lots and lots of Sandpipers. They are so cute! If you look closely you will see they are standing on one foot. I think they put one foot up to stay warm and then they hop around on the other foot in the cold water. It's hilarious!

Pretty pink sunset.

Beautiful sunset over Haystack Rock. A beautiful ending to our trip! We are definitely happy to be home and back to work. We are happy for the break, but also love what we do!

Keyhole Scarf

Ok, I did finish one quick project. About a month ago my mom showed me this scarf they got in at the shop where she works. The construction was interesting, but it was made out of acrylic yarn. She really wanted one out of a natural fiber, so I found a pattern and knit her one.

It's called a keyhole scarf (rav link). I found quite a few patterns on Ravelry. I decided to go with the free one by Martha Stewart. The pattern was good and very straight forward. I would say my only complaint is that it's too straight forward. It's definitely written for a base beginner with diagrams for every single step. The downside of this is that the pattern which could have been printed on a single page actually takes 3 pages. It is a pretty quick knit. I knit it in under a week. The yarn is also very special to me in that I swapped with a dyer friend of mine for it. It is Stitchjones Dyepot Worsted Superwash Merino in color Harvest Home. I have a bit leftover, so I might find something else to do with it too. I really love the colors and the way it turned out.

Pennant

This last week has been a tough one. People on the outskirts of my bubble have had most awful things happen to them. They are close enough I would like to reach out to them but in more than one case are far enough away that I'm not quite sure how to go about it. So I am putting my feelings of condolence and love out there into the world with the hope that those who are closer to them are able to give them much comfort in their time of grief. I would share more, but it isn't mine to share.

Instead I am trying to get a bit of work done and by that I mean I am putting things on the website. I'm also knitting a lot, but with the dark grey weather which has rolled in I can't get a decent photo. The latest thing I have put on the website is the Pennant Scarf by Nadine Foster:

Nadine knit this out of one skein of Silky Sock in color Bordeaux. I have it packaged in kits on the website. I'm slowly working on adding kit options to all of the patterns in the shop. I am giving a 10% discount on yarn when you purchase it in a kit, Pennant included. It would make a great holiday gift or a nice luxury for yourself. Even a gift for a loved one who needs a little more comfort this time of year and I'm sure we are all in need of that right now.

More Knits by Others!

I think I have been on a bit of a Moss kick lately! At least that's what it looks like from the yarn I gave my sample knitters!

This is the Frequency Hat. I love this hat for its bold cables. It actually is a rather quick and stylish knit. That's probably why this is the third one I have had knit up as a booth sample! The yarn is Worsted Wool in color Moss (of course!). This yarn is even on sale this month for $15 per skein. This hat weighs 64 grams, which means that you can knit this hat and have 50 grams leftover for a pair of wristlets or mitts to match! It's a great combination for holiday knitting or just keeping warm as the weather turns colder!

This is the Forest Park Sock, named after the beautiful park in Portland. I love the winding vine which runs up the front of the sock. My friend Jill, who knit this for me, said it's a great pattern and is really easy once you have done the repeat a couple of times. It is knit out of Panda Silk Sock. This yarn is really nice, soft, and durable. The bamboo in it gives it great drape, but also great durability for long lasting socks!

Happy October!

It's fall and that means getting back to warm wooly projects! With that in mind I thought I would run a little sale through the month of October:

Wool Single and Worsted Wool will be only $15 per 4oz skein! Either of these yarns would look great knit up as hats or scarves. They are your basic go to worsted weight wool, only dyed up in pretty LavenderSheep colors, of course! I have some other fun projects in the works, which I can't wait to share with you!