Patina Crescent

Its been a few weeks since I've written...I've been knitting! I've been finishing up a few things and have been blocking. I have been blocking things for me and things for friends. I have this thing about blocking...I love it. Some people think I'm crazy for that (I'm looking at you Mom) but I do, I love it. I've always looked at it as this big "TAH DAH!!!" moment in knitting. Its where all of your hard work and countless hours pay off and I love not only seeing it but being in control of it. You can change the look of your knitting with blocking and even hide errors with it too. You can pull your points however you want to, or not pull them at all. You can create points where there aren't any too. I love the blocking process. Its my love of blocking that has my friends bringing stuff over in bags for the process!

Before showing pictures of my new pattern (yes I have a new pattern and I'm very excited about it! I'll tell you why in a bit...) I have the final two pictures to show you of my goddaughter Alia's new sweater. I decided that Alia and her older sister Savannah needed to be matchy matchy so I picked a pattern that would be good for the both of them and started to knit them up. I've finished Alia's and just need to cast on for Savannah's. 

...and a closeup of the buttons...

This has been The Year of The Baby Sweater for me. This is number 5 & 6 coming up. I have done them all in Knit Picks Shine Worsted on size 8 needles. When it comes to knitting anything for kids I will only use something that can go in the washer and dryer...it has to be easy for Mom. And because I'm a yarn snob I refuse to use acrylic anymore. I don't like the way it feels in my hands at all. Shine Worsted is a cotton and modal blend that works up so beautifully. It can go in the washer and dryer, it doesn't pill and is wonderfully soft. It also comes in a ton of different colors which is an added bonus!

So I've finished my latest pattern and as soon as I finish getting it written up it will be available on Ravelry and Craftsy. I designed this shawl specifically for hand dyed yarns and for beginning lace knitters. Experienced lace knitters will also like as it is less complicated than traditional lace patterns. You can also take this pattern anywhere to knit as the instructions are more of a guideline than anything else. Each element of the shawl can be adjusted without the need of following a specific stitch count. The shawl can be made smaller or bigger depending on what the knitter wants. I'm really excited to release this one! I named the shawl after the colorway of the yarn...here is Patina Crescent!

I knitted this with Phydeaux Designs Creme yarn in the colorway Patina. I loved every minute of working with this yarn, it was so soft! It is a single ply DK weight yarn and I used just under 500 yds. Remember, it can be made as big or small as you want it!

My folks are back from England but not after a little bit of drama. Four days prior to my parents departure back to the states my father decided to take a day trip to Paris...without his passport. Don't ask, I don't know. Needless to say, he was detained at the border trying to get back in to England. He spent the night in Paris and made his way to the American Embassy in France wherein he was issued a replacement passport and could get back in to England. There was a bit more to it on my Moms part but no need to go into that here! They are home safe and that's all that matters! While Dad was in Paris Mom went shopping at I Knit London! She had been in touch with the owners of the shop before leaving New Mexico so she knew exactly where to go and how to get there. She did a lot of shopping and brought me back some yarn! I am going to design a shawl with this yarn and I already know what I am going to name it...now I just need to put something together and get it done. Here it is....

Isn't it gorgeous?! One of the owners dyes yarn and this is the shops label. I'm a sucker for a really soft single ply! I love this colorway..such a soft green. I cant wait to work with it...but then again there are so many yarns I have that I can say that about. Like this...

This is some yarn I picked up last weekend from Anne Podlesak of Wooly Wonka Yarns. She was at Village Wools teaching a lace class and she hung around after she was done with some of her yarn. This is her new sock yarn base called Laysa Sock and its 60/20/20 merino/silk/yak and I cant wait to work with this either! And look at that twist! Isn't it beautiful?!?! After this past Tuesday and seeing Frankie start a new shawl with Malabrigo sock yarn in the colorway Piedras I want to work with that too. It is soooo pretty knitted up. I have love affairs with so much of my yarn but I cant knit with it all at the same time despite how much I'd like to try. While we were at Village Wools last weekend one of the owners, Cathalena, had just finished her Cornwall Coast and had it with her to show people. She said that it was the first lace she'd really knitted but you couldn't tell by looking at the shawl. It was gorgeous! She did a really beautiful job...

As a matter of fact, I will be blocking a Cornwall Coast tonight! I will post pics of it in my next post.  Tomorrow I will resume blocking for friends. There's a lot of it to do at the moment. I hope you all are having fun with whatever you are knitting right now! Until the next time...Knit On!