Riverton

Hello friends! 

Just as the title of my blog suggests, I'm dropping stitches in my life currently and that's why I have not been around here much. My sincere apologies. I appreciate every single one of my readers and those who stick with me through everything. Picking up stitches in your life isn't easy. It's hard work. Its also often times very frustrating, tiring, and a lot of feeling like very few understand what its like to pick up the stitches and rearrange them in the correct order, facing the right direction, only to drop them all over again. I am learning for the first time what its like to pick up a completely unraveled shawl and put it back together without ripping it completely apart and starting over. Thankfully, I have the help of professional stitch picker uppers helping me with all of this. I am fine. I am okay. I want you to know that. 

My departure from my blog has been weird, odd, and tough to ignore. My writing efforts, lately, are and have been somewhere else. If I play my cards right, a book will come from all of this stitch dropping. That's what I'd like anyway. I have always been a writer, whatever the capacity was. And I've often thought of writing a book. I certainly have the material with which to do it. Organizing it all into a format that would allow me to write about it in a positive way will take some work. It was something that was born of me dropping so many damn stitches in my life. I know I could be successful at it. It just requires a lot of pre-work, and work in general to get there. I will do my best to keep this going. If you don't see me for a while, please try to remember that I am working things out on my end. I haven't forgotten any of you here! 

Thank God for knitting. I mean, really. THANK GOD for knitting. Knitting helps to get me through everything. And on that note, please allow me to introduce you to my latest pattern...Riverton!

I was so happy to finally be able to release this 4 days ago. The release of this pattern went hand in hand with my trunk show at Yarn & Coffee in Santa Fe, NM. It had been a while since I had done a show because I spent most of last year working on the trio of rectangular shawls that I wanted to do. The first was Placitas Lace Wrap, the second was Gothica Lace Wrap and this one, Riverton, is the third and final shawl. And if one has to have a favorite this last one would be it. For so many reasons. Primarily... it's different. When the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible by Hitomi Shida released in the fall of 2017, I knew instantly I had to design a few things from it. I mean, I HAD to. This book reads like a coffee table art book. It is so beautiful. I took designs that would typically be used to make fabric that would not be blocked very much. It's just not intended to be. I turned them into lace patterns because I wanted to see what I would end up with. I am absolutely enamored with it. Especially the long side edgings. They blocked out and did exactly what I knew they would they would do. I think it looks wonderfully delicate and different at the same time. Its a very sturdy edge and doesn't and will not roll on you. Please pay a visit to Riverton on Ravelry and give it a like!

Since I finished Riverton, I've had a couple baby sweaters to knit, one of which is done, it just took a few days of leisurely knitting to finish it. I have made many of these before and gifted them away. Its the Small Things Sweater by Carina Spencer. Its a fabulous little sweater pattern that is really easy to make and has big pay off. Not only is it cute as hell, the kid can wear it for a long time because of the way its made!

I used some pretty standard Cascade 220 for this knit. I still need to steam block it but other than that it's done. It will make some matching baby socks and I'm undecided on a hat. The second sweater I am going to make is different than this one. The Small Things Sweater had been my gold standard go-to baby sweater pattern because of its ease of making and how long the kid can wear it. But I found another that was *just* released yesterday by Laura Nelkin. It's the Baby Novus sweater and Oh. My. God. is it cute!!! I fell in love with it instantly and bought it seconds later. Can't wait to start it!

After my trunk show this past weekend, Mom, Aunt Betty and I headed to Amores Yarn Studio. Amor has been a good friend for years now and we very much support each other's work. She recently opened her own yarn shop in the Santa Fe area and we went for a visit. Not only does it have the best lighting in the world (she has a skylight smack dab in the middle of her shop) but it's covered in yarn from end to end from Crave, Brim and Amores hand-dyed yarn which is to DIE FOR. Here is what came home with me. I photographed this on the table directly under her skylight...

Isn't it just gorgeous?!! I fell instantly in love and it HAD to come with me!

I want to thank you all for sticking with me and continuing to read from me when I blog. I hope that this will get better. One thing you can count on... I AM KNITTING! No matter what is happening in my life I am knitting my way through it. I will always be knitting my way through it! 

Go check out Riverton on Ravelry and give it a like! In the meantime, let's all continue doing what we do to make it through. Knitting is a lifesaver for me. I know it is for you all too. No matter what we are all going through we have our knitting. And each other. Thank you again for sticking with me, I truly appreciate it! 

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