Tina and I went on an adventure Saturday and flew down to Stitches West in Santa Clara, CA. It made for a long day trip, but it was definitely packed with delicious fiber-y goodness. There were no photos or videos allowed inside the convention center, but we were able to see some kind of commotion out on the street as we approached the show. We couldn’t quite make out what was going on, and when we crossed the street… Fuzzy fiber ambassadors! One of the ladies handling the alpacas said that the little brown guy was only 4 months old! I’m such a sucker for them, and these two were so petite I could almost convince myself that my yard is big enough for one. 🙂 ...

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This delightful project is one of many I want to make from Knitted Gifts. Besides being such a cute little Hobby Horse, it is a lesson on the structure of hand-knit socks. A perfect project for someone who has been thinking of knitting socks. Just look at the un-felted version of the over-sized sock. After just a bit of felting and some finishing, the sock magically transforms into a toy! Even though several weeks passed between when I started this project and finishing, it is actually a very quick knit. Wouldn’t you just love to knit this horse!! This giveaway will include Ann Budd’s book and the Wool of the Andes yarn you will need in the colors of your choice. All you have to do is leave a comment ...

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You’ve probably heard the podcast of the spring yarn preview, so I thought I would give a little more background into the Stroll and Shadow Tonals. When Tina asked me to design the colorways of these yarns, I thought it was a great idea. Because the Tonals are hand painted, we have exact control over just how variegated the yarn is–something that we could never quite achieve with the old kettle dyed yarn. My goal was to take what we loved about the kettle dyed colors and make them even better–adding more variation of shade and hue, and coming up with completely new colorways as well. The name “tonal” is one I brought in from my fabric background. In the quilting world, a tonal fabric is one that has a similar color printed on a background color, so that the over all effect is more interesting than just a solid. ...

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I finished the scarf I was making for my very good friend Andrea. As you probably guessed by the title of this post, I used Comfy Worsted Yarn in Cypress. The pattern is a free pattern from Ravelry, you can find it here. This pattern is really fun to make and takes no time at all. I used about 1 1/2 balls of Comfy–it’s just a matter of how long you want your scarf to be. You’ll see in the photos of others who have made this pattern that they often use multi-colored yarn–it would be really good in our Stroll Multi Sock yarn I think. My friend loved it by the way. She’s one of those super fashionable women who wears a scarf every day as part of every outfit–thus using cotton so she doesn’t get too warm.

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Just joking! I couldn’t resist a little pun! Enjoy this next lesson in the Knittin’ Mittens KAL!

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Your March catalogs should be arriving any day now, and hopefully you have noticed new kits that Kerin and Nina have designed. We have created designer interviews about each of the kits to tell you a little more about the behind the scene stories, details, and inspirations for these kits. If you have any kit related questions, leave a comment and we can help you out!

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It seems that the Knitting Gods feel I need a lesson in the benefits of embracing the act of ripping out my knitting. First, there was the Stonington Shawl "lesson". Remember that the Stonington Shawl had been my "mindless" portable project. I was in desperate need of a simple project to knit while we were out to dinner with friends. I had planned on starting over with my new square shawl plans.

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Dan and I recently bought a house (our first!), and the last few weeks have been full of packing, lifting, more packing, more lifting, and painting. The sweaters I knit for Dan also made the journey - I saw this box that he had packed and labeled yesterday, so I snapped a quick photo to share. Good on so many levels! Learned Lesson 1: Don't pack a box full of nothing but books - you won't be able to lift itLearned Lesson 2: Include a warning if your box contains precious cargo (such as HANDMADE SWEATERS!)Learned Lesson 3: Don't forget underpants! :)

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So, the hubster and I love to go fishing. Well, he loves fishing, I love having an excuse to sit on my kiester and knit all day! A couple of weekends ago, we decided to pack a lunch and head an hour away to a lake he used to fish with his dad. Well, in typical Northwest style, it was in the forties in the morning, though it was going to be in the upper 60's in the afternoon. So we dressed in layers. I had on my favorite hand-knitted alpaca sweater with a wool sweater over it, some new fingerless mitts I'd made, and an alpaca hat I made on a previous excursion. As for hubs - well, it turns out he's good at losing gloves, and had to borrow a pair of mine. Now, this could be ok, as they were pretty unisex-looking gloves. Except his hands are twice the size of mine. It was downright comical, like his hands were the unwitting passengers in a knitted clown car. I took pity on him and grabbed a ball of unlabeled alpaca I'd found in the free box here at work, and we took off for the lake.

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