I’m a fairly new knitter still, just hats and scarves so far, so I’m still learning a lot. My latest learning is the difference between self-striping yarn and variegated or hand painted yarn. I finished my scarf out of Felici Dakota and guess what…it’s self stripes! I’ve had everyone from my Dad to the receptionist at the dermatologist ask me “how does it do that?”
Felici, of course, is a sock yarn, but I’m not up to socks yet—I think my scarf shows off the beauty of Felici nicely. Let me also swoon about how soft Felici is—I’ll put it this way, it is soft enough that I’m making a scarf out of it for myself that I’ll actually wear around my bare neck. At 75% Superwash Merino and 25% Nylon, it’s a perfect combination of luxury and …

Just in time for the cold weather…

I finished up my cardigan-length version of Norah Gaughan’s Serpentine Coat from Knitting Nature. I really like how the variation in the kettle dyed yarn makes the pattern look a little more rustic and earthy. I’m also pretty pleased with the buttons, since I usually have trouble finding ones that I like that aren’t too expensive. These were just cheap-o buttons from Joann’s Fabrics, but when the light catches them they kind of glow.

I haven’t done a lot of stranded colorwork, and it was nice to do a project with thick, worsted weight yarn so I could see what I’m doing and make sure that my pattern is correct. It’s also the first time that I properly caught my floats on the backside of my work – the color repeats between the …

Lately, Sheldon’s had plenty of opportunities to show off his new sense of style by tagging along with members of our staff when they travel. He’s been to Alaska, California, and even as far as China and Japan! He’s really racking up the frequent flyer miles and making a lot of new friends! I think he’s picked up some germs along the way too. I can sympathize, I always get sick when I travel.

Now that he’s back for awhile, we made a slideshow of his trip. See what he’s been up to here.
What’s the farthest your Sheldon has traveled? <

Apples to Apples is my favorite game of all time. For the past three years, my friends have come over to my house to celebrate my birthday by drinking apple cider, eating apple pie, and playing Apples to Apples.

This year, I decided to knit a special Apples to Apples hat to wear to my third annual apple party. I found this pattern for the Apple of My Eye baby hat on Ravelry, and I modified it to fit me by casting on 74 stitches instead of 66. I started it last Sunday, knit through a 2 hour roller derby league meeting Sunday night, worked on it at craft night last Tuesday, and I finished it Thursday night, just in time for the party Friday night.
Here I am modeling it in my kitchen before the guests arrived. Ignore the lump, that’s from my ponytail underneath!
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The leaves are turning beautiful colors outside our office, and this week we got to look at beautiful colors inside too! Believe it or not, we just had our yarn color picking meeting for next fall. Yep, we pick colors that early. I can’t give away what exactly we did, but I can tell you that we didn’t discontinue very many colors, and we did add a lot.
This photo shows the boards we get from our manufacturers with color samples. So many choices! We mainly choose from these boards, but sometimes they don’t quite have the color we’re going for, and then we choose from a variety of other sources.
And here’s a photo of Kelley pondering what colors to add to my favorite yarn line, Palette. Palette is just getting better and better with …