FO: Matryoshka Japonais (New Pattern)

Pattern: Matryoshka Japonais by Kathleen Dames (me!) [Ravelry link]
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Buscando Azul, Shocking Pink, Natural, and Paris Night
Needle: US8/5.0mm
Notions: Stuffing - I used poly-fill for this one but plan to use wool roving for the next kajillion of these

Honestly? I'm just tickled pink with myself here. These little cuties came out very much the way I imagined them, and I mastered a couple of techniques (intarsia, as well as actually finishing a stranded colorwork project - some Endpaper Mitts are languishing somewhere) in the process.

Penelope gets all agitated whenever she sees them and crawls to where they have been sitting. I had to wait for the sun to finally come out yesterday to photograph them before letting her have them as her own. And Isobel wants her own set, too, or at least "the baby one, Mama", so I'll have to figure out another color combination.

This pattern is for sale on Ravelry here. If you are interested in a copy and are not on Ravelry yet, what are you waiting for? But while you're waiting, if you can't live without the pattern, please contact me at kathleendames at gmail dot com.

Designer

It's official. I'm now a Ravelry designer. You can find my first pattern here. It's a full write-up of the EZ as Pi Beret pattern I blogged about back in April. It's still free, but now it comes in a nicely formatted PDF with a proper chart and notes and whatnot. You can download the nicely formatted PDF from this link directly (in case you're not a Raveler yet, and if that is the case go sign up!).

I'm finalizing my next pattern, which will be a "for sale" one, since I hope my cleverness is clever enough that some people might want to buy it. Ellen of Purl Diva fame saw the prototype and got me thinking about various clever directions to head in next. I hope to have it formatted tomorrow.

I hope there is more cleverness to come and will keep you posted.

FO: Triangle Shawl

Pattern: Basic Bottom-up Triangle Shawl [Ravelry link]
Yarn: Farmhouse Yarns Silk Blend (34% Silk, 33% Cotton, 33% Lamb’s Wool) in Brilliant Violet from Sit & Knit in New Buffalo, Michigan*
Needle: US10/6.0mm
Recipient: Barbara (Daniel's wife)

This yarn has been sitting in my stash for a little while, and I couldn't quite figure out what it wanted to be. I'd tried to cast on with it once before but had not enjoyed the knitting then. I even considered selling the yarn. Am I glad I didn't!

After attending a shawl knitting class with THE Joan Schrouder I was inspired to try different kinds of shawl construction. This one is knit from the bottom up until I'd just about run out of yarn, which is pretty much what you have to do when you have just one skein of the stuff.

I used a yarn-over increase to start each row and am pretty sure the last time I YO-ed at the beginning of a row it was a mistake. Hehe But we used this increase in Joan's class, and it makes for a nice little bit of laciness at the edge, as well as a stretchy edge. I didn't want to get into a lace pattern with this yarn because I think it shows off best in simple garter stitch.

The yarn is really neat, a little bit thick and thin, a little barber pole-esque with the strands of wool, silk, and cotton, as the cotton doesn't take the dye. It is truly "brilliant violet" - a beautiful shade of purple. It is not very elastic, what with all that silk and cotton, but the garter stitch makes the fabric elastic, so it blocked out nicely. I also think this blend will make for a good year-round shawl; Barbara and Daniel live much of the year in Burlington, Vermont, but spend the winter in Florida, so I didn't want to knit her something woolly but wanted it to have some wool. I think this turned out just right as Goldilocks would say.

And Barbara really likes it, saying it's her favorite color.

*I found Sit & Knit while visiting my BFF's 2007 summer rental, which is where I told her and her husband that Nick and I had gotten back together. Ah, memories.

FO: Yarmulke

Pattern: Yarmulke by Jenny White from Greetings from Knit Cafe
Yarn: Madeline Tosh Sock in Lapis from Yarns in the Farms
Needle: US2/2.75mm
Made for: Daniel (Peter's father)

This was a quickie, but a goodie. Be sure to check the errata, if you have the first printing of the book.

And the yarn! Love the semi-solid colorway. Such a jewel-like radiance. Since this project took about 40 yards, I can use the yarn for another project, too!

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Things to Do During "Me" Time

This week's 10 on Tuesday is a little late, but that's OK. I was too busy 2-ing yesterday to 9.

1. Knit
2. Design knits
3. Ogle/fondle yarn
4. Watch "bad" TV (ANTM, Real Housewives), though I do that with Nick, too
5. Bake
6. Read
7. Watch movies
8. Get a pedicure (no point in a manicure, I just knit the paint off)
9. Blog/Facebook
10. Sleep in

WWKIP 2009 - Save the Dates

Don't forget! This weekend is World Wide Knit in Public Day, as is next weekend. In the future WWKIP will be on the third weekend in June, since TNNA is on the second weekend, and there are a lot of fiber craftisans who don't want to miss out on the celebration.

We'll be in New York this weekend and Maine next weekend, so I will get to celebrate in both places this year! Not sure what I'm going to do in NYC, since we're gearing up to head to Maine, but I'll try to do something, perhaps hit the Yarntopia sale. And next weekend I imagine I'll spend a little time with the Purl Diva herself, Ellen, at Purl Diva in Brunswick.

FO: Tempest

Pattern: Tempest by Ann Weaver from Knitty Spring 2008 [Ravelry project]
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Impressionist Sky (color is pretty accurate in first image)
Needles: US6 (4.0 mm)
Notions: seven buttons from Mood Fabrics
Modifications: Didn't slip first stitches and used one color of yarn, but two skeins so followed the stripe sequence in case the two skeins proved to be too different

Love it! Love it, love it, love it! This sweater is just great. The fabric has a nice, crisp feel to it, thanks to knitting this fingering-weight yarn at a loose gauge. I've been too busy wearing this sweater to even blog about it, and, of course, when I get around to doing so my faithful photographer is off suffering through Working Parent duties at Isobel's school (evidently, she had a hard time with Daddy being there, harder than the time she usually has with me as WP on Thursdays). Anyway, this is a great little sweater, and I will get lots of wear out of it.

And can you believe it only took two skeins of sock yarn? I even have some left over that I've contemplated adding to the sleeves for more coverage (right now they're just slightly curly stockinette of the cast-on edge, which I'm satisfied with) come Fall. For now it's just a lovely summer sweater. I'll try to get a picture of me in it soon.