Nannie died about this time last year.  I couldn’t get enough money to go home for the funeral.  I was heart-broken.  Then, when the holidays rolled around, I was still too broke for a plane ticket home.  My mom simply wouldn’t let me miss Christmas with the family.  She found a way to get me home for the holidays.  And it was one of the best yet.  It meant the world to me.

Mom has wanted a fine lace shawl for years now.  I figured it was about time she got one. She lives at the beach now, and has always favored a beachy color scheme.  So I chose some Sea Lace in the Barbados colorway, a lovely seafoam green and cool ocean blue.

I knew I wanted to make a garter stitch based shawl; purling isn’t terrible, but purling across a row of 200+ stitches isn’t my idea of a good time.  I knew I wanted to use some traditional Shetland lace edgings.  And I knew I wanted it to be big.  So I found a good book on Shetland knitting, Heirloom Knitting, and was thrilled to find an edging pattern called Doris!  It had to be a part of the shawl.  I paired it with another edging for a really deep border.

The shawl starts at the center back in garter stitch.  The next panel is a simple 2-row lace, off-set every other repeat; this is followed by another small panel of garter stitch.  Finally, the deep border is knit on sideways, eating up the body stitches along the way.  To ensure the corner is turned properly, more rows are worked between the body stitches.  It turned out not just big, but HUGE!!!  I love everything about this project.  I wish I could be there when Mom opens the package.

It wasn’t long ago that I thought to myself: I have plenty of time for all of my holiday knitting.  And now…I’m laughing at myself.  Even starting the day after Christmas, a knitter NEVER has enough time for holiday knitting; the more time available, the more people are added to the gift list, or the projects become more complicated.

Both of these things have happened to me in the last few weeks.  I added a Secret Santa gift from my roller derby league to the list, along with a few other new family members.  Additionally, a baby shower gift morphed into three separate gifts, and a friend’s gift at least tripled in size.  And these are just the things I can mention here without giving away any secrets!

However, I have not been working on my holiday knitting list.  Like, NOT. AT. ALL.  Instead, I’ve been working on prototypes and drafts for a handful of upcoming knitting patterns.  Because that seems like more fun to me!

The first was a set including a hat and a pair of fingerless mitts done in a Special Edition yarn by Hand Maiden called Keji Worsted.  The 100% cashmere yarn is simply amazing to handle!  The second pattern is an adorable hood in a new Fleece Artist yarn, Tosca.  And the third pattern is a buttoned ascot done in Hand Maiden’s Marrakesh.  Look for these in the next couple of weeks.

And the final pattern I’ll be releasing in the next couple of weeks is for a squishy, all-over cable hat called The Staghorn.  It features a 16-stitch mirror-image cable repeated around the hat, separated by a single purl stitch, and an optional puff ball.  It’s a fairly quick knit in BFL Aran!

I’ve always been someone who works best under pressure and with deadlines, so now that we’re past Thanksgiving and officially “in the holiday season,” I’m feeling enough of a push to start my holiday gift knitting list!

The Cape Creek bridge along Highway 101 in Oregon is one of 13 bridges designed by Conde McCullough listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These bridges use bold straight lines and gentle arches to reflect the art deco style that was popular during the time of their construction.  They use sturdy, rugged concrete and steel to span breathtaking natural settings, juxtaposing durability with beauty.

The Cape Creek bridge echos Roman aquaducts with its strong vertical pillars, and is the inspiration for this luxurious cashmere hat and mitt set. An easy stitch motif mimics the straight pillars of the bridge; tightly spun cashmere resists wear and tear. A mix of bold yet simple lines, durable materials, and natural beauty make this set as timeless as the McCullough bridges.

I like the final outcome, but I’m not at all pleased with the construction method.  The slippers are knit flat and seamed along the bottom of the foot and up the back of the ankle.  This seems very strange wrong to me.  I will definitely knit them again, but I will start with Judy’s magic cast-on along the bottom of the foot, and then continue to knit in the round.  It just makes more sense to me, and no seams!

After finishing the slippers, I still have a month more left in the BFL-A-Long, so I cast on for a hat featuring a staghorn cable.  I found the cable when perusing a Barbara G. Walker stitch dictionary, and it grabbed me.  I had to knit it.  Then, I was looking through a trunk of yarn and found this BFL Aran in the Colorsong Yarn Fashion Color Exclusive Regatta, which is very similar to Tourmaline, though this photo doesn’t accurately reflect the color.  The two were a perfect pair, and voila, a fantastic hat!

The problem was the yarn.  I knit the shawl with the yarn that the pattern suggested; it’s a kettle-dyed blend of alpaca, Merino, and bamboo, and feels lovely to the touch.  When I put the first skein on my swift and ball winder, I was happy with the feel and drape of the yarn.  However, after the first ball was wound, and I looked at my blue hands, I was a bit put off.  After winding the sixth ball, and my hands becoming bluer each time, I was darn peeved.

Then, I started knitting.  Each time I sat down to knit on this shawl, it was no time before my fingers and knitting needles were blue.  And this isn’t a good thing.  Since I work in a yarn shop, I can’t walk around with blue dye on my hands while touching all of our products.  Which means that I couldn’t pick up the knitting during breaks or during lunch, and so lost much potential knitting time.

Then, there were two skeins that each had about a two foot section of more loosely spun fiber.  I didn’t think much of it the first time I came to one, and just kept knitting as usual.  Then, to my utter horror, after finishing that skein and starting another one, the loosely spun section shredded!  I couldn’t believe it.  About a foot of a row just fell apart, and I was left with a gaping hole about six inches below my current row.  So I had to frog and reknit a huge section of a huge shawl.  When I came to a second loosely spun section, I cut it out and continued on my way.

So this brings me to my second struggle.  Do I blog an honest review of the particular yarn, or simply avoid mentioning it?  I’ve never given anything a negative review before, because I’ve always felt that if you don’t have something nice to say, keep yer gab shut.  But I also understand that honest feedback about products is one of the biggest benefits of blogging specifically, and the massive information sharing interwebs in general.  Any thoughts on the subject?

We took the train north, which was gorgeous! It’s been ages since I’ve been on a train. There were fantastic views, and truly delightful people!  We met Natasha, a freelance writer and co-owner of  Velveteen Stories.  This duo creates handmade books based on personal stories told through original narrative and illustration.

Once we arrived, we dropped off our bags in our rooms and went to dinner with Cat Bordhi! She’s such a wonderful person. She’s full of smiles, good humor, and amazing stories. Seriously, amazing! We want her to write a book of all her anecdotes. We had a delicious dinner at the hotel restaurant, which had an Italian menu and wine list. Let me tell you all, if you’re ever in the Tukwila/Seattle area, visit Basil in the Embassy Suites. The food is so very, very good! Our waitress, Andrea from Argentina, made the experience simply delightful. She was so warm and sincere, we couldn’t help but hoard her time

Saturday was a full day of meeting and greeting various vendors from around the country. We saw some incredibly interesting yarn, gadgets, needles, notions, and designs. It was like an entire floor of the hotel was turned into a candy shop! I took an afternoon class from Cat Bordhi on her new Sweet Tomato Heel technique, which, if you haven’t tried yet, is simplicity at its best! Here’s a link to the YouTube video she created.  You can bet I’ll be using this technique the next time I make socks, which will be my next project after our Fling-A-Long

I was up bright and early on Sunday to take another of Cat’s classes on designing unique socks by manipulating existing stitch patterns. What a great class! It gave participants the confidence to alter stitch patterns to create myriad new patterns. I loved it!  She also raved about the book Charts Made Simple, by JC Briar, who is a friend of mine on my roller derby team!  Then we packed up our bags and hopped back on the train; the train station was about 2 blocks from the hotel, which was perfect.

All in all, it was a fantastic adventure!

Sometime last year I designed the Riverbed Cowl, and published it through Colorsong Yarn as part of a kit with Fleece Artist’s Slubby Blue.  Somehow, it fell through the cracks, and was never added to this site.  Today, I’ve corrected the error, and you can now find the pattern in my FREE PATTERNS section.  Enjoy!

You can find the pattern for sale in my shop, here!  This simple shawlette starts with the lace border.  Then, you pick up stitches and work short rows to create the body.  It’s a really quick knit that uses a single skein of a high silk content luxury sport/dk weight yarn.  I recommend Handmaiden Silken or Handmaiden Double Sea Silk.

So, I was quite surprised to find myself knitting with the Kollage Square Needles in the first place.  At work, we’d been discussing adding them to our collection, but weren’t entirely sure.  How much can you really improve on knitting needles, tools that have been around for hundreds of years?  And, since we specialize in the highest quality products, we didn’t want to sell needles that didn’t live up to our standards.  There was only one thing to do: try them.  We got a sample needle, I grabbed a skein of yarn, and got down to business.  This is the part when, as I mentioned, I realized my surprise.  Here were these needles, with a square cross-section, producing truly wonderful stitches, and a whole lot more!

The square shape allows you to hold the needles gently, without gripping so hard that your hands become tense.  In other words, your hands can relax!  Seriously!  For me, this is genuinely exciting.  Then, there’s the other features.  The point, for instance.  It is perfect.  It’s on the sharper side, but not too sharp; it doesn’t pierce your yarn (or your fingers), but still easily slips into loops to perform the more complicated stitches (S2tog-k1-pss0, or k3tog, etc.).  The finish on the needles is neither too slick nor too sticky; the work flows effortlessly.  The size/length stamp, which is often worn off of a needle by the time you finish your first project, is smoothly etched into the needle, so you’ll always know what size you’re holding.

Then, on the circular needles, there’s the cords!  The Kollage Square Needles have 2 different kinds of cords available: the K-kable, and the Firm cable.  I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical of the firm cable.  I always thought that you wanted a supple cable that wouldn’t kink.  It turns out, I love the firm cable.  It supports your work as it flows closer and closer to the needle, freeing you from having to shift the stitches by hand up and onto the needle.  It’s superb.  I’d never thought a stiffer cable would be the answer.  And as for the k-kable (the softer one), it’s everything you’d want from a regular circular cord – flexible, smooth, and kink-resistant.

I think that my favorite part is the way my hands and arms are able to knit for a much longer period of time without starting to cramp, hurt, or otherwise complain with discomfort.  I always tend to grip the needles fairly tightly, which causes tension in my fingers, wrist, forearm, and shoulder.  With the square shape of these needles, though, I don’t need to grip as tightly.  For the first time in a very, very long time, I can knit pain-free for more than a couple of rows.  I can’t wait to try the double pointed needles in a fine gauge; my next project is a pair of socks with the Kollage Square Needle dpns.

In the meantime, we’ve decided to carry the needles!  I can’t get enough of them, and I’m hoping that others will appreciate the various benefits as well.  You can find more information about them, and get your own sets, at www.kollageneedleshop.com.  As for me, I’ve converted to a poly-needle lifestyle; I still love my addi Turbo and Lace Needles, but have added the Kollage Square Needles to my knitting pantheon.