Cuckoo for Cowls

I've got another pattern up on ravelry.com! It's the Zig Zag Cowl.

I'm even more excited about this one than the last. It takes less yarn, and is quite easy to knit, but not boring.




And look! Wear it over your coat collar. Keeps you even warmer :)



I truly enjoyed working with the Berroco Peruvia yarn. I was surprised. It feels rough on the skein, but softens up as you knit it. And it was different for me to not knit with something with a lot of spring to it. It's really quite lovely.

Hope you'll give the pattern a try. Purchase it from ravelry.com, or from my sidebar here.

Surprise surprise

Well well well. Color me a yarn snob. I fully admit to having turned up my nose at acrylic. Having started my knitting life at Purl Soho, and now working at Knitty City, you can't blame me, can you? I honestly didn't know that I was dealing with top-of-the-line goods. I just thought it was normal.

So when I was dragged kicking and screaming into a Michael's, and then a Jo-Ann store I was horrified at the pounds of yarn. I couldn't possibly be seen leaving with that in my possession. Oh no no no.

But, I was tempted when the Lion Brand Yarn Studio opened in Manhattan. I've always associated them with those pounds of acrylic. Color me stupid now. I was in search of some baby friendly yarn. Superwash to be exact, and I stumbled across their LBY Collection Superwash Merino. At $8.00 a skein, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

It is absolutely gorgeous. I had such a good time knitting with this yarn!



I used it for the Autumn Leaves Cardigan pattern. I modified it a bit, but since it's a free pattern on Ravelry, I couldn't ask for anything more. I think it's adorable!



I had such a good time, in fact, that I even bought a skein of their Wool-Ease. Who can turn their nose up at anything these days?

The hole gets deeper

I'm sure I'm not the only one who started knitting making statements like, "Omigod, I would never knit those. I'm just going to make some scarves and hats." Or, "Wow, that's a lot of effort - forget that." Well, here I am three and a half years later, knitting things I wouldn't knit and doing things to them I chuckled at only a few months ago.

Yes, I purchased sock blockers from Knit Picks. And here I am blocking socks. They need to be blocked too, right? I just couldn't resist.

These are a gift for a fabulous co-worker. He wanted me to make some socks for his wife and mother after seeing pictures of my original Lindsay Socks. How often do you willingly knit two pairs of socks for someone which are not even for them? That's how fabulous he is. Since they were a gift to be a gift, I wanted them looking spiffy. They were so puckered that I bit the bullet and got the blockers.



Every time I look down this knitting hole, it just gets deeper and deeper.

As fair as fair can be

Maybe there are just some things that don't come easily. Like this Fair Isle Knitting. Unfortunately, mine should be called something more like Ugly Isle Knitting. It's all about the tension isn't it. I'm such a tight knitter that when I'm told to knit more loosely, I just stare at my hands.

Here is another attempt of mine at "fair" isle knitting:



OK, you can't really see squat in that picture.



I know I didn't pick the best colors for fair isle, but I didn't really want to do something so contrasting you could really see my mistakes. So I'll go to that white and black when I'm feeling more confident. Sorry Brooklyn Tweed!! I've done absolutely no justice to your beautiful fair isle Beaumont Tam!

This'll be my third attempt, too. Third. I thought three was the charm?

That darn tension! It just looks so sloppy. And it's being blocked over a dinner plate, so it's kind of looking as good as it's gonna get. I know I know... practice makes perfect, but I'm not sure I can keep wasting yarn like this! I've tried every trick I've found online, read about or heard about. Wooden needles so the yarn doesn't slip back when you're trying to stretch it out. Put your finger under the strand to give it some slack. Pull on it once you've knit it to make sure it's loose. OK, that last one I can't do. It would take me a year to finish something like this little tam.