agave sweater, finished

Blocked, seamed, and hanging in the garden! Agave is off the needles. Pleased with this finish and looking forward to wearing it this week. The color, 'buttermilk', is a delightfully cheerful but soft yellow. The fiber content, very soft cotton, makes for a lightweight but draped fabric that seems to hold the lace pattern well. The bottom edge is curling up just a bit, so it will be interesting to see how that goes when I've worn it a few times. The other thing I hope changes with wear is the drape of the sleeves. They haven't quite relaxed into full drape yet, but I suspect they'll soften up and get there; they just came off the blocking board today. 

The pattern, Agave by Yumiko Alexander, was easy to follow and pretty straightforward as far as construction goes. It's knit flat in two panels which are then blocked and joined at the shoulders. The sleeves are picked up and knit flat (!) and blocked into shape. Once that's all done, the sides are seamed. I've not made one like this before but had no trouble. The yarn I used was Jody Long Cottontails which is soft and light and was pleasant in my hands as I worked. I can't say I am a fan of how many times the yarn was knotted though. One ball had at least 3 knots in it. The others weren't quite that bad. Each time I came to a knot I untied or cut it out and left ends to weave in. I don't think the knots would have worked themselves very well into this sea of stockinette stitches. I do like the stitch definition and drape. I suspect if I had gone with a linen yarn as the pattern called for I would have achieved even more drape but this was on SUCH good sale at my LYS during yarn crawl (like $1 a skein I think?) that I decided this was the material for this sweater. I had to scrounge around for one extra ball online at full price (it's discontinued) but overall this was less than $20 of materials which makes me enjoy it even more. 
 

Yellow is not usually my color because it seems to highlight the red tones in my face extremely efficiently but this one works. It's more butter and less marigold. The neckline is kind of interesting since it's just a straight line seam interrupted for a head to go through. I kind of like the resulting boatneck though it has some figuring itself out to do to lie correctly where the lace panel is. It seems to behave differently than the rest of the neckline which makes it wave up a bit. I have confidence it will work out. Would consider making again with the other sleeve option, but these flutter sleeves are really quite fun. More feminine than I am usually comfortable wearing, but still fun. 

On first fit it is comfortable if just a bit fussy in the length department. Being cotton I did not want to make it too long since it should grow over time, but right now I'm wishing for an extra inch or two. Again, not worried and it will work perfectly with flowy pants for now and will look better with the jeans as it grows. This was a fun one, though I don't want to make a sweater knit flat again any time soon! I've learned it's not my joy, even if the finished product is pretty joyful. 

glamour shots to catch up

While I was out photographing my North Sea wrap yesterday, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and great lighting to take pictures of some knit pieces that I have finished since 2021 (and also a way better picture of my Shetland shawl than I had).

Shetland shawl August 2017 - June 2019. Literally one of my favorite things I've ever made and I never took very good photos of it. It's 6 feet square, so that's a challenge. It's folded in half here the way I've been wearing it. 

Phoenix started week 22 of pandemic, according to blog post titles (August 2020) and finished Aug 16 2021which is the day after I went back to work.

This is a pattern out of my Colorwork Shawls book by Melanie Berg and made with some beautifully hand dyed wool and silk yarn from a woman I met at Stitches West the one time I went. The stripes between the green and blue yarn didn't workout quite as well as I imagined, but the wash of color against the bright orange is still pretty and you can still see the interesting geometry of the sideways construction. 

Scarf of my own design Feb 20 - Mar 27 2022. Very cozy yarn from Monarch Knitting in Monterey. I can remember purposely choosing a combination of colors that I don't normally wear. 

Unlike many of the wool-based knits I make, this one feels good on my skin and doesn't seem to irritate it if I wear it a long time. It's extremely soft, and I wonder if I'd ever be brave enough to knit a sweater with it. 

This crochet blanket was a fun thing I made in April of 2022. I can't remember how, where, or why I got this yarn but I suspect the pattern may have been something from the label. 

I made the blanket shorter than was called for and got to play with making some wonderfully dense pompoms to add onto the ends using the rest of the yarn. It's a great blanket for the couch, and those pompoms never get old. 

Fractured is a cowl that Dave picked colors out for a while back on one of our trips down to Monterey. It's Brooklyn Tweed yarn from Monarch Knitting, and I finally cast it on this past year and worked on it sporadically from January to December.

I started it in January intending to have it done for his birthday in February, but it was slower going than I hoped. I blocked it out over the holidays and am amazed at how much everything evened out. It looks great and I'm hoping it suits his oceanside lifestyle.

North Sea Ombre wrap finished

Today is a banner day! Yesterday I finally soaked and stretched this wrap, and this morning I was greeted with a dry, fragrant (thank you Soak yuzu...) and finished piece. 

I cast on in late June 2022 and bound off the last stitch on a train somewhere between Chicago and home on July 14, 2024. That isn't a terribly long time for something like this, which is 1100 yards off light fingering weight yarn contorted into beautiful lace, and certainly not the longest I've taken on a project. The interesting thing about this is that aside from a quick hat and a julekuler, I did not work on any other knitting project while this was going. I really felt like I wanted to stick to one thing and get it done. Problem was, I definitely got bored along the way. The first section of green especially seemed to take forever. Lamenting whether any color changes were actually going to happen before I got to the end of the written pattern, I kept chugging along. Then I got to the end of the written pattern. And I had a lot of yarn left, and no navy stitches at all. What to do? The pattern, and a bunch of things on Ravelry, gave me the impression that I had the perfect amount of yarn. It's a gradient, I don't want to split it up and use it on something else because I think it will look half baked without the full swoosh of colors. So, I did what any stubborn knitter would do - I added a whole extra repeat of the geometric center panel and then knitted the waves until I ran out of yarn. 

I'm pretty thrilled with the end result. It measures 22" wide by 110" long. The pattern indicated 72" in length, which indeed my "end" of the actual called for pattern does coincide with that length. I like the extra though. Is it maybe a foot too long? Yeah, probably. But it wraps comfortably, I can move in it without it unwrapping, and when I let it hang off my shoulders it makes me look elegantly tall. 

The book it came from is a compilation of folk shawls from around the world. The Shetland shawl I made also came from there. I am certain I will be making more pieces out of those pages; these are two of my favorite pieces now that they are finished. The making (of both) was sometimes tedious, but the end result is well worth it. 

Pattern: North Sea Shawl, by Cheryl Oberle (my Ravelry page) 

Yarn: Scheepjes Woolly Whirl in 'sugar sizzle'
Needle: US 5 (3.75 mm)
Size: 22" wide x 110" long

week twenty two

 I’ve been wanting to knit lately. That’s somewhat strange given the fact that it’s so incredibly hot outside - in the 100s! - but there it is. I should say that I also did finish a couple more hexagons for my tree skirt this week and picked out a layout, but that’s for another post when I actually have it done... sometime before Christmas. Back to yarn. Current mood: use things in the stash.

These three lovelies are from my Honey Girl Farms Outlander Yarn Club that I was in for a while. I was accumulating too many skeins without using them so I paused it. The colors are so nice and I really like the silky yarn base, so maybe someday if she’s still got it going I’ll start up again. Along comes an itch to make another large shawl and boom, three skeins will get used. It’s a somewhat unusual combination, but that is just what I was going for. This piece will have narrow stripes and panels of lace. In theory the stripes could be very contrast-y, but I am curious to see how the blue and green mottled yarns play together. I think once the fabric gets larger the stripes will become apparent. It’s reminding me of a dragon’s scales or a phoenix feather right now. Such pretty colors.

The pattern is out of a book I got down at a new-to-me shop in Monterey sometime before the pandemic - The Before Time. It’s going to be an asymmetrical sideways chevron which is a new construction for me. It should be really interesting! 

Cocoa with the Frasers, finished

Ta daaaa! I blocked my Baubles shawl last night with a quick soak and stretch with my blocking wires on the floor of the studio. The only color that bled much was the brown, but I'm happy to report that it didn't catch at all on the light yellow to dull it at all. I did not block aggressively because of the brioche sections. I just did enough to get the lace panels stretched a bit. 

This was a really fun pattern to work up that started simple and increased in complexity as it moved along. The simple stripes were a nice way to work into the project followed by the fun brioche columns that switch color dominance halfway through. As I worked through that switch I started to understand better how the brioche stitch is actually structured, and learning that was pretty gratifying. I was even able to fix a dropped stitch or two along the way which is pretty impressive if you ask me!

The yarn color choices were not mine, though I wish they were. I would not have thought of this combination and they are not my usual suspects at all, but I think the vibrant turquoise and orange Jamie Fraser yarn with the lighter and (dare I say it) daintier Sassenach yellow is just gorgeous. It's an appropriate combination from a character perspective, yes, but also they manage to work well together sharing some of the silver and orange hues. The variegations especially make the striped sections look incredibly dynamic. The Hot Chocolate brown is a subdued shade somewhat like the Grand Street Ink that I used for my Waiting for Rain. I prefer the latter, but this brown is also very soft and pleasant and provides a great neutral for the variegated yarns to play on. In my mind this has been my "Baubles shawl" as I've worked on it but now that I write this paragraph, I think I'll go with the cheeky name Cocoa with the Frasers in a nod to the colors and the book/TV series I love so much. 

The whole effort of pattern matching with colors was accomplished by the lovely lady who dyed the yarns and runs Honey Girl Farms. Last February I attended Stitches West here and purchased entirely too much yarn... if that's a thing. This kit was one of the items that came home with me. Look at me! I finished the project before a year passed! Let's not talk about the other yarn... this was the first dip I allowed myself into that stash so far. And I also joined her Outlander yarn club, so there's that. Suffice to say I'm looking forward to finding creative uses for all of her lovely colors in the coming months (years). 

The pattern itself is very well put together and written clearly. There is a written version (my preference) as well as a charted version of each section. What I liked the most about it was the detailed instructions for each stitch, no matter how simple, and specific recommended cast on and bind off techniques. So many options are available that sometimes it's difficult to know what the best choice is for a given edge. It's so common for patterns to just say "cast on" and "bind off"/"bind off loosely" and then despite your best efforts you still end up with a less than satisfying edge. The designer also included great notes for each section to explain unusual things or to clarify. There were a lot of crazy increases and decreases in the brioche sections but the notes and instructions made them very easy to accomplish.

I was pretty wowed when I got to the last section and started shaping in brioche. Whaaaaat??? It turned out looking amazing. There is definitely at least one spot where I messed up the decreases and fudged a row or two (see above comment about really learning how brioche works...) but no one will know besides me and nobody's perfect. When I blocked this edge I just put a few T-pins around each outside curve to avoid pointy-ness and let the inner ones settle in by themselves. After unpinning it looks great. This pattern is definitely a "need to pay attention while working" pattern, at least while not working the striped sections. It was a really enjoyable knit where I learned a lot and I am going to love wearing this thing. 

Pattern: Baubles, by Andrea Mowry (my Ravelry page)
Yarn: Honey Girl Farms Silky Sock in "Jamie Fraser", "Sassenach", and "Hot Chocolate"
Needle: US 4 (3.5 mm)
Size: 100"across, 30" deep

shetland, finished

It's done! And I'm in love. This is the most ambitious knitting I've done to date and I am so very happy I went on the adventure. The pictures simply do not do justice to this amazing piece. It is large and cozy. I can certainly see wrapping up in this on chilly days. 

The yarn I chose, an alpaca/wool/nylon blend, lends the shawl great weight and drape without being bulky. It's also just a little bit "gritty" if that makes sense. It's not a soft silky feel but more of a rough and tweedy hand, and I think that suits it very nicely. I would absolutely use this yarn for a shawl again as I really like the texture. 

The color is difficult to capture on camera. It's a navy with flecks of magenta/purple in it appropriately named 'blueberry'. I can remember when I bought 5 skeins of this lace weight yarn at the shop and being asked "what are you going to make with all of this tiny yarn?!" Well, I don't think the lady believed me when I told her a single Shetland shawl, but I have just under half a skein left! It just ate up yardage. 

It is fun to look at this project and remember the places it's been with me as I worked on it, especially the trip over the pond to Scotland it took. It's even more special to me having seen the cultural birthplace of this type of shawl. Though we did not specifically go to Shetland, I do see echoes of the mainland highlands in the patterns as well and that is a pretty cool connection. 

I very much enjoyed the knitting once I got going, and I'm looking forward to another project from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawl Knitting book soon. 

Pattern: Fir Cone Shawl (my Ravelry page)
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in 'blueberry mix'
Needle: US 7 (4.5 mm)
Size: 6 feet square

blocking shetland

In the big push to block all of the finished yarny things I have, I got down to the last one - the Shetland shawl. Initially my thoughts trended towards putting it off some more to avoid the back breaking work of kneeling on the floor and pricking my fingers on more pins than I thought I even owned. But I persevered because I totally want to wear this thing. 

Again, I count myself lucky that I have my craft room now. I had the floor space to put together nearly every single foam board I have into a gigantic square. That's 6 feet square. In the end once I got my blocking wires in I decided that the wave edging didn't really need the meticulous shaping I was thinking of doing and that it would be just fine using only blocking wires thank you very much (indeed this is true). 

Of course the blocking really makes this design look impressive. The lace just doesn't shine the same way all squished up. It needs the magic of water and wires to really find itself. Above is the center panel fir cone motif, and below are the inner and outer border sections followed by the wave edging. I like the geometric borders more now that I see them in context. While knitting them I have to admit I wasn't too sure how it was all going to work out, especially after knitting the fun, curvy, organic center panel. The one thing that terrified me while blocking this was wondering if I had dropped a stitch somewhere while picking up the live edges for the last border. One stretch and there goes the stitch zipping out through the shawl! I'm pretty good at fixing those types of things if I drop while knitting, but this pattern is so complex I don't think I'd be able to recover. Thankfully no stitches were dropped. Phew. 

The wave motif is quite possibly the most impressive thing about the shawl aside from the size. I'm amazed at what a few well placed decreases will do. It's a for real wave. All the way around. Whaaaat. I just ran the wires through where I thought the crest of the wave was for each repeat and called it good. I was considering lots of pins to make it rounded but then I thought of how the ladies that make actual Shetland shawls stretch them out on great big wooden stretchers and decided that they probably didn't bother worrying about that kind of shaping. Also inspired by them, I did block quite aggressively, pinning out to almost 6 feet square.

waiting for rain

This is absolutely one of my favorite knitting projects I've ever done. It was a really fast knit that I did mostly on vacation, and I'm so glad I made it. This is a really special shawl for me not only because I love the color combination, the design and everything else, but also because the Koigu was a yarn I bought in Chicago when I went home for my grandpa's funeral. He and I were always very close, and we both shared a love of flamingos. I thought this particular color looked very much like all of the colors you'd find in a flock of flamingos, so I got it to remember him by.

I'd had my eye on this pattern as soon as it came out and I put it in my queue for 'someday' when I decided what yarn would suit me best. I loved the gray original version, but could see it in so many other lovely colors too. As soon as I saw the striped versions start coming out I knew I was going to do that, and after the Koigu had been in the stash a while I asked myself why not use it in this project? I went out to find a coordinating main color that would showcase but not compete with the pink and ended up with this lovely brown. There are definitely some speckles of this shade in the Koigu, too so that was great. The orange was a bit unexpected but was a leftover in my stash. The shade turned out to work great, again there are a few specks of orange in the Koigu, and I really like the unconventional combination of these three. 

The Lorna's Laces brown yarn is really soft and lightweight just like the orange madelinetosh. It bled quite a bit when I soaked it which made me sad that it was going to dull the pink Koigu, but in the end that worked itself out somehow as it dried and no issues in the finished piece. The Koigu was absolutely the right choice for the lace panels. I thought maybe the speckles would detract from or get lost in the lace but it looks amazing. That yarn is a little more robust and twisted differently than the others so the textural difference is really interesting in combination with the lace.

I've got notes on my striping on Ravelry, and I used the optional picot bind off to finish it. I think that edge really adds something to the whole look. Not usually my taste, but it totally works here. Even though it's a bit of a pain to weave in all the ends afterwards, I would absolutely recommend the stripes. I think the movement you get visually from them in combination with the lace panels is really cool and brings out the uniqueness of the construction. The overall size is perfect for me, and I've already worn it out a couple of times this fall with pride and love.

Pattern: Waiting for Rain (my Ravelry page)
Yarn: Koigu PPPM in 'P709', Lorna's Laces Solemate in 'Grand Street Ink', and madelinetosh tosh merino light in 'terra'
Needle: US 6 (4 mm)
Size: 96" across, 25" deep

lilac tulips

This is another project like the Aslan cowl that I finished this summer and blocked this fall. I guess it's actually the last thing I made in our old place! I worked on it mostly through July - which was a crazy month where we got our first (!) house offer accepted, one cat was super sick, and Dave was traveling internationally. Definitely a comfort knit if there ever was one.

I got this yarn at the very first King's Mountain Art Fair I went to. It was a really pretty color of lace weight yarn that I bought with no plan whatsoever. Then a couple summers ago I remember going through my stash and winding some of the orphan yarns I had so I would be incentivized to use them. Then in February I went through my stash again and planned out some actual projects. This was one of them, but it took me bit to get to it! There are worse things in life than having a robust stash and too many things to knit. 

When I blocked it, the lace really opened up in the flower border and the whole piece naturally fell into a big circle. That shape makes for a really easy and natural wrap around the neck and the drape is just lovely. I really like the flower border - the pattern names them begonias, but I think they look more like tulips to me. Either way the color of this yarn suits it very well and the design is quite something. My flowers didn't block out as pointy as many others did, but I like the subtle curves in the edge rather than really dramatic points. Very happy with this yarn-on-a-whim project.

Pattern: Begonia Swirl, free on Ravelry (my Ravelry page)

Yarn: Schafenfreude Fibers Silken Lace in 'lilac'

Needle: US 4

Size: Blocked in circle 1 yard across, 14" deep when done

Sunset

I love this shawl! What started out as a project to get this yarn worked up into something - anything! - has turned into what I think will be another favorite piece. It’s long and wide and drapes wonderfully. 

The pattern was a free one I found on Ravelry that is texturally interesting but repetitive and simple enough that variegated yarns look quite smashing. I find the project gallery feature on Ravelry especially useful in answering the question “will variegation look terrible”. I wasn’t too sure about it as the first inches came off the needles, wondering if I should abandon it and make something less lacy, but in the end that very thing is what makes this single skein of sock yarn a satisfyingly large wrap.

It is an asymmetrical triangle which is another thing I like about it. Triangle wraps are good, too, but I think the asymmetry makes the point hang down in a more flattering way. The orange yarn glittered in the sunshine when we went out to take pictures of it yesterday, and it looks so nice against our lovely spring green plants. Funny that in my first post on this I thought this would still be hanging around months down the road... I've enjoyed many evenings of knitting in April so far and made fast progress!

I'm pretty sure this was the one where I did an Icelandic bind off. I wanted something stretchy because I knew I was going to try to block the pants off of it when finished. I wet blocked it and used my handy blocking wires to get a nice stretch going that really opened up the dropped stitches and yarn over sections. I was pretty skeptical starting out that one skein of yarn plus my tendency for tight knitting would end up being as big as the pictures on the pattern made me think it should be, but I am pleasantly surprised at how large it turned out. And to add even more satisfaction, I used up every last bit of yarn making these tassels for two of the corners. No leftovers! I tested today after attaching the tassels and they help give some weight and make the drape even better. Love.

Pattern: Stormy Sky Shawl, free on Ravelry (my Ravelry page)

Yarn: Serendipidye Kings Mountain Sock in ‘Pumpkin Patch’

Needle: US 9

Size: 70” x 38”

the last ball...

I'm starting on my last ball of yarn for the Shetland shawl! How exciting. I have finished one side plus a corner of the final border, just three more sides to go. 

I took advantage of the fact that I had to wind this last ball of yarn today to wind 5 other skeins for other things I've got planned. They are all tucked away in project bags now waiting for casting on. I don't think I'm going to make myself finish this before I start something new, but I do think I'll sit and make some focused progress this afternoon. The weather is rather Scottish outside today, so it feels appropriate.

do the wave

I'm on the home stretch of my Shetland shawl. It will be many rows of knit on border until I'm done, but I've got a decent start. It took me a bit of thinking to understand just how the border gets put on, but since I sat down to "just start" and did it wrong a few times it is now going along pretty smoothly. I tell myself if I can do two repeats a day (on average) then I'll be finished in a month! That's not that long at all.

This last border is really cool. The way the decreases and yarn overs work together, the pattern emerges as the crest of a wave. It even curls over on itself - so neat. Part of my issue making progress is going to be that I have to look at the pattern for this section, I haven't been able to memorize the chart yet. That means it won't be great football knitting, but it might make a good pre-bedtime meditation. I've got seven little wavelets done already, just three and a half more sides left! 

celeste

One of my friends from the barn had a birthday last month. Her boss, another good friend of mine, suggested I make her a knitted scarf she can use to ride in since she loves the one I made her so much (what great feedback to hear!). That was a fantastic suggestion, so I got started on it and it took me just a couple of evenings of knitting to finish.  

I tend to wear very bright colors at the barn - I have riding pants in red and purple - and Celeste laughs at me since she wears the more traditional colors - olive, beige, and navy. I found the better part of a dark gray ball of yarn in my stash and paired it up with a cowl pattern I had saved on Ravelry. Cowls are good for riding because they don't come unwound, and I thought she would appreciate my effort to give her something neutral to wear. 

The motif is a Shetland one called horseshoe lace, which I consider appropriate both as a sign of luck and as a gift for a horsewoman. I really like the way it turned out with the marled gray yarn - despite my love of brights I do like me a nice gray. It looks fine unblocked, but stretching it out to about 12" x 12" on the board opened up the pattern and it looks even nicer. I also wanted to make sure that it was going to be wide enough to get it on and off over a helmet in case she decided mid-ride that it was warming up. 

I did make one modification. Rather than mirroring the pattern so there were sets of horseshoes that faced one another, I just continued with them facing the same direction for all the repeats. I saw that some others had done that when I looked around on Ravelry and I liked the way it looked. I did get a note that she liked it, so I hope she ends up getting some use out of it if the mornings ever cool down again! 

Celeste Cowl

Pattern: Crofter's Cowl (my Ravelry page)
Yarn: madelinetosh Tosh DK in 'El Greco'
Needle: US 8

shetland shawl

It's been real quiet around here lately! That's not for lack of keeping my hands busy making, it's just that I've been primarily working on a large slow-knitting project. I started at the beginning of last August and am about halfway through -- not bad considering the hiatus for holiday knitting and a lot of life in between. What is it, you ask? A Shetland shawl!

On one of our trips to Powell's Books in Portland, I bought myself a book from Cheryl Oberle on Folk Shawls. It has patterns from many different countries, including Scotland. Of the Scottish shawls, the one that caught my eye (and why I bought the book) was the Fir Cone Shawl. It is a lovely Shetland style square shawl with different nature-based lace motifs used throughout. The pictures below are of the center fir cone lace section.

It's basically going to be a huge square when I'm finished. So huge that when I bought the 2100 yards of fingering weight yarn for it the woman at the store asked "what in the world are you making with all this thin yarn?" I swear she blanched when I said a Shetland shawl. It certainly is an undertaking, but I'm really enjoying it. It takes a bit of focus, so it's not great TV knitting like socks or something simpler, but we've been traveling enough that I've made some progress on planes, in lake houses, and in hotels. These photos are in fact from a plane. 

The yarn is a really deep navy that doesn't come through great on camera. It has threads of purple through it, too.  I've gotten to the border, which I'm proud to say after much consternation and swearing at picking up stitches around the center section. I was hoping to have this done in time for our trip to Scotland this year, but that's coming up soon so I may have to take it to keep working on it rather than to wear it. In any case, it will be fun to see the place that inspired the cone, shell, and wave motifs in this piece and I'm enjoying the making!

sky blue sky

I have been challenging myself to work on a some smaller projects with leftovers from my stash and enjoying the process of perusing Ravelry for things to work on. The filters are so useful when I have a certain yarn in mind with a limited amount of yardage. It's easy to find a slew of potential patterns that I know will be appropriate based on weight or even the exact yarn.

I started this hat at the airport when we went on our weekend jaunt to Las Vegas last month. I didn't get very far on that trip, but made a lot of good progress after coming back and finished it up before the end of May. I wet blocked it over a dinner plate. Yes, seriously. It was the perfect size. That opened the lace up a lot making it look less like a lump of blue yarn and much more like a beret. Magic. The band isn't super tight, but I don't think that's what you'd want in a hat like this anyway.

It may seem strange to be working on a winter accessory with summer approaching, but again - working from leftovers. This yarn is a silk/wool blend leftover from a cowl I made for one of my friends a few years ago. In retrospect, it's kind of an odd color to use for a leafy/floral pattern since there isn't much that is naturally this color in the world of plants, but the yarn itself jives with the pattern very nicely.

The pattern was a freebie on Ravelry, and quite a nice one at that! I enjoyed making it and loved the fact that I had a big round of double pointed needles I was working from rather than a circular. The work in progress kind of looked like a porcupine. I didn't make it for anyone in particular, so it's going to go in an aspirational pile of grab-n-go gifts. I don't think that diminishes it's specialness in any way for the eventual recipient, because of course I'd only gift it to someone that I thought it was a good fit for (literally and figuratively).

I don't tend to think about making hats or gloves or, in fact, anything small when there are so many pretty shawls and wraps to work on, but I must say actually finishing in less than two weeks is a nice change of pace!

Pattern: Springtime in Philadelphia (my Ravelry page)
Yarn: Cascade Heritage Silk in 'cerulean'
Needles: US 2 and US 0 (tiny!!)