Short Story Long

In February, I published a mitten pattern with  Windy Valley Muskox .  It takes about 1 1/2 skeins of this fabulous yarn so you'll have to buy two.  Of course, you could make the cuffs longer!  I'm thinking I need a version with fingers (aka gloves).  It's on the back burner, for the moment.   In the meantime, let me tell you how lovely it is to work with qiviut!  It is one of the softest fibers, definitely the lightest, and so warm for the weight; it's best as a light layer under others, and luxurious close to the skin.  Sometimes, people misunderstand and think that qiviut comes from the inside coat (I'm not sure how to imagine that), or the underbelly of the muskox; that's because it is often described as the "under coat."  What this actually means is that it's the down layer, and grows during the cold months, closer to the skin, all over the animal; it's like down feathers on a duck.  I worked for WVM for several yea...

This summer, I have knit at least four red shawls.  I'm not complaining!  Red is my favorite color.  Three I knitted in Windy Valley yarns, and since I knew they would make a lovely picture, I worked to get them all finished about the same time before sending any off to new owners.    The bottom one is in WV Suri Alpaca, a lace-weight yarn.  The yarn came back to me from a customer who wanted a poncho similar to one that I'd knitted for her before.  However, we decided the lighter weight of the yarn would not lend itself to the first stitch pattern.  I found Cold Mountain in my favorites, and we agreed that would be a better stitch choice.   The middle shawl is another Jamie (I think I've knit about five of these for other people!)  It's in WV's Royal Blend - half qiviut, half silk.   The top one is of my own design.  It's all done and photographed, but I haven't written up the pattern yet.  I ...

Donna was my mom's friend, but she was my friend, too.  She was an incredible crafter.  She did everything from knit and crochet to ribbon embroidery, beading, and was a beautiful quilter. Quite a collector, she gathered fat quarters, of course, and miniature perfume bottles, Jim Shore figurines, antique hand mirrors, thimbles, and steins.  She was great fun on a shop hop! Her son was my first boyfriend - we were three!  Donna's mini perfume bottles In early 2013, Donna passed away from breast cancer.  It was at least her second battle with the disease; she had also had it many years before.  At her funeral, her casket was draped with a gorgeous quilt. In October of 2013, I had been working with Windy Valley Muskox for a couple of years, and wrote a hat pattern for them in honor of Donna.  I started a post about this, but I just didn't know what to say about Donna.  I did not want to give the impression that I would profit from h...

February has been unseasonably mild.   It's President's Day.  Everyone has the day off except, well, my day is the same as usual.   I spent the morning writing up a new hat pattern for Windy Valley Muskox .  At shows, we often have customers ask whether we have men's patterns.  Many of our patterns could be unisex, depending on the color it's knit in, but this was designed with the guys in mind.  Of course, it would look equally nice on a woman, in my opinion.  Anyway, this one's photographed on a man, so hopefully that will answer the question!   Once I get the pattern posted on Ravelry, I will come back and add a link.  For now, a few details and a picture: Yarn:   WVM's Australian Merino in 7014 Bering Sea, and WVM's Luxury Blend in 7015 Celestial Blue Needles:  US 3/3.25mm and US 4/3.5mm, both 16", and US 4 dpns.   It's lined - the qiviut blend is on the inside for extra warmth and luxury.   ...

In case you've ever wondered what drives me...   Almost from the time I began knitting, I've been putting my own twist on projects.  I was reading knitting blogs and joined Ravelry before I was a knitter, so I was already seeing that knitters modified patterns to suit them before I could do it myself.  In fact, this is one of the things that drew me most to knitting - being able to make the sweater I want in the color I want.  In my observation over the past seven years, I see that many knitters make small modifications to patterns based on their own needs - making the sleeves longer or shorter; adding or omitting pockets; using a cast on, decrease or buttonhole that they prefer.  I came into this thinking that was part of the fun - being able to make it my own.  The first pattern I ever wrote and published was a cabled hat, Glacier .  I may go back and edit that pattern, now that I've learned a few more tricks!  But at the beginning, I just ...

I've been meaning to post a lot more about my knitting projects, but it always seems like I have too much or not enough to say.  So today's the day! If you know me at all, you know I LOVE knitting.  I like it so much, it might be a problem.  I wash the dishes so I can use the sink to soak finished pieces; I do the laundry so I can have towels to block my projects on.  I clean the house so I can find all the yarn I've left various places!  I found my Thing in life; that Thing that makes me feel like I was born to do something specific.  I definitely knew it was not science!  I'm good at a lot of things, and I know not everyone can say that.  But for me, knitting is the thing that I'm great at, that flows with little effort and lots of joy. Along with personal fulfillment, knitting has opened up a world of opportunities for me - meeting people, making money in several ways (teaching, test knitting, contract knitting), expanding my photogra...

It's about time to decide whether I'm knitting any gifts for Christmas, and for whom, and what will it be?  And which yarn?   I've just finished a sweater for myself, which I'm excited about.  I'm in no hurry for cold, but when it does arrive, I'm going to be ready.  Ends are being woven in, today, and then it may live on a mannequin at the yarn shop for a week or two.  I've knitted several items of my own design; I have four new patterns available through Windy Valley, and will have another two or three at my local yarn shop next month.  If you went to Stitches, you may have seen the Windy Valley pieces.  A photo shoot is in the works soon!  Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of finished pictures, but I do have a few in progress pictures. One of my new patterns, Margin , a 650 yard shawl.  This one's my current favorite...   This scrumptious yarn is going to be Asunder , pattern from Lisa Mutch on Ravelry.  I'm ab...

I recently finished this shawl... for myself.  This yarn languished more than a year in my stash, as I contemplated whether I should write a pattern for it.  I go to all these yarn shows, wearing store-bought sweaters and my favorite hoodie; I'm a great knitter, and I looked like a scrub.  So in the end, I decided knitting it and wearing it was more of a priority than being able to say I designed it myself.   Yarn:  Pure Qiviut from Windy Valley Muskox, 3-ish skeins of Red Valor, one skein of Scarlet Pattern:   NoFa Shawl from La Maison Rililie - great pattern, easy to follow. Mods:  I did modify the striping sequence because I did not know for sure how much qiviut I had, and I wanted to use it ALL!   I think I finished this last week, but hadn't taken time to block it, which made me sad every time I went somewhere and thought, "I could be wearing my shawl if I'd block it already!!"  This week, I did finish a sample knit, ...

I know, it's been a long time since I have blogged.  In the meantime, I have: ...gone to Vogue Knitting Live in New York!   I was excited to go; I've been to New York City but it's been upwards of 20 years.  Plus a few more.  I was excited, but I was afraid of being mugged, I tell you.  I went with Dianne, from Windy Valley yarns.   We stayed in Times Square - I loved it.  You can take pictures all night and they look like daytime; it was bright!  Our luggage arrived a day late - after our free day for sight-seeing.  We waited for hours , and by the time we finally decided to go without make-up or clean clothes, we didn't have time to see much.  I spent $33 on eyeliner, deodorant and aspirin.  Don't shop at the hotel.    I did not get mugged, and after a day or two, I went outside and up and down a few blocks, by myself.   There are so many places to eat!  We ate at Carnegie Deli, and I had a hot d...

Last week, I took my first plane ride in over ten years!  Everything went smoothly.  I traveled with a friend, Kathy, who graciously let me have the window seat so I could take a picture out the window every five minutes.  Views over Colorado: Where did we go, you wonder? (Or perhaps not, if you read the title.) To Stitches West in Santa Clara, California!  I went with Windy Valley Muskox to help in their booth, and had a great time!  We stayed at the Hyatt Regency connected to the convention center.  I'll give you a little run-down of practically everything I did, in case you want to live vicariously.  I was determined to take pictures of everything, and started out strong, not even missing my pretty plates of food. Views over California: Wednesday: 5:30 a.m. Kathy picked me up and we drove to Denver International Airport. 9:00   Up in the air!  11:30  Landed safely and checked in to the Hyatt Hotel; wen...

  Can I just tell you again how much I love knitting?  I LOVE knitting!   As much as I enjoy quilting, I have just not connected to any local quilters like I have knitters.  I think I need to take a quilting class one of these days.  (I still love my quilting blog friends, though!)  One of the people I've had the good fortune to meet through knitting is Dianne Nash of Windy Vally Muskox yarns.  I've been teaching Beginning Knitting at my LYS and had two of Dianne's aunts in my class last spring.  Our class of six ladies (plus me) went out for fun after the last session, and since Dianne was in town she joined us.  Since then, I have become great friends with this fun group of ladies - we even have a new little baby to pass around!  Most recently, I had the opportunity to design a new pattern for WVM with their delicious Luxury Blend.  Part qiviut ( muskox fiber), part silk, and a pinch of wool, the Luxury Blend is warm, soft, a...