I think it’s remarkable that our lives and energy expand to accommodate what we need to do! I was a little fearful of letting a new puppy into my life, which already seemed packed. Yet here is Purl and I’m actually catching up a little on the things that seemed impossible 2 weeks ago. Last week, the blog took a back seat to taxes, which are sent off to my darling brother-in-law and out of my hair finally. But I also blocked a couple pieces, made a bunny and some eggs (yes, all right, it’s silly but what fun!) and finished one shawl project that I foolishly started the week before I got Purl. She’s more active than ever and needs keeping an eye on all the time, except when, as now, she’s fast asleep in her little bed
but somehow, life has incorporated all the Purl-iness and on it goes. It encourages me to say yes to more new experiences instead of automatically trying to keep everything under control. Obviously, a little chaos can be good for you!
This is Brock, a nice little sweater made all in one piece and lovely to knit in Canopy Fingering, from Gudrun Johnson’s newest collection, called Knit with Me. Each style is sized for young girls as well as women:
Brock has a chevron pattern around the yoke and a hem that curves down in the back, made with short rows, and i-cord trim around the cuffs, front and neckline.
Another lightweight item is the Sakasama Jacket by Olgajazzy. I made it in 6-Karat, a merino/silk blend with a gauge that spans lace-to-fingering. It is a shrug made from a shaped sideways rectangle with a large collar that allows it to be worn 2 ways.
So you can see that I’ve been working on lightweight things for a while – now if the weather would just cooperate and warm up a little.
We are having another class in the Double-Knit cowl next week. This is a one-session class to learn the double-knitting technique and there is a still a little room. The cowl is very cool – you can choose from 3 different color patterns. The one shown here is the most popular.
This is one side:
and this shows the other surface, both of them knit at the same time:
Beth Blair has been knitting for many babies for a while now. She spared a little time to knit this cute jacket for the shop, made from Cascade’s new yarn called Pluscious. It’s an inexpensive synthetic that is soft, soft, soft, and cute for baby sweaters and blankets.
And then she made this very cute sweater for a new baby in her family from Encore Colorspun, and found just the right buttons for it. We only had 4 of the baseball buttons, so she went out and found a baseball bat button – just perfect!
Nadine Lyon knit this gorgeous afghan with a multitude of yarns. Donna did the blocking, weaving in ends, and fringes. It’s wonderful, truly a joint effort:
Kathryn Moser made Stephen West’s Spectra shawl from 2 beautiful colors of Madelinetosh Merino Light. I love the way the colors blend:
April Jones crocheted this Divine Hat from a striking color of Venezia Worsted:
Karen Wenrich knit this fabulous Sarum Tunic, a Cabin Fever design I’ve always wanted to make, from Kathmandu Chunky, a lovely tweed made with wool. silk, and cashmere:
Janet made this fun scarf for the shop, from Adriafil’s “Gala.” It’s a cute piece for spring. Time to lighten up!!
And this is the bunny I made, from Imperial Stock Ranch’s 2-ply Bulky Roving and Fiber Trend’s pattern. It was a lot of fun to make and the roving felted like crazy. I held a scrap of DIC’s Calm together with some angora to make the fuzzy feet and ears.
He needs a bow tie, which will match the eggs I made, and maybe we’ll be crocheting some peeps for our basket, too! Easter is right around the corner, you know.
Have fun!
Trish
