A Very Kiwi Christmas

I might have missed my Christmas deadline with these socks... luckily Christmas comes around every year. I really enjoyed knitting this pair. The pattern, Geek Socks, by Wei Siew is completely potato chip knitting. I just had to have another round, another stripe, another another another. 

I did make an edit to the pattern: I knit heel flaps rather than an afterthought heel as recommended in the pattern. I have gotten reasonably good at getting my stripes to look nice in heel flaps, so I went for it. I only had to rip once because I decided I didn't want the red stripe surrounding the heel.

This pair is so cozy, too! I bought Stray Cat Sock's Essential Deluxe base, which is a 80/10/10 Merino/Cashmere/Nylon base. And I'm just in love with the Kiwi Christmas color way. It reminds me of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

I'm pleased to report that I was able to enable friends at knit night. When I had ordered all my yarn, I'd offered to tack on anyone else's order to help save on shipping from New Zealand. No one took me up on it. But after I started knitting these socks... well. I'm pretty sure Stray Cat won't be going out of business any time soon.

I'm not the only one to have finished up some knitting. Connor knit me a pair of Lambing Mitts out of Stansborough's Mithril (also a New Zealand yarn) in the Kokako color way. 

When he knit himself a pair, he left out the extra bit that can fold up over the hands. I insisted on having that part added.

Connor even joined me in watching Netflix while knitting. We watched Versailles while he knit the second mitt and it ended up too small! The plot was pretty stressful at times; he must have been knitting much tighter. Connor ripped it out and knit a third one and that one fit just fine.

So now I have warm hands and feet. It's been pretty cold, so I'm sure they are both going to get lots of use.

A Midsummer's Night Knit

At Stitches West in 2014, I got to talking with the wonderful people over at Dragonfly Fibers. I left with a skein of yarn and a plan. Despite my vision, the stitches didn't play nice... until now. I'm so happy to present to you all the two piece collection: A Midsummer's Night Knit.

The first piece of the collection consists of the Titania Cowl. The cowl has a triangular bottom that is blended into a more traditional cowl shape. I'm always surprised by how even a gauzy bit of knitting can provide so much warmth. I was pretty cold when we took these photos.... until I put the cowl on.

The second piece to the collection are the Oberon Mitts. Fit for a fairy king... or those who aspire to be fairy royalty, these mitts have a leaf motif on the top of the hand as well as in the thumb gusset.

Both the cowl and mitts can be made from one skein of Damsel. I used the Spanish Moss colorway.

The collection, which is at a discounted price together, can be found on the bear-ears.com and ravelry. They can also be purchased individually. The Titania Cowl can be found at these links: bear-ears.com, ravelry, and craftsy. The Oberon Mitts can be found at these links: bear-ears.com, ravelry, and craftsy.

From Pines To Pacific

I'm pleased to announce that I've released two new patterns: Pacific Blues and Pacific Ripples. The Pacific Blues hat is knit from the brim up. It has a slipped stitch chevron pattern all over that resembles the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific Ripples mitts are knit from the cuff up. They also are inspired by the Pacific Ocean. The gusset shaping is cleverly worked in with the chevron patterning.

I decided to bundle up Pacific Blues, Pacific Ripples, and Beyond The Pines all together into a collection called From Pines To Pacific. All three look good using variegated yarn. But a solid or long color repeat will look just as nice.

Happy knitting!

Knitter's Logic

Today is rainy and all my projects feel rainy too. I'm sure you've all been there: every project seems to have stalled or become difficult for one reason or another. I'm trying to be disciplined because I have a deadline for one of the designs. But I have a whole cubby of sock yarn that says, "Knit me, knit me!" And the only thing stopping me is that the needles I'd like to use for new socks are being used for this rather stubborn design. (The design is a pair of mitts which you can see in the upper left of my knitting basket. And now that I've fixed my very silly mistake that I made in the pattern, it should knit up much faster. Bonus: The mitts have a companion hat that has been finished and is just about ready to be tested.)

Anyways... as I went out to take the picture, I noticed that I'm knitting all blue projects! The mitts, a pair of Police Box Sox (I'm on the foot of the second one!), and a Watch Cap for me that I started last night. I heard the siren's call and I gave in. Also, I can't seem to find any of my other hats, so I used knitter's logic: make a new one.

What colors are you guys all knitting at the moment? Do you have a predominate color ruling your knitting life?