Great Divide

A few months back I quickly drafted up a knitting pattern that I came up with on a whim. The Great Divide shawl has done a whole lot better than I ever imagined my first pattern would. Thanks to the knitting community on Instagram, and local support from my friends at Happy Knits in Portland, OR, I have sold over 250 copies of the pattern in a matter of months. There have been a few KAL's for the shawl, and it has been so much fun to see everyones color selections and personal spins on the pattern.  I thank all the knitters out there who have made this pattern a success!

socks

Originally uploaded by delightful disarray
After all the christians knitting i have been having a hard time committing to one project. I keep casting on, working on things, and then frogging because I'm just not getting into anything like i normally do. So... I am trying to just grab projects that i have laying around and finish them. These socks were the first of those projects to be finished. Knit with my personal favorite "socks that rock" by Blue Moon Fiber Arts.

Tosh Heaven

 Got a call from my favorite little yarn store here in Portland today saying that the Madelinetosh dk that I wanted was in. I rushed in to pick it up, and ended up getting there before the yarn had actually been unpacked, so I sat and watched 500 lbs of tosh come out of boxes and find its way into whatever spaces were available to hold it while inventory was taken. It was so hard to not scoop up armfuls of yummy yarn to take home. I was able to resist, and took home 3 skeins of  lovely dk in "spectrum". What a dreamy site though...

textured shawl sharing

After being asked by 4 different people shopping at a local yarn store about my shawl yesterday, i thought I would share the recipe.

First... the yarn (because this was made brilliant thanks to the yarn)!

For this shawl I used Blue Moon Fiber Art's Socks that Rock in the Christmas Balls colorway. I went with the heavyweight for maximum warmth, and minimal effort, but the medium weight also lends itself well for this shawl.

And as far as putting the yarn to work... I used the Textured shawl recipe. It is more of a DIY guide to creating the shawl pictured for this pattern, but the directions on creating the patterning made of slipped stitches and YO's was really all a moderately seasoned knitter really needs to create a lovely shawl.

Gift knitting

The past month has been filled with Christmas gift knitting, and it has proven to be a little (ok! A lot) more frazzling then I originally intended.

Knitting for myself it a breeze. I know what colors I love, I know what fibers I prefer, what I will wear, what size to make...

So now I am knitting for others. None of my recipients live close enough to measure. I have no idea what anyone will wear... Some have wool allergies. Lets just say it has not been a cake walk. The knitting part has been fun, but the homework leading up to it... Ugh! I only hope that come Christmas everyone is overjoyed with their warm, handmade whatever's and the hard work pays off.

Maybe I'm just a bit selfish when it comes to knitting. There are so many things I want to make for myself, and the gift knitting seems endless at this point.