Across the Pond, Across the River, Tomato, Tomahto

Whoah.  Y'all, this shawl is PRETTY, but.....

A.  I had no classy backdrops against which to photograph it

B.  It's not for ME  :(

Sucks, right???  I love it and had wanted the Across the Pond Shawl by Mina Philipp (her website, Ravelry group and Knitting Expat podcast) for MYSELF, when the pattern first came out.  After my mother-in-law saw my Windswept shawl last year, though, she wanted one for HERSELF.  That presents two problems:  I don't want to repeat a shawl when I have a million other shawl patterns I want to knit AND my hands hurt so much when I was working on it, though it IS my favorite shawl thus far, aha!  After further questioning, it turns out my mother-in-law liked the whole two-colors situation and overall simplicity, I think, so, I told her I had it covered, LOL.

You'd think I did NOT check for loose ends...

The pattern was crazy easy, which was helpful, as I wanted to whip through it quickly, as I have SO MUCH TO DO.  In the lace section, per my normal state of LIFE, I tried to make things difficult by getting off-count a few times, but I survived to write about it.  It was my first Mina pattern, and she wrote it up nicely - AND concisely.  I way recommend it!  I want a crescent shawl for myself one of these days!  I'm blanking on whether or not I have one, but that matters not ;)

I used lovely yarn, naturally - purchased by Matt's mom, though recommended by yours truly.  The Hazel Knits Entice was purchased at Twisted in Portland.  I used the Vamp and Nekkid colorways, and there is enough left for me to make socks for Tiberius - yay!

I PROMISE i checked for loose ends...but there it is again

I will wrap it up for her and drop it off this weekend, along with some artwork from Tiberius and Camden!

And....life recently....

Reading their Usborne books!

Still trying to squeeze in Aspen Hall days

Awesome scone recipe!!!

When Voolenvine, Hazel Knits and Joji Locatelli Meet

Oh, y'all....how I love this cowl!  Shall I count the ways???

I'll spare you, LOL.

Pardon my crazy lips :O

Blocking creases and my healing lip aside, this 3 Color Cashmere Cowl is crazy awesome.  It happily knit up in two weeks (thank YOU, Joji Locatelli - FB page - for a mostly-mindless pattern).  The pattern is crazy easy, though I did have to back out a few times in the lace portion...missing yarn-overs and whatnot.  Silly stuff.

What WAS difficult, though, was the choosing of yarn.  I knew from the beginning that I wanted to use Voolenvine yarn (FB page).  I believe I originally planned this out, and I had ordered three colorways, enlisting Kristin's help in complimenting colors.  I had wanted to use Dirty on Purpose and Nevermore, both on the Wolke base, a lovely merino/cashmere/nylon blend, but that proved an ill match.  Nevermore didn't stand out enough against the Dirty on Purpose, especially where it mattered in those thin stripes.  Royal Amber was the one constant, LOL; it seemed to look good with anything!  I pulled out a million skeins of yarn, knowing I just couldn't use Nevermore.  And, as luck would have it, because I really WANTED to use stash yarn, I was unable to locate the right sort of purple or teal (first-world problems, but LEGIT problems, people), which I knew would be great contenders.  So, I had to put off casting on until a trip to Twisted in Portland.  I knew THEY would probably have a lovely skein of Hazel Knits (FB page that would work.  I ended up finding just the thing in the Entice MCN, in the colorway Orchid.

Thank ME, the photographer, for capturing THAT side of the cowl ;)

It all worked out in the end, and the cowl only took me about two weeks from start to finish, which was awesome (though it felt LONGER, what with fingering weight yarn, aha!).

Date night with Camden's friends!

Tea time!

Camden's Vancouver besties!!!

Future Doodler Shawl???

Project bag prizes sent off to Adelaide Cottage and The Knitting Broomstick!

Making a project!

And below is a cool Link-Up Party I'm a part of over at Paisley Roots this month!  You know....Karly of Saffron dress fame????

An InLinkz Link-up

An Atwood Shawl for Camden...And a Random Post for Me

(The paragraph that has NOTHING to do with the main post)
I just crocheted a provisional cast-on onto my circular needles...then called it a night for knitting, aha!  That crochet business is some WORK!  I have no idea how to keep the tension...and I strangely feel like it was easier to do this cast-on when I knit my Homegrown sweater.  Anyhow, that sweater will be coming down the pike - finished by the end of February, I hope!  I do have a ballet sweater to knit for Camden, too, so, I clearly already need this sweater off the needles before I've even begun :O

All that nonsense aside, I DO have a finished project!  I knit the Atwood Shawl by Nicole Clark of Hue Loco (she sells yarn and project bags on both her main site and on Etsy).  Nicole also has a podcast, and I've enjoyed watching it, as she throws in tutorials every now and then, too.  I was missing a pattern for a project bag, and I watched her tutorial for bag-making...and voila!

I sent these away as gifts, of a sort!

It's super cool of her to produce these tutorials, especially as there are a million new sewists out there who love a quick and easy project.

Clearly, this lovely shawl is for Camden...no way could I pull it off as well, LOL.  I used Gnome Acres yarn in the Spugnomi colorway, on the House Gnome base.  Speaking OF GA yarn, I just won a skein of it in the This Old Knit podcast group on Ravelry, and I'm super excited!!!  Thank you so much, Nina!!!

It was convenient that I wanted to knit this shawl and that I wanted to use a fun yarn.  Because of that, I am involved in several knit-alongs (KALs) right now, and I'm glad I managed to grab photos today, because YAY for being all done!!  Granted, this was a quick, easy shawl, but man...I can sure stretch a project sometimes.  I definitely had to take it easy on knitting for a few days, as my back was trying to go out (car accident and then bike accident situations at play, and apparently, sewing and just LIVING is wrecking my back at this point).

I was worried the variegated colorway wouldn't quite work for the shawl, but it totally does!  She loves it, and it's just the right size.  House gnome is a light fingering weight base, and even though it felt like there were a million stitches on the needle by the end, it still didn't come out too large.  Also, I didn't block it aggressively; if I had, it could have turned out a wee bit bigger.

The pattern (my project page) was lovely, and I would have had only one question...but others reached that point before I did, with the same question, so, I didn't have to wait for an answer for once, aha!  Otherwise, crazy easy pattern.  I did one extra repeat of the main body, and I knit maybe two fewer rounds of the garter border, as I'm not a huge garter fan.

A sad, sad peacock??

Camden will show it off to her friends at her next community day, but for now...the week in review:

Headed out on one of our walks to fix my back!

A cheerful model!

In line for a Josh Ritter concert - yay!

Helping grandma sort buttons

Bonbon bunny is out for a ride, too!

To Gift or Not to Gift....A Zilver

Such a pretty shawl!!  I actually finished it a few weeks ago, and though I've been quiet on the blogging front, I have been at work on another project (my first knitted toy, which will be my next post).

I wanted to finish this Zilver shawl (a free pattern!) in time for the Stitch Addiction podcast KAL, and I did, though I didn't win, aha! I do love that extra motivation, though, for doing a project.

Of course....

I used Crazy Monkey Creations Monkey Toes (I have to say I'm confused now, as Monkey Toes is 100% merino, and I swear mine has bamboo content...), which is some of the first hand-dyed yarn I'd ever purchased - way back at the first Sock Summit.  I have misplaced the tag, so, I'm not sure of the colorway, but I managed to use 90 grams of the 100.  I did want to do more rows, but at that point, I was over it and just wanted it done/wanted less hand pain.  I am pretty sure it blocked out to 59 inches for the wingspan, which works, though a bit longer would be nice, LOL.

She gives up?

It's lovely and soft - and I would totally keep it, but I know how it'll go with shawls - I'd love to keep them all, so, I feel I should gift this one, if my friend would like it.  I'll bring it on my trip in a week or so and let her check it out.

Besides being awesomely free and a simple design, Zilver was easy to follow, no issues to be had, though I agree with Nina from the This Old Knit podcast about wishing the shawl had a garter tab cast-on, rather than a simple cast-on.  And it's funny - I have a rounded point at the bottom, rather than a pointy point ;)

Lastly, a few days in review.....

Making puffy paint!!!

Crazy puffy project 

Floating with friends

Aha!

Saying good-bye is so hard....LOL