New pattern release: grandpa allan's cowl

I'm so excited to tell you about my latest design, Grandpa Allan's Cowl!


My grandfather - Allan - never wore a cowl and I don't remember him wearing a scarf, either, but I couldn't resist naming this cowl after him when I found a simple knit / purl pattern called Alan's Pattern.


This easy to stitch cowl comes in two sizes, 7" by 22" or 10" by 34".

The border is a simple knit and purl pattern, and the cowl goes fast fast fast based on the stockinette stitch center.

Any worsted weight yarn you feel comfortable in blocking will work wonderfully for this design - and there's a matching hat in multiple sizes soon to come!

work in progress Wednesday

a plain, multi directional, scrap knit scarf - something I started on a whim.


one of my favorite knit scarf patterns, I've made this pattern quite a few times for charity knitting


I'm using a magic ball of scraps of acrylic in whites / off white / eggshell, and mostly likely this will be given to charity.


Measures about 6" wide, I'll most likely make this about 6' feet.

sock madness socks, which I sadly ran out of time to finish, so I'm not competing this year :(

For my birthday, I started a seamless, bottom up EPS type of sweater, using superwash Wool of the Andes in this pretty redish color....

I also finally managed to restart Jon's flax....

Knitting in the Nordic Tradition (Dover Books on Knitting and Crochet)

Knitting in the Nordic Tradition by Vibeke Lind
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was thrilled when I saw this book show up on netgalley, and immediately downloaded and looked at it. Unfortunately I forgot about the review part, but the fault was mine, not the lovely book!

This book is fascinating for someone like me, who's a geek who loves math, history, and knitting, and anything that combines all three is pretty cool! If you are looking just for patterns, then the book may be a little dry for you, but I enjoyed it and love reading about the history of historical knitting traditions.

Unfortunately, I have to give the book 3 stars because the book is in black and white - there is no excuse for that in this day and age, especially in a knitting book! The charts can be read, but the three color charts are not easily read. The book is written ala Elizabeth Zimmermann - more pithy recipes then step by step directions, which I like but may be a turn off for some knitters, especially newer knitters. The book is definitely not recommended for newer knitters, but is highly recommended for someone who enjoys the history of knitting and is interested in doing a little bit of work with their knitting :)





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received a free copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for my honest review, and I was not paid for said review

View all my reviews

Friday FO

Just a quickie drive by post - this is my advent calendar scarf from December. It was knitted in December, it was finished in December, I just never managed to share a photo!

It was not easy to take a photo of a long sampler scarf!

Alyssa's hand knit sweater: flax

My niece, alyssa, wearing her new hand knit sweater by her favorite auntie A :).

Pattern is flax; yarn is vannas choice.

Of course, as a knitter we always knit pick what we make; the body's a smidge long (but she'll grow into that, at least) but the sleeves are just a smidge too short. I actually thought I knit the sleeves about a 1/2" longer than the pattern stated to make sure she had room to grow; I guess it's a good thing I did add the length!

Progress on the advent calendar scarf

Friday FO

Every GREAT once in a while, I get to actually make something just for fun - and even less rarely, sometimes I actually get to make something for ME.

Today's FO is one such example... I knitted a shawl, just for fun, just for me, using one of my favorite designer's patterns... Robin by Lee Meredith.

I stashbusted, and used Caron's Simply Soft for all 3 colors.

The shawl came out huge, it's bright, and I just love love love it. It'll be my hang-out-in-front-of-the-bonfire shawl, where I won't have to worry if it gets dirty because it's machine washable, and the goodness of garter stitch means it doesn't need any blocking (other than the steam blocking it got when I finished, that is). It's the perfect end-of-the-day chilly night shawl... 

made April 29-May 2