best souvenir ever

Nova Scotia. Land of exquisite harbors, tall ships, dramatic tides, glacial lakes. And Fleece Artist yarn.

I would never go so far as to say that this yarn was the best part of our honeymoon. But it's a gorgeous and tactile reminder of the blue skies and blue oceans that graced our trip. I bought a hank of merino sock yarn, and a kit with small hanks of blue-faced leicester DK and mohair. The kit is intended to be used for thick socks or mittens, but I'm going to see if I can eke a light hat out of the wool and an airy scarf out of the mohair. I picked by color - yum!

And you know you've found a good man when, facing the last half hour of vacation before you have to drive back to the airport, he tells you that he's found a good yarn store for you, rather than saying "no, the town ends up there, let's turn back and watch the tugboats."

The Wedding Shawl

Pattern: Print o'the wave lace, in my own rendition. I cast on nine full repeats of the lace pattern (borrowed from Eunny's stole) flanked by a half repeat on either end. Knit straight until casting off. Knitted cast on, russian joins, russian cast off.

Yarn: Misti Alpaca Laceweight, natural color, just over 2 balls (with only 2, it'd be only a few inches shorter)

Needles: Inox express circs, size 3

Size: 15x54 (unblocked), 20x70 (blocked), 19x64 (relaxed)

The weather was so mild that I hardly needed to wear this, but it was a delight to knit and makes such a splendid keepsake. Lovely and light when wrapped around my shoulders. And one of the reasons that I wanted a stole rather than a triangular shawl, aside from prefering the aesthetics, is that it doubles as a soft and snuggly scarf.

I could not be happier with this lace!

Ivory Tower

flora: foxgloves


fauna: dog belly against grass


food: 'blanca' currants after rain


fiber: print o' the wave lace, blocking


The shawl is finally finished, and it's heavenly. Will put up full photos and pattern notes in the next week or so.

swish and stress

I am blogging rarely this summer because I feel my seams coming undone, strained by life transitions, bad news, and graduate school. In the midst of this, though, I am sustained by beautiful moments. Here's one.

Last week I received a Knitpicks order with several skeins of 'Swish', their new superwash wool. Deep blues and greens for a baby blanket for one of Mountain Man's friends and rich, chocolate brown for a baby sweater for one of my friends (another placket sweater, this time with rustic wooden buttons). Here's my quick yarn review, since I haven't seen many out there yet: respectably soft, lovely colors, and blessedly machine washable and dryable, at an excellent price. I've been searching for a yarn like this for quite some time.

Anyways, I swatched and cast on for the sweater that evening. I pulled it out again a few days later while in the throes of paper-writing. Everytime I wanted to throw a tantrum about the paper, I knit a few rows to take my mind off it. To give you a sense of how frustrated I was, I finished the entire lower body of the sweater (one ball) this way! No paper yet, but the knitting feels like legitimate progress. And it sits quite peacefully among the watermelon vines.