sprouting!

This little leafy bag was an improvisation: unswatched for, made up on the fly. It was a way of playing around with some techniques and patterns that I'd had in mind for a while.


The yarns are two heavy worsted yarns that are left over from past projects. The green is a rustic wool from some long-ago farmers' market. The brown is a handspun camel-hair yarn that I used for the Woodland Collar. I knit them on, I don't know, size 8s perhaps?

The leaf motif was a play on a pattern from Solveig Hisdal's Poetry in Stitches. The book is a masterpiece of Norwegian stranded colorwork sweaters, with patterns inspired by vintage textiles. I like to flip through it from time to time when I feel like a taste of inspiration and awe. Since its sweaters are far finer and more detailed than the things I typically like to knit, though, it was with great pleasure that I worked one of its motifs into this wee bag.


So, let's see, I started from the bottom, knit a circle from the center outwards with the green yarn, then added in the camel yarn and started the leaf pattern. At the top, I did a turning row in purl stitches, and then a hem, which I stitched down. I finished it off with an I-cord strap.

It's a very small bag -- just 3.5" wide and 6" high -- but it's just right for carrying the essentials when I take Isis out for our morning walks.

In other sprouting news, I've planted three new dyeplant seeds: madder, bedstraw, and woad. I already have coreopsis, marigold, and indigo started.


I'm hoping to get a good dye garden growing this spring and summer!

Dogwood & Shamrock Pattern

The pattern for Dogwood & Shamrock has been finished! It includes instructions for the felted dogwood, felted four-leaf clover, three-leaf clover with stem, and individual hearts.





Have a peek at its Ravelry page or send me an email at evergreenknits@gmail.com if you're interested in buying the pattern.

And now the for the free pattern contest results ... (drum roll) ... the winners are: SharonRose, Erin, PhatLady, Sarah, Meredith, and JC! I drew one name from every 5 entries. I'll be tracking you down the best I can; please send me an email if you don't hear from me this afternoon.

Dogwood & Clover contest

This weekend, it was all dogwood, all the time. After Amey commented that that my dogwood pattern would make a splendid shamrock, I set off on a quest for the perfect emerald yarn. I ended up dyeing some of the white Eco-Wool with 'Berry Blue' and 'Lemon Lime' Kool-Aid ....


which was then knit up into a great big four-leaf clover. Since I was born on St. Patrick's Day, I have a special place in my heart for these.


I also knit up a flower in Hollyhock Malabrigo, which felted like a dream. These flowers are pretty substantial -- nearly 5" across -- and this will be quite a bold blossom to wear.


Not all the flowers were so successful, though. One was in fact quite hideous. I'd wanted to make a pink dogwood, which, in real life, comes in a shocking salmon-pink. I thought that 'Pink Lemonade' kool-aid might give me the right color. But it's so hideous that I'm not going to sully my blog with a close-up

And that's the end of my dogwood/clover knitting for a spell. As for the pattern, I'm currently writing it up and will have it in my Ravelry pattern shop by the end of the week.

Would you like to win a copy of the pattern first? Just leave me a comment! At the end of the week (Saturday, February 14) I'll draw several names for free patterns.

dogwood

Only February, and the mercury has hit 80. And my body is rebelling. I almost fainted in yoga class yesterday, only to come home, revive, and find myself awake until 3 am. At least I put those insomniac hours to good use: I knit a dogwood flower.


I don't know what came over me, except that the desert heat must have had me craving the blossoms of a cool, damp, woodland spring.

Shalom

Late winter in Arizona is glorious. Mountain Man and I drank it in this weekend with a climbing trip to "Magma Gardens," east of the Superstition Mountains. The manzanita were awash in blossoms and buzzing with bees.


On the drive there, I finished sewing on the buttons to my Shalom cardigan. And I'm smitten! The yarn is probably the most marvelous yarn I've ever had the pleasure of knitting. It's a handspun yarn in fawn alpaca and tussah silk from Smooth as Silk Alpaca Ranch, and it beautifully combines all my favorite yarn qualities: soft, lustrous, artisinal, earthy, luxurious.


It's a very dense yarn, and I expect it to stretch in length as I wear it. So, I knit it straight instead of adding waist shaping. But since this leaves me without any waist definition, I used the last half ball of yarn to knit a slender sash to tie around my middle.


Frankly, I'm not sure if it does me any favors waist-wise, but it does add a little panache!


And now for a few project details. The original pattern, as I mentioned, is the Shalom Cardigan (rav link) by Meghan McFarlane. Meghan's version was a yoked vest with a single button at the top. I added 3/4-length sleeves, buttons every 10 rows, ribbing at the hips, and that sash. I also made all kinds of tiny modifications for my gauge and size.


Love how it matches the rhyolite.