light blue

This top is about the redemption of my blue cotton top. I unraveled it all the way to the smocking and re-knit it. I made it slender this time, with garter stitch stripes down the sides.


I like it now. I'm glad I took the time to do it right.

If you don't remember what it looked like before, you're kind of out of luck. I decided that it was so hideously unflattering that I took down the post of me wearing it! (Although you can see it hanging here).

And that's the end of my Vermont summer knitting. I'm back in Phoenix. Been back for almost a week. It's good to get back to regular life, but it does make me a little blue. Light blue, you might say. Like my top.

I'll leave you with a dose of gorgeous deep blue from Vermont .... a blue jay feather on our stone wall, found the morning that we left.

verdant Vermont shawl

The shawl is finished, and when I wear it, I feel as though I have wrapped the green Vermont hills around my shoulders. The colors are intensely vegetal. The lace patterns are leaf-inspired. And every stitch was lovingly made on this trip to Vermont.


I designed it as a half-pi shawl (i.e. the increases are made in concentric rings rather than in rays) with three sections of leafy lace stitch patterns and a garter stitch border. The final lace pattern, "ivy leaf," gives it a gently scalloped edge. I'm in love with it.



I knew I wanted to knit such a shawl as soon as Mountain Man gave me this yarn. The entire process -- inspiration, sketching, swatching, calculating, knitting -- took just two weeks. I really kicked into high gear for this one because I did so want to finish it on this trip!!


I'm very proud of how this pattern turned out, and I'll definitely be writing it up. Any ideas for pattern names? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

the silver hours

There are summer days when Vermont sparkles with sunshine and clear, bright colors. Sky blue. Grass green. Buttercup yellow.

But even those days begin with chilly, mist-shrouded mornings, and I love the silvery hours just as fiercely as the golden ones. I'd like to bottle up this grayness and take it back to the desert...

Green acorn, stone wall

Antique silver

Lichen on beech bark

Knitting needles, yarn, stone, moss

I've finished the shawl, by the way. Good thing, too, since I probably won't be able to move my arms for days after waterskiing this morning. Pictures to come soon!

knitting in Vermont

I'm back in the Green Mountain state for a spell. Appropriately enough, I brought along my green yarn and am plowing through a leaf-patterned shawl that I've designed for it.


It is so glorious here! We've been kayaking


and considering the waterlilies

and catching painted turtles


Truly a place to nourish one's soul (and inspire some serious knitting!)