cabinfour’s Pure

Karen over at Fringe Association just had to feature this clean lined, crisp, white shawl and I just had to fall in love with it.

cabinfour’s pure shawl‘s clean lines were achieved by a section of stockinette, a section of twisted stitches and then a cruise into a section of good ‘ole garter stitch.

Easy peasy, although the twisted stitch section slowed my knitting to a crawl and almost had me rip out the whole shawl…that and one lousy mis-stitch right in the middle of the shawl.  Darn it!!

I used Cascade 220 Superwash in white.

Love it!

Wayfarer Scarf

Jared Flood is my other favorite male designer and yarn manufacturer who designs and produces yarn for the hand knitter.   I knit his Wayfarer Scarf using his Shelter worsted weight yarn in the color Nest.  This yarn is completely an American made fiber and is woolen spun in New Hampshire.

I loved the simple geometric pattern of the scarf and the yarn showed off the knits and purls perfectly.

I was hoping this neutral color would work with just about any outerwear.

My sister thinks the scarf works with black and it should go live at her house.

Stephen West’s Flagstone

Flagstone was on my knitting bucket list for quite some time after I saw Stephen West’s version in West Knits Book 1.  Stephen is one of my favorite handknit designers and if I live long enough, I just may knit all of his designs.  I chose Fiberphile Super Squished Worsted for this pattern in the fall colorways of Fields of Gold, Pumpkin Spice and Sable.  This yarn was a dream to knit with and the colors were dyed to perfection.  Garter stitch all the way through [dream!], a little creative seaming and this wrap was finished!

I can’t wait to wrap you around my neck.

All that garter stitch goodness.  I love the subtle variation in the dyed yarn.  I think what I really want to do is just stare at it.  [Did I just type that?]

The model, Mrs. Mina Fies, is my sister’s bestie from way back.  3rd grade kinda back.

Could Mrs. Fies be more photogenic?  Is that humanly possible?

Echo Wrap: a reversible drop stitch mobius

Kristin Omdahl designed this wrap for her book A Knitting Wrapsody and I loved it from the first minute I saw it.

Now what yarn to use?

Malabrigo Chunky.  Yep.  In Dark Earth.  Pure Merino Wool.  Soft as cotton balls.

A cruise through Ravelry comments had me concerned about the cast-off, but I figured I would tackle that when I came to it.  Luckily, Kristin made a video of the cast-off and it explained everything.  Turns out it was easy peasy – just hard to explain in the pattern.  Nothing like a video to solve all of life’s problems.

So, I knit and knit and came up with this.

I have to say the dropped stitches were the best part.  Terrifying to drop a stitch, but it produces such a cool pattern.  I tend to use buttons that blend in to the knit rather than contrast with it, so I chose a coconut based brown button.

My sister, Danielle, was gracious enough to model this wrap for me.  Dimples and all.

I hope to wear this wrap often in the office when it gets chilly and I just want to snuggle with something knit.