Non-Buyer's Remorse Assuaged

Last May, I saw some yarn I liked towards the end of my day at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. I left without buying it, because I thought it was a heavier weight yarn than it actually was, and I couldn't figure out what I would use it for. It promptly started to haunt me, particularly when I looked it up and realized that it was fingering weight, perfect for a shawl. Fortunately, my friend was visiting the Festival the next day. I did a little research to figure out the vendor's name, then emailed my friend a plea to pick me up a skein of it. I was able to tell her exactly where it was in the vendor's booth. I'm not kidding about being haunted.

By the end of the week I had it in hand, and it was everything I remembered. Brown and red and rustic and with a crunchy feel that I found enticing after months of knitting with 100% silk. A few weeks later, I had picked out and purchased the perfect pattern on Ravelry. It was one of those magical combinations of yarn, pattern, and vision. I made it bigger than the pattern called for - I have enough shawlettes, I wanted something to wrap all around me. That meant the knitted on edging was interminable, but I slogged on, sure it would end someday. And then, suddenly, it did!

I could barely wait for it to dry before taking it off the blocking board to wrap around me. It was everything I had planned, and finished in time for a trip to the frozen north.*

Pattern: Henslowe, by Beth Kling
Yarn: Davidson Old Mill Yarn (Domy) Heather in Burgundy, fingering, 342 yards
Needles: Size 4 (3.5 mm) circular
Mods: I made it bigger. Somewhere I have notes on how much bigger, but who knows where

In a delightful postscript, I had just exactly enough yarn left over to make this:

Pattern: Forest Pixie Hat, by Kristen Cooper
Yarn: Domy Heather in Burgundy, fingering, 133 yards, held double throughout
Needles: size 9 (5.5 mm) straights to get gauge
Mods: I skipped the chin strap

I don't even have a recipient in mind. I'll just tuck it away for now.

*The kind of coincidence that only happens to knitters: on my trip I learned that one of my nieces is quite the knitter, and on Ravelry. We met up at a party, and she was wearing her Henslowe!

Transitioning to Spring

Back in the winter, my Kansas-sister complained of the cold draft in her office, and the fact that she regularly sits at her desk with a sweater half-on. You need a shawl, I said. A lacy shawl wouldn't keep me warm, she said. A little working out of details, and now she is wrapped in this, instead:

Pattern: Beth Kling's Henslowe

Yarn: Davidson Old Mill Yarn Heather in Charcoal

Needles: Size 4 (3.5 mm) circular

Mods: I made it as big as mine! It is exactly the same as my shawl, except for color.

I hear it is getting daily use, and if that confuses you when thinking of Kansas in May, remember that office air conditioning is set for the benefit of the computers, not the people!







I love the DOMY Heather so much that I bought some in forest green at this year's Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and learned the heartbreaking news that they closing by the end of the year! I am busy figuring out what would constitute a reasonable lifelong supply...

Next up in the summer sock race (and an added bonus for those of you who wanted a picture of our "woodified" stairs):

Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in Lilac Mist

Pattern: Lisa Dykstra's Panda Cotton Periwinkle Socks

Mods: I sized down again from 68 to 56 stitches, cutting the extra stitches out of the knit columns of the pattern.

These are my favorites so far, very comfy and pretty (the fact that they exactly match one of my shirts has only a little to do with it). I made the leftovers into two pairs of baby booties yesterday.

The next pair in the race have been frogged (the pattern and I did not get along), and the fourth pair are already well underway.