In the pink!

Finally, well into the third decade of my life, I've decided to like pretty things. I like lace and filigree and cherry blossoms and delicate skirts. And now I even, in some contexts, like pink. This hat makes me very happy when I wear it (which I am not here, but is looks so lovely on Sorren, too, does it not?).



I think part of what I enjoy so much about this hat is the immense relief of knitting something that someone else designed. And all I had to do was follow directions. Ahhhhhhhh. The pattern is Orchids and Fairy Lights by the marvelous and whimsical Stephanie Dosen of Tiny Owl Knits. The pattern was a delight, and so quick and easy that before I knew it I was dressing up in all my girliest clothing (a quick survey of the wardrobe says this area could use some expansion) and floating around town like a little girl in her first pair of butterfly wings. I have not, I swear it, had a cranky moment since, and that's a lot of power in one pink hat! Malabrigo worsted (in Dusty), what can I say. It's just hard to go wrong.





If anyone else out there is feeling the need for some Lovely + Delicate, give pink a try. It could rock your world, too.

{green & grey}

First of all, thank you to the Tigard Knitting Guild for being such accommodating hosts! I had a blast and this post is for you, and especially for those asking about grey items on a green background...yes, I enjoy it, too!







This cowl and arm warmer set is from the 2011 Twisted Single Skein Club for April. I'm assuming anyone in the club has long since received their packages, so there is no risk of spoiling the surprise. It's a fun textural pattern by our own Star Athena out of a yarn by Berroco made from 100% recycled materials from the garment industry, which gets me right in my little conservationist's heart. This was a fun and super quick little photoshoot in front of some mossy trees down the street from the shop.

once upon a time

I used to knit and then wear things. Then I got peer pressured into designing and the intoxicating experience kept me coming back for more, ever more, until I no longer really knit. Now I make sketches and scribble out notes and calculations and format and all these other things...and I kind of have a lot less to show for it, when all the shouting is over. Oh, I never shout. And these days I take a bajillion photographs for people, a similarly heady and rewarding experience, but they've got me promising not to reveal things before their time...so I kind of have a lot less to show for it.

Fortunately for all of us, there's always the beach.






(columnar basalt elephant skin)



I will have more fiber to share sometime soon, too, I promise. Sooooo many pictures to edit in the meantime!

eyes only no longer!

Whew, a little bit of those Top Secret, Eyes Only photos are available for release! Some weeks ago I had the great good fortune to take some pictures for my neighbor Jen Hurley of Rainy Day Knits. She has created a lovely and whimsical set of Stained Glass Bubble accessories based around an ingenious stitch pattern, the latest being these mitts:






(many thanks to Lo, as always, for being such a smashing model)

Jen has crunched all the numbers for you, so these mitts come in a full array of sizes, from wee to manly, and every shade of grey in between. They were so much fun to take pictures of, all those little brightly colored bubbles of wool!



If you want to check these out, and her other great patterns, head on over to Ravelry and show her some love! In the meantime, I have massive amounts of editing to do, and some more exciting shoots, and someday, my lovelies, I'll get to share it all with you.

um...

Whoopsie-doodles, I forgot to let you all know that the Lifeline mitties are up for grabs now. Check it out:



$4.00 is a small price to pay for toasty paws. Just sayin.

The rest of my life has been taken over by Top Secret photoshoots, so I don't have much to show for myself over here. Except my adorable friend Sorren's adorable striped socks and boots. I seriously want to elope with those boots.



I may get to sojourn at the beach for a wee bit for a mental health/design like a madwoman break, so hopefully some pictures will come out of that soon, if nothing else. In the meantime, happy springtime! And don't even pretend like that means that you have to stop knitting. I assure you, I will still be here, fighting the good fight.

Until next time!

put a bird on it!

Portland has been making the news lately, nay, it's been making it to the silver screen (and, well, the plasma screen more often). An increasing number of producers and movie houses have been choosing Portland locations for their movies, and now we have our very own show. Or a show about us, as seen through the eyes of outsiders. Just for being our own selves, which I think is kinda cool, and it's the mark of the Portlander that those things that make us most absurd (like taking locally sourced food to the extreme, as well as our cycling rights) also make us the most proud. Including our love of all things that have birds. Flocks of birds are even better.



I may have mentioned before that I do the windows at Twisted, and my bosses said birds so I gave us some birds! In migration



because after all, it is



So I say to the cynics out there, watching us through the lens of Portlandia and perhaps sneering at our somewhat twee sense of kitsch: don't hate, and put a bird on it!

lifeline

I started these mitties on our trip to Madrona, knit and reknit and revised about a dozen times, and finished them up for a wee cold spell we had a couple weeks back. I don't ordinarily have the urge to work with my own handspun yarn, but this one called to me. The roving was a superwash merino hand dyed by Melanie of Black Trillium and it was love at first sight. And then, even more impressively, at second and third and fourth as well...



I had just seen a picture of this new (to me) thumb gusset and was intrigued by its unusual shape and wanted to give it a try. I love how it curves across the palm like a secondary lifeline, and it makes a very snug and comforting fit.



These are pretty uneventful mittens since I think that handspun is at its best in the simplest stitches, but there is a bracelet of garter eyelets for a smidgeon of la-ti-da.



I got to drag my friend Lorelei to the park in the rain for another exciting photo shoot for a few other designers (secrets! I will share at length, I promise!) and as photographer's prerogative I snuck these in too. I will make a pattern soon, and am planning on also offering it as a freebie with any skein of handspun yarn, as a ready answer to the ubiquitous, "what can you make out of one special skein?"



Pssst, you can get the pattern to make some of your own right here:


Thanks so much friends, as always, and until next time!