Hill and Dale Cowl

The days have been getting cooler and I feel like I just want to have something warm around my neck. I love the fir cone lace pattern and thought it would look cute as a cowl. I love the scalloped edge the pattern creates. I used a bulky yarn and a size 11 needle and whipped this puppy up in no time.



A girl can never have too many cowls.

Pattern: Hill and Dale Cowl (available for free on the side bar)

Yarn: Berroco Blackstone Tweed Chunky, color 6601 Clover Honey, 2 balls

Needle: 16" US 11 circular needle

Enjoy!

A Cupcake Weekend

There is just so much to tell you about. I don't know where to start.



October is a busy birthday month around here, and this weekend we celebrated a few of them. I have been wanting to make this recipe from Lemonade Makin' Mama for Salted Caramel Icing for a while, and this seemed like the perfect time to try it. It was delicious. I did cool it in the refrigerator for a while to make it a thicker consistency, and I drizzled a some melted chocolate on top.



I didn't stop there. I also made vanilla cupcakes. I used this butter cream frosting recipe from Epicurious. That was so good too.



Today, while I was walking off the cupcakes, I took a few pictures and look at what I spied. I heart shape in the trees. I couldn't believe it!



Oh, and I went to see Wicked. It was a wonderfully written musical and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. If you have a chance to see it - you should.

Galinda: I don't understand why you can't just teach us history instead of always harping on the past.

Pretty in Pink

While finishing this sweater last weekend I kept noticing how pink everything looked. It was so beautiful.



The sweater is called Miette and it is a free Ravelry pattern which is always a bonus. It is designed to be a cropped sweater, but I added four inches to the length. I used Cascade 220 for the yarn in Peony Heather. It changes color depending on the light. I used simple mother of pearl buttons. This was a quick knit, and the pattern was easy to follow.



Pattern: Miette
Designer: Andi Satterlund
Yarn: Cascade 220, Peony Heather, 3 skeins
Needles: Us 8 and US 7


I saw Wicked this weekend with friends. I highly recommend it! The set, costumes, singing and genius script were incredible. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Lamb's Lace Cardi

Pattern: Lamb's Lace Cardi
Designer: Christina Wall
Yarn: Berroco Vintage
Color: Juniper
Needles: US7 and US5
Ravelry Link



I loved working with the Berroco Vintage. It is a nice soft yarn, and the Juniper color has little specks of lavender and pinks on a navy background. The pattern was well written, quick and easy to follow. It is a great sweater for fall, because you can wear it with a long sleeve shirt on a cool day, or a camisole on a warm day.

Thank you for all your nice comments on my last post. I really couldn't believe anyone was still paying attention.

:D

"We will not rest until this problem is solved. There will be no questions... Are there any questions?"

Michael Scott to the press in the Whistleblower Episode Season 6

Ruffle My Feathers

I could start this post out by telling you why I haven't been around here for so long, but the story is really very boring and so long that even I have trouble following it. Suffice it to say that I've been very busy.

I have recently found my knitting needles and yarn stash, and I can tell you it feels really good to be knitting again. I have a renewed passion for all things wool now that the hottest summer on record is coming to an end.




Pattern: Ruffle My Feathers
Designed by: Caryl Pierre
Yarn: Lang Jawoll
Color: Blue, brown, gray
Needle: US 6 Circular

Oh yeah... my old photographer (the one that I fired) up and went off to college... just like that.

Detail, details, details...

This was a fun detail to add to a plain cardigan. The tutorial and link for the lace can be found here.

I started with this cardigan.

I did have to remove all the beads from the shoulders of the cardigan first.


The lace came sewn onto tulle. In the tutorial the tulle is cut off, but I kind of liked how it looked so I didn't cut it off. What do you think?

Detail

Meet my new photographer. All my previous photographers were fired. Well actually they quit before I could fire them for cause. I guess they could see the writing on the wall. She is not bad with a point and shoot. She does whatever I ask her to do. She claims she was a model (something about hand knits). I just don't see it, but at this point I'm desperate, so I'll give her a chance.

Signs of Spring...

Finally, some signs of Spring are appearing. Mother Nature wasn't too pleased with my apology. She thought it wasn't sincere enough, so she punished me with four more weeks of rain. Really. I thought that we were going to have to build an ark. It was that bad around here.

All of that is forgotten today. It is beautiful and sunny and dry and not a cloud in the sky.



See what I mean? Beautiful.

On the craft front, I covered a not so pretty vase with the sleeve of an old sweater. It's incredibly easy to do. You just cut the sleeve off an old sweater and slip it around a vase. There are some great sweater vase tutorials on the Internet. I think it would be beautiful in fair isle, and look at this cute cable one Kim made.



And my favorite sign of Spring is:

hanging with my peeps!

Happy Spring!