Fabulous Friday Finish (Finally!)

I finally finished my Twig and Leaf Shawl.

Isn’t she a beauty?  First the details!  The yarn is knitspot Bare Naked Wools Breakfast Blend fingering in oatmeal.  This is a new yarn, produced for Anne and being sold only by her.  It’s a wool, alpaca, nylon blend.  It’s very lightweight and very warm.  It also comes in several natural colors, with more colors to come.  I used two skeins of fingering.

I made the medium size on the pattern, and I should have made the small.  First of all, it’s about 8 feet long.  Here it is while it was blocking!

The strange shape is my fault.  First of all, I knit the second half in stockinette, instead of garter stitch.  That’s not what made the shape a little strange though.  The stockinette portion is done with short rows, increasing 3 stitches each row.  As I got a ways into it, it was clear that I was never going to have enough yarn to finish, so I started increasing by 5 stitches a row, then eventually 9 stitches, and finally 13 stitches.  Take my advice, knit the small!!!

I love knitting patterns using totally different yarn than what was intended.  This pattern was written for lace weight, but as you can see, is gorgeous in a heavier yarn.  I used size 6 and 4 needles to compensate for the thicker yarn.

To be honest, I had totally intended to knit this, blog it, and then secretly dye it so I wouldn’t insult Anne.  If you’ve read my blog at all, you know that I’m all about color.  There’s no way I’m going to dye this!!!  It’s just plain classy.  You did notice that I put burnt orange under it though!  I just had to.

So, thank you Anne for another gorgeous pattern and some equally fabulous yarn.

I’ll be back soon with my Millefiori handspun and I’ll show you what the yarn decided it wanted to be.

Just look at that stitch definition!!!

 

 

The Wonders of Knitspot

Way back in 2006, I sat down and started knitting a Knitspot pattern.  I soon realized that Anne Hanson is a genius!!!  This pattern is called Wing o’ The Moth.

I knit the same pattern as a great big blanket three years later.

My very favorite knitspot project has to be Maplewing.  Take a look!

Since 2006, I’ve knit 10 more of Anne’s patterns, with only one remaining unfinished.  Of course, I showed you two of Anne’s bigger projects, but she designs a lot of very knitable (is that a word?) patterns!  By that I mean that they’re fun projects to just knit.  They’re not garter stitch, but they won’t give you “brain pain” either!

Today I’m going to tell you about a club that you really need to join!!!  Bare Naked Knitspot is Anne’s 4th six month club.  The 2013 club consists of Anne’s exclusive patterns and the most gorgeous natural yarns.  Read about it here.  Go ahead!  I’ll wait.

It’s so much fun to get that package in the mail each month.  And the pattern….let me tell you about it.  The pattern is emailed on the 17th of each month and it’s a booklet.  Anne writes a whole story about her inspiration for the pattern, how she went about choosing the yarn, and the design process.  There are gorgeous photos and a bit of info about the yarn producer.    I won’t say that there is never errata, but I don’t remember any as long as I’ve been in the club.  Anne is very thorough in her yarn choices and pattern testing.  (And it’s not her fault that I’m so dreadfully behind in my club knitting!!!)

Here are some of the yarns we received in the last Bare Naked club.  It feels as heavenly as it looks!

If you’ve never been part of a club before, or if you’ve never knit an Anne Hanson project before, I would highly recommend this club!  And if you have been part of the knitspot club or know how wonderful Anne’s patterns are, what are you waiting for?

Just to be clear, I’m not receiving anything for doing this post.  I was asked by Erica, Anne’s assistant, if I’d be interested in writing a post about Bare Naked Knitspot.  I didn’t even have to think before I answered her.  When you find something you love, why not share the joy?

The Gift

I entered a contest about a week ago.  There were 636 entries.

I won!!!

Pertinent information was exchanged and on Saturday, after being out and about for the morning, I came back home to this!

You want to touch it, don’t you?

Let me tell you about the contest.  Anne Hanson of knitspot has a new pattern called Budding Apple in the latest Twist Collective.   The yarn she used was from Kollage yarns, so she got together with Erica, the VP of Marketing & Social Networking at Kollage, and they put together a wonderful kit for the contest that included the yarn, pattern, and two sets of needles.  Here’s the whole kit.  (Of course, the piece that is knit was done by me on Sunday!)

The yarn is Creamy by Kollage.  I chose the Almond Beach colorway.  I know it’s awfully sedate for me, but it was the color that “talked” to me when I looked at the color choices.  Yes, I was able to choose whatever color I wanted as well.

The other thing that was cool about this contest is that I met both Anne and Erica at Sock Camp last year.  I’ve been a fan of Anne’s patterns for a long time!  When I looked at my Ravelry project page, I found that I’ve knit 7 of Anne’s patterns and have three more in process.  I’m finally knitting one in a color that won’t make Anne cringe!  She chooses more sophisticated colors than I do. I just love the little details that make her patterns just perfect!

And Erica…she’s just fun.  I laughed when I got her email and saw her job title; VP of Marketing & Social Networking at Kollage.  I’m thinking she can social network in her sleep.

Take a look at the needles.  Notice anything different?  They’re square!  And I received two sizes, because that’s what the pattern specified.  Erica sent the ones with the firm cables and I like them a lot.

So, here’s the rundown!  The pattern can be found only at Twist Collective.  The yarn and  needles are from Kollage Yarn.  They have a great yarn shop locator on their web site.

I’m totally enjoying this project.  I started it on Sunday afternoon and it was so relaxing.  Anne’s patterns just flow.  And the yarn is smooth and soft and quiet!

But most of all, I think I’m loving this project, because of the connection to two people, Anne and Erica.  I would never have met them if it hadn’t been for knitting.

Isn’t it funny how two (square!) sticks and some string make my world richer and bigger!