WIP: Tambourine

You may have noticed that I took a little vacation from the blog for a couple of weeks. I was sorting out plans for the Summer and getting my feet back under me from a busy month, not to mention sending Little A down to my mom's for a week for some quality time with Nana. But I've been knitting my bit every evening despite the warm weather and working on writing up a few patterns for release this Fall. My WIP du jour is Tambourine. 

You might notice that my stitches look a little wonky and that's because I'm a terrible knitter and didn't wash this yarn after liberating it from the previous project - Aislinn. Aislinn was pretty but I wore it twice and was never quite happy with the fit so I decided to repurpose the yarn, which is Miss Babs Yowza! Whatta Skein in French Marigold.

Tambourine is a cardigan by Julia Farwell-Clay from the Spring 2015 issue of Pompom Quarterly. The construction is bottom up in one piece and has little circles of nupps along the fronts. The buttonbands are knit concurrently with the body of the sweater and there's quite a bit of twisted ribbing at the hem of the sweater and the cuffs of the sleeves. You can see that I've made pretty good progress even though I'm knitting this at a dk gauge (22x32 over 4 inches) which is different than the pattern. This gauge change means that I'm getting an extra little circle of nupps along the fronts but I'm okay with that. This is the sweater I'm knitting as part of my OAL goal with Andi of Untangling Knots and Lauren of Lladybird. I hope to have the body finished by the end of the weekend and sleeves started this week.

Music Monday

"Chocolate Jesus" from the 1999 Tom Waits album, Mule Variations.

Music Monday

The warm weather in Seattle has me remembering 16 year old me (and re-discovering albums from the mid-90s, eep). I love love love Descendents and this is one that was on constant repeat in my car - "I'm the One" released in 1997.

American Wool Series: Insouciant Fibers

Insouciant Fibers is a small, local fiber company based out of Bainbridge Island that uses breed-specific animal fibers to create artisan yarns. All of the fibers are sourced in the Pacific Northwest and come from micro-farms and the breeds range from Jacob to Costswold to Border Leicester, just to name a few. 

 As you can see, the Jacob wool I picked up at Churchmouse hails from Port Townsend, WA and each Insouciant Fibers yarn label will tell you where the fibery friend your yarn comes from is located.

Insouciant Fibers' yarn line is locally-sourced wool at its best; breed specific, locally raised, and a beautiful, natural color palette. If you love sheepy wools and supporting small farms and farmers then this is the yarn for you. Read all about the fiber animals that comprise Insouciant Fibers on their website or pick some yarn up in person at Churchmouse Yarns & Tea or Tolt Yarn & Wool.

WIP: Nameless Cowl

After a few false starts, I finally cast on a design idea that has been kicking around in my head for a while. I just think the right yarn had to come into my life for it to happen. 

It's slow going. The right yarn just happened to come to me in the form of Reliquary II, a lace weight yarn by A Verb for Keeping Warm. It's 80% superfine merino and 20% silk and is just the perfect thing to knit this light, floaty, lace cowl. The color is out of my normal range but the Cochineal is the best kind of blush pink and I love the pairing of the color with the large, graphic lace panels. I'm excited to finish this project but I'm enjoying the knitting process so I'm taking my time with it.

Music Monday

"Beast of Burden" from the 1978 Rolling Stones album, Some Girls.