Spinning Right Along

So, in typical Jen-fashion, I busted out my spinning wheel like I do once every 6-12 months and whipped up some yarn.

I bought the roving at Stitches Midwest last year. It's from Knitty and Color. I had visions of this coming out in perfect long repeats of color, but I am not good enough at spinning to plan for these kinds of things. There are sections where the colors line up, but mostly the colors mix along the way. It's definitely more wild then the semi-solid sock yarns I always buy!

I ended up with 316 yards in the end. Not too bad. Someone on twitter suggested I use it for this pattern. I think she may be onto something.

Now the spinning wheel is back in its corner, where I am sure it will sit until at least the fall. Poor, neglected spinning wheel.

Happy spinning (and knitting)!

7/52

Lots more happy over the last week....

1. Turning leftover corned beef into homemade Reuben pizza. Just like my Irish ancestors. :)
2. My niece, Lauren, sporting her Corwith hat one morning.
3. Getting some spinning in over the last week. Happy, bright colors!
4. Wine and cheese at Lynfred Winery. Yum.
5. Bowling with my family on Sunday. Lauren loved watching everyone get gutter balls!

How was your week?

Keswick

Earlier this week I released a new shawl pattern, Keswick:

Keswick

$6.00

This shawl is a top-down triangle shawl with an attached border. Like my other recent patterns, you attach the border as you go!

The lace at the edge was a joy to knit. I could have knit that border forever. Plus the yarn was so nice too. I knit mine out of 3 skeins of Knit Picks Capretta yarn.

You can get Keswick as an individual pattern, or as a part of my new ebook Borderline.

Keswick

$6.00

Hope you enjoy the new pattern! Happy knitting!

6/52

So many good things over the last week....

1. Love the photostream thing on the iPhone. I can get lots of cute pics of my nieces directly to my phone!
2. Some Irish soda bread on my desk at work. I was nice. I shared with Alex.
3. They Might Be Giants concert on Saturday. What a great show. Complete with....
4. Sock Puppets! Those look like hand-knit sock puppets to me!
5. Breakfast with my sister, BIL and nieces. Caitlyn really wanted to try on my new cowl I crocheted. She wants one just like her auntie's.

How was your week?

Corwith Hat

Last night I released a new pattern. It's Corwith.

Corwith

$5.00

It's a hat pattern available in 5 sizes: baby, toddler, child, adult small and adult large. You can knit one for your whole family!

My niece Lauren was cracking me up while I was trying to take photos of her wearing the hat. I don't think she was too sure about this as a career. :)

This pattern is super addicting to knit. I knit three of these hats before I finally had to stop myself!

Hope you enjoy!

Corwith

$5.00

5/52

This week was full of win.

Took Beginning Crochet class with Laura. I think I finally have the crochet basics down!

Finally unpacking the box of stuff from my book. I sent the publisher a bunch of yarn to use for some photos in the book. I had to stick the labels back on them....but it was like getting a huge yarn delivery. It's yarn I've had for awhile, but had been out of 'on vacation.' I am eyeing that Madelinetosh hard.

Bowling with Alex, my SIL and her friend. I got a 62. The place we went was plucked right out of the 1970's. We had to keep score ourselves, there was wood paneling everywhere and they had Hamm's beer ON TAP. Hamm's people. That right there was worth making a fool out of myself bowling!

And that was week 5 of 52 Weeks of Happy. How was your week?

Good Mail Day

**SPOILER ALERT: this post has photos of Loopy Rewards Club Bonus Packs. I love you all, but if you order from there and want your packs to be a surprise, maybe go away and come back next week when I have a new post. :) **

On Monday, I got that lovely, tempting weekly email from Sheri at The Loopy Ewe about a shop update....

On Thursday, some Shalimar Yarns Breathless showed up in my mailbox. I won't say if these two things are related.

Well, ok, obviously they are related, as evidenced by the photos of the other goodies that came in the box. :) The Loopy Ewe is going a Loopy Rewards thing this year, and when you hit the next level you get a little bonus goodie bag.

I had two in my package. It was a very good mail day.

I love notions and can't get enough of them. I am always misplacing all the little things that came in the packs, so I was very happy to acquire more. I am OBSESSED with the cuteness of the scissors.

I love fun little surprises!

I can't wait to try the yarn. It is my favorite combo (merino/cashmere/silk) so I'm sure it's gonna be good.

Happy knitting!

4/52

It's time for Week 4 of 52 Weeks of Happy.

I released a new pattern, Primrose. It's (of course) my favorite design to date. I am obsessed with the knitted-on lace borders these days.

 Primrose

This week in snowed quite a bit, which didn't really make me happy as I was working outside collecting samples at work this week. But, coming home on Wednesday to a snowman in the yard across the street made it worth it.

I have named him "Cheerleader Snowman." I also love that I think that the youngest person living there is maybe 21 so it was a bunch of adults that went and made it. What fun!

I got a lovely card from my friend, Melissa, which made me happy. Check out the mustache clip!

I love getting good mail! Also in the mail this week were some new needles. Yay!

I love my Knit Picks needles, but they just weren't cutting it on my newest shawl design I'm working on using laceweight yarn. I needed pointy! I really only needed the size 3, but the size 4 ones fell into my cart too. I use Size 4 needles for most of my shawl knitting, so they will definitely be put to good use.

What made you happy this week?

Knitting Nerd

Over the last couple of years, as designing has become my new obsession, I have been growing quite a stitch dictionary collection. Last week I was ordering something for a new craft project (more on that later...if it works) and another knitting book fell into my cart. Oops.

This book is copyright 1971. And while it's not really a stitch dictionary I bought it for the stitch patterns. I am pretty unlikely to knit a fishermen sweater, but I could definitely see myself using some of those stitch patterns in other designs. I only paid $9 for it so if I use it for even one design, it'll be worth the money spent.

It will go nicely with my growing stitch dictionary collection:

I am hoping to add another Japanese or German stitch dictionary to the collection soon....those are my absolute favorites.

Happy knitting!