knitting – Page 14 – Cowtown Knits

Mariette Scarf

December 28, 2012Leave a comment

Time for a new pattern!

I can’t help but think that cashmere feels the need to be touched just as much as we feel the need to touch it. What better place to have it rest than around your neck, giving you a warm hug on blustery days. This beautiful variegated yarn calls for a simple stitch pattern so the colours can be the star of the show. Add a couple of chunky buttons for a little extra interest and you’ve got a soft, stylish accessory to show off all winter long.

Mariette is worked flat in seed stitch – TV knitting at its best! Buttons are sewn on near the cast-on edge. The scarf is intended to be wrapped around the neck two times and then buttoned closed, echoing the infinity-scarf style without having to cast on 300 stitches.

As usual, you can buy my pattern here on the blog or through my Ravelry store. Thanks to Elenor Dixon for technical editing and Ryan Barr for the lovely photos.

Merry Giftmas

December 19, 20121 Comment

I decided to knit something for A’s preschool teachers for Christmas this year. I had the same thought last year, but in typical Kate fashion, my thoughtfulness came far too late to actually act upon. But this year I was on it! And to make sure I hadn’t bitten off more than I could chew, I chose a pair of mittens with bulky yarn that would knit up very quickly. Bella’s Mittens, by Marielle Henault, is a ridiculously popular pattern that has been on my radar for a while. I happened to have some beautiful bulky alpaca that C’s coworker (an alpaca farmer) gave me that I’d been saving for the right project. Here are the results…

These soft, lovely yarns are really special. The alpacas live just north of the city on C’s co-worker’s farm. She takes the fiber to be spun at Custom Woolen Mills, where they use antique machines to spin the yarn. I just think this is so cool, and particularly environmentally friendly considering that there is essentially zero shipping involved. I am going to try and get more yarn from her in the future!

Anywho… I printed up a tag for the mitts as I couldn’t bear the thought of them getting accidentally felted. I attached them with a little bow, wrapped them up and put them in a gift bag along with some Two-Tone Peppermint Bark. And now I’m off now to deliver them!

Mmmmm… Cashmere

November 15, 20121 Comment

I am knitting (and designing!) with some absolutely incredible cashmere yarn right now and I just had to share the yummyness. In order to truly appreciate cashmere one must touch/rub/fondle it, but the colours of the hand-dyed yarn are so beautiful that they deserve a photo. I happened to see these two skeins of this Hand Maiden hand dyed 4-ply 100% cashmere for 50% off at the Loop recently and I couldn’t walk out of there without them. I’ve said it before, I’m a sucker for bright, highly variegated yarns, even though they can be a bit of a challenge to work with.

I swatched a lot before realizing that only the simplest of stitch patterns was going to work with this yarn, so I’m working with seed stitch. The project will be a scarf/infinity scarf/cowl, because they’re so hot right now, but it’s hard to come up with something that hasn’t already been done. I’m hoping that this design, while simple, will be elegant enough to capture potential buyers. Here is a sneak peak…

PS. I will likely be MIA for the next little bit, holidays and moving are taking over my life.

I Really Get Around

November 7, 20121 Comment

I just want to say a big thank-you to everyone for all the support I’ve been getting. I started this blog, and the designing thing, on a bit of a whim. Now, just a short time later, it has really started to take off. My patterns are becoming quite popular on Ravelry, and sales have been nice and steady. My KAL has more than one participant (a whopping 5 so far!), and the blog is starting to get attention from Pinterest and Tumblr. I have now started a Facebook page, so you can now check me out there… although I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to that stuff.

The big woohoo for today, though, is that my Jennifer Boot Cuffs pattern was featured on the Berroco blog. I must say, it felt pretty cool to see my work there. I’m starting to feel like I’m spamming the internet, which is weird, but I like it. I guess it’s payback for all those years that the internet has been spamming me.

Thrummed Mitts Part III

November 5, 2012Leave a comment

And now for the final installment of the thrummed mittens saga, I present the lady-sized version. These were knit for the mom of the two boys for whom I had knit the previous versions. She is a dear friend of mine, my university roommate from many moons ago. She is also the same friend who helped me learn to knit way back then.
These mittens are a little more sophisticated, knit with a beautiful mauve Cascade 220 Heathers. The thrums were made with some roving I bought a long time ago that had cream, rust and a cream/rust/mauve blend. I used the one colour for each row of thrums, which gave them a subtle stripe pattern. I’m really happy with how these turned out, I hope Tamara is too!