hazel

this is shwook. still in need of a soak and a block, it's a free fair isle hat pattern from hazel tindall. 'hazel, who has twice held the world's fastest knitter title, will be patron of 2014 shetland wool week. hazel grew up in shetland and learned to knit before she can even remember. her knitting has been the subject of many articles and book chapters, and her own patterns are eagerly sought by knitters all around the world. hazel has a real passion for knitting, patterns and shetland wool and having delivered a number of classes in past years, is an ideal patron for wool week 2014. she will design a special wool week pattern which will be made available prior to the event.'  this is the one.

although i won't be attending wool week in october, our group going to shetland will be lucky enough to meet hazel on our grand adventure this month. this pattern she's designed and shared was really fun to knit, and so easy to personalize. it requires five colors, and you have a choice using of three dark, two light or two dark, three light. i have read that when choosing colors for fair isle it helps to view them in black and white, easier to see the contrast, and to tell if they'll work. i love how this pattern is written, so easy to follow. a really really lovely design. i can't wait to visit jamieson & smith in shetland, to choose more colors for more shwooks! raverly notes here

i'm reading all about puffins in the book above, it's all i can concentrate on at the moment (two weeks to go!)

joining with ginny (again, finally! hi ginny!) and all the lovely yarn alongers.
xxx lori

dessau and shetland

photo courtesy of carrie bostick hoge

photo courtesy of carrie bostick hoge

  photo courtesy of carrie bostick hoge

i am a little late in sharing this cowl, a sample i made for carrie bostick hoge back in december. dessau cowl is a fair isle cowl in quince & co.'s lark (peacock & belize). i love this pattern (and wool), it was so much fun to knit, and infinitely wearable.

photo courtesy of carrie bostick hoge

 i don't know if i was more excited to have the opportunity to knit this for carrie, or that my daughter would be one of her models for this collection. yes! this is my girl! i know i shared before, but now my girl is wearing what i knit in the photos, extra extra exciting!  hannah rose met up with carrie in brooklyn, where hannah lives, for the photo shoot.

 photo courtesy of carrie bostick hoge

she played with darling immie!

photo courtesy of carrie bostick hoge

and posed in gorgeous knits (she did not want to take off), this stunning sweater was made by my oh so talented sweet friend nicole

photo courtesy of carrie bostick hoge

photo courtesy of carrie bostick hoge

we are so so grateful for all the incredibly beautiful photos of our girl. a good experience all the way round. 

for more on the dessau cowl, raverly notes here. for all of madder made patterns, go here.

*      *      *

i've been reading reading reading, all about the shetland islands. for a trip i'll be taking there in a few short months! dear knitters, or anyone interested in travel, history, wildlife, birds and of course wool! it has come to my attention that a spot has opened up on this grand adventure to the shetland islands with gudrun and mary jane! there is room for one on the trip for summer and room for four on a second trip that has been added to include wool week in october. to tempt you further, here are photos from a movie i've been watching filmed entirely on location in shetland. called 'the edge of the world'. if you think you might be interested in coming along (yay!) please contact gudrun here.

joining with dear ginny

follow your arrow

i finished my 'follow your arrow' mystery knit along shawl with ysolda! it's a bit wild, the colors!  but kind of part of the mystery and experimenting, this was SO MUCH FUN! a very first mystery kal for me. suddenly mondays became something extra to look forward to, each clue was released this day, there were five in all. i so enjoyed reading through the threads in the raverly group set up just for this. every week would start the same, jump out of bed, check for the new clue, go to work (thinking about which clue to choose, there were two options within each) and hurry home to begin knitting. i'm going to miss it!  

raverly link ~ follow your arrow

joining with ~ yarn along

lately a lot of fun (and not so much) has been happening. i went wine tasting with good friends again, up to the santa ynez valley, santa barbara's wine country. we met the sweetest puppy at one of the winery's, saw LOTS of ducks in a nearby pond, and found handmade cork ponies.  visited a new to us fantastic restaurant, and i found pom pom yarn! somehow the pom pom's knit right into the fabric, we'll see... the pom pom party continues here. hee hee. the not so fun thing that happened was i've not been feeling well. better now, thankfully. flowers are blooming and birds are singing, clogs are getting broken in :)  it is feeling very much like spring.






* more africa here!

xxxxxxxxxxx lori

pom pom

this week i made pom pom's. they are addicting to do! it would be fun to see them all around my studio, pom pom's are sweet and colorful and happy. but before using up the worsted, ' favorite things' scarf (seen directly above) needs finishing. there is a new love (obsession) around here. pom pom quarterly magazine! in december, after seeing an issue, a resolution was made to collect every copy, there are seven so far. i checked their website, and etsy and even ebay for copies, with no luck. what to do what to do?? the stockist's! i wrote to every single stockist on pom pom's site. not sure what to expect, would anyone reply? would there be any magazines out there? the next morning (after staying up till three am emailing) i woke to a jam packed mail box! oh my gosh the responses! so many kind people everywhere! one by one every issue was located. yippee! 

the shawl in progress is ysolda's mystery knit along (i hope it's okay to share?). it has been so much fun collecting these clues every monday, which also made it difficult to decide which to knit. so i'm making three. this one is in time out, still deciding if the colors are working. the kauni is ombre creme wool and the mustard is a mystery vintage wool. i found the cone at a thrift shop for one dollar! it's soft and knits into a pretty fabric, just not sure of the colors together...we've had some epic winter sunsets, and finally even a small amount of rain this week. aren't the shades of the sunset and the shawl very similar?  hmm, we found a new to us coffee shop, chuck had a hard time deciding what to order, but ended up choosing the grilled home made banana bread with caramelized bananas and raspberry infused butter. i had new zealand style coffee, a long black. and did you see my husbands contribution to this weeks creativity? he peeled a tangerine into a perfect S. hee hee  ;)

xxxxxxxxxxx 

* if you have an interest, more Africa with lori times five can be found here and here! and here! 

* joining with ginny here

   

my halldóra

oh halldora. this long shawl designed by Hélène Magnússon, the icelandic knitter, has come close to knitting nirvana. made with seventy grams, approximately one thousand yards, of lace weight cashmere. a gift from chuck on a trip to the habu studio and showroom in nyc last year...

 135 west 29th street please

 suite 804

habu textiles (heaven), new york, ny

halldora shawl, two and a half ounces of gentleness and grace

knitting this true lace was a solitary experience

it asked every bit of concentration i could muster

i'm so pleased to have made this particularly recherché heirloom knit. i may not have the wherewithal to do something as concentrated again (sorry dear husband for not talking to you for three months ;) but now that this shawl is here, so charming and delicate, so soft, warm, so fine...*happy!*  thank you Hélène 

links:

icelandic handknits

ravelry 

yarn along