Welcoming 2017 with a Dream

Here's to a happy and healthy 2017 (and one with blogging)! At the end of September I posted a sneak peek of new socks I was designing, and I'm happy to finally publish it. Here are the Dreamweaver socks, inspired by my The Sandman colorway. They happen to coordinate quite well with the book I am currently reading.

Part of my goal for 2017 is to make more of an impact with causes I support. One of my favorite charities has long been Love146. They combat childhood sex trafficking, through prevention, rescue, and rehab. Many people are unaware of how prevalent this problem is, even with the U.S.. This is why I have a special offer through January 10th: you can choose to either gift yourself or make a difference to this charity. When you purchase this pattern on Ravelry, you can choose to use the posted coupon code for $4 off the full price - or you can choose to pay full price and I will donate the $4 difference to Love146.

Thank you for helping me make a difference!

Finally, The Carrigain Shawl

Just about a month ago, I hosted the second annual Lakeside Fiber Retreat. The retreat happens at Purity Lake, which is at the base of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. This year, I designed the Carrigain Shawl for the retreat, named after Mount Carrigain. This was also the debut of my newest yarn, Sonnet Sport. It's like my fingering weight Sonnet, but in a squishy sport weight.

The inspiration of this shawl was layers - layers of mountains, of trees, and falling snow. I've been seeing people pick out some really beautiful color combinations, what would yours be?

Pattern: Herlighet

I recently had the pleasure of collaborating with a very talented young designer. Known as the Sock Monkey, Josiah Bain is 17 years old and has an elegant and classic design aesthetic.

A few months ago, he sent me a proposal for a shawl design using Toil & Trouble Allegory. The result is Herlighet, a beautiful one-skein shawl. Josiah dedicated this design to his great-grandmother, Gloria. You can read all about his inspiration on his blog.

The shawl is cozy and elegant, using a garter-based stitch pattern. You can find it as a yarn + pattern kit on my website!

Salem Collaboration: Osceola Mountain Socks

New England Knitting and I paired up for another fun project: The Osceola Mountain Socks. I asked Meghan to design something in honor of our annual Lakeside Fiber Retreat, which takes place by the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Osceola is one of the White Mountains, and also one of the cabins where we gather at the retreat.

Meghan came up with these cozy, mock cable socks designed in Toil & Trouble Imprint. She knit her pair in Isa, where I did mine in Persephone. Carrie jumped in too and knit a pair in Ent. Want to make your own pair? Find the yarn and pattern available as a kit online!

On a Snowy Morning

There's a snow storm outside. Everything is closed, no one is on the roads, and the cats are snuggled into blankets to fit the cold. It's a perfect quiet moment, so here I am on the blog.

It's hard to believe that my first chance to catch up is February. January was a blur, with multiple deadlines and 14 hour work days. I dyed and shipped a trunk show to the The Fibre Collective, to be displayed at Stitches West in a couple of weeks. I also dyed piles and piles of yarn for the Sleeping Bear Yarn Club. They asked me to dye a special colorway for them inspired by an icy Michigan sunset. There have also been pattern deadlines and submissions which I can't share just yet. And in stolen moments here and there, I've snuck in some knitting.

My friend Meghan of New England Knitting recently designed Maritana. It will be the official knit shawl for this year's Knit North Yarn Crawl, so I carved out some time to test knit it for her. I love the play of proportions and texture! Now it just needs a good blocking.

Now I'm off to take advantage of the snow day and spend a little time with my Tinder cardigan, for the Circle of Stitches Sweater Challenge. I am using Malabrigo Rios, and the sweater is worked in pieces. To disguise differences between skeins and try to get consistency in all the separate pieces, I have been knitting the back and two front pieces simultaneously and alternating 4 skeins throughout. Excessive? Probably. But it pleases my obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

Pattern: Teeny Tiny Mitts Ornament

I had to whip up a little gift for a handmade swap and came up with this adorable little ornament.

Gather up your sock yarn scraps!

Materials:

• US1 or US2 double-pointed needles (gauge is not important)
• Scraps of sock weight yarn (shown here: Toil & Trouble Classic in Persephone)
• Darning needle

Abbreviations:

• K: Knit
• P: Purl
• PM: Place marker
• SM: Slip marker

Leaving a long tail (we will use it at the end), cast on 18 stitches, distributing 6 stitches onto three needles, and join in the round.

Rounds 1-5: *K1, P1, repeat from * to end

Round 6: K all

Round 7: K8, PM, M1R, K2, M1L, PM, K to end (increased 2 stitches)

Round 8: K all

Round 9: K to M, SM, M1R, K to M, M1L, SM, K to end (increased 2 stitches)

Round 10: K all

Round 11: K to M. Remove marker and slip next 6 stitches onto scrap yarn. Cast on 2 stitches to close the thumb, K to end.

Round 12-21: K all

Round 22: SSK, K5, K2tog, SSK, K5, K2tog (decreased 4 stitches)
Round 23: SSK, K3, K2tog, SSK, K3, K2tog (decreased 4 stitches)
Round 24: SSK, K1, K2tog, SSK, K1, K2tog (decreased 4 stitches)

Cut your working yarn leaving a tail. Using a darning needle, weave the yarn through the live stitches and pull tight. Pull the yarn to the inside of the mitten and secure. 

Thumb:

Place live stitches onto needles. 

Round 1: Pick up and knit 2 stitches at the base of the thumb, then knit to the end of the round.

Round 2-4: K all

Round 5: *K2tog, repeat from * to end

Cut your working yarn leaving a tail. Using a darning needle, weave the yarn through the live stitches and pull tight. Pull the yarn to the inside of the mitten and secure. 

Weave in all ends except for the cast on tail. Fold the tail in half and secure it, so you can use it to hang your ornament.Enjoy!