Main Street Yarn (my LYS)

I spent the afternoon at Main Street Yarn in Mill Creek yesterday and I was impressed with everything I saw. A picture is worth a thousand words and so here are 12,000 words for you to feast on! As you can see I am so lucky to have such a gorgeous store filled with a fantastic selection of delicious yarn, patterns, mags, books, needles, bags, everything a knitter needs and really nice helpful people. My knitting buddy, Claudia, and her partner, Elaine, just bought this fabulous store and I for one am so happy for them AND for me. I love their store :)

Plenty of books, mags and patterns to choose from...

Comfortable places to sit and knit and visit...

Lots and lots of beautiful colors...

My shopping bag (I even stayed within my self-imposed budget!)...

Here are Claudia & Elaine, the new owners...

Even more beautiful colors....

A gorgeous store inside and out...

If you live in the Seattle area take a trip up to Mill Creek. You will be so happy you did.

Variation on a Theme

If you look closely you will see that this beautiful silk scarf is knit in the same pattern as the cream colored scarf that Jenny is wearing in the 12/30/2009 Christmas Presents Post. The pattern is featured on the cover of the 2008/2009 Vogue Knitting. I love the pattern so much that I wanted to knit it a few different ways just for fun. This version was a birthday present for my BFF, Nancy, in January. The yarn is one 270 yard skein of Silk Twist by The Great Adirondack Yarn Company in the Kenya colorway. A beautiful scarf for a beautiful lady.

Monica's Accidental Sweater

Well… my gauge was way off on this one (note to self: ALWAYS knit a swatch!). I meant to knit a size large for my friend, Marita, and I ended up with a size small that fit my friend, Monica, perfectly. All’s well that ends well ;) I loved the construction of this jacket and the lack of seaming. I did have trouble figuring out the instructions for the increases of the raglan sleeve. I want to thank Ravelry friend, woolnutzi, Susan, in Boston, Ma for her help. She went above and beyond with her diagrams and emails in answering my questions and staying with me until I “got it”.

The pattern is Mona's Jacket from the Spring 2010 issue of Interweave Knits. Here at Ravelry. I knit it with Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande in color number 798, green heather. It's a gorgeous green color with a hint of lavendar running through it. I knit this during the Winter Olympics and finished a day or two after they ended.

Even though my gauge was way off I am completely happy with the finished product and Monica is thrilled with it. She is a knitter and spinner too so she got a chuckle about the error of my ways as well as a beautiful heavenly soft baby alpaca jacket :) I hope to have a picture of Monica wearing it soon to add to the story.

In a Perfect World...

In a perfect world you find cute little clogs on sale that are a perfect match for the socks you've just finished knitting. Here is the delightful Nelly modeling her Christmas present from Auntie Val. Sometimes everything turns out perfect :)

Red for Kerry

This is my beautiful niece, Kerry, wearing the shawl I made her for Christmas 2009. The swatch shows nice detail of the stitch pattern. I enjoyed this pattern but I did keep putting it down to work on other projects. Red is Kerry's favorite color and I wanted to knit something beautiful for her Christmas present. The pattern is Rococo Shawl by Elena Rosenberg. It is available on her Etsy site at http://AtelierTPK.Etsy.com My niece, Jenny, bought me this pattern last year and I'm thinking there will be a soft grey version sometime in her future. I knit Kerry's with Cascade 220 Quatro in color #5013, a chili pepper red.

Christmas Presents

After a 6 month break from knitting due to a repetitive strain injury I am finally back on the sticks :) I finished 3 projects in time for Christmas prezzies and of course JennyK was the lucky recipient of one of them. Here she is modeling her beautiful lace leaf scarf and my generic mitts in Baby Alpaca Grande. The scarf is knit up in a much grander version on the cover of the Winter 2008/2009 issue of Vogue Knitting. I am in love with the pattern and I am knitting another finer version right now in 100% silk for Nancita. I'll post a picture when it's done and blocked.

A Masterpiece

If you saw the picture of my delightful 8 year old niece, Emiley, below then you know this dress and hat I knitted for her are from several years ago.  I think she is 2 maybe 3 in this picture. My knitting teacher, Birgitta, helped me a lot with this early project.  I was amazed and delighted with myself when I finished it!  I am still so grateful to my sister, Donna, for getting this picture taken of Em in the dress & hat.  Treasures all:  Emiley, Donna, the dress & the hat.

Both the dress and hat are Fiber Trends patterns. It's been so long since I knit it that the only thing I can remember about the lavender yarn is that it was a wool/cotton blend.