Small Shawls

As I was reveling in having warm shoulders because I was wearing my NORO Kotori shawlette, I remembered I have another little NORO shawl I can add to the rotation. This is what happens when you are a knitter. You fill your closet with pretty hand knit accessories and lose track of what you own!…

Swatches, pfft!

When last we spoke, I was casting on for a hat, which I was going to design on the fly, using NORO brand “Kotori” yarn. I had even swatched! Well, something went terribly wrong somewhere along the line between my swatch, my math, and my long-tail cast on. By Saturday night, after 3″ of knitting,…

Finished: Barnes Hat

I finished knitting my Barnes Hat Wednesday night. Wove in the ends, too. This was a fast project! It took “three days” of knitting, which probably translates to around six or seven hours. I didn’t keep a close count. You could knit one of these hats during a long car trip (simple pattern, good no-looking…

Casting On: Barnes Hat

I don’t know if it is the early sunsets or the cold weather, but the knitting projects that are currently appealing to me are mindless ones I can work on while watching TV. If it is a project that I can finish quickly, all the better. Because then I can cast on for a new…

Book: Cable Crochet Made Easy by Bonnie Barker

A fun part of my job is getting to see new pattern books when they first come out. I was very interested to flip through a copy of “Cable Crochet Made Easy” by Bonnie Barker. I grew up crocheting. In the dark times before the internet my only options for crochet patterns were to make…

Juniper Moon Farm: Breathless

If you are like me and you enjoy knitting cables, then the Juniper Moon Farm “Gamine Collection”, designed by Kathleen Dames, will live up to its subtitle and leave you breathless. The cables in these designs took my breath away! This is the “Breathless Wrap” and it is knit using 5 hanks of Herriot yarn….

(Closed) Giveaway-Painted Sky Yarn and Estelita Hat & Cowl Set

Edit: 229 people entered the contest. Maria M was the lucky winner. We’ve emailed her. Thank you to everyone for playing! The weather* by me has been swinging between chilly autumn and warm summer days. It really is the season for layers. It is also an excellent time to get busy knitting and crocheting hats…

Noro Slip Stitch Hat, Again

I finished knitting my second (first?) Noro Slip Stitch Hat in the blink of an eye. Probably because I had already knit the ribbing back in April. That allowed me to go straight to knitting the main body of the hat, after I finished fussing around with the yarn. First, I used my digital kitchen…

Noro Slip Stitch Hat Revisited

According to my observations, based on online and in-person discussions, there are three types of Noro Yarn knitters and crocheters. The first type embraces the “perfect imperfection” of the yarn and allows it to unfurl as it will, trusting that Mr. Noro has created a beautiful colorway. They know there might be a shocking color included…

Noro Slipped-Stitch Hat & New Silk Garden Sock Colors

And we’re back! People have been asking what happened to the blog and the email newsletter. I’m flattered! We were getting inundated with spam comments 😦 , which made our webmaster concerned about security. Since it was happening while he was working on the website redesign, the blog was put on the back burner. He’s…