Marshwood

I've teamed up with Bare Naked Wools to bring you Marshwood.  Bare Naked Wools will be offering a kit for Marshwood in their shop later this week, so be sure to check it out!

Marshwood is inspired by the many castles that are found throughout Europe. The simple, but elegant texture of the body of the shawl is reminiscent of castle walls and the picot edging represents the battlements.
Marshwood uses just two skeins of Bare Naked Wools Confection DK. Beginning with a garter stitch tab and worked from the top down this is a great project to take with you to knit group or work on while watching your favorite show.

Weather you will be walking along the Moors of the Scottish countryside or dining at your favorite pub this summer, Marshwood is the perfect accessory for you to wear. The three sections drape nicely and will lay over your shoulders without the use of a shawl pin.


Use coupon code: BNW in my Ravelry pattern shop for $1.00 off of Marshwood through 5/11. 





Later this week I'll have the MDSW recap.  I don't think Blogger had enough coffee this morning as it keeps deleting what I've typed.

Happy Friday!

It may seem strange that I get excited for Friday since I'm self employed and wind up working most every day.  Even if I am working, the weekend is still the weekend.  On Friday's I usually cook something more involved than pizza for dinner.  When Andy get's home from work we have a cocktail and kick back a bit before dinner.  Tonight I'm making Carnita Pork and will serve it will a corn salsa, black beans, avocado's and rice.   I can never get enough avocado in any form - sliced, in guacamole or fried.  I will eat it any way that it comes!   Andy has been working a lot.  Between his day job and building our deck (pictures next week!) I haven't seen as much of him as I usually do.  Since a large portion of the deck was rather high up and I am terrified of heights, I wasn't able to help out.  Now that the decking boards are mostly done I've been able to give him a hand.

I've been working on a pair of Bethesda's Socks in the Sock It To Me KAL in my Ravelry group.  If you haven't joined in, there is still plenty of time to get a pair of socks knitted up.  The holidays are right around the corner and socks make a great gift!  This is my sock in progress.  The yarn is from the Murder on the Moors yarn club that The Natural Dye Studio did earlier this year.  The club was a lot of fun, reasonably priced and came with a short mystery story in each shipment. 

Next week I have a new pattern set in Bare Naked Wools Ghillie Sport/DK coming out!  It's called Sugardance and will include a cowl and mitt pattern.  The pattern will be released on Monday and Knitspot will be having a pattern giveaway on their blog, so keep a look out there. It's a super easy knit and would make a great gift for a friend for the holidays!  I know, I know the leaves haven't even fallen off the trees yet.  Isn't it better to get started on that holiday knitting now, rather than to wait until the last minute and have to block a project in your hotel room or at your in laws?

An Interview, Powhatan's Festival of Fiber and Spark KAL with Bare Naked Wools!

Last month Robin Hunter contacted me to see if I would be interested in participating in an interview for her blog.  There are a few blogs that I try to read on a regular basis and hers is one of them.  She always has interesting information and I enjoy reading the interviews she does with other designers.

Robin posted the interview today.  I'm really honored that she asked me!  She asks a lot of good questions and if you were wondering more about me and my business, please check out her post:  An Interview with Lara Smoot

For the past few weeks I have been getting ready for the Powhatan's Festival of Fiber.  I've put together some "Ready to Knit" kits with a few of my patterns.  These kits include the yarn, pattern and a stitch marker.  All you will need are your needles to get started!


Frost in Bloom



Oktoberfest



Iridill
 


Ferry Beach 




I will also be bringing some Mother of Dragons kits.  They include a Limited Edition dragon project bag, Mother of Dragons pattern and coordinating yarn.  This is just a little hint of the bag as I am putting the final touches on them:

I will be adding some project bags and kit's to my Etsy shop around the first week of May.  I am really excited to be starting this new venture!

Speaking of excitement, the Spark KAL has been announced in the Bare Naked Wools group on Ravelry.  We would love to have you join us.  It begins on April 30 and Erica and I have some fun things planned for the KAL including a few contests along the way.  If you are looking for something to knit for your Mom for Mothers Day, Spark is a perfect gift.  Mom can wear it in the chilly spring air when she goes out for her morning walk, or in the evenings since the nights are still a bit chilly.  Ok, who am I trying to kid here?  When I spoke with Erica earlier this week she had 2" of snow at her house! It's definitely a late spring and Mom would sure appreciate a nice hand knitted Spark cowl to keep her warm.  Check out these pictures from the look book photo shoot.  Beth knitted the lighter colored Spark using all Bare Naked Confection and I knitted the darker one in Confection with Indieways Best Worsted for the contrast.

Spring Might Actually Be Here!

We happened to be very lucky and it was 65 here on the first day of spring!  The song birds are back and late last night I heard a flock of geese that were heading north for the summer.  While winters here aren't as harsh as many other areas, this one seemed to drag on a bit longer than normal.  The first spring flowers are making an appearance and can be spotted almost everywhere.  I really enjoy seeing them bloom!  This daffodil is in our garden.

 

I spotted this crocus while I was out running errands today.  It was peeking up through the grass next to the sidewalk. 

Ever since I was a little girl one of my favorite things is to get the mail.  You never know what might arrive that day, and even if it is bills it was still fun wondering what was going to be in the box before you got there.

Earlier this week I revived a package full of squishy goodness from Knitspot's Bare Naked Wools.  Erica aka majordomo contacted me about having a sample of Spark knitted for their Look Book in three colors of their wonderful Confection yarn and a second sample in Confection with hand dyed yarn as the accents.  Beth is knitting the sample that is all in BNW's and I am working on the one that has the hand dyed accents.  I'm using Confection Worsted in Cookies and Cream with Indieway's Best Worsted in Black Currant and Periwinkle. I love knitting with both of the yarns and putting them together is extra special!  Confection is lofty and soft and just glides through your fingers while you knit.  Best Worsted is soft and smooth and in Black Currant and Periwinkle really stands out with the Cookies and Cream.  Spark is one of those patterns that is fun to knit and doesn't require a large amount of yarn - just 70 yards for each contrasting color and 200 yards for the main color.  Choose a  neutral for the main color like Cookies and Cream and pair it with some brighter left overs that you have saved in your stash.  I think it would look great with a variegated colorway for the contrast too.  The possibilities are endless.

I've just gotten started on mine so you can't really see much yet.

 

A peek in my project bag shows how pretty the yarns look together:

 

I love the pictures of Confection that Anne has on Raverly.  It must have been a fun photo shoot!

TNNA

We are back from TNNA and had a wonderful time!  Kristi, Paul and Laurie did an amazing job designing the Shalimar booth.  We had three spaces this year and the extra room was wonderful!

I finished Tempest just in time to wear on Saturday:

I love how the colors of Ore and Love Potion look together.  It was a really fun knit and it's so nice to have a finished sweater that fit's so well.  I may have to knit this again in another colorway.  I'm thinking of possibly doing something with gradient stripes next time.

I've been reading Carrie aka IrishGirlieKnits  blog for several years now and have done a few test knits for her.  I was so excited to finally get to meet her!  She is one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet and she has some really fantastic designs that I was able to admire in person. She even offered some really great advice for me as a designer which I am really grateful for.

  The lovely shawl to the right of me is Falling Slowly one of Carries newest designs. 

We were able to spend some time with Anne and Erica (and her super cute baby!) from KnitSpot.  Anne's booth was amazing!  Seeing so many of her designs knitted up and all in one place was incredible.  Even though David couldn't be there, we still managed to get him in the group picture:

Anne was kind enough to give me a sample card with all of the Bare Naked Yarns on it.  I've worked with the Breakfast Blend for the Ribbon Street Cowl design earlier this year and it has a lovely hand.  I'm sure I will be coming up with a new design for one of the other yarns.  Stone Soup and Kent are really calling out to me right now!

I'm a few days late posting about TNNA.  Last week our dog Roper, took a turn for the worse and we had to put him down.  The vet thinks that in addition to his heart issues he had a brain or spinal column tumor.  We had him for almost 13 years and it's been really hard being in the house without him.  He was very well loved and a special guy.  He was always right by my side or where he could watch me to see what I was doing though out the day.

Wandering Wildflower

Introducing Wandering Wildflower

Introductory price of $3.50 until July 1 on Ravelry

Wandering Wildflower is a very versatile pattern and can be worn as a scarf or a cowl.  If you make the version in the pattern it will use close to 450 yards of fingering weight yarn.  The pattern can easily be modified to accommodate a skein with less yardage by casting on fewer stitches.  Shannon who test knit for me used an alternating color for the eyelet section. It's really quite striking.  Just waiting for her to upload pictures.  We are giving her slack though. I think she is still unpacking boxes from her move last weekend.  If that won't put a delay into things, I don't know what will!

Yes, the pattern name was changed :)  A friend suggested that Kracken might not be the best choice for something that is wrapped around ones neck.  Lindr came up with the name and will receive a copy of the pattern (Lindr please contact me via Ravelry and I will send you a copy right away).  JudyH also will be receiving a copy from our random drawing.  Thank you to everyone who participated!

I'm packing today to leave for TNNA tomorrow.  It's exciting to go and get to see friends that we don't see that often.  I can't believe it's been over a year since Ive seen Anne and Erica!  Im really ecstatic about getting to meet Carrie aka IrishGirlieKnits this year!  Ive always loved knitting her patterns and have done some test knitting for her in the past.  

If you are going to TNNA this weekend, please stop by the Shalimar Yarns booth and say hi.  I will be working all day on Saturday and Sunday morning.  Ive finished my Tempest sweater and will be wearing it.  It's hot pink - Love Potion and gray - Ore so I should be easy to spot. 

Spring Fever

It's one of those times of year when it's still a little too cold to do a whole lot outside and we have been inside so much that Andy and I both have a bit of cabin fever.  It's better than having Bieber Fever (right Shannon?), but I'm not sure how much better it is.  Andy can't wait to get out on the boat and do some fishing.  The past few weekends we have cruised though a few tackle shops to check out the latest lures and new gear.  I enjoy fishing too, it's really nice going out on the boat on a warm day and spending time together.  It's even better when I catch more fish than Andy, but that doesn't happen very often.  Hopefully we won't have to wait too much longer to get out there.

While Andy keeps tabs on the weather and is getting his fishing gear ready, Ive been counting down the days until Maryland Sheep and Wool (MDSW).  As of today there are 35 days left until we head to Maryland.  A week or so ago I realized that I hadn't had a chance to use all of the yarns that I came home with from last year.  I wound up casting on for several project with reckless abandon!  It's hard for me to go shopping for new yarn when I know there is perfectly good yarn sitting in my stash.  Ok, who is laughing at me now?  I know, I know, yarn in a knitter stash has never stopped her or him from buying more!

 Frost in Bloom in Breathless Love Potion for the Shalimar Yarns Knitters Gone Wild KAL on Ravelry.  This colorway is so much fun!  If you haven't had a chance to check out the KAL, there are some great prizes being given away!  Yes, those are flowers and it does look like spring.  It's really not though.  They were completely covered with snow over the weekend.  It's some kind of early April Fool's joke from Mother Nature.

Kristi had given me the most beautiful yarn, Breathless DK in Copper Pennies for a sweater.  The first one I cast on for was a beautiful pattern and I knitted the sleeves and about 8" of the body before I realized that it just wasn't going to fit my body type not matter what I did.  I wound up using that wonderful ball winder from the last post to help me frog the entire thing.  I do have to say that it was much less painful to do it this way and faster too.  One way to find out how a yarn is going to behave over time is to frog it.  I have to say, Breathless DK held up like a champ.  I cast on for Audrey in Unst and I really think it's going to be a lovely sweater for me. 

Im about 14 rows away from dividing the fronts from the back.  Since it was going so well, I also cast on for Ardelise in Verdant Gryphon Bugga Seaside Dragonlet.

My new Candy Necklace pattern is finished and is being test knitted. Beth is already done with hers, and Debbie and Linda are working on theirs. My fingers are crossed that it's nice enough out this weekend for a photo shoot.  I took a quick picture the other day on the mannequin:

Speaking of test knitters, Tierney has a beautiful picture of her Mirrored Step socks on her blog.

On Stranger Tides is in the final portion of test knitting.  Look for a release in the next week or so.

I also have a secret project on the needles.  I'm so excited about it, I'm just about to burst!  It won't be released until May but I will be dropping little hints here and there. 

Tonight I'll be casting on for Anne Hanson's new Fringetree Shawl pattern from the Bare Naked Knit's club.  I have some lovely baby kid mohair yarn that I spun a few years ago that should work perfectly.