Spring has Sprung

Spring is in full bloom here and we are really enjoying spending time outside.  The Red Bud and Dogwood trees are blooming and the area we live in reminds me of some of the scenes in Willy Wonka and the new Oz movie.





Blogger is making my pictures super sized today and doesn't seem to want to let me resize them.  Sorry about that!





We had several days of rain earlier in the week and I found these cute little mushrooms on our garden path.  They appear to be huge in the picture, but are only about an inch and a half tall.  The edging on them reminds me of fringe on a scarf.





I've been wearing Tyrion's Gift in the evenings to keep the night air off my shoulders while we enjoy dinner out on the deck.   It's knit up in Tarte in Volcanic Eruption and available on the Miss Babs site.  It's a really stunning colorway, so deep and rich.  I just love it!   Leslie sent me a lovely shawl pin and it works perfectly for keeping the Tyrion's Gift in place. The brass coloring goes perfectly with the yarn!   It's a really cute design and reminds me of a heart or little scissors.

Ancient Fibre Arts just released the Catacombs set in their 4 ply Merino Silk yarn from Meow collection that I designed for them.  It's a really fun knit and the textured stitches are easy to work.

I just checked my count down app on my phone and there are only 14 days until MDSW!  I've made a list of vendors that I want to check out and have a few things on my shopping list.  It looks like it might be a damp weekend, I'm hoping it won't be of course.  But if it is, I am prepared with a new pair of short boots from LL Bean.  I've been breaking them in so they will be ready just in case I need them.  They were on sale, I think the darker tops may not have been as popular as the original lighter leather ones.  Plus I had a gift card so I really couldn't go wrong!  If you are headed to MDSW, there is a great packing tips thread in the MDSW group on Ravelry: Packing Tips The tips are handy for other festivals as well.  It seem that no matter how many times I go, and how carefully I pack, there is always something that I left at home.

Iggy wishes you a Happy Spring!

Mother of Dragons

I'm so pleased to announce the release of Mother of Dragons!  

Inspired by Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons from Game of Thrones, this lace shawl is deceptively easy to knit.  I used Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in the Biker Chick colorway.  It has a lot of deep orange, dark red and gray colors in it which are perfect for the pattern.  The colors really reflect what I think of when dragons come to mind - fiery, bright and breathtaking.

The Mother of Dragons shawl was created to look like the wing of a dragon. The lace pattern mimics the intricate scales found on dragons and leads down to a fine point lace edging, like the points on dragon wings.

This pattern will be available at the Miss Babs booth at Stitches South April 10 - 13.  If you would like to purchase the pattern in pdf format it's available in my Etsy Shop and in my Ravelry Pattern Shop.

The Mother of Dragon Shawl is worked in 3 sections beginning with a garter stitch tab at the center neck. The body of the shawl is worked over a series of increase rows in sections 1 and 2 with garter stitch edgings to prevent the edging from rolling. The the lace edging border is worked across the bottom edge of the shawl incorporating all of the boarder stitches so there is minimal binding off at the end.

My test knitters Beth, Margi and Julia all did a fantastic job with this pattern. The deadline got bumped up by a couple of weeks when I found out that Miss Babs would be taking the pattern to Stitches South.  The three of them were all troupers and not only finished the test knit in time, but several days early!

This is Margi's test knit in Blue Ridge Yarns Silk Splash.  The dyer is in our area and Andy's favorite socks are in one of her yarns!

Here is Beth's in Fiber Optic Yarns Kashmir: 

Julia's in Buckwheat Bridge Mohair/Cormo Fingering:

 

If you are are looking for yarn for the Despicable Socks, Berry Colorful Yarnings has added several new Minion colorways to her shop! From left to right... Minion, Evil Minion, Edith, Gru.... all avail for pre order.

 This yarn was so much fun to work with!  I love how the strips on the socks match up perfectly - there are notes in the pattern on how to get yours to match up too.