New Toy!!! ~ post from Kelli

My newest Yarn Bowl!  I won it at the yearly retreat, by bidding and bidding so someone else would pay big bucks for the charity we donate too, but I bid one time to many ~ a great donation to a wonderful charity! I didn't expect it but I do love it. 

inhale ~ Melissa

...and everything smoky-smelling and the sky orange and ash gray at twilight, it seems Halloween will never come in a fall of broomsticks and a soft flap of bedsheets around corners.                  

- Ray Bradbury :: Something Wicked This Way Comes

 

 

 



 

 

 

Last autumn is a blur ~ my favorite time of year came and went unnoticed and uncelebrated.  I'm making an effort this season to take in the things around me that I love so much.  The damp earthy smell of the air, the crunchy kaleidoscope foliage underfoot, seasonal baking with local produce - my favorite apple cake can be found here (best right out of the oven with a cool spoon of homemade whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon), weekends filled with snuggling under a blanket and watching football and the World Series, listening to the blustery winds and the spate of daily rain showers that are part of October and November in the northwest.  I spent an hour today gathering fallen leaves in the hopes of following Ginny's lead ~ I'm finally going to wax and string a garland for our house after bookmarking this post four years ago.  I didn't plan ahead well enough so I don't have beeswax ~ I'm hoping paraffin will work just as well.  I'll let you know.

 

I'm just finishing a perfect book for this time of year, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, a favorite from childhood.  I'm also skimming through a new Martha Stewart magazine ~ I was taken in by the cover at the market and it somehow ended up in my basket.  I haven't bought one of her magazines in years but her October and November issues were always my favorites.

 

And I've been knitting.  Alot.  I'm so behind on getting things up on Ravelry - so not like me - but I'll get everything posted one of these days.  I've got three new finished projects:

Ceramic Flowers Cowl (notes here)

Streusel Shawl (link here)

and the Shale Baby Blanket (link here) that I finished last weekend while at retreat (posted here) .

 

I'm getting really close to finishing up the Hemlock Ring Blanket (link here) that I'm making for our second Goddaughter who will be here in just another month or so.  And I'm just casting on the second of my By the Seine River Socks (link here) that are my October set for Liesl's monthly sock challenge over at Buckaloo View (link here) . 

 

I'm so glad to be joining Ginny and everyone again for Yarn Along (link).  It's been awhile!  Looking forward to seeing what you all are up to since the last time I visited!

 

~ Melissa

 

(ack..sorry about all the links - I should have put them all at the end but I'm too lazy to go back and fix it all now! my post is a bit of a mess!)

yearned, imagined, mine ~ posted by Melissa

have you ever seen a yarn and knew in a snap that you must have it

 3 skeins of madelinetosh tosh dk 'Mansfield Garden Party'

and were lucky enough to know someone that was willing to sell it to you (thanks, Kyle!)
 

3 skeins become 1 giant cake ~ 225yds of 24-ply merino wool

and while you waited for it to arrive dreamed about what you would make with it 

colors reminiscent of Monet's paintings

and knew instantly when you opened the package that this yarn must become a certain something 

big, squishy seed stitch

and after casting on realized that this project couldn't be any more perfect
 

 My enormous 'Gap-tastic Cowl' turned out just as I had envisioned.  It's long enough to wrap loosely around my neck three times and narrow enough that it doesn't come up over my chin.  One strand of this colorway is pretty enough on its own, but lay 3 strands side by side and knit them together and there are so many different gorgeous color combinations with every stitch that it was really hard to put this project down!

I'm a bit envious of knitters who live in cold climates since I probably won't get too much wear out of this knit in the Pacific Northwest, but if I do get to wear it once or twice every winter, I'll consider myself lucky!

 

Is everyone planning their cold-weather knits for this year?  I can't wait to see what my friends decide are their 'must haves' this season, and be inspired by their choices.  Hope everyone is having a great week!   ~ Melissa

Weasleypants, where have you been all my life?

I won't blather on (as Kathleen Taylor claims to do :) ...) ~ suffice it to say...

I ♥ this project

I increased the circumference so this cowl can be worn long like this

or doubled like this

or folded in half lengthwise and then doubled like this

Pattern: Chickadee Cowl (Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops! has made the pattern available for free on Rav)

Yarn: MCN Fingering by Two if By Hand Yarns (colorway ~ Weasleypants) ~ highly recommend this yarn!

Notes and modifications can be found here on my Ravelry project page


Off to finish another project!   ~ Melissa

anticipation...

Weasleypants Cowl ~ a bathing beauty!

Even this little guy is on high alert for some finished photos!!   ~ Melissa