Introducing the Victoria Cowl. I just love how this cowl sits close to the neck. It has a cabled center section with incredibly fun pleats on both the top and bottom. Knit in a DK weight yarn, this cowl works into a squishy and fun accessory! The pleats give it just enough stretch so that it fits over your head easily.

We had a fantastic time shooting the Victoria Cowl around town. A special thanks to my model, you can find her over here at Aloft Fibers.

I had a good friend that just fell in love with these mini skeins by Miss Babs I picked up at Stitches West this year. I really wanted to make her something but couldn’t figure out what since my yardage was a bit limited. So I did a little bit of modding to the arm section to make these shorter fingerless gloves while still maintaining that great shaping. The final product is a great looking and fitting pair of fingerless gloves. Oh, and my friend loved them!!

One of my best friends was pregnant with her fourth child and when I learned it was going to be her third girl in a row, the thought of creating another pinky-feminine-little-girly blanket was a little daunting. I really wanted to make a baby blanket that would be subtly soft and feminine but a little different. A geometric pattern with lots of texture and interest seemed to be just the ticket.

So was born this geometric chart. In repetition it makes a really nice textured blanket. My finished product was a little small but perfectly child sized for carrying around. The pattern can easily be modified to be larger depending on what you individually want.

One word: ‘Namaste’. I know, it makes me smile too.

I have the very large and very in charge ‘Hermosa’ bag. It is fantastic for toting everything you need around. What I bought at Stitches is the ‘Zuma’ bag. I have lusted after it online for quite some time. It was nice to see it in person at Stitches. There is something so fantastic when looking at bags with being able to check out all the pockets and really see what it is all about. It is so fantastic, it convinced me I had to buy Zuma. So it came home with me.

Zuma in Peacock

Also in new containment units, I picked up some fantastic stitch markers with cute little tins to store them in. They are made by Miss Purl and are they ever sparkly and cute! Miss Purl is from Portland Oregon and all of her stuff was nice neat and very high quality. I am so excited to have a couple of sets from her collection.

decorative tin for green stitch markers

new green stitch markers

blue stitch markers with pin-up tin

'A Day at Browlers Antique Store'

Of course all of my good intentions did me very little good. I attended Stitches West with the intention and seeing and taking it all in with a little goal to not spend too much. Let me tell you first hand, this was an impossible goal. There were so many neat things to see and touch. Especially all the hand painted, hand dyed, hand spun, hand crafted yarn.

My new favorite hand dyer to add to my short list is Miss Babs. I hadn’t even heard of her before Stitches and now I see that I have been missing out. I am in LOVE with her “Yowza, What Skein!” yarn. It is a lovely worsted weight yarn that is squishy and all things comforting. And the colors she is dyeing it in are enough to take your breath away. It was so hard to choose just one but I was successful and walked away with only one skein of it. Don’t worry, I will be back. Thankfully she has a website so I will be able to continually feed my new addiction.

'A Day at Browlers Antique Store'

I also picked up a few of Miss Babs’ mini skeins called “Yummy Toes”. It is a nice heavy sock weight yarn and it came in all the fantastic color ways as the other yarns. This way, I get to play with a little more colors without buying so many full skeins. Smart right?

'Into the Abyss' and 'Beachglass'

'Timberline' and 'Lilac'

Check into hotel, check!

Check in to dinner, check!

Head over to see the folks at the Ravelry meet-up, oh so check!

It was great to meet everyone and see so many happy knitters in one place. And I was so impressed by all the people sitting around at tables knitting. Part of the fun of the social hour was just cruising the room checking out all the projects on needles. I am really looking forward to Friday’s marketplace and what and who all are here.

I was ready for a change and a little more streamline. So I decided it was time to update the look and layout of the blog. I am happy and I hope you like too!

I am so excited to attend my first big knitting event. This is my first opportunity to really mix with so many representatives in the industry. I am looking forward to getting to meet some of the movers and shakers plus see just how much this lovely world of fiber has to offer.

With so many vendors, where do you start? My first hits will probably be Jimmy Beans Wool, Sunshine Yarns, Namaste, and Habu Textiles and Yarns. I am looking forward to meeting more independent spinners too. There are so many names on the list that I don’t recognize. Is that admitting a weakness? Well I am resolved to get to know them all by the end of the three day event!

See you there!