Made for Madder, part 2

Photo courtesy of Carrie Bostick Hoge

 Here's another sample I knit for Carrie, again modeled by gorgeous Hannah in her Brooklyn home.

Photo courtesy of Carrie Bostick Hoge

The Liv cardigan is an elegant piece knit in dreamy Canopy Worsted by the Fiber Company.

Photo courtesy of Carrie Bostick Hoge

Hope that you are all having a lovely weekend! My plans mostly revolve around avoiding housework with more sample knitting and skiing.

Made for Madder, part 1

Hello friends. I hope the cold, dark days of winter are not getting you down. I've been keeping quite busy, with lots and lots of secret samples on the needles. I'm excited to eventually show you...

First off, the beautiful and aptly named Uniform Cardigan, by Carrie Bostick Hoge. This was a chance for me to play with some very yummy yarn: Quince and Co's Owl. Divine!

Photo courtesy of Carrie Bostick Hoge

Photo courtesy of Carrie Bostick Hoge

I was very excited to have the chance to knit this for Carrie. Recently she launched a new website and has been releasing the most wonderful, wearable patterns! This particular pattern is especially cool. It includes instructions that allow you to mix and match different elements to make it perfectly "you": long and shorter length, 3 different body shapes, fitted or bell-shaped sleeves, simple or shaped neckband, patch, inset or no pockets. I can imagine making a whole wardrobe of these lovely and utilitarian garments!

And there's another reason why I'm tickled to have knit this sample. The model is the beautiful daughter of my sweet friend Lori.

Advent Giveaway

Would you like to win one of my handknit cashmere hats? Make your way over to the beautiful blog A Butterfly in my Hair for Vibeke's Advent giveaways (what a good idea!).

But be quick, you only have till the 18th of December to leave a comment.

xoxo

Candlelight

I've blogged before about my love for beeswax candles. I had several people asking me where I get mine after my last post. My favourites are from Pheylonian. They are amazing quality, smell wonderful, and with proper care, last a really long time.

Such a wonderful way to light up these cold and dark days.

Warm weekend

Oooh, it was sooo cold this weekend. We had our first "real" (staying on the ground) snow.

But it was so warm inside, with the help of some comfort knitting, beeswax candles and cups of tea.

I also caught up on my sleep, listened to some sublime music (in memory of the recently departed John Taverner, rest in peace), and added several items to my never-ending knitting queue:

Fairy snow cap
Stars in the sky shawl
Port o' Leith pullover and cowl
Firth o' Forth cardigan
Siri cardigan

Lots here to keep me warm. I hope you're keeping warm too.

Warms the cockles of my knitty heart...

There's a new Brooklyn Tweed Wool People collection out, and it features one of my samples.

Photo courtesy of Jared Flood

Little Wave is a saddle-shoulder cabled cardigan designed by Gudrun Johnston. I knit the men's version, modeled here by none other than the dashing Jared Flood (he's a lovely person in real life too). It's knit in Shelter in the cast iron colourway.

Photo courtesy of Jared Flood

This is such an interesting and entertaining knit! I would say it requires intermediate skill to make, as there are a lot of technical details that come together simultaneously to make a beautifully shaped piece.

Photo courtesy of Jared Flood

I'm in love with the women's version in that beautiful embers colourway.

Be sure to check out the collection. It's chock-a-block with handsome pieces. Lots here to warm a knitter's heart. My fingers are itching to cast-on for this beauty from Leila Raabe:

 It would have been the perfect thing to keep my ears warm on this morning's run (it was cooooold, around -10 C, that's 14 degrees F)!

 Speaking of heart-warming, thank you for all the warm comments you've left on my last few posts. It's been nice to be back here and in touch with all of you.

The golden hour

Once in a golden hour,
I cast to earth a seed,
And up there grew a flower,
That others called a weed.

Alfred Tennyson

That lovely extra hour of sleep this morning meant that the gloaming came an hour earlier too. I got "caught" by surprise on my afternoon walk when the sun started to set. But what luck, as the light was absolutely magical.

I took some photos of my finally-finished woodland shawl. It's a lovely pattern, easy to remember and oh so pretty. The perfect thing to throw on when taking a walk in the golden hour.