February: month in pictures.

Torrey Pines State Beach

Torrey Pines State Beach

Torrey Pines State Beach

Torrey Pines State Beach

Torrey Pines State Beach

San Diego Airspace Museum

San Diego Airspace Museum

San Diego Airspace Museum

Balboa Park

Balboa Park

New Design: Lemon Drops Shawl.

A month ago I came across a pattern that I really loved. It looked a little bit like a leaf, but had some interesting twist to it. I knew I wanted a shawl with this pattern right away. I had to change the lace pattern somewhat to make it fit into format of a shawl. As I started to knit the shawl I had no idea what to do for the border, but it kind of came to me at the end :-)) It was a truly spontaneous project and a fast one too. I knitted the shawl in a week :-))) The shawl was named "Lemon Drops" because the color of the yarn and the shape of the main pattern reminded me of that particular candy :-))) I love, love, love how it all came to together. I hope you like the shawl too :-)) I am writing the pattern for the shawl right now.
Project: Lemon Drops on Ravelry.
Yarn: Madelinetosh Merino Light, 4 ply Fingering, 100 % Merino
Needles: US 3 - 3.25 mm

Berea and Luna Bella shawls.

Project: Berea by Nora Gaughan on Ravelry.
After knitting some cardigans and sweaters I was craving to knit a shawl. I choose the pattern called Berea by Nora Gaughan from her latest booklet Berroco: Nora Gaughan Volume8.
The scarf/shawl has open stitches lace pattern. I feel this type of pattern works well for multicolored yarns, such as sock yarns. The beautiful colors in the skein look gorgeous in the open lace pattern since they are not close together, as in the garment knit in St. st. for example, where colors are all close together and the finished product might look a little busy.  I feel the open lace pattern is a nice option  for people who do not like to knit socks, but love yarns that are made for this purpose :-))). The yarn I choose for this projects is Juno Fibre Arsts yarn in colorway Summer rain.

I only had 364.0 yards (332.8m) of it, but after blocking the shawl grew considerably to a very nice size. The yarn is 3 ply yarn and made of 50% Superwash Merino / 50% Tencel. This was my first time working with Tencel. It is stretchy fabric, but after blocking the scarf stayed the size it was blocked to. I am very happy with this project :-)) I wore the scarf today and it was very lovely little something to keep me warm and a nice touch of color in my outfit :-))

The Berea scarf was inspired by another project with open lace that I have done  last summer called Luna Bella. The pattern is by Orianna Eklund and is available for free on Ravelry. My project can also be found on Ravelry. For Luna Bella I used 55% Silk  45% Cashmere 3ply yarn by Yarn Candy, Sweet Fiber.

I quite like these two scarfs and the way open lace looks in these colorful yarns. There is defiantly more projects like these two in the future :-))

SCHWAAN

When I saw a new booklet by Norah Gaughan come out, I loved it :-)) The pattern called Schwaan caught my eye especially ;-)) It was such a fun and enjoyable pattern to do. I love the lace insert. It is original and gives this sweater it's special something.  I admired Nora Gaughan designs for a while, but this is the first time I have knitted one of her patterns. Lovely, lovely pattern and definitely not the last of Nora's designs for me :-))
I had some time in the afternoon today and me and my friend and coworker Xiao went to the nearby beach and took some pictures. We are so lucky to have this beautiful setting just a few minutes driving from our work :-)) Thank you Xiao so much for the pictures. ( I know your are reading this ;-)))

You can find my notes on the pattern and information about the yarn on Ravelry.