A gift...

... from me to me to celebrate Gifted!
I am not much of a sock knitter--- gasp! And, I certainly did not want to hide this beautiful Noro colourway under boots… so I made this instead!!


I had just finished all the projects for Gifted and thought this would be a lovely little gift for me to make and celebrate.
The original design from the book--- Linen Summer Wrap--- is a wrap/scarf for, well, the summer months.


I loved the cool, dry hand of Berroco's Linen Jeans and felt the soft neutral contributed to a sense of coolness I wished for the piece. Perfect for the summer or to take along on a tropical vacation...

It being late fall at the time, I grabbed my hot-hued, woolly Noro!
I used a kitchen scale to wind off two fairly equal balls out of the one that I had.
I did not block the finished piece. I liked the way the skinny ends had become colourful tendrils.


I started and finished it while on an incredible trip I took to Morocco last November. The colours in the wrap mimicked many I saw in the souks of Marrakesh.
Mmmmm… this wrap makes me think of mint tea…

A gift...

... from me to you to celebrate Gifted.

A free pattern!!

Not every idea and every pattern can fit between the covers of one itty, bitty book. Sometimes a design or two must be shelved. Gifted had such moments. But, fret not! Dust barely began to collect on that shelf before I saw a good reason to bring out this "gifty" idea for all to make.

Cinched!

This is a fun, quick felted belt that makes my heart sing...
Very few things thrill me like a good stripe. With Cinched I am able to play with colours, stripe widths and spacings while formulating new ways to use colour when designing larger projects.


I'm on my third Cinched. Unfortunately, for those around me, I have been closeting my creations for my own, personal use. I know..... baaaaaaaaad gift maker ;).
FYI, I feel there is absolutely nothing wrong in practicing a project--- many, many, many times if needed--- until I feel happy enough to wrap it up and give it away. That is my story and I am sticking to it....


Here is a link to the Ravelry page so you can save it in your library and queue it up. And here is a link to the pattern on my website.
Happy Cinch-ing!

Ta da...

... te de!
It's here... it's here... it's here!


Gifted has just started shipping so grab those needles and/or hooks and get ready to start gifting!!
If you have a Ravelry account click here to view all of the projects. At the moment there are only a handful up. Patience.... I'll be loading them up as quick as I can...
Have a FABULOUS weekend!

My, oh my...

... something fun, fabulous and FREE for the weekend!


Knitting Daily TV has offered up a pattern from Gifted that is one of my personal favourites!!
I have an armful amount in assorted colours that I love to pile on to gussy up my “uniform” of jeans and gray T’s.
For “gifting” I group them in threes and tie them together with a pretty ribbon.
This is such a great way to use up all the odds and sods in your stash....
Dig up all those walnut sized leftovers of colourful sock yarn you have squirreled away!!
Imagine how fantastic they would look as the wrapper yarn!!!
Oooooohhhhhhhh....
Here is a pic of some of my original prototypes. What did I tell you? Gray T and jeans... ;-)



I'd love to see what masterpieces you come up with.
Pleeeeease post them on my Gifted Facebook page so we all can see them!!

Lookie, lookie...

... at who showed up the other day!


The nice man driving the van gave me this....


I took a moment to sit down so I could rip open the envelope using that handy little tear strip... My my... imagine that, I just so happened to be wearing my "nice clothes" and my hair was "done". Hmmm ... what's that? Lipstick??? ;-)

I called over a buddy to watch as I unwrapped the contents of the envelope...

Inside we found an advanced copy of this...

So... it wasn't all a dream....

I can hold it in my hands...

And flip through the pretty pages...


And see all the lovely colours...


And bore the heck out of Skeeter...

Yipppeeee!

I have fallen...

... hard!
Real hard.... for Blue Sky Alpacas' Dyed Worsted Cotton!


Knitting up like spun silk, this softer-than-soft organic cotton-- don't even get me started about all the fantastic colours--- was the only choice for one of my favourite Gifted projects.


The Precious Baby Jacket was my first project with this scrumptious yarn. It certainly will not be my last.
Precious is what I consider a perfect modern heirloom--- simple, practical and special. Simple and practical are achieved by the construction-- an easy asymmetric, top down project-- and the colour-- a very gender neutral shade called Azul.
The special? Little felted rounds of applique are scattered and colourfully stitched onto the finished knit. More of Blue Sky Alpaca's yarn playlist was used for the felting--- 100% alpaca Melange in Cornflower.


One of the wonderful, lingering by-products of working on Gifted-- where the world is your "yarn" oyster-- was being introduced to new and inspiring fibers to create with.
I have been swatching with some remaining bits of yarn in my stash and have found something that makes me happy.

With a skein of the lovely, soft Orchid, I'll be whipping up a sweet adult sized topper for when the temperatures begin to dip. I know! It's not even summer, yet!!


It must be the lovely spring we are having that has inspired a leafy motif for a design that will be available Julyish.
This will be part of a mini-companion-collection of patterns to celebrate the arrival of Gifted. Available as individual downloads, they will continue on where Gifted leaves off.... so many gifts to make... so many ideas to share... so much fun to have!

A new place...

... to visit!

If you are on Facebook... and if you are interested in being part of Gifted... I have started a FB page for us!!
There is not much there at the moment but it is my hope that the closer we get to "launch" we can all use this as a place to gather and share projects from the book, exchange favourite gift ideas, and be inspired to make special things for special people!
Oh... and maybe start Knit-Alongs and share trunk show info and photos and event announcements ... and... and...
Simply log onto your FB account and search for a group called Gifted: Lovely Things to Knit and Crochet. Click "join" and... tada!
See you there!