purge

Since coming back to Urbana from a month in Chicago and South America I have to say that I've been a bit overwhelmed with all of the wooly things in my apartment. Yarn, unfinished objects, and even finished pieces have been taking over a lot of my space. I have made quite a few hats, scarves, and shawls in my relatively short time as a knitter and many of them I keep for myself. However, I don't wear all of them because I have favorites that get more use than others. I have a couple favorite hats and quite a few favorite scarves and shawls, but I had a whole bag of beautiful and functional accessories hidden under my bed. So, I decided to have a few of my good friends over for dinner and I put out a big pile of knitwear for them to pick from. They were very excited and it felt so good to let go of all those pieces, especially to really appreciative friends, and now the things I made are actually being used everyday. Since then, I have made a couple new projects for friends. One of them was the Purl Ridge Scarf in my last post, a cowl that I'm currently working on, and this quick and fun bulky neckwarmer for my friend Nibia.


I used Malabrigo Aquarella for most of it with a thick stripe using Malabrigo Gruesa on US 13 needles.

Anyway, it felt good to purge all those knitted items I wasn't using and also make some new ones for friends. If you have some knits lying around that you don't use anymore, I would encourage you to let go of them too because handmade knits should be used and worn.

Now that I don't have all those unused hats and scarves lying around I feel better about making something new for myself. After making the Purl Ridge Scarf for a friend I decided I would like to have one to wear and also bring with me as a sample when I visit and teach at yarn shops. I have been pretty good about knitting from my stash recently and not acquiring too much new yarn. So, I went through my stash and found some Rowan Lima in a beautiful shade of green that I got in Chicago last year. I had a wonderful evening of knitting and baking instead of watching the superbowl. Plus, I had some good company...

Purl Ridge Scarf

I just finished a dance performance this weekend in Urbana so I had some time these past few weeks to knit while waiting in the theater and during long evenings of tech/dress rehearsals. One of the projects I worked on was an infinity scarf requested by a friend and I have to say he picked the best yarn for this project from my stash (Hedgehog Fibres silk/merino singles). It was a pleasure coming up with a simple design because the yarn was amazing to work with and I hardly had to think about what I was doing. Long rows of easy knit or purl stitches are a favorite of mine.


I'll have to make one of these for myself soon because it's so easy to wear several different ways.





Best of all, this new pattern is free so here's the download link!
download now

I'm back!

Here we go again. I've been putting off updating for quite a long time. I really want to have an updated blog, but I just have so much to share that I've been letting things pile up gradually. SO, instead of filling you all in on everything between the last post and this post (which is A LOT of news) I'll just pick up with what's going on right now with my knitting.

I've been enjoying answering some questions for interviews and one of those can be found at A Yarn Tale blog. Perhaps this interview can make up for my lack of updates on this blog. I have been twittering quite regularly. I'm westknits over on Twitter so I usually post current news there.

I recently got back from visiting a friend in Ecuador earlier this month and dancing in Chile with my friends who have a dance company in Chicago. It was beautiful and summery down there and I still got some knitting done.

The Santiago landscape was beautiful...

The food (especially the seafood) and wine was the best...

And I could not have been with better friends.


While I was in South America for three weeks I was able to get in contact with Deep South Fibers in time for TNNA in Long Beach. They are now representing my westknits pattern line and doing all of the distributing to yarn shops. If you'd like to see my patterns in your LYS, they can contact Deep South Fibers for wholesale information. This company also represents a handful of some really talented knitting designers like Ysolda Teague and Julie Weisenberger (cocoknits) and many many more.

I have a new pattern called Bentgrass that I just put up on Ravelry last week. My most recent finished object is another Bentgrass Neckwarmer.

It's an insanely quick knit with super bulky yarn and US 13 needles.

I used Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky Natural for this one and added some Black Walnut buttons from thehickorytree.etsy.com.

Hopefully, I'll start working on a website soon that will serve as an online location to gather everything westknits like my travel/event schedule, news, patterns, etc... For now, I'll try to share news, events, and happenings more often on this blog. Coming soon, I will be at Loopy Yarns in Chicago teaching a project class on my Daybreak shawl. The 2 part class will take place on February 20 and March 6. You can find more information on their website here.

More exciting news! I'm currently planning a trip to the Seattle area next month! The dates are March 18-29 and I will be having events at a few knitting shops in the area so I'll let you know more details soon. I am looking forward to this trip because I have never been to the Pacific Northwest before. I have the feeling I'm going to fall in love.

Sorry this post is a bit blunt and choppy, but I had to put something on here to get this blog going again. I barely even talked about the projects I'm working on right now! I suppose I will save the rest for other posts. It would be great to hear from anyone who reads this. Knowing that other people read these posts is encouraging and will hopefully boost me into sharing more.