Discontinued Colorway

Oh no!!

Three Irish Girls is discontinuing the Maura colorway very very very soon. It is a stunning (but subtle) blend of "olive greens, dusty lilacs, khaki, and burnished gold." This is the color yarn (in Wexford Merino Silk) that is featured in my Spring Awakening Cowl pattern. 

Today ONLY they are offering a 20% discount for that colorway. I know I'm hoping over there to pick up some. Better hurry before they disappear altogether.

Here is the link to the Maura colorway page. The prices reflect the discount.

Happy yarn shopping!

Congratulations!

And the winner is...


Chelsea!


Congratulations, Chelsea. I'll be contacting you to get your mailing address so I can get your yarn to you as soon as possible.

Thanks to you all for commenting and especially for reading my blog. I hope that you will continue to follow along in the future. Who knows what fun giveaways and exciting reads will be in store for you?

Last Day!

Don't forget to comment on this post for a chance to win a skein of Puffin yarn! Today is the last day!!

It seems I have fallen behind with posting details about my sweater knitting. Here is a recap thus far:

Sweater #1

Sweater #2

Sweater #3

Sweater #4

Sweater #5

Sweater #6

Sweater #7

Sweater # 8 (which I can't show you yet because it was a test knit for a friend's soon-to-be-published pattern).

Sweater #9

Sweater #10

Sweater #11

This week I will add some detailed posts about #10 and #11 (and #12 and #13 too). But that is for another day. Now it is time to take a certain preschooler to school!

Warm Up Your Wine

Ah, December! Tis the season for holiday parties and hostess gifting. What do you like to give your party host this time of year? My go-to is usually a bottle of bubbly. Nothing says celebrate like sparkling wine!

Rather than place my gift in the same old store-bought gift bag, I thought of something a little more festive this year.

My bottle of Prosecco was looking a bit bare. You know what he needs?  (Yes, he)... a holiday scarf and hat!

How cute and cozy are these fellas now? I challenge you not to smile when you receive or give some vino all dressed up! I hope I'm not the only one to spread the festive cheer this season.

Conveniently, you know how to knit. So why not make a Warm Up Your Wine set for your bottles too?

Here is my Christmas gift to you...

Warm Up Your Wine

Materials:
Knit Picks Swish DK yarn (or any DK weight yarn) in the Hollyberry, Peapod, and White colorways (the entire set - 1 cowl, 1 scarf, 2 hats with pom-poms- takes about 25-30 yards)
Size US 6 needles (dpns for hat, any kind for the scarf and cowl)
1 button
thread
sewing and tapestry needle
scissors
1 stitch marker

Gauge:
22 sts /4in in stockinette stitch pattern in recommended needle size

Measurements:
Cowl: approx. 6.5 in (length) and 1.5 in (width)
Scarf: approx. 17 in (length) and 1.5 in (width)
Hat: approx. 2 in (height) and 2 in (width)

Abbreviations:
CO - cast on
CC- contrasting color
k2tog- knit 2 stitches together
MC- main color
st(s)- stitch(es)
st st- stockinette stitch
WS- wrong side
yo- yarn over

Cowl
CO 8 sts in MC.
Knit in st st (knit all sts on the right side and purl all sts on the wrong side) for 2 rows.
Change to CC.
Knit in st st for 2 rows.
Change back to MC and continue striping as established until cowl measures 6 inches ending with a WS row with MC.
Buttonhole row: with CC, knit 3 sts, yo, k2tog, knit 3 sts.
Purl 1 row.
Change to MC and knit in st st for 2 rows.
Bind off and weave in ends.
Attach button. Block, if desired.

Scarf
CO 8 sts in MC.
Knit in st st (knit all sts on the right side and purl all sts on the wrong side), changing color with CC every 8 rows until piece measures 17 inches (13 stripes).
Bind off after 13th stripe.
Weave in ends.
Block. Scarf sides will curl regardless.


Hat
Using dpns and MC, CO 22 sts, divide over the needles.
Place marker for start of round. Join to work in the round.
(Knit 1, purl 1) repeat across the round.
Repeat last round for 5 rounds total (about 1 inch).
Change to CC and knit all sts for 3 rounds.
Change back to MC and knit 2 rounds.
(Knit 1, k2tog) repeat to last st, knit 1 [15 sts].
Knit 1 round.
(K2tog) repeat to last st, knit 1 [8 sts].
Break yarn leaving a 6 inch tail.
Thread tail through live sts, pull tight and secure.
Weave in ends.
Block, if desired.
Attach pom-pom if desired.


Merry Christmas!!!

xo Meg

Sporting Beret and Giveaway

This week Quince & Co. published a new pattern in their e-newsletter called the Sporting Beret.

 
Take a look at the pattern page.

Notice anything interesting about the designer?


Yep, that's me! I've finally met my goal of becoming professionally published.

 
In honor of this achievement, I will be giving away 1 skein of Quince & Co.'s Puffin yarn, which is the recommended yarn for my pattern.

I love this yarn. It is warm, soft, supple and durable. To give you an idea of just how durable it is... I once re-knit the same sweater 3 times, frogged it and then made it into a poncho and the yarn still looked terrific. 


The Sporting Beret is a quick knit and will probably only take a couple of hours for you to make. The pattern uses less than one skein of Puffin, making it a nice stash buster for those lonely bulky skeins laying around the house.

If you would like to receive a yummy skein of Puffin, leave a comment on this blog post by December 11th (Tuesday at 11:59pm)) with your email address or Ravelry name and share what your favorite type of project is to knit with bulky yarn. On Wednesday, I will use the random number generator to pick a winner. That winner will receive one skein of Puffin in the Honey colorway. Which looks like this...

Don't forget to check back to see if you've won!

A Knitted Christmas... at Target?

Raise your hand if you have a slightly unhealthy habit of going to Target way too often.



Go ahead.



Don't be shy.



There... I knew I wasn't alone!

Well if you are a knitter, than you now have one really good reason to drop what you're doing and zoom over to the nearest Target store.

The holiday decorations have been up for quite a few weeks now and since Christmas is less than 3 weeks away, all of their Christmas stock is now on sale. Oh yeah, I said SALE!!

Now ordinarily, I would not be the one to run to a big busy store during the holidays just for a sale, especially because I tend to finish my Christmas shopping by the end of November (yes, I am that mom). However, wait until you see what Target is  selling this season, and you may just do what I did...

 

 How cute are those cable knit tree cones and stars?

These vases, alas, were not on sale. You know I will be snatching one up once they finally get reduced!

 I love the pillows too. The fair isle red and white pillow is so festive and wintery and the combination of the plaid flannel fabric and white knit cables looks sharp.


Two weeks ago, I picked up two of the cone trees and a frame, but could not find the cable platter my friend had told me about.

Then, this week, she text-ed me to say that she'd seen a few at her local store and did I want one? Heck, yeah!

Isn't it pretty?

Hmm, kind of regretting not purchasing the white knit star... maybe I should go back?

One left...

Okay, people. I need your advice.

Eleven done. One to go. Which should I make for lucky #12?

For those new to the blog. I am referring to my 12 sweaters in 2012 goal. You can read more about it here. 

Bring on those opinions people! Just remember that I will have about 24 days to make it ( I say 24 because today is the 5th. I have two small projects to wrap up which will take a couple of days).

Here are the final contenders.

Cable Plait and Bobble Sweater

Nova

 

Organic Guernsey

Pembroke Vest

Skip Hop Pinafore

Or I could attempt to finish this sweater, which has barely been started. I'm hesitant to do so since it is an adult size sweater with an all-over cable pattern.

Go!