kimley knits

Here in sunny Southern California, that doesn’t happen all that often and frankly I rather like the somewhat monotonous continued sunshine. But the nice thing about a bit of precipitation and temps below 70 degrees (yeah, we’re wimps here!) is that I can finally don all the lovely wool items I’ve been knitting up the last several months.

This Arcadia scarf is one of my favorite things that I’ve ever knit…

A nice blocking close-up that really showcases the pattern…

This is a gorgeous pattern designed by Janel Laidman and one of the many lovely patterns in the first issue of The Sock Report.

I had been admiring this pattern for a while and was a bit intimidated by what looked like some complicated lace but I was very pleasantly surprised at how easy and quick this was to knit up. Certainly not a beginning lace pattern but if you have knit a few easy lace patterns then this is an easy next step up.

[button link=”http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Kimley/arcadia” color=”#c2ebb1″ text=”dark” window=”yes”]My Project Details on Ravelry[/button]

And coming soon… I finished my Nanook sweater and can’t wait to reveal it in all its wooly glory although I still need to find a nice button for it. It’s a fantastic pattern. Unfortunately all the rain we’ve been having has left my sweater wet from blocking for over 3 days now. But it’s just a tiny bit damp at this point and I think it will be dry by tomorrow.

I rarely manage to actually finish knitting an entire sweater so to celebrate I immediately cast on for 3 new projects. Ha!

I was happily knitting along on a Boneyard Shawl (by Stephen West) for myself with the super lovely Wolle’s Color Changing Cotton when I made the mistake of showing it to my mom two days before Mother’s Day. Well…  you can guess what happened. She loved it. And then I also made the mistake of showing her my other skeins of Wolle’s in my stash and she made a not so subtle hint about what she’d like for Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, I’m one of the slowest knitters on the planet so she got to preview a tiny fraction of her Boneyard Shawl on Mother’s Day proper and then we had some champagne and I packed it up and only just gave the completed project to her last week. At least it was worth the wait if I do say so myself. It was not easy to part with.

[button link=”http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Kimley/boneyard-shawl-2″ color=”#c2ebb1″ text=”dark” window=”yes”]My Project Details on Ravelry[/button]

So now I’m back to working on mine and eagerly anticipating having my own ombré-colored boneyard shawl.

My mom’s is in the amazing Dante colorway and mine is in the Sand colorway which goes from an eggshell blue to a darker grey-blue to an olive-khaki color. I can’t tell you how much I love the way this yarn knits up. Practically every shawl design I see now I think how would it look in some Wolle’s color changing yarn???

My schedule has been unusually hectic the last few weeks and I didn’t have time to post the amazing potholders I received in the recent potholder swap over on Ravelry. But look at these fab handmade lovelies I got…

I’m so impressed by the quality and creativity of everyone involved. I’m already looking forward to next year’s swap!

And here are my finished potholders that I sent off to live in someone else’s collection. It’s especially nice knowing how much the recipients appreciate handmade items. The swap is a win-win in every way.

[button link=”http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Kimley/potholder-swap-2012″ color=”#c2ebb1″ text=”dark” window=”yes”]My Project Details on Ravelry[/button]

If you missed out on this year’s swap, don’t fear… there’s a dishcloth swap coming up in the same group which should be just as fun. And of course, you can start planning early for next year’s swap!

You know it’s got to be cute!

This is one of the sweetest patterns I’ve knitted. Super cute, super fun, easy to memorize. Just loved knitting it. And the tassels are the icing on the cake. The pattern even comes with excellent tassel-making instructions. Now I’m not normally a tassel or big yarn pouf on the hat kind of girl but this hat really works with the tassels. Gotta have ’em!

This is my first time knitting with the much lauded Brooklyn Tweed Loft yarn. It’s gorgeous yarn though a bit fragile. I snapped it pretty quickly when tightening the stitches while switching from one needle to the other doing magic loop. But once I realized I needed to be a bit less rough with it and after doing a quick spit (well, I ran it under the tap) join of the break, all went smoothly. I love the tweedy colors.

And as an FYI, the designer, Gudrun Johnston, answered a query on her Ravelry forum about the source of the pattern’s name (which I was also wondering) and it’s the name of a beach on the Shetland Islands where the designer grew up. It just sounds huggable to me but I’m sure it’s a lovely beach.

MORE PROJECT DETAILS ON RAVELRY >>>

It was my father’s birthday the other day and after having to look at his pathetic excuse for a scarf for some time now, I decided it was my knitterly obligation to improve his sartorial flair. As many knitters know, it’s never easy knitting for men. They don’t want anything too fancy and us knitters don’t want to knit anything too boring. I concocted this pattern so that it was simple but had just a little bit of zing to make it both interesting for me to knit and hopefully interesting to look at as well. Knit three rows, purl one and a four stitch cable along one side. Knit in beautiful MadelineTosh Merino Light in the Boxwood colorway. My dad said he loved it. Now if only it hadn’t been 80 degrees on his birthday…

>>> Details on Ravelry