Birthday thoughts

I turned 30-mumble mumble this past week.  Many people mark the start of the new year on January 1st.  For me the new year starts on my birthday.  I feel as though that day marks both an end and a beginning.  On my birthday, I let go of the hurts and disappointments of the previous year. I turn instead to gaze upon the year ahead where all things are possible with the feeling that I can make positive life decisions and enjoy what the year has to bring.

Oh, and what am I going to knit this year?  How exciting!

I freely confess that I am a shawl knitter.  I love to knit shawls (shawls, and more shawls).  Socks are beautiful, but unlikely to be knit by me (you have to knit TWO of them, in the same yarn even!).  Ditto sweaters (this may change, but since I don't wear them, why knit them?).  I do knit the occasional hat (oddly, the nephews won't wear shawls), but 99.9% of my stitches go to shawls.
So, that said, I know WHAT I'll be knitting this year- shawls.  I even know who most of them will go to- GiGi (she's insistent like that), but I don't know yet what they will look like, what size or shape they will be, or what yarn I will use.  All of these questions get me quite excited for the new knitting year ahead.

Oh, I'm imagining it, NYC, and it is awesome!

I started the lace weight version of the yellow highlighter shawl.  Hey! I only promised TK the shawlette version, so she should be ok. :-D

As you can see, it's not highlighter yellow, but more buttery.  GiGi, however, loves butter yellow and I have to have something to give her for her birthday next year.  It won't take that long to knit, but I've already made her Christmas present.

Meet Mercia, or at least the corner of Mercia.  She is a fingering weight shawl that I've submitted to the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program.  I've released three patterns with them and a fourth to be released in the next week.  I'll make sure to talk about them soon.

I spent my birthday working.  I teach a couple of Biology labs at one of the colleges that make up the City University of New York.  I'm also working on a PhD in Biology with the same university.  So I spent my birthday teaching and working on my research.  On a positive note, I got to spend the morning in the woods at Inwood Hill Park.

It's the closest thing that Manhattan has to a natural area.  The weather was cool (high 60's) and sunny.  It was a beautiful way to start out the day.  Plus I got to knit on the train on the way back to campus.

Annatto Shawlette

The Achiote tree, found in regions of tropical America, produces heart shaped fruit that have dark red seeds. The spice Annatto is produced from these seeds. It is used to give a sweet and peppery flavor as well as a red color to many foods. Knit in a yarn with a touch of cashmere, this shawlette is soft to the touch and warm on chilly days. This pattern is entirely charted.

Knit in 400yds of String Theory Caper Sock in Winterberry on a US size 5. Annatto is 48 in W x 27 in L. $4 US

Indirectly named after my friend Elle. She called me to ask if I had a shawlette pattern she could knit while I was designing it, so of course I had to name it after her.

Amiens Shawl

One of the most striking examples of gothic architecture in France is the Cathédrale Notre-Dame d’Amiens. The glorious arches and filigree of the cathedral inspired me in the creation of the Amiens shawl.

Knit in Spud & Chloe Fine on a US size 5. Will work well with any fingering weight yarn. The finished size is 56 inches Wide by 25 inches Long. $4 US

Sassafras

The triple lobed leaves of the edge detail bring to mind the leaves of the Sassafras tree. these trees are beautiful in the early spring when the red tipped leaves emerge.

The pattern includes two sizes and is knit in a fingering weight. The shawlette version calls for 500 yards, the shawl version 900 yards. Sassafras is worked on US size 5 needles. The pattern is charted. The shawlette is 50 in. W and the shawl is 65 in W. $6 US

Patterns so far

Over the next few days (weeks) I'm going to be adding pictures and links to purchase the patterns I have for sale.

Hubbie Trickery

Hubbie woke me this morning with plans for an outing into the City (Manhattan). For those of you don't know the man, this is a surprising, nay shocking, turn of events. While he generally likes Queens, he tends to avoid the City like the plague because it has way too many people.

So when he suggested lunch (Chipotle, yum), the Strand (who can resist 18 miles of books?) and a trip to Lula's (a vegan ice cream place that makes my little heart go pitter patter) and a movie, I was all for it! Even if that movie was Scott Pilgrim, which he had seen 3 times (4 now). It's a cute, fun movie and the music in it rocks!

I suspect that Lula's and the Strand are simply just forms of bribery so he could see the movie again. I'm not above accepting bribery, especially if it looks like this:

Meet Lula's soft serve Cake Batter vegan ice cream cone. It tastes just like yellow cake batter and is make mostly of cashews. It's heaven in a waffle cone.

I was also able to get some knitting done in the movie theater. Knitting has gotten me through some really bad movies (Piranha 3D anyone). It's usually limited to stockinette in a fingering weight or larger. But sometimes can include a simple lace repeat. For my third viewing of Scott Pilgrim I chose stockinette.

This beginnings of a shawlette is in Knit Picks Stroll tonal sock in Canopy. It's a Merino/Nylon blend and really pleasant to knit. I found it to be a bit squeaky while wet, but it block beautifully and, despite the nylon content, it holds the block really well.

I spent much of yesterday designing a couple of shawlettes and redesigning a couple of others to go with some MadTosh Pashmina I got Wednesday.I absolutely love the highlighter colors (yellow-Edison's Bulb; orange-Tangelo; pink-Neon Rose; green-Chartreuse). I've designed a series of shawlettes specifically for these colors, one for each. TK, my test knitter extraordinaire, requested to knit the yellow one. She's been drooling over the Edison's Bulb for months. Given that she's also my PR person, enabler, and often used knitwear model, who am I to say no?

Unexpected visitors

Yesterday evening, Hubbie and I decided that we needed to get out of the house for a while, so we headed down to the park. When we got there, we found a nice spot in some grass about ten feet from the path and laid out a blanket. He sat down to study some Philosophy (because that's what he does) and I, of course, sat down to knit. The park is next to a river and the sun was just starting to set. (Sorry, I don't have any pictures. I'm a blogging doofus and forgot to bring my camera.) As we sat there, I noticed a guy walking a very cute Maltese dog. She was tiny, happy, and adorable. I nudged Hubbie because she was too cute for him to miss. So we both sat there looking at this little dog and smiling, when all of a sudden she looked over at us. And I realize that she was heading our way. As I said, we were 10-15 feet off of the path, so she had to cross some ground to get to us. But she did it anyway. She came over to us, said the doggie version of "Hi, how ya doing?" and promptly sat on the blanket next to me. She sat there for several minutes, just panting and looking around and letting me pet her like she'd known me forever. Her very patient owner said her name was Holly and then just waited for her to decide it was time to get on with the walk. After a while she got up and she and her person said goodbye. I have to tell you, the sunset was beautiful, the weather was gorgeous, and it was great having couple time with Hubbie, but that little dog made my day.

Running a close second... I released my second pattern. It's the Midnight Forest Cowl. I knit it with GiGi in mind. She doesn't like to wear hats or scarves, so the cowl fills her head warming needs quite nicely. It's knit in Dream in Color Starry, in the Cocoa Kisses colorway. Starry is sparkly because it has threads of silver running through it. The yarn felt a little stiff as I knit with it, but after I washed it, it softened up and now has a fabulous drape.
$3 US