SHANNON cowl

Hello my peeps. 

Want a cowl to go with your JANE hat? Meet SHANNON! 

Shannon is an elegant chunky cowl featuring squishy ribbed cables and lace and requires only a single skein of bulky yarn. This cowl is fully reversible and can be dressed up or down. 

Way back in the mommyHOOD days I met Shannon and have grown to love her dearly. 

Shannon you are uniquely talented, your creative overflow inspires so many including me and I love ya to pieces. Not to mention you are so generous with your advice and friendship. 

Hope you enjoy this pattern. xo.  

I don't know what's up with my camera, but this is the actual color of the cowl. 

Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky Superwash

Colorway: Dove Heather

This stuff blocks beautifully! 

Peace out, yo.

LINK to SHANNON pattern on Ravelry. 

Happy Knitting!

Love, Hannah AKA UmmaShin

magnolia cowl

First project from the ISLAND collection:

z

Arbutus cowl in Madtosh DK

colorway: Magnolia Leaf

This scrumptious yarn was so easy to knit with, I couldn't resist snapping pre-blocking photos. 

See the squish!

The cowl looks like a triple loop but is knit in one piece using short rows. This was also my first time doing a cable cast-on. It was fun to learn a new technique.

The first time I saw this colorway I knew I had to have it, because the area around our new home is lined with magnolia trees. I wish I could capture the color better...
Happy Election Day!

Rainbow Cowl

Before I jump into holiday knitting...I had to make this cowl.

the Stasia Cowl, pattern by luvinthemommyhood

A simple pattern with a twist

Yarn: Noro Kureyon Worsted

Can't beat the colors, and with size 13 needles the fabric is squishy and so warm.

I had a lot of fun knitting this!

It was my reward for finishing my Aidez sleeves and casting on the body. hee hee.

Lady Hannah

A cowl inspired by my obsession, Downton Abbey? Yes Please.

The Downton Cowl, 

pattern by the multi-talented Shannon of luvinthemommyhood

The yarn is the sproingy, hand-dyed goodness of Sweet Fiber Cashmerino Sport. I had a skein left over from the Rustic Shawl  which I ended up giving away. It was time to make something happen with this yarn - perfect match in my opinion!

The lace pattern is simple and I was able to memorize it by the second repeat. It's good and bad that I've reached a stage in my knitting life that I can recover mistakes (the bad being that I still make mistakes, haha).

I love how the lace is a sharp design but the fabric came out squooshy and lovely. 

Reminds me of  Lady Mary...a tough cookie with a heart of gold.

I named it Lady Hannah, though, because it's MINE all mine. 

I'm happy to report the girls are doing well.

 Sunbathing

Having tea parties on the playground.

and just being darn cute in general.

Happy Friday everyone!

Marianella

Sometimes a knitting project, like many things in life, starts out with the best intentions. It even looks like smooth sailing and clear skies ahead. But then you realize, you made the wrong size. You keep knitting, horribly in denial, until you finally realize you need to move on. Square your shoulders, frog away, cry a little, move on.

It helps when you finally find a new life for the yarn, in this case the original project was Oatmeal Pullover...the pattern is great, but the yarn wasn't quite right for it. 

The yarn is Ella Rae Latte in colorway Majestic Jade, held double. Isn't it lovely?

The pattern: Jane Richmond's Marian

Noelle had to jump in. My little ham.

The crazy bag lady toddler? Also mine. 

She sure loves the Marian, refused to take it off once she got her paws on it. 

Yarn Over

As much as I love working on my Classic Raglan pullover, I needed a break between working on sleeve one and sleeve two. Sleeves present the same problem as mittens...you're so relieved to finish one and then you realize ugh...there's another one.

The Drop Stitch Cowl is the perfect instant gratification project. It is a FREE pattern by Abi Connors of  the awesome blog Spiderwoman Knits and Red Comb Vintage on Etsy. Check out her adventures!

project page for Lemongrass Drop Stitchery

This is one of those great patterns where the result belies the amount of effort needed to create it. It makes super bulky yarn, which is usually so, well, bulky feeling, feel swooshy and even elegant. LOVE. it. 

Hats and Mitts

I figured I should get at least one post in before the month ends!

Newest resolution, try to write at least 3 posts a week. I know if I commit to "every day" it will become really old really fast. That's just me.

Just because I haven't been writing doesn't mean I haven't been knitting! the Warm Up to Winter KAL hosted by luvinthemommyhood and nook has given me a great excuse to dig into my yarn stash and go hat and mitt crazy:

 Camp Out Mitts

 Habitat

 Capucine

 Sucky thumb mitts

Bella's Mittens (inspired by Twilight...eek!)

Shannon from luvinthemommyhood also wrote a great cowl pattern, the Mallory Cowl, and I just had to whip one up. I ended up giving it away to a good friend, but here's a pic of its squishy goodness...

Mallory cowl

The KAL is for hats and mitts, but I've finished other scarves and cowls as well. Here are two of my favorites:

Noelle in the mini Stockholm Scarf

Rae

Keeping Warm

Ellie had her first experience with snow on Saturday:

The snow can be quite a bother especially in the middle of winter when we have to dig out our cars and shovel ourselves out of our houses. But watching N and E watching the snow, it was a moment for me, for sure.

I am a freak and I LOVE the cold. Especially when I have an army of cozy accessories for me and my mini-mes...Oh, yes I did:

I made the Gap-tastic Cowl using double-stranded DK merino Style yarn from Knit-Picks. It is so soft but also sturdy. I think to wear something that you made yourself also adds an emotional element to clothes that is really indescribable. I just call it "happy".  Happy in Gray cowl.

So, of course mini-mes need to stay warm too. She wanted a pink one so I made a seed-stitch cowl using Bernat Roving. It is feathery soft and light and the color is bright and happy. I know I choose the same colors over and over, but if it ain't broke...



Celebrate Color Entry

So my favorite cowl from the KAL was the Cardiff Cowl in purple, and I decided to enter it in the Celebrate Color contest. I'm a little late to the party! Here are the pics again, sorry for the repeat show but the rules specify a new blog post needs to be written for each entry.

For more information about Celebrate Color, go to the Stitched in Color blog. Prepare to be inspired! Color and autumnal lovelieness abound.

Three-Hour Cowl...E's new accessory

Made the three-hour cowl, tried it on and didn't love it on me, but a certain little meddler was yapping at my feet when I was snapping pictures and an impromptu photo shoot yielded a new purpose for the cowl...

I'm going to make this again using a heavier yummy yarn and less cast-on stitches and we'll see how it turns out. Cheerio!