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

JOY shawlette

Hi friends!

Raise your hand if you've experienced love at first sight...with a skein of yarn. That eye candy yarn that you just HAD to have. Then keep your hand up if that skein of yarn is still languishing away in a box in the closet or on the shelf. Poor yarn!
I had a couple of these types of skeins and so I wrote a pattern for them, and I'd like to share that with you! Here's JOY:

 

JOY is a worsted-weight shawlette with plenty of visual interest that's also fun to knit.

The increases yield an elongated, wearable shape.

 

The pink yarn is deliciously soft Mad Tosh Merino in colorway "Pop Rocks".

This beautiful blue yarn is Tosh Vintage colorway "Cobalt".

 

The pattern is available for FREE on Ravelry.

If you have any questions please feel free to message me. My ravelry id is "ummashin".

Happy KNITTING!

Love, Hannah AKA ummashin

Squishy Stripes

Who's that sneaky bandit! It's me! Sneaking in an FO instead of a Grace progress report.I'm bad that way. 

I was itching to finish this and so I just bore down and went for it.  

The look of love...bahahah

It also makes for a deliciously squishy cowl when wrapped "just so". 

As you know I am not one to shy away from bold colors. I think of hot pink as a neutral. 

Garter stitch. Stripes. Hot pink. oh.yeah.

I knit this using tosh SOCK (stovepipe) and knit picks stroll glimmer for a little touch of bling.

It hardly makes a quiet statement but it is squishy and warm and I will wear it with everything whether "they" think it matches or not. Holla!

Happy Wednesday y'all.

Leafy Bias

So yeah, it's my birthday...and i'm cuddled up in a brand new shawl...happy birthday to me!

the pattern is Leafy Bias by Susan Ashcroft.

She is such a prolific designer and I noticed that her simple patterns are really all about the yarn, which I appreciate.

The yarn is Malabrigo "Rastita" in colorway Aguas
Sooo soft but the leaves. 

It's long enough so I can easily wear it like a scarf 

(how I prefer my shawls) without worrying it will unwrap.

I loved knitting these leaves! It was such an interesting knit but not overly complicated.

Artistic guitar shot. Haha.
I love my new shawl to distraction.

Friday Finished Object - Boneyard Shawl

This is the Boneyard Shawl. 

Pattern by Stephen West, knit in Patons Classic Wool 

Colorway: grey marl

This pattern was written originally for DK weight yarn but can really be knit in any weight. I chose worsted wool because I wanted to to try making a more substantial feeling shawl. Knit on 10.5 needles, this shawl has plenty of drape but is super, super warm and perfect for this transitional weather.

The pattern is simple but has enough extras to hold a knitter's interest. 

The stockinette body is broken up by garter ridges, which are reminiscent of "ribs". How cool is that?

It is a classic triangular shawl shape, which is not my favorite. 

If I knit it again I think I will add increases on the WS as well to make it more scarf-like.

I thought moving to L.A. meant I had to give up my cozy knits, but I didn't realize it would be downright freezing at times! I love this scarf and I highly recommend knitting it. 

It's my favorite kind of pattern, one that is simple but makes an impact.
Happy Weekend Everyone! 

happy

Why am I super happy today? Oh, well it may be because I had this super cute hat pattern named after ME! How awesome is that? 

Head over to luvinthemommyhood for the deets!

I also finally decided on my project for the Downton Abbey KAL hosted by luvinthemommyhood.

Little Colonnade Shawl by Stephen West

Happy Monday everyone!

Hexagon Scarf

I tried piecing together a cowl with my hexagons but couldn't get it to look right. 

Apparently they wanted to be a scarf. 

It felt so good to get back to my crochet. 

 Noelle snapped it up as soon as she saw the camera in my hand and started posing. 

She is so used to wrapping up in woolens and getting her picture taken since birth! heehee

I edged the whole thing in Cascade 220 Fingering...leftover from Rae.

Love all the colors...

"so warm and soft!"

apparently no complaints about the pure wool. I love this kid.

so does Ellie. 

peace, blessings and Happy New Year to all my lovelies!

Razzle Dazzle Me

I knew this would happen...Ellie finally caught what Noelle had, so she's napping away and Noelle is trying her best to be a good "nurse". Sweetest thing ever.
You know what else is sweet? Binding off a project and making peace with it even though it isn't what it was originally supposed to be.
Two lovely skeins of this yarn...

Sweet Fiber Cashmerino Sport 

....originally destined to be a full-sized Rustic Shawl. The pattern is simple and perfect for showing off hand-dyed yarn. I don't even remember when I started this project, but I picked it up again last week.

At that time, I was about to reach the end of my first (lovely, soft, sproingy, delicious) skein of yarn, and I realized that a) I didn't really feel like knitting increasingly longer rows of garter stitch and b) the fabric was knitting up so dense and warm that a full shawl would be too heavy for my personal taste. Gotta roll with the punches!

So here is my "Rustic Shawl Lite"...I named it Razzle Dazzle:

I just loooooove it. 

I'll post better photos once I've blocked 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