FO Friday

So I guess for now I'll be sharing all my WIPs and FOs for Warm 'N Fuzzy, a lovely yarn shop where I work and teach.
This is a modified version of Susan B Anderson's Elefante, a wonderful free pattern. I'll be teaching a class on this pattern in October. I think it's so cute! I still need to put eyes on him, but I'm cheating and posting it as an FO.

WIP Wednesday: Pine Cone Shawl

I can't share most of the things I'm working on right now, I actually have two things blocking right now, which makes me feel very productive. Here's one of my WIPs, a shop sample of the Pine Cone Shawl. This is made with Frog Tree Pediboo, which is a merino and bamboo blend that is really nice to work with. It has the silkiness of bamboo without the splitty quality of 100% bamboo. I haven't gotten to the lace section yet, and honestly I haven't been working on it very much.

WIP

The original

Yarn Addiction

Hello, my name is Mari and I am addicted to yarn. It all started when I began knitting in 2008, while living in Armenia. Until recently everything I owned could fit into just a few suitcases. But this year we moved back to the US, and I began designing much more 'officially' and ever since my yarn stash has exploded. My yarn has been sort of spread out. Some here, some there, in the closet, in a suitcase, in a basket, in a few tote bags. Well, we're moving in a couple of weeks so I put all of my yarn into a box for moving... it doesn't all fit.

Now don't let this picture deceive you. This box is at least 3 feet long, and 1.5 feet wide, and 2 feet deep. Also, I have another basket of yarn that wouldn't fit and isn't  pictured for current projects I'm working on. So, make me feel better by telling me that you have way more yarn than I do!

New Pattern: Lovely Lady Arms

I am publishing a new pattern today! I knit these gloves when I came back from Germany in March, or maybe it was April? After that they sort of sat around for a while, because it seemed silly to publish a glove pattern in the summer. Who wants to knit gloves in the peak of the heat? Although it's not exactly fall here (it's still very hot and humid) I am dreaming of fall, and there's nothing like knitting fall accessories to get you ready for cool weather!

These gloves are made with one skein of Lotus Yarns Cashmere DK. I really love cashmere, but like everyone else I can't afford to knit a sweater out of cashmere. I also think cashmere is something that is so soft and cuddly that to appreciate it you have to wear it against the skin. So that's how these gloves were born. They use up almost the whole skein of yarn, because I really hate to waste yarn, especially cashmere!

Maybe you've already guessed but the name of these mitts comes from a Black Eyed Peas song that was popular a few years ago, but they were not singing about arms...

You can find the pattern on Ravelry: Lovely Lady Arms

Thanks to Katy Doyle for the awesome photos!

Photo Shoot

Katy and Kevin Doyle came to North Carolina earlier this month. We got to have dinner with them one night while they were here, and Katy and Kevin were kind enough to do a photo shoot of some of my samples! I'm also very grateful to Lauren Harrington, since she is a far better model than I am. I HATE having my picture taken. It didn't help that it was extremely humid that evening. Katy was kind enough to leave out all the photos of me making weird faces (of which there were plenty, I'm sure) but here are some "behind the scenes" shots.

In the last photo you'll see that there are people in the background. We had people walking around all over the place, since we were in a public area (the nerve!). And then if I wasn't feeling awkward enough Brian ran into some family friends and we were forced to make small talk for several minutes.