rams and yowes by Kate Davies (left) and Hansel by Gudrun Johnston
My brother had some good news for me this weekend – he and his wife are expecting a baby and I’m going to be an aunt. I started thinking pretty much immediately about a special knit that I could make them. So here’s where I would appreciate some decision-making help. These are four of my favourite baby blanket patterns: Kate Davies’ rams and yowes, Gudrun Johnston’s Hansel Hap Shawl, and Anne Hanson’s Cradle Me and Honey Baby.
Cradle Me (left) and Honey Baby both by Anne Hanson
I’m leaning towards either the Hansel Hap Shawl or rams and yowes. I think either would be lovely in undyed shades of Shetland wool. rams and yowes involves steeking, which is a technique used in circular knitting where you knit a tube and then cut the finished piece to allow for openings like the front of a cardigan, armholes or necklines. I’ve never steeked before but would love to try it!
Which one do you like the best? What are some of your favourite knits for special babies?
I paid a pre-holiday visit to Romni Wools here in Toronto to find that there was a December run on worsted-weight charcoal yarn. There was not a ball to be had. If you’ve been to Romni before you will find it hard to believe that they could be short on anything wool-related. Ever. So I drifted over to the aran section and ended up sitting on the ground rooting around in a cubby full of Naturelle New Zealand wool by Naturally Yarns. At the very back there was a single, unmarked ball of charcoal. Hurrah! I used it to make this Windschief as part of Chris’ birthday present. You might recognize the snood he’s wearing — the Sag(ittarius) Snood that I made for him for his birthday three years ago. Still in very good shape!
Yesterday was my birthday and I really had a great day. Chris and I went to Morning Glory for breakfast – my favourite breakfast spot in the city – and I met Jane for an afternoon of coffee, chocolate and a make-up lesson. I was a bit nervous and felt even more so after the make-up artist told me that she would do half of my face and then I would do the other half. My skill level in this area is very limited! I think we were all surprised when I ended doing an okay job… I definitely felt fancy for the rest of the night and learnd a lot.
Chris rolled three of my favourite things (Australia, food and travel) into one and gave me a copy of Kylie Kwong’s new book It Tastes Better. We spent our first night in Sydney at Billy Kwong. The experience was intensified by our extreme jet lag; delicious but there’s not a hope in hell that we’ll ever remember what we ate.
Jane gave me a beautiful gift box edition of The Travel Almanac. I can hardly wait to dive into this. Plenty of inspiration for future travel!
My knitting partner for life, aka Erin, sent me a gorgeous Bandana Cowl made out of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint. It’s the perfect thing for this bout of -20 weather we’ve been having!
A big thank you to everyone for helping me celebrate my birthday. 36 isn’t looking so bad! Although I almost had a heart attack typing that number.
Happy New Year! Chris and I rang it in at Pearson airport after collecting our bags. We spent the holidays in British Columbia – plenty of good times with family and friends. We also made some tasty discoveries while there. Most notably Oyama Sausage Co. on Granville Island and the Soho Road Naan Kebab food cart in front of the Supreme Court in Vancouver. I highly recommend Sarb Mund’s veg sabji. It was the perfect combination of sweetness and spice — delicious. He’s opening up a second cart soon — this one for chai — lucky Vancouverites!
We spent most of the time in Powell River, my hometown, and made a woolly discovery there. Great Balls of Wool is celebrating its first anniversary. I’d never been there before and was very happy to see such a nicely stocked yarn store in Powell River. They have a knitting lounge so next time I’ll have to sit and stitch a while.
I was a bit lax in blogging my holiday knits as they were finished so here are two of them! Both are from Heidi Kirrmaier’s Come Sail Away collection. The scarf in the top two photographs is Windward and was a gift for Jane. I used Viola M/C/N sport in Sea Storm and absolutely love this colourway! The pairing of pattern and yarn seemed perfect for Jane, who was born and raised in Ireland and loves the sea.
The cowl in the last photograph is Circumnavigate and was a gift for my aunt Tracy. I used a few skeins of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend in Pewter and am pretty crazy about this colourway as well! Nice cool, moody shades. Both patterns were fun to knit – especially Windward with its changing directions.
Monster Party is the working title for these guys. Jensen, the recipient, has yet to name them herself. I witnessed firsthand the squeal of delight when she opened the box, which made me very happy. That just doesn’t happen every day! I’d never heard of the Japanese character Domo before yesterday but Jensen added these two to her other two Domos. A little extended family of Domo-like stuffies. These are my second batch from Rebecca Danger’s Daphne and Delilah pattern - these ones made with Diamond Yarn Galway.
Jensen built this awesome monster replica out of Lego while we were eating dinner. Super cute and definitely made my day!
Update: Jensen has named the big one Waldo and the little one Blue
Wovember is a movement started by Kate Davies and Felicity Ford encouraging the celebration of100% wool. Wool that comes from actual sheep – not wool blends and not synthetics, the real deal.
The idea got me to thinking about how much 100% wool I use in my knitting so I took a closer look at my past projects. In the spirit of increasing my own woolly awareness, I started a ’100% wool’ tag. There are more projects that fall into that category than I expected. I’ve been using a lot of alpaca and linen wool blends lately and actually had a hard time remembering my most recent 100% wool project. It turns out that it was Damson on October 2nd – so not long ago at all!
I also ‘wovified’ myself by ordering some of Felicity’s 100% wool badges, which you can see above. This woolly campaign brought Shrek to mind – New Zealand’s now deceased celebrity sheep. Six years of freedom and a 60-pound fleece!
A peek at some of my new hats that will be available at the Sweat Shoppe pop-up shop this weekend! Friend and designer Breeyn McCarney asked if I’d like to join her – Saturday 3:30-10pm and Sunday 1-8pm at SALON155, 155 Delaware Ave. – and I can hardly wait. If you’re in Toronto, please stop by! Zoran Dobric will be there as well so I might just have to pick up something for myself… I’m a big fan of his prints.
The Bathurst Tuques (pictured here) and matching mitts will be available at Coterie after the pop-up.
A big thank you to Jane for helping me during our coffee break/ photo shoot. It’s always a challenge for me to photograph baby knits so I appreciated the extra pair of hands!
My cousin’s wife Brenda is a huge fan of garden gnomes – she has a varied collection in her garden that goes back further than Amélie or Gnomeo & Juliet. As soon as I came across Betsy Farquhar’s Garden Gnome Mittens pattern I had to get on it for Brenda’s birthday. Spillyjane’s Gnome Mittens pattern is another good one. Decisions!
These mittens are too small for me but I think they should fit Brenda. If I make the pattern again I’ll definitely change the tab thumb to a thumb with a gusset. It’s a bit of a kick that I’m on at the moment while I draft my first thumb gusseted mitt pattern but it just makes sense given hand anatomy. The gnome chart is awesome but there’s room in the pattern for modifications.
I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in Cardinal and Winter White. Can’t get enough of the Ultra Alpaca – it’s great for colourwork.
I seem to have a never-ending supply of Malabrigo sock yarn in Eggplant. So far I’ve made Hömin and Simmer Dim shawls with my stash and I think I still have enough left for one more project!
This is Ysolda Teague’s Damson from Whimsical Little Knits 2 – I love the scalloped shape and simple lace pattern. It also offers a fair amount of garter stitch goodness.
I can’t help but think of the poor Damson plum tree at my parents’ place in BC when I think of this pattern. This black bear may look innocent but he not only devoured all the plums on the tree but snapped the trunk and killed it before taking a nice long nap. My dad has since planted a replacement Damson… likely more appealing to the bears than the last!
[Top two photos courtesy of Christopher; bottom photo courtesy of my dad]
Coterie is a webstore that offers handmade goods – including wooden objects, ceramics and textiles – created by makers in Canada, Ireland and elsewhere. I’m a big fan of Jane’s store and have bought enough of her muddlers to keep my entire family in mojitos for a very long time! So needless to say I’m extremely excited to be collaborating with her on a range of knit goods.
I designed the Raindrop Berets and Mitts to have a classic style with a subtle texture, and knit them in a 50% alpaca, 50% wool yarn. We chose three colourways for this Fall/Winter: mustard, soft grey and blue.
I’m planning to make the patterns available as a collection as well. I’ve been having a lot of fun this summer writing patterns and experimenting with prototypes with Jane so once they’re all finalized I’ll compile them. More fun!
