I loved making this lace bonnet and I’m definitely smitten with the end result! Two different versions of the pattern are available: the Victorian Baby Bonnet in Larissa and Martin John Brown’s book Knitalong; and the Juniper Bonnet as a free download on Larissa’s blog. I ended up mashing up both patterns and doing nine repeats of the feather and fan stitch pattern instead of 10.

This isn’t the first time I’ve used Misti Alpaca handpainted Suri & Silk. I had just enough left over from Two Tiny Knits and Sweet Baby Cap for this lacy little number. I picked up the ribbon at Mokuba on Queen Street West. Up until this weekend I’d never been inside but had heard tales from Jane as to their many beautiful ribbons.  I settled on this simple but pretty cotton ribbon.

Knitalong by Larissa Brown and Martin John Brown, opened to Barn Raising Quilt

Larissa of Stitch Marker has put a call out for volunteers to contribute to several Barn Raising Quilts. The finished pieces will be raffled off at the Sock Summit in Portland with proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. The pattern is available for download on the Knitalong website and more details on how to get involved are on Larissa’s blog. If you haven’t picked up the Knitalong book yet I would highly recommend it. The pattern can also be found there, along with many other great designs. The Blessingway Blanket is one I’m slowly making my way through…

This will be my first knitalong and I’m pretty excited about it! I’m going to contribute two squares to the project. The yarn I’m planning to use (Estelle Cadenza) was actually bought for a Barn Raising Quilt. My knitting partner for life and I were thinking about doing some sort of Boise-Toronto knitalong project for her new niece. So this will be my Barn Raising warm up!

I picked up many, many skeins of Misti Cotton in Kiwi at Romni’s summer sale a couple of months ago. I’ve wanted to get started on the Blessingway Blanket from Knitalong ever since I saw it and figured this yarn would make a soft and cozy blanket for a friend’s soon-to-be-born baby.

So far I’ve completed one of the two Piece As. It was really fun to work on and forced me to overcome my fear of charts! Four more pieces to go and three months until the due date . . .

I picked up Knitalong tonight on my way home. Knitting with others for a common purpose – something I don’t do much of anymore. It made me miss my dearest knitting partner! We started knitting together over a decade ago and are now separated by many provinces and states. I guess that’s where an online knitalong would come in . . .

I really like the concept of knitting together for a common cause. The American Red Cross Museum has a great archive of military knitting patterns from World Wars I and II. The pdfs are scans of the original typed patterns. The paper has yellowed and the authors offer tips like, “Sometimes odd bits of yarn can be knit up quite attractively.” It’s One Skein for the Knit Your Bit set! I’ve been trying to come up with a way to use these patterns for a humanitarian cause like afghans for Afghans. I haven’t come up with a good concept yet though, other than helping people to keep warm while simultaneously putting a dent in your stash!

The authors of Knitalong talk about all types – from stitch ‘n’ bitch (could the plural really be bitches?) at cafés to competitive knitalongs at agricultural fairs. The section on giving shares some information on how to get involved in knitting for those in need. Knitting for Peace is a good place to look for that as well.

There are many, many projects that I can’t wait to start. I love the Blessingway Blanket by Hannah Cuviello and the Barn Raising Quilt. Both of them would be really fun to knit with other knitters – the different pieces that make up the Blessingway are divided by skill level. Thankfully there’s a sale on at Romni right now!

P.S. I just noticed that afghans for Afghans has a knit- and crochet-along.