Inspired by... Spring Flora

Spring flowers are so beautiful it's hard to choose the best one - iris, peonies, violets, 

forget-me-nots, cranesbill geraniums, hyacinths, pansies, lily of the valley 

 and so many others vie for the honor. In addition to those favorites, the humble lilac has always had a special place in my heart, and even more so after a trip to the Ukraine during their peak bloom time. 

My friend Cheryl and I slipped into a magical, gated garden and were immersed in their heavenly fragrance. 

To this day I am transported back to that secret garden when I catch lilac scent in the air.

For these and more flower photos, check out my flora pinterest board. 

Although I don't often work with variegated yarn, after this spring's magnificent flower showing, I was drawn to some ancient Malabrigo Silky Merino in my stash (the photo at the top of the post shows what I've been experimenting with). The yarn's subtle lilac, iris and green shades (dubbed "Indiecita") as well as the lovely sheen and drape lent to the wool by a hefty dose of silk, just breathed spring.

On another note, I've read that some stitchers are hesitant to gift their handiwork to someone who enjoys making fiber art for themselves. I'm not sure why this is, maybe the stitcher is afraid their gift will not measure up in the recipient's eyes? Or perhaps they think the recipient already has plenty of things of their own making to wear. But who better to appreciate the time, love and expense that goes into each stitch than someone who knits or crochets? 

I am always deeply touched when a friend makes something for me, and although I don't always get a chance to share those gifts here, I wanted to show off the gorgeous fingerless mitts my incredibly thoughtful Ravelry pal Loren crocheted and sent me as a surprise. She does such beautiful work, and she knows I love purple. What a pal.
  

This weekend is filled to the brim with planned activities, including attending the CPE Nationals dog agility trials where Cheryl will be competing with her Border Collie. Of course our dog will accompany us for a little inspiration, haha.

Thanks for stopping by, I wish everyone a fun and safe weekend!

KAL Mania!

I love scarves - they're fun and relatively fast to knit, don't require a huge amount of yarn, and are stylish to boot. This week I was thrilled to learn that both of my scarf patterns have been selected as KAL (knit a- long) choices for two groups on Ravelry.

The Frostlight pattern, shown above, has been chosen by the Malabrigo Junkies Ravelry group as one of the projects for their annual Malabrigo March KAL festivities. 

I'm also happy to have had my Bosc Scarf design chosen as the official March KAL project in Anastasia Wraight's For The Knit of It blog group. Anastasia recently also set up a Ravelry group.

It is an honor to have my designs included in these wonderful groups and I offer my thanks for being selected. 

If you would like to knit along with others, make new friends, receive support and cheer others on in their stitching endeavors I highly encourage you to join in one (or both...) of these opportunities, they're a lot of fun!

Contest Winners & another FO

I hope everyone is enjoying a nice President's Day weekend! I was determined to finish up some important things by the end of the weekend, including blocking a few FO's, posting the winners of the giveaway contest, and completing tutorials for a new pattern in progress (only 50% complete, but I still have a few more hours). Let's get to the winners first since I know that's what everyone has been waiting for! 

THANK YOU to all who left comments to the contest post, for leaving so many detailed and insightful responses to my question "What makes a knitting (or crochet) project fun for you?" 

I loved reading your responses and found they contained a great deal of variety, but also a common theme - many people like to have a project that does not greatly exceed their current technical ability but that gives them a small challenge or opportunity to learn something new. I have to agree with that one.

If you posted a comment and did not win this time, I thank you very much for contributing and encourage you to try again next time because I will be holding many more giveaways in coming months!

I used the True Random Number Generator at Random.Org to choose the winners from among followers of my blog who posted their answers to the contest question. The winner of the individual Bosc Scarf pattern 

goes to... 

Smitiha 

who responded to the contest question with 

"I love to play with yarns, love to knit with different types (not like in instructions) and to see how it will come out. So I love instructions which give me this pleasure. I love charts, it's easier for me to visualize knitting patterns. And I love to have a lot of "little things" for knitting for they makes the process not just convenient but also very feminine and beautiful!"

Thank you very much Smitiha, for sharing your answer, and congratulations on your win. I will add your pattern to your Ravelry library right away.

And the main prize winner of the Bosc Scarf pattern, yarn 

and Baggu bag 

is...

Taylor 

who almost wasn't able to post at all when Blogger gave her difficulty and she contacted me for assistance (I'm so glad she did!). When her post finally appeared, she had responded to the question with 

"I love having a mix of different types of projects to match my moods. Something intricate and challenging, and something soothing and relaxing.

The main thing that attracts me is structure. A great example of this is the elegant simplicity of your Sothia. Each part on its own is simple, yet they combine to make a beautifully structured shape and fabric."

Thank you Taylor for your response and for the kind comment on my pattern (not necessary to win, lol). Taylor, you have seven days to contact me via Ravelry or email with your postal address so I can get your prize mailed out to you. 

I recommend you check out Taylor's blog as she has knit THREE stunning Sothia shawls so far (wow!) and posted them on her blog and Ravelry page.

In other news, I'm still chugging away on my gray hoodie, now finishing the second front panel. I've also finished and blocked two of four scarves I knit during development of my next pattern release, one of which is shown in the photo at the top of the post. This version is knit with two skeins of Malabrigo Merino Worsted yarn. It's a very simple and fast knit and I'll have many more details and photos when the pattern is ready to be published, probably a few days at most. 

Guess I'd better get back to work, enjoy the rest of your weekend, and thanks again for reading and commenting here on my blog. Happy knitting!

FO - Shawlette & Malabrigo Sock Yarn Review

Although I love to make up my own knitting projects, while on vacation I like to take along projects designed by other people to give myself a break from always working out something for myself.  

On my recent trip to New Mexico, I took several of those projects I'd been wanting to knit, including a mini shawl by designer Ysolda Teague called Ishbel.

It seems like everyone and their sister has knit this except me, so after perusing my stash for yarn possibilities, I selected Malabrigo Sock in colorway Solis, stuffed it into my travel tote and cast on practically the second my rear end hit the airport waiting lounge seat for the first flight.

I wanted something interesting enough to keep my attention, and not so complicated that I couldn't put it down and pick it up easily.  That is exactly what I got with Ishbel.  

Normally, I might or might not choose sock yarn for a shawl, depending on the yarn in question.  This is only because sock yarn is usually spun for durability, often with added nylon and sometimes extra twist, which is perfect for socks but doesn't always translate to great softness and drape desirable for a shawl.

However, after seeing so many successful shawl projects in this yarn on Ravelry, I decided to give it a try, and I'm glad I did.    

I knit the stockinette portion on size US 7/ 4.5 mm, and the lace on size US 8/ 5 mm Knitpicks Options metal needles.  

Malabrigo Sock was nice to knit with - not too scratchy, not too soft - and not splitty.  It has a fair amount of stretch, good drape and softness on the neck.  I encountered no knots, and only one or two tiny white/ undyed spots in the skein that were so nominal I left them in.

The yarn held it's dye very well in a Eucalan soak, and the stitches opened up nicely with blocking.  

I have not knit socks with this yarn, but I would not hesitate to try it for that or for any number of projects, including the flowing, fine-gauge cardigans so popular these days.  

Affordably priced and in beautiful, hand-dyed colors, Malabrigo Sock yarn seems like a real bargain, and paired with a nice pattern like Ishbel, a great project!

New Knitting Pattern - Greyhaven (Part II)

I am so thrilled with the response I've received to my new knitting pattern, Greyhaven.  Hundreds were downloaded in just a few days here and on Ravelry, and I am excited to see the beautiful cowls people make with it. Several people have expressed interest to me in knitting it up in their handspun which sounds gorgeous.  


Thank you everyone, for your kind comments on this pattern, I appreciate it and I am so glad you like it.  It is my pleasure to share it with so many talented people!

The purple version above was one of about a dozen Greyhaven's I made during the design process.

I guess I can be sort of picky, but I couldn't let the pattern go until I felt it was just right and knit it successfully myself several times and had it tested.  That's partly why it takes me forever to get my designs up as PDF's.   

Malabrigo Merino Worsted is a 100 % wool, lofty singles yarn with a larger gauge than some of the others I used which were mostly various plied, wool/ alpaca blend yarns.

Many people want a cowl to be cozy, but I think the Mal would still be soft and warm if knit up a tad looser.  The flip side of that is that this yarn fuzzes and pills easily, so I usually recommend knitting it slightly firmer to help avoid this problem.

I think this version might be slightly improved if knit on a larger needle size to open up the lace pattern slightly.  I guess it comes down to personal preference, and size desired.  Of course, knit up on a larger needle, this cowl would be a larger size. This version used about 65 grams of yarn.

My Pomeranian is such a ham, she is always nosing around the things I am trying to photograph, so I let her be a model for this one.  She is so tiny, the cowl almost covers her completely!  

An earlier version of this cowl was made straight, with no shaping and a heavier garter stitch border.  I like the clean look and simplicity of that version, but I was not happy with the way it sat around the neck, especially at the bottom.  My sister is modeling this one.

There are many, many straight stitch pattern cowls available and they certainly are easy to design, easy to knit and many people I've seen on Ravelry don't seem to mind if their cowl flips up at the bottom or curls at the top of the neck, but it bugged me. I kept wanting to fuss with it and smooth it out, so back to the drawing board Greyhaven went!  

The resulting final version was modified to have a more sculpted base.  This was only a little tweak, to give it some subtle shaping, without making it overly complicated.

At the same time, I definitely appreciate the desire many knitters have for a super-simple project, especially if you need a gift in a hurry, or are new to lace knitting, so if you prefer to knit the straight version, please do!   

To make it, you would cast on only 90 stitches, work the garter stitch border to your desired length, begin the three full lace repeats starting in the main Greyhaven lace pattern row 1 with NO decrease row, work your top garter stitch border and bind off according to the pattern.  I knit four garter ridges, or 8 total rounds for these cowls. 

I would love to start posting your projects made from Greyhaven and any of my other knitting patterns here on this blog, and hope to start doing that soon. PM me on Ravelry if you have made something from a Robin Ulrich Studio pattern that you would like to share. 

CONGRATULATIONS to Elise, who was the first person to post with the correct answer in response to last week's pattern giveaway contest question about the inspiration for the name Greyhaven!  She deduced that the name was referenced from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings books.  In this work, the Grey Havens was a seaport built as a departing point for elves leaving Middle Earth for Valinor, a place some people interpret as a version of the afterlife.  Elise chose a free copy of the Fontana shawl pattern as her prize.

Speaking of my patterns, I am over-the-moon excited that one of my favorite Ravelry groups, the Anthropologie Group, chose my Brandywine Falls wrap pattern for their Fall KAL!   

This makes me very happy because the folks in that group are not only super-talented and creative, they share with me an appreciation for the quirky, unique style that is central to the fashion and home retailer Anthropologie.  I'll hopefully have some photos of the KAL'ers finished wraps to show here, but you can always hop on over to Ravelry yourself and join the KAL for a lot of fun and encouragement!

I promised to share about my New Mexico trip and yarnie adventures, so today I thought I'd start with our time in Albuquerque.

My sister lives in a smaller town north of Albuquerque, so it was a short drive to most places we wanted to visit including a running/ hiking trail in the Bosque along the Rio Grande River (beautiful),

 

Old Town (nice but touristy), and Corrales (home of the Casa San Ysidro Museum and loads of quaint shops).  

 

I couldn't go to Albuquerque (also the home of Fiesta Yarns) without visiting the Village Wools yarn shop.

Village Wools is located in an obscure office warehouse district, but it is worth the trouble to find.  The store is bright, spacious and very well-organized, and known for a large selection of yarn on cones by the pound from many companies, including Jamieson's Shetland.  

The back wall is loaded, and includes value yarns and locally-produced yarn.

While in the area, we also enjoyed lots of mountain hiking at Sandia Peak (my nephew J is a little to close to the edge for my comfort!) and

Cibola National Forest to see the aspens turning gold.........

A little excitement stirred one morning as we watched a hot air balloon crash-landing across the street from my sister's home.  No one was hurt and the crew had the balloon down, loaded in the chaser truck and gone in about 15 minutes.

I have a LOT more interesting yarn, fiber, shops and wool show exhibits to share, including from Santa Fe and Taos (where I met Ravelry's Mary Heather Cogar!), but this post is already long, so I'll save that for next time. 

Until then, peace, blessings and happy stitching to you!