Favorite Things - Jul Shawl Pin

 

A dear friend kindly gave me a gift certificate to one of our LYS's and I used it to purchase a new Favorite Thing, this white bronze shawl pin cast in a delicate twig shape from Jul.  

Available at many local yarn shops and online retailers, Jul offers beautifully unique pins, buttons, handles and closures for knitwear in a variety of styles like the ones shown below, from the Dreamweaveryarns.com website. 

The pin in the first photo at the top of this post is shown on one of the half-dozen prototypes I knit for my next design release, an update and expansion of my Greyhaven cowl pattern. The stick pin is woven in and out of the eyelets in the lace pattern, although it's slender diameter would also allow it to easily slip between yarn strands without spearing them.  

I can think of lots of ways to wear this pin including to close cardigans, or even as a hair stick. It's definitely one of my new Favorite Things!

Spring Knitting, Really?

Now that it is officially meteorological spring, I realized I hadn't finished posting about our winter adventure in early February.  My, how time flies.

It was a 4-day trip packed full of crafts, yarn and winter sports fun, staying in a small community in northern Michigan.

The weather was cold but beautiful, and the sunrises spectacular,

with the deck overlooking the lake a-twitter with tiny birds.

Walking down the incredibly steep steps from the house along the cliff to the frozen lake was hair-raising at times! The tram works in winter, but seems more scary than walking/ sliding down somehow.

The scene out on the ice was worth it.  At least it was quiet that morning - no snowmobiles roaring by.

Of course I visited many area yarn shops, some I've already discussed in earlier posts, but the last one I have to mention is Gaylord's Imagiknit yarn shop.

The day I visited, the shop had a small group of ladies knitting in the front area, including one person who turned out to be someone who had known my aunt very well.  What a small world it is indeed.

I also had a great time meeting Ravelry designer Deby Lake (Ocknitiot on Ravelry), who works at Imaginknit.

The shop was well-organized and neat, featuring lots of Deby's lovely designs and a nice selection of yarns.

I liked the Michigan-local Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool shown above in a lovely range of colors.

The photo at the very top of this post shows the lavender heather Shepherd's Wool that jumped into my hands and came home with me.

I haven't knit with it yet, but I love the springy, squishy feel of the wool in the hank.  I am considering working up another version of my recently completed top-down cardigan with it, we'll see.  I'll be sure to review this yarn here when I do. 

Other than look at pretty yarn and knit, my husband and I hiked, ran, snow-shoe-d (sp?) and cross-country skied till we about dropped.  This was his first time on XC skis and he did great. 

We enjoyed the peaceful beauty of the area.

My husband brought along woodcarving supplies to hand-carve some horses.  Some will be made in natural wood, a few were painted.

First we painted the bodies in solid colors.

Then my husband, mom, aunt and I had a hilarious time attempting to paint them in a traditional Dala horse style.

 

My husband is a terrific wood-carver, often making beautiful buttons and shawl pins for me or for sale at yarn shops.

This ring and pin set in purple heart wood is such a pretty, glossy, natural plum color.

The bocote wood has such a beautiful grain.

The single sticks look nice in unusual shapes for shawls, wraps or even for use as hair pins.

I couldn't leave winter 2010/ 2011 without sharing a few of my favorite snow photos of our little dog.

She is a 3-year-old, 7-pound Pomeranian (a Spitz breed bred down from sled dogs like Huskies), and she adores playing in the snow. 

She loves to run, jump, dig in and eat it.

 

Although I'm ready for spring, we certainly had a fun and beautiful winter with few complaints save for the one big storm and power outage.

Now I'm looking forward to a new growing season and some warmer-weather knits, maybe another cardigan, some hats, a vest, more shrugs, a camisole and a pullover?  Definitely some shawls, lots more spinning and a little crochet.  Ha ha ha, a big list I know.  I'll be laughing even more about this come September.

I wonder what everyone else is planning now that the season is changing?

Peace, blessings and happy knitting to you!