Knit Arcane Beanie pattern designed by James N. Watts featured in the Ritual Dyes Fall Equinox offering

 

My Ritual Dyes Fall Equinox offering arrived only days before Rhinebeck.  But I was so intrigued by the pattern that I cast it on almost immediately.  I set aside the brown colorway it came with and replaced it with leftover Knudsen I bought at the last and now final Stitches SoCal so it would match my Midcoast Sweater, my "official Rhinebeck sweater".

 

On October 1st, I had a delightful visit from my friend and former Atelier co-worker, Catherine.  She's originally from RVA but has been living in SF for decades now.  Her sister still lives in Salisbury, VA and we finally got to hang again for the first time since before I moved back here from CA. She is actually the person responsible to introducing me to DWW in the first place! Our mutual loves of RVA and The Bay binds us together.  The photo above is of our snack spread.  We have a long history of eating, knitting and having the best conversations together.  

 

I knit size 3 of the hat.  I didn't make any modifications.

I love the braided cabled headband and I love that you can just measure it as you go to ensure that you have a perfectly fitted hat.

I promised myself that I would wear this hat at Rhinebeck and on Saturday AM, I was up at 5AM finishing up the last few crown decreases in front of the cozy fire in our hotel lobby.

This hat will always remind me of Rhinebeck and the fabulous friendships I've made over the years.

 

The photos above are from the Asian Makers meet up that Aimée Gille organized on The Hill.  It was the most Asian knitters I've ever seen all in one place in my entire life.  My mind was blown.  

I still haven't even blocked my hat but it fits perfectly.

I'm also considering adding a pompom and I am already anxious to knit another hat ASAP while the charts are still fresh in my memory.

This photo is of Amber and I in our #1 all-time, absolute favorite place at Rhinebeck, the Periwinkle Sheep booth.  I'll post photos of all of my purchases soon.  It's just taking me a while to get back into the groove of things and it probably won't happen until this Sunday at the earliest.

Level Up Knit Cowl Pattern designed by Kacey Herlihy

 

 

I feel pretty lame because I purchased this pattern right when it was initially released back in November 2022 and then it took me literally, almost a year to finally get around to casting it on.

The Level Up cowl is designed by Kacey Herlihy.  We both used to live in the Bay Area and work at LYS's.  

This was such a quick and fun knit! It took me under a week to make it.

 

I used some Black Diamond baby alpaca and some leftover Sandnes Garn alpaca I bought when we visited Norway 6 years ago.

I followed the pattern exactly.  I wet blocked my cowl and it is the softest neck warmer in the world!

I'm stoked on my floats.  I love how beautiful stranded colorwork looks both inside and out.

It was so nice to bump into Kacey at Rhinebeck and show her my finished product IRL.  I already cast on a second cowl with the same yarn in different colorways and the only thing I am doing different is using twisted ribbing on the top and bottom.

Summer Vibe Top with matching striped socks and mittens

Knitting my Summer Vibe top was truly a labor of love.  I bought the yarn at Rhinebeck in October 2021.

 

It was my first time ever knitting lace and it took me forever.  I used a lot of lifelines in the beginning but by the time I finished, I had the chart memorized.

 

I had so much yarn left over that not only did I knit myself a pair of matching socks, but I also knit a pair of matching mittens!

 

I STILL have even more yarn left and I am planning to knit Xena a pair of matching gloves.

This was my own stripped sock recipe where I knit 11 rows of each color using 0's.

 

These socks travelled with me from the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden to the Biergarten at Maymont and every where else around RVA in between.

 

We are currently celebrating Socktober at DWW and although employees can't win a prize, it's been fun to get wrapped up in everyone's sock-madness at the meet ups.

Photographing my striped ensemble at our favorite spa hotel in Rhinebeck marked the beginning of a wild and wonderful weekend.

No thanks to climate change, I've become a real fan of knitting vests and sleeveless or shortsleeved garments.

While I referred to a super basic pattern to knit my mitts, I followed my 11 row striping sequence for each color but knit the mitts on 1's instead of 0's. 

I intentionally made elongated mitten cuffs with a folded hem to keep my wrists extra warm.  I've been pleasantly referring to my mitts as "evening mitts".

 

All of my wool striped gear certainly came in handy over the wet weekend!

 

Sycamore Shrug - FREE Pattern with purchase of yarn at DWW or FREE if you contact me directly

 

 

OK, before I start blabbing all about Rhinebeck, I want to get caught up discussing a lot of FOs and other things I've been meaning to write about over the past few months.  Back in September I helped the shop by designing a shapely shrug to be used with Extra Chunky aka Extra Bulky yarn.

The request was for a striped shrug using Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok North.

While experimenting with gauge and shaping, I used a few other fun bases.  

I especially like this combination of Malabrigo Rasta held double with some handspun indie-dyed DK Merino held triple.  The latter was a gift and there was no ball band but it's single ply.

 

I really enjoy marling and the options are endless with this pattern.

 

In an effort to explore restrictive budget options, I also knit a sample using Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick 'n Quick which is an acrylic blend.

If anyone wants a free copy of the pattern, just reach out to me directly and I will provide it to you with a .pdf.  Otherwise, you can acquire a printed paper copy free with purchase of yarn directly at DWW.

This pattern is super basic stockinette knit in the round with size 13 needles.  Not only can it be a great stashbuster, but it's a quick gift knit that be finished in only a few hours, definitely in a day or 2 days max.

 

This shop sample uses 2 hanks of the MC and 2 hanks of the CC.

I knit the shop sample in Thermal Spring and Loon Lake colorways.

It was so much fun to be a part of this development process and especially to assist customers shopping for yarn to use on a pattern that I designed.