Seedy Slouch Hat!

I test knit this hat for the designer, Christa Giles, a few months ago, but I had to wait until it was released before I could post about it.

So, here it is ---



Of course I've forgotten which colorway I used, but the yarn in Malabrigo Silky Merino, and the pattern only takes 1 skein!

In case you're interested, the pattern can be downloaded from Ravelry here. It's a quick knit, and it looks great on.

And the back---


I know I'll be getting a lot of use out of it this fall. The only annoying thing about this hat is all the increases at the top (it's top down). I found them pretty fiddly on dpns. Seriously though, the finished product is totally worth it.

I'm going to make myself another one out of the Malabrigo Silky Merino I picked up from Three Bags Full yesterday (it's turquoise).

Saturday, Woo Hoo!

This weekend was another much needed weekend for me, especially after a fairly hectic payroll week!

Proof that I still knit socks -

It's funny - I get a very different feeling when I knit socks compared to any other projects. I think it's serenity. This one is going to be knit in one of the patterns from Sensational Knitted Socks ( the first one). I'm not sure which one, but I'll have to decide soon, because if the ribbing gets any longer, it'll just be a ribbed sock!

Juno Regina is going really well. I'm in the boring middle part, which is pretty much 42" of the same lace row followed by a purl row. I think I need a day of two off from it. I am about 30" into it. I just remembered that I have yet to take a picture of it.

Stu and I just got home from a nice walk down at Kits beach. We grabbed some Starbucks and sat on a bench 10 feet from the water and watched the sunset.

I spent the early half of the day at Three Bags Full on Main Street attending their 2nd Anniversary Sale. There were lots of deals to be had, as well as cupcakes. It was really nice to be surrounded by "my people". It's funny, because I heard at least two other people use that exact phrase today.

This morning I told Stu "I have to go to the yarn store. My people are congregating" . He found that highly amusing.

Here's my haul from all the shopping this morning -



If you go to my Flickr page you can see exactly what everything is.

I had a great time, and I'm looking forward to doing some more knitting!

PS. The Cherry Tree Hill Super Sock was 50% off!

A Few Realizations....

This particular colorway is my favorite yarn color ever!



The bottoms of Redd's feet are very hairy.

Isn't it great when vacations are productive?  ;)

For Those Who Wonder What I Do When I Have Too Much Time On My Hands...

WInners!!!!

Alright, thanks to the random.org we have 2 randomly selected winners!

I'm totally excited to announce our two winners!

In no particular order:

1) allergicmom

2) knittinginpink

Congratulations ladies!

Email me and let me know which color family you like most, and whether you'd like 100% superwash merino or 70% superwash merino 30% seacell.  

Hot Weather & Hot Lights Don't Mix!

I just finished photographing *most* of the yarn I've dyed up so far, and boy are the lights for my lightbox hot!  

I decided to finish off with a group picture - and here is some of it!

All 100% Naturally Dyed!

All of these will be up in the shop at some point tomorrow. I'm glad you guys seem to be enjoying the Pattern Tamers. I know I am!

I'm trying to get back in the habit of blogging, so forgive me if I post fairly frequently.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot - I still haven't taken any pictures of Juno Regina yet! I'll try to get some tomorrow. For those who don't know, we're having a Juno Regina knit along on The Manic Purl.

I'll also be announcing the winner(s) of the contest (started a few posts ago if you're behind on your reading). You still have about 2 hours to enter!

See you guys tomorrow!

ETA:  *By naturally dyed I mean that I only use dyes I extract from plants.  I only use alum as a mordant - because it's not considered particularly harmful.  

Afternoon Plans...

I plan on playing with these -

 

Mini-skeins of yarn (each one is only about 6 inches long).

I'll be fiddling with acid dye colorways.  Hmm.....what could I be up to?

One last reminder that you have until midnight tonight (PST) to drop me a line if you want to win some naturally dyed yarns (see 2 posts previous). 

Home For A Rest...

Today is day one of my one week vacation!  I desperately need some R&R and I'm looking forward to a week of knitting and relaxing.

I'm going to leave the yarn give away open until midnight pst tomorrow night - so if your interested, make sure to leave a comment on my last post.

FYI - I just got Episode 9: Olympic Knitting up on Libsyn, so check your iTunes if you've been waiting for another episode of The Manic Purl Podcast.

I got my first order from Eat.Sleep.Knit last night, and I've "run" my first mile of their yarn marathon!  This is going to be the easiest marathon EVAR!

The pictures are of the goodies from Eat.Sleep.Knit ----

2 skeins of J.Knits Lace-a-licious! in Boston (blue) and Pueblo (green-ish), 1 skein of Claudia Handpainted in Teal Party (teal and brown), and 1 skein of Yarn Love Marianne Dashwood in contentment (blue, green, grey).

Have a great weekend!

A Few More Buttons...

I figured it would be best to have some Yarn Sprout button options for those who are interested.

For those who like the pinks -



For those who like the purples -


Remember to link them to www.yarnsprout.com!

Now for the good stuff - 

Are you interested in a free skein of Yarn Sprout 100% Naturally dyed yarn?  

In an attempt to get Yarn Sprout "out there" a little more, I'd like to give a few skeins away.  The only catch is that you need to have a blog so you can blog about your experience with Yarn Sprout!

Leave me a comment if you are interested in a free skein, and I'll draw names from a hat in a few days!

Yarn Sprout Button...

As requested - here is the Yarn Sprout button!



Please save it to your own server. Thanks!

For those who are interested - I managed to get the 8th episode of The Manic Purl Podcast up last night, and I am now knitting a bunch of lace.