Emmen

Hi, Knitters,

Meet my new hat pattern, Emmen! I knit a quick hat for my son right before Christmas and he absolutely loved the way it fit and looked. And I loved knitting it. I quickly knit up another one and this is the one in the photos here. 

So I thought the pattern might be something you'd be interested in, as well.

I have the pattern priced at an introductory special of $3.50, no code is necessary. This price will go through Jan. 12, 2018, and then the price will be set at $5.00.

The other thing is that the hat uses one skein of Barrett Wool Co. Home Worsted Weight. If you purchase any of our worsted weight yarn and write KIT in the order notes, we will throw in a FREE Emmen pattern Ravelry Download Code with your order! This offer goes through Jan. 12th, as well.

Click here for Barrett Wool Co.!

Click here for the Emmen pattern and more information on Ravelry!

Click here for Home Worsted Weight!

The model is a family friend, Mark, who is visiting from Emmen. Emmen is a city an hour or two outside of Amsterdam, thus the pattern name. A few days ago he had to go back to school in Emmen and we miss him around here already. Mark generously modeled for us and the hat looked so great on him and he really liked it so I ended up giving it to him in appreciation. He wore it non-stop for the rest of his visit which I took as a good sign. 

The top of the hat is so pretty. It continues on with strategically placed decreases in pattern. I love the simplicity, look and fit of the hat. It fits men nicely but it also fits me perfectly. I think I am going to knit one up for myself.

The Home Worsted Weight comes in lots of beautiful colors but the color in the photos is Scout, which is a rich shade of teal. 

Also, I just filmed and posted two tutorial videos for the Sven and Solveig dolls. I show how I did Sven's beard and Solveig's hair over on the Barrett Wool Co. Journal.

The pattern booklet for Carol Anderson's Sven & Solveig is available right here! The pattern is only available in this booklet. It is not available for download. 

Click here to see the videos and to find out more about my modifications to Carol Anderson's wonderful pattern Sven & Solveig!

I love these dolls so much. We have more kits on order for the dolls. I'm not exactly sure when they will be available but hopefully soon. If you would like to get an instant automatic email notice when they are listed all you have to enter your email on the product page. Then you be the first to know!

Click here for the product page for the Sven and Solveig Kit! 

Have a wonderful Sunday. We have a fresh dusting of snow on the ground and the temperature is supposed to be a little friendlier today. My fingers are crossed.

xo ~ susan

Pine Star Hat Kits by Mary Jane Mucklestone

All photos of the Pine Star Hat on the model are by Carrie Bostick Hoge

Hi, Knitters,

I hope you are doing well. We've had a couple of celebration dinners this week, well, three to be exact, for my husband's birthday. That's a lot of birthday celebrating I'd say but it's been really fun and we've been having some delicious meals. Last night we had a family cookie exchange and that was wonderful. I made some old standards using my mom's recipes but the kids made some new cookie recipes. Anyway, I've eaten way too many cookies! 

Well, I just wanted to touch base today to let you know we have some fantastic new hat kits in the shop over on Barrett Wool Co. and this one is designed by one of my favorite knitters in the world, Mary Jane Mucklestone. She is the queen of colorwork and this new hat is knit in our beautiful, squishy Wisconsin Woolen Spun Worsted. 

Click here to see more about the Pine Star Kit! These kits are easy on the pocketbook, too!

The kits were released on Friday night and they have been flying out of the shop at a very fast pace. We had a lot of kits in stock but it looks like they may not last too long. 

I love how dainty the colorwork is in this design. There is a lot of white space and it looks so fresh. I also love the name Pine Star. It is all kind of perfect but that's Mary Jane for you. She is kind of perfect in every way just like her designs. 

We have two different colorways of the kit. The first two photos are hats worked up in the Oats and Hawthorn colors and there is a deeper contrast. The hat above is worked in the colors of Rain Shower and Coal. These colors have a softer more heathered look to them.

I cast on a Pine Star for myself and I am making the one above with the Rain Shower and Coal colors. I love the heathered yarn. Both kit colorways are beautiful.

Click here to see more information about the Pine Star Hat Kits!

I am crazy about the tiny pom-pom Mary Jane put on the top. It is so cute. 

This is the Oats and Hawthorn Pine Star kit version.

A Ravelry download code for the pattern is included in the kit.

This is the Rain Shower and Coal Pine Star kit version.

A Ravelry download code for the pattern is included in the kit.

Happy New Year to you all! I can't believe it's going to be 2018 tomorrow. Time is flying by at a faster pace than I ever imagined possible. I hope you are doing well and that your knitting is keeping you company and also keeping you warm during this bitter cold winter stretch.

I appreciate your support and friendship here on the blog, as always, and I am sending it right back to you. I'll see you next year right here on the blog.

xo ~ susan 

The Fruits of Summer

Hi, Knitters,

The summer is going a little too quickly around here. But one thing I really look forward to is the ripening of our backyard garden. We have a good-sized garden in a sunny spot that is fenced in to keep out the rabbits. We have two raised beds and I think this year we finally have it down. The plants are spread out and supported nicely and this is paying off. Our trouble has always been overplanting. 

This year we have a couple of kinds of peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, a big variety of tomatoes from cherry to Roma to heirloom, and tons of basil. My favorites are the tomatoes. I love tomatoes and once this season hits I can eat a tomato sliced up with salt and pepper for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. It is a highlight of summer. 

The shining stars this summer are the heirloom tomatoes. These are the best we've grown. I love the taste, the look, and the color of these heirlooms. I love the folds and gathers at the top, kind of looks like a knit hat. 

Anyway, I hope you are having success if you garden or maybe if you get to hit a farmers' market or two this summer.

One other fun thing about August is hiking in our neighborhood conservancy. The paths become enveloped in tall grasses, way above my head, and the masses of flowers are beyond belief. No photo can capture what it's really like. The colors and sounds are so beautiful. Hiking in August is something I look forward to every year and with the rainfall this summer, everything is in its prime.

I started a couple of fun projects this past week. One project I am especially excited about is a pattern that's not released yet but it is coming soon. I cast on and started a red cardigan with pockets and a fun textured stitch pattern. I will keep you posted. I think wearing a red cardigan this fall and winter is going to make me really happy. 

Yarn: Home Worsted Weight in the Red Flannel colorway

The other project I started and finished is this gorgeous Erland hat. Tanis Gray is the designer and she wrote the pattern for Barrett Wool Co. I love this kind of hat that is simply casting on and following a chart for the entire hat. Erland is one of my favorite knits ever.

In the photo above, that's Tanis' sample hat and on the right is my version of Erland.

I finished it up in one day and here it is blocking. I modified the original Erland pattern a little bit but not much. I knit the hat on a US size 7 needle at 5 stitches per inch. I added some corrugated ribbing for extra length to cover my ears. And because I was knitting at a bigger gauge I took out one of the repeats, so instead of four repeats I only did three repeats. 

I misjudged the length a tiny bit. After Erland dried I realized that I should have only done one-inch of corrugated ribbing instead of two-inches. So I tucked the cast on edge under and whipstitched it to the inside of the Latvian braid so the brim is doubled, which I love. 

Now the hat is perfect and the fit is fantastic. When you only do three repeats instead of four repeats of the chart the top of the hat becomes slightly pointed. I blocked out the point as much as possible and when the hat is worn there is no visible point. 

Anyway, I love this hat. I feel like it is a tiny piece of art. Thank you to Tanis for such a rewarding design. I haven't had this much fun knitting a hat in awhile. 

Click here for the Erland pattern on Ravelry!

Click here for the Erland Kit on Barrett Wool Co.!

Click here for Home Worsted Weight in the Snowy Pine and Marmalade colors!

I finished writing up all sorts of good tutorials and updates on the Gigi Cardigan. It has been really fun to walk through a typical modification series for a simple top-down cardigan.

Click here if you are interested in seeing tutorials and notes on a Knotted Steek, button placement, sleeve fitting, short rows on necklines and hemlines, adding pockets and more. 

There is a lot of good information for sweater knitters here!

Okay, friends, thank you for the Smooth Operator Socks pattern love. The discount has been extended through the weekend. No code is necessary for the discount on the pattern. 

Click here for the discounted Smooth Operator Socks pattern!

Love to you and yours.

xo ~ susan

Clover Hat ~New Free Pattern!

Hi, Knitters,

I have a new free pattern that was released yesterday! It is called Clover which is the perfect name for the hat. It was named by Kate Peyton Lynch or @redrover189 on Instagram! I had a little naming suggestion thread going over on my Instagram feed. Thank you for the help, Kate! That was a fun thread to read and thank you to everyone for all of the suggestions. I think there were well over 100!

Anyway, back to the Clover hat. The hat pattern includes two sizes, baby-size and adult-size. The hat is worked in Barrett Wool Co. Home Worsted Weight yarn on US size 7 needles or size 4.5mm. 

One skein of Home Worsted is enough to make one adult and one baby hat, so two hats out of one skein! It's pretty perfect. It is also a great project to try out Home Worsted if you haven't tried it yet. 

Click here for the Clover hat pattern information on Ravelry!

Click here for the Clover hat pattern on the Barrett Wool Co. Journal!

Click here for Home Worsted Weight yarn! 

The color in the photo is Bluff, which is one of our most popular colorways. 

The baby size hat is sized to fit about a 0-6 month old. The colorway in the sample is Grassland and it is so perfectly paired with a Priscilla (the prettiest pink) or Bluff (the beautiful blue) pom-pom. 

The adult-size hat will fit about a 19-22 inch circumference head measurement. This means an older child, teen and adult could easily fit this hat. That's the beautiful Miss Molly modeling for these photos.

The handmade faux-fur pom-pom is available in the BWC Mercantile! There are a couple of colors left right now and we have tons on order and some new colors to boot.
Click here to check out the poms!

Anyway, it's a fun knit and you can read all about it on Ravelry or on the BWC Journal! 

Have fun if you knit one and be sure to post on Instagram or Ravelry and let me know so I can see your Clover creations.

Also, we released a really fun Limited Edition Kit yesterday. 

We introduced a Limited Edition Gradient Twist Mitten Kit yesterday over on Barrett Wool Co. It uses my original Waiting for Winter Mitten pattern which many of you might already own. You can purchase the kit with or without the pattern in case you don't need it.

Click here to find out more about the Limited Edition Gradient Twist Mitten Kit!

The Gradient Twist Mitten Kit includes a cake of our Wisconsin Woolen Spun Worsted dyed in a marled gradient and a cake of Birch for striping. There are four different gradient color choices that you can see below in the photo. 

I provided How-To instructions for striping your mittens like mine. 

Click here to see the striping instructions. 

You can see the four color choices above. Reds, purples, greens and blues are the options!

These are the coziest, sweetest and most fun mittens to knit. I want to make a lot more pairs but I'll restrain myself because once this gradient yarn is gone it is truly gone. I don't know what it is about mitten knitting that I love so much exactly but it is one of the most satisfying projects around. It's quick and easy and the end results are useful and cute. That kind of sums it up.

Check out the Waiting for Winter Mittens and Fingerless Mitts pattern on Ravelry!

Have a super Sunday, friends. I hope you are all enjoying your summer knitting and hopefully, you are starting to gear up for the fall knitting season already. I know I am! Fall is really high season for knitting and it is right around the corner.

I'll be back soon with more...

xo ~ susan

Mitten Kit Giveaway & a few works in progress

Hi, Knitters,

Happy Saturday to you all. I want to let you know about a giveaway I'm hosting over on the Barrett Wool Co. Journal. We are giving away one of our Three Color Mitten Kits to a lucky winner. You need to enter over on the Journal, not here. 

Click here to read all about the Mitten Kit prize and to enter over on the BWC Journal! 

It's super easy to enter. The kit is worth $44.00 and it's a perfect time of year to knit mittens. Knit your mittens in July and you'll be all set for the fall season!

Good luck if you enter. I'll select a winner in a few days.

I'm finishing up a couple of hats. This one will be a free pattern and I'm pretty excited about it. The yarn is one skein of Home Worsted Weight in the Bluff colorway. The hat in the photo is an adult size and I'm blocking a baby size version right now. It's pretty cute.

Click here to see more colors in Home Worsted Weight!

I am working away on a really sweet top-down short-sleeved cardigan and I decided to try out a knotted steek for the body of the sweater. I am going to be posting a full tutorial on this technique soon so watch for that if you are interested. It is a super easy technique that takes away most all of the bulk associated with the other steeking techniques I have tried.

More on this soon! 

Yarn: Wisconsin Woolen Spun Worsted in the Sherwood colorway! 

And I finished the first sock in the Bergere de France Goomy 50 sock yarn. I can't remember where I purchased this yarn but I'm sure if you google the name it will pop up for you. 

I used my Smooth Operator Socks pattern and I love the look it gives the sock. I'll be casting on the second sock today. 

Have a great weekend, friends. I hope you are doing well and that your knitting is coming along swimmingly.

xo ~ susan

Happy 4th & Free Shipping on BWC!

Hi, Knitters,

Happy 4th of July to those celebrating! Looks like a beautiful day out there in the neighborhood. I hope you all get outside in the fresh air and don't forget to bring your knitting. We have a cookout and some fireworks planned so I'm looking forward to that!

And I wanted to let you know that over on Barrett Wool Co. we are offering FREE (US only) shipping starting today, July 4th and ending at the end of the day CST on July 5th, 2017! Simply use the code FOURTH at checkout for the discount. 

Enjoy and definitely take advantage if interested. We have some kits available and loads of beautiful wool and the mercantile has scissors, cards, magazines, gift cards, etc. 

Click here to go to Barrett Wool Co.!

Click here to see the Wisconsin Woolen Spun! The colors of the worsted weight in the photo are Jam, Birch, and Harbor. 

I want to thank you for the fantastic response to the Entwined Hat Kits! It has been so much fun packing up these kits because it's always interesting to see what color combination of the pom-pom and yarn people have selected. There are still lots of poms left and of course lots of yarn choices. Have fun mixing and matching your own kit.

Click here for the Entwined Hat Kit!

Have a super day and rest of the week. I'll be back soon with more.

xo ~ susan

Entwined Hat & a new cardigan!

Hi, Knitters,

I can't believe it's already Saturday. And I can't believe that today is my 28th wedding anniversary. It seems impossible and yet when I look back at all that has happened in the last 28 years it is entirely possible. Does that make sense? We have a fun dinner reservation for tonight and I love our gift to each other this year. It is a state park pass. Simple as that. We are embarking on a challenge together. We are set to take 60 specific hikes in our area and many involve state parks thus the pass is needed. I'm going to tell you more about this adventure later as it is really fun. We have done three hikes so far and we have a long way to go. 

Anway, I hope you are all doing well! Yesterday I released a new hat pattern. It is called Entwined. See how the cable meanders back and forth? It overlaps in the center and it looks WAY more complicated than it really is, which is always the best thing in knitting. The hat is sized to fit an average adult head, 20-23-inches in circumference. It would also fit a teen. The finished circumference is 19-inches but the hat has incredible stretch so it is kind of a perfect fit.

We have beautiful kits for Entwined on Barrett Wool Co. that include the fantastic handmade faux-fur pom-pom.  We have five cool color choices for the poms and loads of color choices for the Wisconsin Woolen Spun Worsted yarn. You get to mix-and-match your own kit!

Click here to see more about the Entwined Kits! All of the hat details, yarn, size, needles, etc. are here, too. The kit includes a Ravelry download code for the pattern.

The Entwined hat individual pattern is available on Ravelry, too. The pattern is set at an introductory discount through Monday, July 3, 2017, for $3.50. No code is needed. On July 4, 2017, the price will be set at $5.00. Enjoy the discount if interested. 

Click here to see more information or to purchase the Entwined pattern on Ravelry!

If you haven't tried the Wisconsin Woolen Spun yarns yet you are really missing out. It is an experience like none other. I can't say enough about this beautiful, squishy and light as air yarn. It is out of this world. 

Click here to see the Wisconsin Woolen Spun and Home yarn lines!

Here are a few more photos of Entwined: 

I love the fit of this hat so much. We have those Bulky Mitten Kits available in the shop, too! 

The kit includes a full skein of the Wisconsin Woolen Spun Worsted and handmade faux-fur pom, both in your colors of choice, a tin of stitch markers, a hand-stamped cotton project bag, and the Ravelry download code for the pattern. That way the pattern will be stored right in your Ravelry pattern library.

The faux-fur pom-poms are my favorite part of the kits! They are really fantastic.

Now onto another quick subject.

I am working away on a new cardigan. It is short-sleeved and kind of open in the front. It is knit in Wisconsin Woolen Spun Worsted and I am loving it. It is super simple and we are going to have cardigan kits coming up soon. The pattern is by a guest designer which is super fun. I think you are going to really like this one.

The book is really good, too. I am about halfway through. It is called The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman. I recommend it. 

The kits are flying out of the shop as I am writing this so if you are interested hop on over! Have a super day and I'll be back here soon with more. 

xo ~ susan

New Strata Hat + Winner!

photo courtesy of Vogue Knitting Magazine

Hi, Knitters,

I selected a winner for the skein of Wollmeise yarn! The winner is.....

Laurie Taylor or pgngrl (rav name)! 

Congratulations! I've contacted Laurie and I will get her skein right out in the mail. I will have another giveaway soon so check back. Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter to win. 

Now, today Vogue Knitting Magazine Early Fall 2017 is being sent out to subscribers today. The magazine will be available in retail stores on July 11, 2017. I am so excited that I have a design, Strata Hat, and an interview in this issue. The photography of my hat design is so beautiful. It is such a thrill for me to be included in this issue. I have read and loved this magazine for decades now. I remember way back when some of my first sweaters were knit from the Very Easy, Very Vogue magazine patterns. 

Click here to see the Strata Hat on Ravelry!

Click here to see all of the designs in Vogue Knitting Early Fall 2017!

Click here to find out more about upcoming Vogue Knitting Live events!  I won't be in Seattle this fall as I'm teaching in Edmonton, Canada that same weekend. But I will be at Vogue Knitting Live in NYC in January, 2018. 

photo courtesy of Vogue Knitting Magazine Early Fall 2017

The Strata Hat is knit in one skein of Barrett Wool Co. Home Fingering Weight in the Wishing Well colorway. The yarn provides crisp stitch definition to play up all of the textured stitch patterns on the two side panels of the hat. The hat is worked from the bottom-up with a 1 by 1 twisted rib brim. The two textured stitch panels are separated by stockinette stitch sections.

The mitered earflaps are optional as they are picked up and added on after the hat is complete. I love the earflaps as they add so much texture and interest to the look of the hat. The entire hat is a fun and simple knit using only the knit and purl stitch. 

The Strata Hat is definitely unisex, too. 

Click here to see all of the color options for the Home Fingering Weight yarn!

 photo courtesy of Vogue Knitting Magazine Early Fall 2017

There are so many great designs and designers in Vogue Knitting Early Fall 2017 including Kaffe Fassett, Norah Gaughan, Yoko Hatta, Kristen Tendyke, Sarah Hatton, Louisa Harding and many more. It's quite an impressive collection. 

Anyway, have a fantastic week ahead. I am teaching at KnitCircus on this coming Saturday, June 17. I think there are still a few spots left so if you are in the area come join in the fun. Then we move on to Father's Day, right after that it is my daughter's birthday, then I am speaking and vending at the Stockinette Zombie's retreat in Rochester, Minnesota! The busy-ness continues.

There is so much to look forward to for the rest of June. I know you are all busy, too, but let's remember to find the time to knit!

I'll be back soon with more.

xo ~ susan 

Mittens in June & more kits!

Three Color Bulky Twist Mitten Kit

Hi, Knitters,

I hope you are all doing well. We have lots of action going on at our house this week and upcoming weekend. So much so that I haven't had a lot of time to knit. I have some new designs in the works though, so that is fun.

I want to let you all know that we have lots of some of our most popular kits in the shop over on Barrett Wool Co. right now. Just last night we posted more of our Three Color Bulky Twist Mitten Kits in the shop! This is one of our favorites.

Click here for more information or to purchase the Three Color Mitten Kit!

Three French Hens Kit

The Three French Hens Kit has also just been listed again! You can purchase the kit with or without the Taproot magazine where the pattern appears. The pattern is only available in the magazine right now. 

Click here for more information or to purchase the Three French Hens Kit!

Owen Hat Kit

Our super popular Owen Hat Kit comes with the yarn, the pattern, and a beautiful polka-dot handmade pom-pom to top off your hat. The pom-poms are made by yours truly! 

There are three different color choices for this hat kit.

Click here for more information or to purchase the Owen Hat Kit!

Two color version of the Owen Hat Kit in blue!

Two color version of the Owen Hat Kit in red!

Wildflowers Cap Kit

We have Mary Jane Mucklestone's gorgeous Wildflowers Cap Kit from Making Magazine No. 1 / Flora in stock, too! The kit can be purchased with or without the magazine, or with a Ravelry download code for the pattern or without any pattern included and just the yarn.

Click here for more information or to purchase the Wildflowers Cap Kit!

There are several color choices for this kit, as well. 

The Wildflowers Cap Kit with Hazelnut contrast color!

The Wildflowers Cap Kit with Peppercorn and Picket Fence!

The hat and photo of the hat above is by @kellythecarelesscat. 

Flower Fairy & Leaf Sprite Kit

Lastly, we have some of the Flower Fairy & Leaf Sprite Kits available! This might be my favorite kit. It's just so sweet.

Click here for more information or to purchase the Flower Fairy & Leaf Sprite Kit!

Flower Fairy & Leaf Sprite Kit

Enjoy your weekend ahead everyone! I'm planning on a fun giveaway next week here on the blog so be sure to check back if you are interested. The weather is beautiful here so I plan to get outside and I hope you can get some fresh air, too.

xo ~ susan

Wildflowers Cap & A Good Retreat

Hi, Knitters,

I hope you are all having a good week. I am finally home for a stretch here and that feels wonderful. I want to mention a couple of things today. Last night over on Barrett Wool Co. we released our newest kit for the fantastic Mary Jane Mucklestone's Wildflowers Cap. This pattern originally appeared in Making Magazine No. 1 / Flora. I can't say enough about this super fun, simple and fast hat. It is addicting and it makes the perfect quick summer knit. 

Click here for Mary Jane Mucklestone's website!

Click here for more information on Making Magazine! 

Click here for more information on the Wildflowers Cap Kit on Barrett Wool Co.!

There are lots of pattern options and a few different colorways for the kits. You can purchase the kit without a pattern if you already have it, or with a Ravelry download code, or with the Making Magazine that includes the pattern and much more. Each of these options has a different price.

The Wildflowers Cap Kit includes either our Wisconsin Woolen Spun or Home Worsted Weight. The kit in the first photo includes the Wisconsin Woolen Spun in Rainshower and Sherwood. Our yarns are the perfect match with this Maine wildflowers inspired design. I love Mary Jane Mucklestone's designs and she is one of the most wonderful knitters of our time. She is talent and personality all rolled into one of the best people around.

The kit above includes Wisconsin Woolen Spun Worsted in Rainshower and Hazelnut. I love the look of this one so much. 

The Wildflowers Cap Kit above includes our Home Worsted Weight in Peppercorn and Picket Fence. The hat above was photographed and knit by @kellythecarelesscat on Instagram. Thank you, Kelly, for permission to use your beautiful hat and photo!!

The Wildflowers Cap Kits are selling quickly so if interested jump on over to check it out! 

And enjoy! You will love the yarns, the pattern, and Mary Jane!

Last weekend I had the privilege of teaching so many wonderful students at the Good Retreat in Orlando, Florida. The retreat was hosted by A Good Yarn which is in Sarasota, Florida. While I was there I did some knitting on my Sonora Shawl and I started my second Wildflowers Cap. 

The Sonora Shawl is really one of my favorite knits ever. The design is by Kirsten Kapur and I am using Home Fingering Weight in Pepin and Ellie Gray. It is all garter stitch goodness from start to finish! 

Click here for the Sonora Shawl and Home Fingering Weight!

Click here for more information on the Sonora Shawl pattern on Ravelry!

I also did some stitching on my Satin Stitch Sampler by Dropcloth on Etsy.  I am loving Flower Thread lately. It is such a treat. 

For the retreat we stayed at the enormous and magnificent Rosen Shingle Creek Resort. It was lovely. The classes were so much fun, I just loved the students. We really just stayed in the resort the entire time and had meals together, too. I loved spending time with Ann Budd, Romi Hill, Clara Parkes and of course, the best event planner around, Cindy Hallam. We laughed a lot.

I took the photo above from my hotel room window.

The highlight for me was the most informative and fun speech by Clara Parkes to end the retreat. She is a delightful and smart speaker. She knows her topic (which is wool!) so well. It was the perfect end to a successful retreat. 

Have a good rest of your week, Knitters. I'll be back soon with more.

xo ~ susan