Kate's Braided Cable Cowl

After knitting the Sunnyside Baby Cardigan for my sister-in-law with sock yarn, and the Bella Shrug with DK weight yarn for Martha Stewart's granddaughter, I needed a QUICK project. 

My dear friend Surya of Sew Knit Click and I have been drooling over a few chunky cowls on Etsy, so I figured I'd work up a pattern and give one a shot.  Besides, Spring's nearly here, and I still have four skeins of Cascade Yarns' Magnum staring at me.  I chose the soft Doeskin Heather colorway to really show-off the cabling.  You'll notice that I switched from cables to 1x1 ribbing.  The cabling cinches the stitches so much that the width of that section is a few inches less than that of the ribbed section.

I am really pleased with this one.  I also plan to use this pattern for my beginner knitters to teach them ribbing and basic cables. 

For those interested, the pattern is available for purchase here in my Etsy shop.  Use the coupon code LOVEIT for a discount.    

(This pattern was featured by Cascade Yarns on its Facebook page in March 2012.)

On my needles: Saxon Braided Pillow

You know how I am obsessed with hand-dyed yarns.

Well, at the Vogue Knitting convention in NYC, I fell in love with Tess' Designer Yarns from Maine.  Tess' booth was enormous - as big as Lion Brands'!  The yarns were not organized by weight or type, but rather by color.  I can't imagine a more beautiful rainbow.  I chose the Bella yarn, a 2-ply superwash merino, silk, alpaca blend, and on that January day, this soft gray skein called out to me.

So for the last two months, I have been noting ideas for my single skein of Bella.  I finally decided on a pillow with an intricate cable motif.  I just love this yarn and want to see it every day on a chair in my home - and not buried in a basket of sample projects.

Stay tuned!

Oh, here are some photos I snapped at Tess' booth.

Saxon Braided Pillow featured by Martha Stewart's American Made Story here on INSTAGRAM.

When the Martha Stewart Show called...!

"I'm calling from the Martha Stewart Show.  We are looking for a group of local knitters to join us in the audience for a taping.  Shall I go on?"


Um, YES!

So, eleven of my knitters and I were invited for the taping on February 21st.  When we arrived, we learned that the show was not about knitting or even crafting, but skincare instead.  Pretty puzzling, but still great fun nonetheless!  Everything was even more beautiful in person - the studio kitchen, the greenhouse and Martha too.  We left with gift bags of fancy skin products.  Nice!

In the two weeks leading up to the taping, I decided I wanted to knit a special gift for Martha.  Well, really for her granddaughter, Jude Stewart, who will turn one year this month.  So I chose the Bella Baby Shrug.  It is one that I love and have knitted three times prior, and of all my samples, it receives the most compliments. (See more about the Bella Shrug here.)  The producers accepted the gift on Martha's behalf and promised to get it to her.  The next morning, I received an email asking for my address because Martha has a note for me.  Wow!  It has yet to arrive.  Keeping my fingers crossed...