Til then, may the New Year bring you and your loved ones ever closer, new adventures, fulfilled dreams, and a prosperous, happy year.

A ribbed cable cowl (pattern partially extracted from Lily Chin’s Reversible Cable Shawl).  Yarn: Briar Rose

Socks.  I’ve not knitted socks since last December when the last pair was finished at the hospital during L&D.  These are the ultimate comfort knitting since for several weeks, I knitted nothing else but these.  Yarn: Louet Gems Sportweight

The Tuesday Night Cowl for my little sister who lives in Finland.  Very cold over there right now.  I’ve extended its length so she can double wrap for more warmth.  Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Sportweight

After many long months of deliberating, Eric and I decided that it would be best for our family if we spent the next bit of our lives focused on our children.  As a consequence, (and I can feel the lump in my throat forming again), we need to close the shop.

It’s been absolutely wonderful since Opening, and we’ve been so grateful for all your support.  I can’t begin to thank you enough for all you’ve given us through your kindness and knowledge.  Seriously, my learning curve shot through the roof from all the tips and tidbits I’ve learned from you over the past few years.  Most importantly, I’ve made friendships that are more meaningful than what any retail experience can offer.  Thank you a million times over.

The Knitty Couture blog will continue (a girl’s still got to knit and share, right?).   We’ll still keep in touch, I promise.

I miss knitting socks.

Created by the lovely Ladies of the Fancywork Society.

In my (frustrated) attempt to use leftover yarn, I knitted this sweater and ripped it out and knitted it again and ripped some more - I can’t promise the pattern instructions will make sense.  I nearly gave up after the twentieth try; well, really, it was probably only the third.  But I was in a hurry because the sweater was started during the drive to Yellowstone and he needed it for Yellowstone.  I had three days!

The dilemma was trying to creatively use up all of the three colors (all of which were of different yardage quantities), yet hoping to have enough to make the sweater.  At one point, there didn’t seem enough yarn for the sleeves and I feared having to rip a bit of the body to add to the sleeves, but it turned out there was enough… Whew!  In the end, only about two yards of just the dark grey was left.  This is yet another argument for why knitting from someone else’s design can make life so much easier.

But look how cute the sweater finally turned out:

Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Sportweight

Not wanting the sweater to look too large, I knitted it in the size that would fit him just as he was: nine months old.  Even if he wore it for just a few days, it was okay.

The body pattern is a revised version of Stephen Hawker’s slate pattern found in Cables, Diamonds, Herringbone; Secrets of Knitting Traditional Fishermen’s Sweaters by Sabine Domnick.  Saddle shoulder instructions were borrowed from EZ’s Knitting Workshop.