We headed cross-country back to St. Louis for Thanksgiving weekend last week. The 13 hour car drive across Colorado, Kansas and Missouri certainly brings lots of knitting time! Consequently, I was able to (finally) finish my Derecho. This is the second one I have done. I did the first one in the smaller size (see it here), and chose to do this one in the larger size. The small size stops before the last two long strips on the bottom left and right edge, so you can see how the size compares. There is a lot of knitting in the larger size. I made this one out of Shalimar Breathless in Sea Glass, Neptune and Buttermilk. You need a light, medium and dark color for this pattern. For this larger size, I used 1 1/2 skeins of the darkest color, 1 skein each of the other two. Despite being a bit tired of all that knitting by the end, I did make the border a bit larger. I did 10 rows (including pickup and bindoff) instead of the 3 that it called for. I like that the border is twice the width of the regular stripes.

I wanted to share some of the beautiful Derecho Shawls (by designer Laura Aylor) that inspired me to make the two that I made this summer and fall. Thanks to all of you who chose this design for one of your Camp Loopy projects this summer.

Martha’s Derecho made with Madelinetosh Sock in Wash, Forestry and Mineral:

MK’s Derecho made with Madelinetosh Sock in Antler, Iris and Tart:

Beth’s Derecho made with Swan’s Island Organic Fingering in Blue, Iron Oxide and Forest Floor:

Glenna’s Derecho made with Madelinetosh Merino Light in Dusk, Mare and Sequoia:

Malia’s Derecho made with the Loopy Ewe Solid Series in Black, Slate and Malachite:

Kristi’s Derecho made with the Loopy Ewe Solid Series in Navy, Lilac and Orchid:

Jump on in to the Derecho pattern. All you need is a light, a medium, and a dark (fingering weight, 400 yards or so of each color, unless you’re doing the large size and then you’ll need more of the dark color). Or try one of Laura’s other beautiful patterns – Faberge, All the Shades of Truth, Enamored, Oak Park, Serra, and more. I think the Oak Park scarf will be one of my next projects. It looks fun to knit up! Plus, I like projects that involve more than one color. Do you?

Sheri offtocontemplatecolorsintheaisles

I shared my last cowl/mitt project with you a couple of weeks ago. I knit it with Prism Merino 12 and Plume, which are both soft and wonderful! I wanted to knit up a quick one-skein Merino 12 cowl on its own, too, and this is what I came up with. It should only take you a couple of hours and one skein of Merino 12.

Merino 12 Quick Cowl

Cast on 72 stitches on a size 11 (8.0 mm) 16″ circle needle.

Row 1: [K2, P2] all the way around.
Row 2: [K2, P2] all the way around.
Row 3: [K2, P2] all the way around.
Row 4: [K through the back loop of the second stitch on the left needle. Leave that stitch on the left needle and knit through the front of the first stitch on the left needle. Then pop both stitches off the left needle. P2].Continue this pattern all the way around.

Knit until you have just enough yarn to do a bind off row and you’re done.

K = Knit, P = Purl

Here’s a new recipe that Knitting Daughter has tried out on us a couple of times now, with rave reviews. Great for breakfast, or your mid-morning coffee break.

Gourmet Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbl. instant coffee
1 Tbl. hot water
1 1/3 cups mashed bananas (2-3 bananas)
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips

Sift together flour, soda, salt and baking powder.

Dissolve coffee in the hot water and add to the mashed bananas. Beat together the butter, egg, sugar and banana mixture. Add in the flour mixture.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Bake at 335 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes 18 muffins.

Have a great weekend!

Sheri makingprettygoodprogressontheprojectslistfromWednesday’sblog

Ok, not really. I’ve only made these two for Christmas gifts. But maybe I’ll have time to make more before the 25th of December rolls around. I’m still enjoying the process of weaving. Here’s one I made in Wollmeise Wasseratz.

And another one in Wollmeise Zenzi.

It’s really a fun way to use up multi-colored sock yarn that you might not feel like knitting into socks. Did I mention that I went through my stash last week? I have a lot of sock yarn that is going to be something other than socks. I used to buy so many single skeins.

Since tomorrow is our Thanksgiving Holiday, I have my knitting projects all planned out for this week and weekend. I’m finishing my second Derecho (finally, FPS. Tell me again why I decided to knit this a second time? And to make this second one the never-ending-big-size?), hoping to finish my Cabled Rib Wrap (although it’s so luscious to knit that I don’t mind it taking a long time), and hoping to start a Nuvem (with Wollmeise Lace, or Lorna’s Laces Helen’s Lace, which would be gorgeous). All of those things are pretty mindless knits, which makes them perfect for working on when you have family and friends around for the holiday weekend. What is your favorite mindless knit for times such as these?

Sheri maybeIoughttohaveonechallengingprojectready,justincase

If you have an evening to knit, you have plenty of time to whip up some of these cute gifts for friends and family! I made this KnowKnits set in about 90 minutes. Everything you need comes in the kit, except the needles. Each kit makes both bracelets (although the skinny triple-wrap bracelet can also be worn as a necklace, which is kind of fun.) It comes in Blue Raspberry (shown here), Lavender, Honey, Spearmint, Green Apple, Coconut, Kisses, Grape, Cotton Candy and Cherry.

We also have fun kits from Laura Nelkin Designs. These take a little longer to make (but not too much), and are equally fun and would also make a nice gift for someone on your list. We have Butin Collars (shown here) and Butin Earrings to match. We have Mudra Necklaces and Mudra Cuffs. And we have Ribband Bracelets and Ruffled Necklaces. These kits also include the yarn and beads to make the items – you’ll add in the needles. All of them come in several different color choices. Here is a Butin Collar that Lisa, one of our Loopy class teachers, knit up for us.

It was fun to work on small projects for a change. When you get something done in one evening, you really feel like you accomplished something!

Sheri whowouldfinishmoreifshestucktooneprojectatatime

It’s always fun to see our Loopy Ewe Solid Series in print, and we have two more to share with you. In the newest Interweave Crochet Accessories magazine that just came out, our yarn was featured in the Pleiades Shawl, a fun star-inspired shawl that drapes around your shoulders. This one was done in Eggplant, Barn Red and Smoke. (Photos by Harper Point Photography.)

I received a copy of Carol Sulcoski’s new Sock Yarn Studio book in the mail, and it’s a must-have. So many great designs from some of your favorite top designers, including Wendy Johnson, Veronik Avery, Franklin Habit, Hunter Hammersen, and more. It starts out with great sock-knitting information from Carol (avoiding pooling, repeats with self-patterning and multicolor yarn, using sock patterns for other projects, etc.). Then you get to the gorgeous patterns. You’ll find cowls, gloves, scarves, hats, shawls, sweaters, an adorable baby cardigan, and more. Of course my favorite pattern in the book is the one that Wendy designed with our Solid Series, called Kitteh Mittens. She used 1 skein each of Coffee and Cerulean.

Would you like to make a pair? Leave a comment below and we’ll use the random number generator to pick someone to win the book and your choice of 2 skeins of The Loopy Ewe Solid Series. (Hey – wouldn’t those mittens be cute in orange and black for Halloween trick-or-treating? Next year.)

We also have a winner from last week’s Halloween day blog contest. Congratulations to Linda in Illinois, whose favorite go-to food or drink on cold days is hot mulled apple cider. Yum!

Speaking of our Loopy Ewe Solid Series, the winder has been going nonstop today, working on more Loopy Cake sets for you. (More Steampunk, but also more in the series. I told you we were having too much fun coming up with themes!)

Sheri prettypianomusicplayingintheshoptoday.Wishyouwerehere.

I’ve finished two more woven scarves, and I have to say, it’s really fun and I love the results. I’m still working on getting my edges even, but washing and blocking helps a lot. (Not really blocking. You actually wash it and hang it on a rod to dry. I like that better than pinning out the edges of a shawl. Shawls aren’t really “wash and hang” types of things.) All in all, weaving/washing/blocking sure goes much faster than knitting. No wonder I’m hooked on it.

I haven’t tried a two color woven scarf yet, because I’m having too much fun weaving with multi-colors. Do you ever find a gorgeous multi-color yarn that you want to buy, but you’re not sure what you can make with it that will work well with the coloring? Weaving always works well! But if you want to knit with multicolors and you need a good pattern for it – try Lintilla, Hitchhiker, Wurm, or Boomerette. (Need suggestions for multi-color yarn? Lorna’s Laces, Hand Maiden, Fleece Artist, Mountain Colors, Studio June, Sweet Georgia, and Three Irish Girls are all great choices.)

This one was done with Wollmeise Sock in True Love.

And this one was done with Wollmeise Sock in Versuchskaninchen.

I have a few more colors set aside for future scarves. But right now, I need to get back to some knitting. My sweater is not progressing. I’ve decided I’m not a good sweater knitter, although I keep finding sweater patterns that I like. I’m not giving up on it because I love the yarn and want it to be a sweater, but I do find sweaters challenging to stick with, for some reason.

Have you discovered there is one thing that you’re not as good at knitting (or finishing)?

Sheri 3sweaterscurrentlyontheneedles.
Mightneedtochangemyattitude.