cashmere cowl

Found some cashmere fiber lingering in my stash, which was a nice surprise. I'd also bought some yak down fiber recently, so thought they'd go well together.

Way more yak than cashmere, so a lot more yardage was 100% yak... But then- what to do with the result? 

I've had Purl Soho's Pivot Cowl in my queue for a while, but never need a cowl for California weather. Winter was drippy and cool this year, however, so I took advantage and made a yak/cashmere cowl.

It is exactly as soft as you'd imagine. 

By the time I had it done, though, there were only 2 more days of cool weather. Spring has since set in. It's too lovely to be terribly upset...

 And, finally, here' Bolt's first turn as a knitwear model. Good pup.

now on instagram

yep, we caved in.

You can find us as KateAndTatum and enjoy all the dog/yarn/knitting pictures you can handle.

Happy Monday.

last year's masterpiece

I finished the 2016 Big Project, aka Tatum Sweater, in only about a month, but am just now getting around to posting these pictures.

Here's the background about the design. Most importantly, it was my first run at designing colorwork and spinning dog fur. Both were a success, to my mind.

designing

Tatum rolags

Taters fur yarn

spun fiber guild samples

and finished! yarn variations sooo obvious, but good fit.

And Tatum loves it.

women's march mittens

I'm going to the Women's March in DC on Jan. 21!

Quick story about how this trip/design came about:

So immediately after the election, I was pissed and afraid and troubled. Very fired up. And I saw murmurs that some people were organizing a Women's March in DC. So I was like- hell, yeah. Found some ideal flights I could get with miles and proposed the idea to a friend. She kinda chuckled, but called back two days later with the same fire in her belly and it was on.
Well, we go back to book those flights and they were gone. EVERYTHING was gone. $900 to buy it straight up. Guess some other women in my area had the same idea!
Took some wrangling, but we got flights with a third party's elite miles (my husband's- that's not anti-feminist, right?). In a day or two, plane was totally full. Couple of weeks later, we get an email saying they've upgraded the plane and there's 50 more seats. Totally full again in a few hours. So I'm super looking forward to our flight to DC, full of women on their way to a march... Any of you out there on an SFO-DCA flight on Jan. 20th? Ping me!

Back to the knitting:

It could be cold in DC in January and since nothing about my warm gloves and mittens screams "I'm a feminist!", I thought I should knit my own. Thus:

Since it's a rough pattern, thrown together quickly and because I think anyone who wants to make a pair for the march should do it, the pattern is only $2. Get it here. And then share your pictures on Ravelry, as I'd love to see how other knitters interpret the pattern... In the first 3 days, there were already 100 downloads!

all-merino shawl

Got in the mood to knit a shawl recently and Berocco's Mrs Watson shawl has been on my Pinterest shawl board for a while. I had a lighter weight yarn, so my version is smaller and lighter weight than the full size, worsted weight version. The purple is Malabrigo Mechita in Eggplant and the secondary color is Malabrigo Nube in Arco Iris, so all merino with some handspinning involved. All roughly fingering weight.

The pups make great models, yes?

I expect to use this shawl as a scarf this winter, as we don't get that cold in the Bay Area. The pattern is easy to use and I love this color combination. I particularly like the way it looks with a dark dominant color and lighter secondary color. Many iterations may be coming...

bunny bolt

Bolt's First Halloween! Since he's a social, people-loving dog, I was excited to dress him up and go to costume contests. Given his sweet nature, I went with Lion Brand's Bunny Dog Costume Pattern.

The pattern knit up quickly, with the only challenge being how to get the ears to stand up. I moved them to the top of the head and stuffed them with filling, but they still flop around more than I'd like.

He tolerates it really well and loves all the attention it gets him.

Happy Halloween from Bolt.

coming soon

Working on Bolt's Halloween costume. It's going to be totally adorable, but he is less than thrilled.