Meet Jackson Brown

Vacation Butterfly is the newest pattern from Marin Melchior. 

Photos © Marin Melchior

You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry.

This is a variation of the popular Butterfly-Papillon Shawl. It is similar but has some changes to help with a few things in the pattern that could be tweaked for this version. These include but are not limited to a 3 sts garter border, a different ending section of short rows, & a different bottom edge. I named it Vacation Butterfly. You have a few places at the start to pay attention (Packing), but then LOTS of middle that is garter with repetitious increases on the right side and nothing on the wrong side (Travel). Then, the end has most of the effort and pop, with short rows and a special finish (Returning Home, aka BACK TO WORK … goodness, I cannot believe I came BACK home!).

I made up kits yesterday afternoon. Marin used yarn from Urth Yarns - Uneek Fingering and Monokram and that’s what I used for the kits.

Meet Jackson Brown. Beth’s flight was a bit late leaving but she was comfortable. I gave her the flight for her birthday. She flew business class with a lie down bed. Thank you Aeroplan. (Now Beth, mom and dad have all flown with a lie down bed - I haven’t.) She landed, got her car and drove to meet Jackson.

There is a couple from Toronto picking up their puppy this week as well - he is the little black guy. They drove from the airport with Beth because they couldn’t get a rental car. Thankfully Beth rented hers the minute she knew she was flying out.

Beth is back at her hotel and will pick up Jackson in the morning. Boscoe misses his mom but I have a feeling he isn’t going to be happy with his mom tomorrow night when she gets home with a puppy.

Pizza Friday

This is Churchmouse’s Striped Linen Stitch Wrap.

The wrap caught my eye when it came out - I think that Lynda might want to knit linen stitch 😘

Our fervent love of linen stitch continues. The eight-color wrap and four-color scarf take on a convincingly woven look. Knitted length-wise, with knotted self-fringe, they look like they’re right off the loom. The ‘wrong’ side has a more knitterly seed stitch look that’s gorgeous, too. Seemingly random striping sequences are quite forgiving—if you run out of a color, just throw in another!

For this woolly wrap with lots of drape, we’ve picked Rowan Felted Tweed. On the finer side of DK-weight, Felted Tweed blends merino wool, alpaca, and viscose for a fiber that’s a little rustic, a little refined. And those finely flecked colors play so well together—a natural choice for this striped wrap!

You can purchase the pattern on Churchmouse’s website.

Coast. (2 skeins each 159-Carbon, 195-Boulder; 1 skein each 191-Granite, 172 Ancient, 194 Delft, 190 Stone, 177 Clay, 197 Alabaster)

Churchmouse has put together great combinations or you can choose your own colours of Rowan Felted Tweed.

Zinnia. (2 skeins each 150-Rage, 222-Scarlet; 1 skein each 198-Zinnia, 200-Barbara, 199-Pink Bliss, 212-Peach, 221-Candy Floss, 803-Winter Blue).

Kelp. (2 skeins each 170-Seafarer, 158-Pine; 1 skein each 205-Lotus Leaf, 216-French Mustard, 220-Sulfer, 213-Lime, 204-Vaseline Green, 210-Aluminium).

Ocean. (2 skeins each 211-Black, 207-Bottle Green; 1 skein each 202-Turquoise, 178-Sea Salter, 167-Maritime, 215-Ciel, 209-Eden, 185-Frozen).

Moor. (2 skeins each 145-Treacle, 196-Barn Red; 1 skein each 153-Phantom, 186-Tawny, 172-Ancient, 175-Cinnamon, 157-Camel, 190-Stone).

Meadow. (2 skeins each 173-Duck Egg, 161-Avocado; 1 skein each 190-Stone, 184-Celadon, 197-Alabaster, 165-Scree, 177-Clay, 185-Frozen)

I started writing this while I was sitting at the table watching the end of the Race Walk. Oh my gosh. I can’t believe that Dunfee pulled out the bronze. He was back in 6th and it didn’t look good. I’m not sure how he pulled it out but it was amazing! 

A newsletter was supposed to go out this morning but that didn’t happen - Monday morning. 

It’s pizza Friday. We are getting better. Beth puts the pizza together in the kitchen and brings it out. Everyone is responsible for their pizza in the oven. Dad’s is above and mine below. I like mine a bit more done that he does. Or it could be that he was hungry and couldn’t wait any longer.

Beth is packed and flies out tomorrow at 8am. She will meet Jackson tomorrow afternoon. Do you think she’s excited???

50km

My Slumber Shawl is growing. I’ve faded in the second colour. I think there are about 14 more rows and then I start to fade in the third colour. The shawl has been perfect TV knitting.

While cleaning this morning I found 2 colours of Mrs. Crosby Train Case that I forgot to add to the website.  

Meet Spindrift and Bricks & Mortar. I took pictures outside and they are online.

This is the Cottage Grove Cowl from Blue Sky Fibers. I should have pictured it last week when I talked about Blue Sky Organic Worsted Cotton.

A fun use of the linen stitch combined with both Solid and Printed Organic Cotton (Worsted) makes this piece soft, colorful and seasonless.

Before leaving the store today I put together new colour combinations for Andrea Mowry’s Illuminate.

Photo © Andrea Mowry

There are great posts on Instagram showing Illuminate sweaters in the works as well as finished sweaters. This can give you some colour inspiration.

Every night I say I’m going to bed early and then I get sucked into the Olympics. Maybe tonight? While I’m writing I have the 50km Race Walk on. I hurt thinking about 50km. Imagine walking from Ancaster to Kitchener. Or Ancaster to past Oakville. 

We’ve had dinner, played a few rounds of dominoes, cleaned the kitchen and they are still Race Walking. There are 4km to go and our Canadian, Evan Dunfee, just dropped to 6th place. He was in medal contention until now. He finished 4th at the last Olympics. I’m sitting on pins and needles. 

Rowan

Now that August has arrived I can start sharing pictures from the fall Rowan. Fall Rowan will be available on September 1.

Here are the covers of the magazines that are coming. Over the next few weeks I will share pictures of the garments.

Magazine #70. Wow. I can still remember when magazine #1 came out. It was August 1987 - when I opened my store. Rowan was the first order I made.

The Olympics are on the TV as I’m writing. Earlier we watched the ladies 10km open water swim. They did it in 2 hours. It was amazing - we couldn’t stop watching. Now the men’s decathlon and ladies heptathlon are on. These athletes are amazing.

Fizz

Mary-Anne finished her Sherbet Fizz and it is stunning.

Thanks for mentioning this shawl on your blog recently!  I don’t really knit shawls but when I saw this pattern I knew I had the perfect yarn in my stash - SweetGeorgia Tough Love sock in raspberry - and the perfect person to give it to.  What a wonderful pattern this was, easy to follow, easy to knit, and produces this fantastic lace pattern with hardly any thought. Great Netflix knitting! Thought you might enjoy some photos.  

You can purchase the pattern on Ambah O’Brien’s website. 

Thank you for sharing Mary-Anne. You did a great job. I think you might want to change your mind about knitting shawls.

Sherbet Fizz is a summery confection of shawls that prove to be more-ish knitting, try to stop at just one.  

Choose between small and large in fingering weight or the DK weight version, and knit up a lightweight shawl that will be a delight to throw on for a touch of warmth on cooler days. Simple lace alternating with garter rows keeps it interesting and not too challenging — perfect for a first time lace knitter.

Sherbet Fizz is easily adjustable to make the most of your yardage. 

The pattern includes both charted and written instructions for the lace.

I knit a few rows today but … Dad and Lucy came for breakfast and to help with a few chores. I knit a bit and then napped this afternoon. Then steak dinner. After dinner I had to clean the kitchen and tidy because Terry is coming tomorrow to clean. Yup. We are those people who clean before the house is cleaned.

We will have three new colours of Cocoknits Tape Measures soon - my guess is 3 weeks.

Cocoknits tape measures are now available in Earth Tones: Linen, Clay, and Storm. The metal tape inside measures both inches and cm/mm (78 in / 2 m long), and has a metal tab on the end to keep it from retracting into the body of the tape measure.

Because Cocoknits is committed to avoiding plastic wherever possible, we manufactured it from PLA, a 100% biodegradable plant fiber. The absence of a locking mechanism keeps them 100% plastic-free and reduces the likelihood of breakage.

Each tape measure is packaged in a reusable linen drawstring bag to minimize packaging waste. 

Now some knitting. The Track & Field is on. 

Slumber

Here is my new project. This is the start of Stephen West’s Slumber Shawl.  

I’m using Roan and the colours will fade from left to right. I have two more repeats and then I join in the next colour. The pattern is easy to follow - all you need to know is knit, purl and yarn over. It is knit on 5mm needles so the rows are going quickly.

Photos © Stephen West

Choose four colors of worsted or aran weight yarn and fade them together for this simple top-down shawl. Textured stripes flow into a wavy border that is easy and quick to knit.

You can purchase the pattern on Stephen’s website. 

The rain came down this afternoon.

We had a river running through our backyard. Sunday dinner is steak on the barbecue. There was no barbecuing tonight. Once the construction is finished we won’t have to worry about the weather.

Now back to my knitting and the Olympics. I’m hoping that watching the athletes going fast will make me knit faster.