Saturday, July 18, 2009

Necking for two hours.

Took a little break from my Spud and Chloe Camp Hoodie to indulge in some Tanglewood Fiber Creations yarn. Sorry, but when Trish is here and all her lovely cashmere is laying around, you just can't resist.

I was frugal in a way though...for the first project, I frogged a dropstitch scarf from back in January, and made Trish's Neck Candy pattern (actually written by her friend Shelli from Knitterly). This pattern is genius. Looks like feather-and-fan but even easier. On 10.5 needles using the cashmere/silk in a DK-to-worsted handspun weight, it looks like this (here, it's partially buttoned, but you can button it all the way for a slouchy cowl):


In Trish's laceweight on 15 needles, the same pattern looks like this:

Gina calls it her "Shoulder Candy" and you can't really see it with the backlighting, but her yarn is loaded with tiny beads. Sooooo pretty. The pattern is free with any Tanglewood purchase.

It only took me an hour and half to whip up the Neck Candy (plus a few extra minutes to sew on the dyed abalone buttons). And then I couldn't stop...I decided to make up a cowl with the giant fluffy handspun cashmere that Trish calls "Snow":

This only took me half an hour, start to finish. You should feel it - it's on display in the store - it's the ultimate wubbie.

Two "neck" projects done in two hours total. Talk about Instant Knitting! For the Snow Cowl, I cast on 48 stitches using a #15, 16-inch circular, joined in the round and did *K4, P4* until I ran out and bound off. I cut it a little close (trying to use up every millimeter of the Precious yarn) and we all held our breath as I bound off the last few stitches. This nice customer suggested I K2tog on the last stitch - and it barely made it! Barely!

BTW this customer recently moved here, works for the FBI and has lived all over the country. Can't tell you her name or she'd have to shoot me. She came in at 3pm on a Friday because it had "been such a week, I needed a break" - then she was headed back to the office to Fight Crime and Save the World. We had so much fun and she said no other yarn shop in the U.S. compares to Loops. So it was a "feel good Friday" all around - fun, compliments, cashmere. What could be better?

- Shelley
shop online at loopsknitting.com

3 Comments:

Blogger Tanglewood Fiber Creations said...

So wonderfull Shelly I can't wait to knit up that cowl thanks again for the lovely weekend!

July 21, 2009 at 11:58 AM  
Blogger Vicky said...

I so want to make this but can't find the yarn on the website. Please help!! I wish you had a search option.

"Gina calls it her "Shoulder Candy" and you can't really see it with the backlighting, but her yarn is loaded with tiny beads. Sooooo pretty. The pattern is free with any Tanglewood purchase."

July 29, 2009 at 7:05 PM  
Blogger Shelley Brander said...

Hi Vicky,

Yes, we want a search option too - it's on our wish list for our web developers. But the reason you can't find this yarn is because it's not available online. The challenge is that Trish prices each skein individually, by the ounce, so every skein is completely unique. And in fact, right now we are completely out of the beaded yarn...but we can special order one to be made just for you, to your specifications! Just call the store toll-free at 1-877LOOPSOK and we'll help you out. Thanks!

July 31, 2009 at 6:38 AM  

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