When Cindy, of Gauge Wars, called for testers for her pretty heart cowl, I jumped at the chance.
I thought of my Grammy, grabbed some periwinkle shi bui and took the puppy for a test drive.



The cast on for this is about twice the number needed for my average sock. Yet, I KEPT being surprised by how many stitches were in a round. It became somewhat comical.

This charming cowl went off to Grammy for Christmas and she loved the hearts and the color. and I love her.

Ps. Check out what others have finished at:
Tami’s Amis

Wisdom begins in Wonder

Natural Suburbia

Step 1. Obtain pattern.
Step 2. Knit first sock to the toes.
Step 3. Realize you did the wrong decreases on one side of the sock and they don’t match.

Step 4. Drop stitches to see if you can pick them up.

Step 5. Decide that you don’t care if you can pick up the stitches, it won’t look as good as if you reknit AND this pattern is so much fun to knit, you just rip back to the heel.
Step 6. Realize you never rip that easily. The movie you’re watching must be THAT good. Also realize that if you’re going to reknit the foot, you’re going to have to stop just watching the movie and actually knit.
Step 7. Knit foot. Decrease for toes. Graft. Voilà!

No, this is not an old photo. It was taken 1/7/2014 - I haven't taken my tree down. I don't know when I will. It's pretty.

To see what others are working on, check out:
Tami’s Amis
Small Things
Frontier Dreams

Awhile back I stumbled across Voie de Vie online. Mostly, I’m a knitter, but I like to dip my toes in the waters of crochet when I find something I really fancy. Denise has more than one design that captured my attention and she just released a new collection called Romantique.

This lovely collection includes the Forged Joy Shawl


and the Moody Bleu Pullover as well as 6 other pieces.


If blankets are more your thing, you must check out her La Peinture blanket. Her use of color is stunning.

I think this will be the one I try first; I can already picture one of the kiddos in my life dreaming peacefully under it.

*photos used with permission of Voie de Vie