Big Sky Yarns & Crafts

Happy Easter and 9th Birthday, Kate!

Can you believe Easter is right around the corner? I can't believe it either. My sweet mom gave me a gift of this lovely Maya yarn Berroco, one of their new spring yarns that is an incredibly soft chainette yarn composed of 85% cotton, 15% alpaca:

I thought I would get my needles caught often in it but, happy surprise, I only got my needles caught a couple of times and definitely no more than any other multi-ply yarn. The chainette construction keeps the cotton lightweight and it is yet another heavenly soft yarn from Berroco. 

Quirk is the charming scarf I made with only 3 hanks of Maya:

It is from Norah Gaughan Vol 12:

Quirk is a wonderful gift for yourself or someone you love for only $25-ish. The scarf starts at the center point and the center triangle is worked before splitting off to work each "wing" separately. The below pic is the bottom center triangle and I had just started the right wing while the left wing is waiting on an extra circular needle.

At the beginning of the instructions it says, “Beg chart C, working 4-st rep across to last 12 sts,” I think it should be “last 14 sts” then last 13, 12 and 11 stitches remaining for the next 3 rows before repeating the decreases again with 14 stitches remaining.

I worked nearly exclusively from the charts. The only other thing different was in Chart B. I decided I wanted the yarn overs near the ends of Rows 72 and 74 to be in the same diagonal line as the rest of the decreases in Chart B and to match Chart D. So, this is what I did (changes in bold):

Row 70: K6, (yo, k1) twice, (yo, sl2-k1-p2sso, yo) 9 times, k3tog, turn.

Row 71: Purl.

Row 72: K6, (yo, k1) twice, (yo, sl2-k1-p2sso, yo) 9 times, k1, (yo, k2tog) twice, turn.

My scarf weighs 4.9 oz or 384 yards. I just heart, heart, heart the finished scarf and can't wait to wear it for Easter:

And the close up:

Other important household news, Kate is now 9:

What are those chocolate discs, you say? Why, they are See's peppermint patties of course!

To think my youngest is 9 YEARS old, I truly cannot believe. 

The kids have a mini spring break this week with Thursday through Monday off, so what should you do with this extra time? Have a Humans vs. Zombies war with Nerf Blasters of course:

I wish I would have recorded how many hours Wade and Kate spent outside in our perfect weather. Hope you have a lovely Easter with tons of knitting time. Knit on!

Quince & Co: Stone's Throw

I am so thrilled to finally introduce to you my new scarf design with Quince & Co., Stone's Throw:

It's pattern is simple to memorize and the scarf is framed with ribbing at both ends. I couldn't stop knitting, so the final meausurements turned out to be 80" long by 7" (at widest point), though you don't have to get carried away if you don't want to...

Lark is a delightfully sproingy 100% American wool yarn and Pam and her crew sent me Gingerbread:

This is the perfect multi-purpose wool: 4.5-5 stitches per inch and 134 yards per hank in a fabulous color wheel of possibilities. Five skeins are required for my scarf as shown.

It is a part of a new collection, Scarves, etc. 2013. The lookbook is unbelievably stunning and is available to peruse here. The entire collection is only $25 for all 17 designs, available here, or each pattern can be purchased separately as well.

Q is even running a special now that if you buy the collection and at least 3 hanks of yarn, receive a free Q tote! The hardest part will be figuring out which yarn you can't live without.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

Arcuate by Danielle Chalson:

a wonderful cabled cowl

and Iszara by Melanie Berg:

A semi-circular garter stitch shawl with surprising pops of yellow.

Knit on!