Gah! These hats were so fast and fun to make!  I admit that I want to live in the world of Purl Bee and their creative goodness, so it’s no surprise that once I started knitting I would tackle some of their lovely projects.

I picked out a few colors of Malabrigo from Eat Sleep Knit: Polar Morn (blueish grey), Molly (coral pink), and Hollyhock (magenta purple).  It’s so soft and chunky.

My girls absolutely love them.  I popped into their room at night and slipped them on their heads. Sneaky knit hat fairy style. Bam!

I even made myself learn the Magic Loop Method for the crowns.  Well, I didn’t actually make myself learn it, I was forced.  We have a pretty poor selection of knitting needle sizes locally, so I couldn’t find any DPN’s in that size, just a longer circular.  It worked and that’s that!

Luckily I was in Madison with Jeni on our way to Camp Stitchalot last weekend and I convinced her to go with me to get a set of interchangable needles.  I bet I’ll be having some fun with them!

Camp was so fun by the way, hopefully I’ll blog about it in my next post!

Thanks for stopping by for the Journey book tour!  You have no idea how excited I am to be participating!  I started knitting in January and I just love the new possibilities it holds for me.  I am so content looking at all the lovely patterns and I love being totally clueless about how it all goes together.

I’m hoping that you’ve heard of Shannon (luvinthmommyhood/very shannon) and Jane’s (Jane Richmond) newest collaboration: Journey.  What a book!  Just like their previous book ISLAND, this one is just as gorgeous.  I’m definitely leaving it on my coffee table for regular daily viewing.  I feel really really lucky to have been given a copy.  I think Shannon and Jane really bring the best out in each other, so lucky to have a great working relationship as well as being friends!

Now, I don’t know much about knitting, but I’m learning something new all the time.  I just keep trying things out and hoping for the best.  I think the instructions are very easy to follow and with the clean layout everything just seems to fall into place.  The gorgeous pictures by Nicholas Kupiak grace the pages of the beginning of the book and the instructions are at the back.  I love having it this way.  You can drool over all the inspiring pictures at the front of the book and when you’re ready, just jump right into the instructions in the back.  No fuss.

If I felt like I could a) pick a yarn color or b) have enough guts to try the Antrorse sweater by Shannon I would have.  So since I chickened out, I cast on the Spate mitts by Jane.  I’m really excited about how they’re looking already with just a few rows in with Quince & Co. in Honey.  Such an interesting color, seems like it changes so much in the light!

And to give you a little more of a tease here’s a little collage of some of the other projects you’ll find:

You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Jane and Shannon have generously donated an ebook copy of Journey for one lucky reader!

Ready to enter the e-book giveaway?

• Just leave me a comment! Please leave your email address in your comment. You can leave it in a format like this if you wish: anna [at] gmail [dot] com, it’s up to you though, if you have your email listed in your blogger profile, that works too!. 
• One winner will be chosen.
• Open to anyone, anywhere with an email address.
• Giveaway ends Wednesday, December 11th

Can’t wait to see  if you’ve won?! Feel free to zip on over to the Marian Rae website (Jane & Shannon’s publishing company) or Ravelry to buy a print copy or ebook version of Journey. The individual pdf patterns are also available for sale on Ravelry.

Thanks Shannon and Jane for having me!  I’m so excited to get further along on my mitts and pick out yarn for my Antrorse!

Check out the other stops on the tour!

DEC. 2ND – SINGLEHANDED KNITS & CELTIC CAST ON
DEC. 3RD – TRULY MYRTLE & THE YARNIAD
DEC. 4TH – TANIS FIBER ARTS
DEC. 5TH – HEY PORK CHOP & NOODLEHEAD & SKIRT AS TOP
DEC. 6TH – IN COLOR ORDER & MISO CRAFTY KNITS

I love this cowl.  It was such a long process, but I really love that.  I can see why it would be fun to make a Farmer’s Wife quilt or a sampler quilt now.  Just dedicate a few minutes each day to a project and after several weeks or months you’ll have something you truly cherish.  I cast on this cowl in the beginning of September.  I had the yarn (Madelinetosh in Thunderstorm) all set to go for a while, but really just got the motivation to start up on it.

It’s the long version of the Honey Cowl, and I modified the edging just like Angela (she’s one of my knitting idols, yes, I have more than one, and yes, it’s okay).  I would only do maybe 3 rows a night while sitting on the couch or next to the kids in the bathtub.  Things get a little obnoxious when you knit and the kids are in the tub, they do all sorts of ‘creative’ non-sense in there.  I love that it’s squishy and soft and I can wear it as much as I want.  Somehow having a cowl on makes you: 1. warmer and 2. sophisticated looking without all the work.  Yep, that’ll work.

Next up I’m making another hat, can’t have enough hats in Wisconsin in winter!  No way.  Thanks for putting up with my knitting posts!  I really enjoy doing it and it really feels so different than sewing – in a good way!