My Dale pattern book arrived promptly from the US not Canada as I previously thought. The proper title is Dale of Norway Commemorative Collection: New Designs for Men and Women, NR 8501.

Some of the photos are a bit blurry and grainy but I did notice one interesting thing. The photographs from most Dale patterns I've seen look machine knit as in this sleeve detail from the Lake Louise pattern.



Check this out - this detail from the Le Massif sleeve almost looks hand knit, doesn't it? Or perhaps that is what Falk looks like machine knit? All the patterns are in either Heilo or Falk.



As I predicted, DH has requested I make him the Whistler sweater. I prefer the Le Massif pattern so I am at least going to make the Le Massif hat for him as my next project. Here's the Whistler in one colorway - it is all about the maple leaves.



In this colorway of Whistler you can't really tell that it is knit in both navy and black. I am admiring the fancy Dale zipper but haven't yet checked out how much that will cost. When I knit the Dale Sirdal cardigan the beautiful traditional Dale braiding and buttons cost more than the yarn I used.



I'm planning to knit this sweater for December although I will probably have many modifications. DH insists on ribbing so I'll add that at the cuffs and I'm also going to use the maple leaf motif there as well.

I think I'm going to knit this in Peruvian Highland Sport to cut down on the warmth - I've used sport weight before as an alternative to Heilo (DK weight) and I can usually get away with it by going up a needle size. I'd prefer knitting with Heilo but unfortunately he'll never wear it if I make it too heavy. I knit him the Dale SLC Olympic sweater in Heilo and so far he's only worn it once. sigh

The main color will probably be Tapestry Blue. I'm also going to add a few more colors than the original four to the cuffs, shoulders, and collar . I was thinking about adding a lice stitch to the boring plain stockinette portion of the sweater but unfortunately I don't think DH would like the effect.

This week it's Halloween at SockPixie


This week it's Halloween at SockPixie . I have created a whole collection inspired by famous characters.
Here is the colorway Halloween. Enjoy!

Winter Stars Christmas Stocking



Here are the Winter Stars Christmas Stockings (on Lulu and on Ravelry). There are two color combinations and each use 5 colors of Cascade 220.




Next I think I'm going to do something with alpaca. I just love the rich, saturated colors of Elann's alpaca.
I have two FOs to show you tomorrow.

We recently made it to the Santa Fe Farmer's Market. USA Today named it one of the top ten farmer's markets in the country and that was long before they constructed the special building seen below. It really is huge with the inside area and outside stalls all along the railroad tracks. There were even people to direct traffic. There are lots of samples to try - my favorite was some raspberry jam with ginger and red chile. I regret not buying a loaf of pumpkin pinon bread - that sounded really good.



The star of the market this time of year is the green chiles recently harvested from down south in Hatch. The price for a bushel of roasted chiles has gone up almost 50% from last year but that isn't stopping anyone. They throw a burlap bag of chiles in the roaster and then give them back to you all warm in a plastic bag. The aroma of chiles roasting is wonderful.




It isn't all food - there are some crafts and garden booths as well.



Here's a booth with handpainted yarns and hand knit shawls. I didn't buy anything as I was planning on walking around the rest of the day in the hot sun.



William Morris


This week's SockPixie colorways are inspired by William Morris. I am so fond of his deep saturated colors.
I hope you enjoy them.
IMPORTANT PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!

If you are a fan of Norwegian sweaters, run don't walk over HERE to check out the latest booklet, the Dale of Norway 2008 Commemorative Collection. It has the Canadian Whistler sweater I've long coveted with a gorgeous maple leaf design along with patterns for four other wonderful sweaters and matching hats for $13. I'm going to show the booklet to DH and offer to either make him the Whistler, Notre Dame, or Le Massif sweater. Even the Lake Louise sweater has this really cute small maple leaf trim. Maybe I'll add that to the sweater he chooses.

I'm completely thrilled Dale is finally returning to colorwork designs after a long drought!

ETA: The shipping for the booklet to the US (I think the retailer is in Canada) is $8. I've paid $10 to $12 for a single Dale ski sweater pattern though. I did look to see if any US retailers sold the booklet but couldn't find any.

Recommended Wool Yarns for Stranded Color Knitting

Here is the yarn list for stranded color knitting I've been working on so far. I limited this to yarns fingering to worsted weight, non-superwash wool, plied and smooth textured, that come in a wide variety of colors. Each one is linked to the Ravelry yarn page and you can usually find vendors there. Because there was some confusion about which yarns are DK and which are sport weight I lumped them all together in the same category.It will probably be a month or so before I start on the list of all yarns good for colorwork that don't fit the original list. Thanks to everyone who helped me with the list!

FINGERING WEIGHT
Brown Sheep Nature Spun Fingering Weight
Rauma Finullgarn
Knitpicks’ Palette
Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift
Jamieson & Smith 2-ply Jumper Weight Wool
Vuorelma Satakieli
Jaggerspun Digit Yarn
Koigu Premium Merino Yarn
Harrisville New England Shetland
Bella Vita Farm’s Naturally Dyed Fingering Weight
Sunday Knits Eden
Kauni Evilla Solids
Rauma Lamullgarn
Blackberry Ridge 100% Wool Fingering Weight
Elemental Affects Natural Shetland Fingering
JaggerSpun Maine Line 2/8
Klippan Tuna
Wensleydale Longwool 4 Ply
Black Water Abbey 2 Ply Fingering
Taiga Yarns L’Attitude
Taiga Yarns Nostalgia

SPORT AND DK WEIGHT
Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport Weight
Elann’s Peruvian Highland Sport
Knitpicks Telemark Yarn
Reynolds Whiskey
Dale of Norway Heilo
Knitpicks Merino Style
Jamieson’s Shetland DK
SandnesGarn Peer Gynt
Rauma Strikkegarn
Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool
Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport
Quebecoise
SandnesGarn Tove
Virtual Yarns 2-Ply
Virtual Yarns Scottish Fleet
Hifa 2 Ullgarn
Rauma Istra
Ashford Tekapo
Classic Elite Classic One Fifty
Reynolds Soft Sea Wool
Blackberry Ridge 100% Wool Sport Weight
Wensleydale Longwool DK

WORSTED WEIGHT
Cascade 220
Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted Weight
Elann’s Peruvian Highland Wool
Knitpicks’ Wool of the Andes
Jamieson’s Shetland Heathered Aran (formerly Soft Shetland)
Ram Wools Selkirk
Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted
Ella Rae Classic Worsted
Paton’s Classic Wool
Briggs & Little Heritage 2 Ply
Reynolds Candide
Universal Deluxe Worsted Solid
Plymouth Galway Worsted
Harrisville New England Highland
Classic Elite Renaissance
Shepherd Yarn’s Shepherd Classic
Rauma Vamsegarn
Lion Brand Wool Solids
Virtual Yarns 3-Ply
Hifa 3 Ullgarn
Briggs & Little Regal
Frog Tree Merino Melange Worsted
Reynolds Soft Sea Worsted
Cottage Craft 2 Ply Wool
Blackberry Ridge 100% Wool Medium Weight
Elemental Affects Natural Shetland Worsted
Philosopher’s Wool 2-Ply
Wensleydale Longwool Aran

I really love this picture of Jack. I have to hold him when we go outside because otherwise he's off chasing lizards. He once saw one in a tree which was probably the most exciting thing that has happened in his whole life.

Autumn


This week's new SockPixie colorways are all inspired by the lovely colors of fall.
Above is Indian Corn shown in a luscious Bamboo Merino blend...
Enjoy!
I just sent another $150 to the Colorado House Rabbit Society bringing the grand total for 2008 to $592.78. I will bring the total donation to over $1000 when I get my last quarterly check. Our Albuquerque volunteers are unfortunately not able to rescue all the bunnies from the city shelter, especially rabbits who need significant veterinary care, so I am hoping soon I can start donating to the local volunteers as well for their vet expenses. I'm also adding photos of the city shelter bunnies to the Four Corners Bunnies web site.

Here is my purple Spontaneous Scarf which is just basically seed stitch knit lengthwise with a different yarn each row. I mainly used yarns that were sport weight and to keep the scarf straight I used a really loose cast on and bind off. (As you can see, DH is busy splitting wood for our heat this winter.)



The scarf used 11 different yarns - a mixture of wool, alpaca, soy silk, bamboo, cotton, and silk.



Bubbles seems annoyed that there was no angora yarn used in the scarf.



Apparently she's found a way to add some bunny fur to the fiber mixture of the scarf.

Biodynamic Hat

Here's my latest hat pattern - it features a braided edge and uses three colors. (It is HERE on Ravelry and HERE at the Lulu store.) Below is the women's size in Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport weight - Snow, Evergreen, and Butterfly Blue which is my favorite yarn color of all time.



This is the men's extra-large version for DH knit in organic Vermont O-Wool Classic in Cornflower, Saffron, and Sky.



The hat has a very easy four point top.