Buy Your Own Knitted Mushroom!

In the spirit of the holidays, I have decided to make a limited number of knitted mushrooms available for purchase in my Etsy shop, beginning with this Jack O' Lantern fungus!  Each of these little guys is 2" tall with a 3" diameter cap, knitted with love from 100% wool yarn.  Now you can have your own little piece from the Decomposition series/52 Forms of Fungi to add to your art collection!  These also make great accent pieces for terrariums or indoor plants! (I know from experience)  

Have you thought about giving the gift of handmade art for Christmas?  Check out the listing here.

I will be making additional shop updates in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!  Sorry it's been so quiet around here - we've been in the process of moving to our new house, but I will be back in the swing of things soon.  Happy Holidays!!  Thanks for your support.

Foggy Morning

It's a foggy morning over here today.  These are some images from the front part of my back yard.   We are moved in, and finally finished cleaning up at the old place for the end of our lease.  Most of our stuff is in the garage, but we're gradually starting to unpack and figure out where things will go.  Since the weather was so nice this weekend, we (Emma included) were able to enjoy the yard a little bit and get the bird feeders filled up to watch for little winged visitors.  With all the huge pecan trees in our area, there are a ton of wild birds hanging around.  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  I will have a small announcement at the end of this week...

Lichen

I can't help but be blown away when observing the different types of lichen I see on our hiking excursions.  Such intriguing organisms!  My friend Sarah Hearn makes some incredible artwork focusing on lichen.  Check it out!

Autumn Fungi in the Wichitas

Off the Needles || Color Craving

Top - Athleta, Skirt - thrifted, Tights - Target, Shoes - Minnetonka, Shawl - Color Craving by Stephen West knitted with Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine

Since Momentum Tulsa ended, I've been trying to knock out all of my pending projects so I can start anew once we move.  There are a couple I've started on that haven't even been shared in an On My Needles post.  Soon!

Despite falling about a month behind, I continued with Color Craving using the mystery KAL instructions (although if you're interesting in knitting this pattern it is now released in its entirety on Ravelry.  Color Craving was designed by the talented Stephen West, and this is the second shawl of his that I've made (the first was Daybreak).  

I'm not sure if I got too hasty in trying to finish this up or if I got distracted by the sob-fest that was my Parenthood Season 4 marathon on Netflix a few weeks back... but my stitch count was waaayyyyyy off on clues 2, 3 and 4.  Because of my determination to get this dang thing finished, I decided that fewer repeats would not change the appearance of the piece that much beyond the size so I just winged it and did as many as I could before running out of stitches on the short rows.  I think it turned out fine and I'm happy with the size, so no harm done.  Isn't it nice when accidental modifications work out?

Being the Ultra Alpaca fan that I am, I used some jewel tones in the Fine gauge, and man is this shawl ever cozy.  The breeze was a little crisp when I was taking the photos, but my arms were nice and warm underneath the shawl.  The large end is wide enough that it makes a really great hood/head wrap (as you can see below... too far?)

On My Needles || Cardoon

Don't you love those flecks of color?  This yarn is quickly becoming a new favorite.  I've partnered with Love Knitting again to try out more of their eco-friendly products, and this time it's a recycled yarn by Rowan, called Purelife Revive.  It's made with recycled cotton, viscose and silk fibers, and has the feel of a plant fiber yarn that has me thinking it will just get softer with wear.  I love the statement on the label, "Recycling is becoming increasingly important in a world coming to terms with the challenges of environmental, economic and climate change.  Rowan Purelife Revive is made from used garments which have been selected according to the silk, cotton and viscose content.  These are then carded to make regenerated fibre, which is then spun into this beautiful, high quality yarn, which gives life to new hand knitting designs." The colorways are named for different geologic formations, and the one I chose is called Pumice.  I love the Pink Granite colorway as well - it really does look just like granite, with the various shades embedded into it.  Very fitting for the theme of the yarn as well to name them after a unique set of natural formations.

Love Knitting sent me a copy of the coinciding pattern book, the Purelife Recycled Collection.  The first garment I'm making from this lovely array of organic, down to earth pieces is Cardoon, a one button cardigan with rib texturing.  It's knitting up pretty quickly, so I hope to share the finished product with you in just a few weeks!  This would be a great pattern to make for a Christmas gift - since it goes fast and the cardigan is not too particularly fitted - no wonky shapes here to deal with.  It looks like both the yarn and the book are on sale on their web site right now, too!  More on this piece soon!

Check out my previous review for Love Knitting, their Eucalan No-Rinse Wool Wash

Autumn in the Wichitas

Greenbriar fruits..

There was so much color contrast in the plant life right now.

Found some Caddo maple regenerating from the fire!

Wild poke weed!