Somebody's getting married...

I have a friend getting married this spring, and have been wracking my brain about what to knit her. First, I bought some lovely champagne colored cashmere to match the accents on her dress. It was a lovely Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere 2 ply, and I was working it in a scallop pattern to go with the Alecon lace on her dress. With months to go, I just knit the first 12 inches to make sure I would like it, and I have to admit, it was gorgeous. But alas, my friend was having problems with the tailoring of the dress and ended up choosing a different dress. It has no champagne accents. Back to square one! But this evening, I did find this beautiful lace garter, and it won't matter if it matches her dress or not. On the other hand, I'd have to find out the size of her thigh! Good thing there are a few months to go...

The "Hubby Hat"

So my husband loves to complain about how I have never knit him a hat. There is some merit to this claim, although it is not entirely true. About four years ago I did make him a hat that was slightly ill fitting, although he still wore it for years. For Christmas three years ago I picked out a beautiful Classic Elite worsted weight cashmere to make him a fabulous hat. Unfortunately, this version was also ill fitting, and so began a process of knitting and ripping out of said hat until I finally set it aside for good. Truth be told, my husband has a large and squarish head that is difficult to knit for, although it does contribute to his dashing good looks! So this fall, after making two bulky weight hats for myself, I decided to take another shot at knitting a hat for my him. Above is the fruit of this labor, which I only had to rip out once to prefect. I will share the pattern below for any of those souls knitting hats for men with large heads. It can also be sized down to suit smaller heads.

Hubby Hat
Yarn: Blue Sky Bulky - 1 skein for hat, add a second skein for contrast trim
Needles: 17' circular needles, and 17' double pointed needles (I work the whole hat on a short set of circulars, although it does get a bit tricky towards the top)

Cast on: 38 sts (use 2nd color to make contrast trim)
RND 1-4: k1, p1 rib to end
RND 5-8: Knit
RND 9: k12, s2kp, k16, s2kp, k 4 (34 sts)
RND 10: Knit
RND 11: k3, s2kp, k114, s2kp, k11 (30 sts)
RND 12: Knit
RND 13: k9, s2kp, k12, s2kp, k3 (26sts)
RND 14: Knit
RND 15: k2, s2kp, k10, s2kp, k8 (22 sts)
RND 16: Knit
RND 17: k6, s2kp, k8, s2kp, k2 (18 sts)
RND 18: Knit

Cut the yarn, leaving a long enough tail to thread through the remaining sts. Pull the tail tight after threading through sts to close the hole. Weave in all lose ends.

Current Projects

Pictured here are the two larger projects I am working on, although there are a number of other small ones mixed in which I will share photos of soon. The Innisfree baby cardigan is a "Classic Polly Straker" design. I am making it in the 24 month size using Dalegarn Falk in sportweight. Pictured here is the back, up to just past the first decreases.

The other picture is of the Aloha Beach Bag I am working on. It's my own design, using the climbing trellis pattern I found on purl bee with a wide band at the top. I am knitting it in one piece and will fold it in half and seam it up the sides. I am planning on making two handles the same width as the band on the top. I also bought some beautiful bright fabric at patch that I will use to line it when it's done. I plan on taking it to Hawaii over the holidays to use as my beach bag. The yarn is Louet Euroflax in sportweight.

Fiber Farm CSA

Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm is the first CSA of its kind, catering specifically to fibers and yarn. A CSA is a community-supported farm, which means people buy a share in the harvest for each year. In this case, you buy a share of the Spring 2008 harvest of wool, which they spin and send out to all their shareholders. You are also invited to the Spring Shearing day where you can watch the sheep being shorn. The cost of one share is $100, and you receive yarn from their flock of Angora goats, and Cormo and Cotswald sheep. You can view their yarn by linking through their homepage to their Etsy shop. It a great way to support small family farms and add fab yarns to your stash at the same time! Visit their site: http://marthasvineyardfiberfarm.com/

My First Blog!

Welcome to the Two Birds Handknits blog. Who, might you ask, are the Two Birds? My mother JoAnn and I are the two birds in question, pictured at left at my brothers wedding last year. My mother has been knitting her whole life, and I have been lucky enough to have her as my personal knitting instructor. It's a passion for both of us, but now we are starting get serious about it. We've finally gotten my mother to take her show on the road, and plan to enter the local art festival in August. This blog is our first step in making our passion more of a lifestyle.