Orchid Thief by: Ysolda Teague

Edison Bulb Awesomeness!

Erika's Cute hat!

Nostalgic Mara Shawl- So warm!

Kristen's Pink Posy Mara!

Speaking of Mara Shawls, I finally finished mine!  Hurray!  It took a about a week to do that last little bit of ruffle where you knit in 2x2 rib for 3-4 inches.  It wouldn’t normally be so tough, but at that point you have about 900 stitches on the needles!  Whew!  What a workout for my little fingers! The bind off alone took me 2 hours!  I knit mine in Madelinetosh Merino Light in the Posy color and I just love what a beautiful shade of pink it is.  Normally this pattern calls for a DK weight, but I knit mine with a fingering weight on size 5 needles and just knit until it was the same dimensions as the pattern.  My shawl turned out the same size as the original, and it only took 2 hanks!  Plus, its super soft and squishy which I love!  Of course I haven’t blocked it yet in this picture, but it still looks nice I think!

CJ's Remix Hoody

In other WIP’s this week, Nicole just started the Knitting Pure and Simple Men’s Hooded Pullover (pattern #105).  She is knitting it in Berroco Remix which is made from 100% recycled fibers.  It’s such a cool and surprisingly soft yarn, not to mention good for the environment!  This will be a gift for her husband CJ who is currently deployed in Afghanistan.  We know she misses him a ton so hopefully she’ll be able to throw that energy into finishing this for him by the time he returns home!

Drumroll please....

And the winner is: Commenter #12 Julie who said: "I love all of Kristin Omdahl's crochet projects and I can't wait to check out her knit ones, too! I love to crochet and knit equally and trade off on most days also, so I know I will want to make many things out of her knitting book, as with her crochet books! Great job, Kristin!"

Congratulations!!! Julie, please contact Bethany at: giveaway@jimmybeanswool.com to redeem your signed copy of Kristin's book! (Winner was determined using a random number generator.)

Thanks to everyone who read Kristin's interview and left comments! I hope you all enjoy the book!

Alright...now onto this week's FO's. First up, I was so thrilled last Friday when Ailene came in

to work with this big giant treat! She had just finished casting off on her beautiful afghan that she has been working on for close to a year! It turned out just beautifully in the Seaside color of Lorna's Laces. This particular version is in a discontinued Lorna's yarn called Swirl Chunky but a similar effect can be achieved with Lorna's Shepherd Worsted. We are all so impressed by Ailene's perseverance! She put countless hours into this afghan but now she has a beautiful heirloom blanket to show for it! Nice work, Ailene!

Our next FO this week is Jeanne's lovely Autumn Leaves Beret. She finished it a few weeks ago

and I was just finally able to snag some photos of it! It's so lovely! This pattern is such a pretty one from Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting. I can hardly wait to do one myself; although, I must say that I also like the new Cloudy Day Beret just as much! I guess I'll just have to do both! :) Jeanne's beautiful version is knit in Isager Alpaca 2 , a yarn that she absolutely loved to knit with. Every time I see Jeanne wear this around the shop, I get a little green with envy! I just love it!

Finally, I have this lovely Waves of Leaves shawl (a freebie on Ravelry) that Victoria knit in the February color- Festival of Love. Victoria fell in love with this color immediately, as she said it

reminds her of tropical fruits. She used 2 skeins of the Lorna's Laces Honor yarn and it turned out beautifully. Leanne was kind enough to model it for us after Sandy helped block it. It's amazing how blocking transforms your piece! Victoria did such a wonderful job knitting up this lovely shawl! Seeing all of the different shawls that everyone around here is knitting these days is so inspiring! I work with such an amazing group of knitters!

Sharon is just about to finish a Springtime Bandit Shawl in the

Berroco Remix yarn. It is knitting up so neat in this yarn! The Remix is Berroco's recycled yarn that came out last year and is

surprisingly soft when knit up. Sharon is using just two skeins of

the Remix to complete this project and it is really turning out great!

She's also been working on this lovely Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West for her mom in a new shade of Tosh Merino Light. I think this color is called "Nebula." She is knitting the optional

As Leanne mentioned in her post earlier this week, we just got a bunch of Stephen West's patterns and books in at the shop and we are all just thrilled! I immediately snapped up the "Herbivore" and "Clockwork" shawl patterns and Sharon nearly fell out of her chair when she heard his books- WestKnits 1 & 2 were finally in! I think out of all of us, she was the most excited!

Finally, I am just 10 or 12 rows away from being finished with my Mara Shawl in Tosh Merino Light "Posy." Although I am thoroughly excited by all of the new patterns in the shop at the moment, I am going to try and restrain myself from starting yet another new project, once I'm finished with my Mara Shawl. I have so many to finish and I'd like to do that before taking on anymore! I'm sure many of you know how that goes. :P