I recently finished a simple little cowl pattern that is available exclusively at KnitWit yarn shop in Portland, Maine and is free with yarn purchase. It uses just one skein of Frog Tree’s Chunky Alpaca yarn—a very soft and cozy yarn. If you have ever knit with Cascade’s Baby Chunky Alpaca it’s very similar. And I LOVE this green color. It’s kind of been my color of choice this winter—my Solstice Cardigan is also knit up in a similar color. Must be all this winter gray outside—makes me want to wear as bright a green as possible!

So if you live in the area and like this pattern just stop on in to KnitWit.

Even though it has been a pretty warm winter (at least by Maine standards), you still can’t leave the house without some kind of warmth around your neck. One accessory I’ve been wearing a lot this season is a cowl my mom knit for me. It’s a pattern from Vogue Knitting’s Holiday 2009 issue–#11 Eyelet Cowl by Cathy Carron.  I read on Ravelry it’s also available in the book “Cowlgirls”. She used Plymouth Yarn’s Baby Alapaca Grande–it’s so soft and cozy!

Speaking of cowls, I just finished a pattern for one that will be available exclusively at KnitWit yarn shop in Portland (free with yarn purchase)…pictures to come soon!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season! So 2012 has arrived…anyone set any knitting-related goals? This year I would like to finish more projects. Not just of my own designs, but of other designer’s patterns. I’ve started The Solstice Cardigan by Cecily Glowick MacDonald and Bailey by Jane Richmond (I’m almost done with this one already!) In previous years, because I was juggling knitting design with my 50+ hour a week office job I just couldn’t do both–it was either work on designing my own patterns or knit from other patterns. There just wasn’t enough hours in the day for it all. But my life is a little different now (in a good way!). This week I start a part-time job at the wonderful yarn shop KnitWit in Portland (I am beyond thrilled about this!). I’m also still doing marketing work, but on my own–working one-on-one with some small businesses and helping them with different marketing projects.

So 2012 is full of lots new changes and I’m excited to be on this new path.  I hope everyone out there is also looking forward to what 2012 will bring!

Okay, let me preface this with saying I never thought I would be knitting my dog a sweater. Not that I had anything against it, I just never thought it was my style. But then, I met Alice:

Alice is our new puppy. Our dog Arlo really needed a friend so we decided that while he’s still pretty young himself that we would get a puppy now (anyone get the Arlo/Alice reference? If you are an Arlo Guthrie fan then you probably do!)

She is so darn cute. So when I noticed she was shivering a little while being outside, how could I, as a knitter, let that happen? Haha…so I quickly knit her up a little wool vest with scrap yarn. It’s kind of a puppy-version of my Little Coffee Bean sweater, using the same colors and stripes.

I’ve typed up the pattern instructions and you can find it here (for free). And because she’s so cute, here are some more photos:

As you can tell by reading this post, The Brown Stitch now has a new site! Over the last couple of weeks I transformed my site from its blog-style format to one that looks more like a website.

It was a lot of fun putting together and I hope everyone enjoys checking it out! Click on my logo at the top to get to the hompage, or you can just click here.

With the temperature hitting 60 today in Maine it’s hard to believe it’s almost December. I actually just got back from getting studded tires put on my car (a necessity when you live in my neck of the woods), so despite the strange temperature I’m still preparing for the start of a Maine winter. 
Another way to get prepared for winter? Super bulky wool! My favorite is Quince and Co’s Puffin which is the yarn I used in my Abbi Shawl Collar Cardigan pattern. Recently I noticed some beautiful projects on Ravelry knit up from my pattern that I wanted to share with everyone. 
Check out their beautiful work!
 
Anne’s project:

Melissa’s project (and here’s a link to her blog):

 Becky’s project (click here to check out the blog she writes for her LYS):