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.

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!

What I liked most about it was the interesting stitch pattern and the perfect amount of “slouch” it has. Here are some pictures of the final product…and I couldn’t help but throw in one with my puppy. She desperately wanted to be in the photo shoot.

Cool stitch pattern

This pix shows the great slouch

Oh Alice...

I got to open up one of the boxes too—it was just like Christmas.

Let’s see, there was some Berroco Vintage Worsted, including some new multicolored shades. And a bunch of beautiful skeins of String Theory Caper Sock yarn, and some ultra soft Frog Tree Alpaca Chunky. I think that might be my favorite…but I’m always a sucker for alpaca.

Because I couldn’t resist taking some photos, below are some shots of the goods:

Want to know more? Here are some basics:

How do I get an account?

Right now the site is invite-only (kind of like how Ravelry was when it first started). But there are two ways to get an invite. You can either submit a request through the site or get an invite from someone who already has an account. So if you want one just send me an email and I’ll send you an invite!

So how exactly does it work?

When you are signed into your account on pinterest you can browse through the different categories and if you see any photos you like you can “re-pin” them to your own pinboard. And you can create different pinboard categories to keep everything organized. Here is a screen shot of my account (I just started so it’s a little minimal at the moment!)

Also, you can install a “Pin It” button on your browser’s bookmark bar so you can pin anything that you see on the web. And it grabs the source link so the original creator can be credited. The Pinterest site provides directions on how to do this.

Want to follow me on Pinterest? Just click below!

I’ve never had any of my patterns featured in a magazine before so I was really flattered to have one in the “Steal their Style” feature. Pretty cool!

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!

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:

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.

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):