Ok, so she’s not wearing any shoes. But she does have a Sixpence Shawlette wrapped around her shoulders. This project was so much fun. The lovely bride was knitting up some Kataras for her bridesmaids and I told her I would be honored to design a wedding shawlette for her in exchange for some pictures.

We actually even had a “client” meeting. Ok, we met at Panera. And had lunch. And I showed her stitch dictionary elements I thought she might like. It was totally a professional meeting. Um, ok. It was lunch with a friend and we talked about knitting. Wait, that covers most of my lunches. Are all my meals with friends tax deductible?

The shawlette is worked from side to side with a stockinette body. The top edging is simple and the bottom more ornate – per her request. It’s worked to be a bit shallow so it doesn’t obscure the back of her dress too much.

And it’s available now on Ravelry.

Needles: Size 6 needles (4 mm)

Yarn: The Sanguine Gryphon’s Little Traveler

Gauge: 20 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette

Notes: Worked from side to side – offered in written & charted format.

Sixpence Shawlette – $6.00 USD

The shawlette is worked from the bottom up from a cast-on of only 3 stitches. The garter-diamond border is worked at the same time as the body of the shawl. Named after the French composer Daniel Auber and his Les diamants de la couronne, for the beautiful diamond motifs in the pattern.

The diamonds in the center panel are filled in with what I call little Estonian stars. Just a lovely bit of texture that shows off the subtle semi-sold shading of the gorgeous Ever After yarn.

And the shawlette is finished along the top with a sweet applied border – no super long row to bind off here!

And it’s now available as one of the Seven Songs. Five of the songs have been sung, with only two more songs to go.

Needles: Size 6 needles (4 mm)

Yarn: Classic Fairytale from Ever After Yarns in the “Doctor’s Tardis” Colorway

Gauge: 20 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette

Notes: Worked from the bottom up – offered in written & charted format.

Auber Shawlette – $6.00 USD or the Seven Songs Collection – $21.95 USD

Another funny thing – I get my best pattern names from street names. Paris Mill is the name of a street. And I felt like the little diagonal columns looked neighborhoods on a map, full of little orderly cul-de-sacs and straight throughs.

I have to tell you, this shawlette practically knit itself. It *flew* off the needles. Part of that is that sideways construction just comes naturally to me. But the other part of that is that Jitterbug is my first true yarn love. It was my very first must-have yarn and it’s still my favorite. And this red color is my all time hands down most beloved ever. It took a lot for me to finally break into this skein. I’ve had it for years!

Needles: Size 6 needles (4 mm)

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in the amazing Vatican Pie colorway – my favorite red ever!

Size: Sample blocked to 56″ wide and 18″ deep – but like any sideways shawlette it can be made larger

Gauge: 20 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette

Notes: Worked from side to side  – offered in written & charted format.

The Paris Mill Shawlette on Ravelry – $5.50 USD

We won’t speak of my math-impaired brain or how I frantically knit the sample for this in a 2-day coffee-powered Doctor Who haze. The shaping on this is simple and works quite nicely and makes a wide crescent shaped shawlette that is easy to wrap around around you. The small size is 60″ wide and 12″ deep. The large size is 72″ wide and 15″ deep.

This shawl is named after the March of Spring by Frederick Delius. I went to my favorite used book store – Chamblin’s Bookmine – to see if I could find any books about Frederick Delius.

I stood in front of the composers section at the book store. This is the biggest, best bookstore I have ever been in by the way – 55,000 square feet of books. Miles and miles of aisles of books. Every sort imaginable. If you want it, they have it. And they have the best employees – true bookworms – who can always help you find what you need. But I stood there trying to find something on Delius. He’s a bit obscure, so nothing jumped out at me. Until I saw the word “Samarkand” on a book spine. We listened to a great fantasy story a while back about the Amulet of Samarkand. So that was the very first book I pulled off the shelf.

Yep, Frederick Delius. I stood there in amazement, and I think I must have been talking to myself in amazement because the lady next to me gave me an odd look and scurried away. Knitting this shawlette was an adventure, and with Liberty‘s gorgeous Bluetopia yarn I loved every stitch.

Delius is the second of the Seven Songs. It’s available in the e-book for $21.95 – and there are five more patterns coming. Or you can buy it individually for $6.00

And with this song there is a special bonus. Liberty kindly sent me two skeins of the Absinthe Bluetopia, so you have an opportunity to win a skein! Comment on this entry and you will be entered to win your very own skein. I will draw the winner on Friday!

Well apparently I can. The first shawlette went live today. That one I actually bought yarn for while I was at Stitches South. But I have a beautiful stack of yarn here at the house – that you will get to see soon  – for the rest of the releases. For the rest of the year, on the first of each month, I will be releasing a new and beautiful shawlette design. I have some amazing ideas and the yarn is really breathtaking. I am so excited about this.

So here’s the first one. The Debussy Shawlette is worked up on size 7 needles (4.5 mm)  in Sanguine Gryphon‘s Bugga in the Strawberry Crab colorway. I actually got to meet Gryphon and her lovely employee Noelle at Stitches South – and Noelle helped me pick out this gorgeous yarn.

This design was first imagined for Donna, who was my swap partner in a fun shawlette swap set up by the KnitGirllls. I knit up the shawlette for her in a hurry and had no time to get the pattern or pictures together. So I had to try to work from my crazy notes and redo the whole thing. Some things are changed slightly from the original, but the motif is the same, and I’m ever so pleased with the results. The design is worked from the top down and has no center spine, but still retains a rather classical triangular shape.

For this design I went looking for a classical song to name it after. Interestingly enough I kept coming back to piano pieces by Claude Debussy. La Puerta del Vino (The Gate of Wine) was the one that I loved the best and it suits the gorgeous wine color of the yarn just perfectly. You can hear the song here on Youtube.

You can buy the pattern individually for $6.50 or you can buy the Seven Songs collection for $21.95. If you choose the collection you will get a notification each month when the new pattern in the collection is released.

Just to let you know, because of the way in which this is designed, it is very chart heavy. Like all of my designs, the instructions are provided in written and charted format, but I highly suggest you work from the charts. In fact, the last 11 pages of this pattern are all written instructions. So if you use the charts, you can only print the first 7 pages and be good to go!

I took her to the beach for some pictures, because she just seemed watery and oceanish. And the lace mesh in the center reminded me of a (very pretty) fisherman’s net. So she spent some time at the pier…

…and she soaked up the sun. I think the mesh lace is the perfect pattern for those lovely skeins of variegated fingering weight yarn that you have and don’t know what to do with. Even the pooling looks pretty.

And the pattern is now available for sale. It takes about 400 yards of fingering weight or sock yarn and size 7 (4.5 mm) needles and can be purchased for $5.50.

Just when I was on my way to my first ever (planned to be) completely running 5K race, someone decided that they were above the traffic laws (not me!). A lady failed to look or yield at an intersection, and although I was going pretty slow, I still got the rear end of her. So I’ve spent some time thanking God that neither my son (!!!!) nor I was hurt, and that my husband bought me a tank of a Chrysler minivan that meant ours was not the car that went a-spinning.

So no race for me or the big dude. He was particularly grateful when a friend came to pick him up for a sleepover. I kept kissing him and hugging him out of the blue and being grateful that he wasn’t hurt. I’m also grateful for Geico. They don’t mess around with this stuff. I have an appointment Monday morning with an adjuster at a collision shop where my rental car will be waiting for me.

There are pretty things in the works. I have two new patterns that are nearly done – here’s a sneak peek of one of them.

And because it’s May, and it’s Sunday, and I’m grateful for so many things, and because I’d like to offset the cost of the insurance deductible… I’m having a SALE. (The other driver has insurance, but I can’t wait for that to be sorted out, and Geico says they will go after her to get our money back.) But anyhow, back to the sale. For today and tomorrow, Mayday and um, the second day of May, everything in the PicnicKnits Store is 25% OFF! So kiss the ones you love, thank the ones you’re grateful for, and buy some patterns!

You get great patterns like Gaenor….

And Bakersfield…

And Pettine…

And Renita…

And even better, when you buy Sideways Shawlettes you are also making a donation of over $9 to the Hubbard House – a local domestic violence shelter. I’ve set a goal of raising $250 by Saturday morning. I’ve already raised over $60 from yesterday’s efforts, so I’m well on my way to my goal. And remember all PicnicKnits patterns are 25% off – and 50% of all sales this week goes to the Hubbard House.  Thanks so much to everyone who has helped so far!

Yes, that is my crazy husband. He named this cabled hat that I designed for him – and I told him if he was gonna pick such a ridiculous name he better be prepared to make some ridiculous faces. This was easy for him of course.

This hat takes one skein of Cascade 220 on size 7 needles. The pattern can be purchased for $4.50 –

It’s also available in a new little e-book I’ve put out – Blue Brim Hats. It includes all three of the blue hats I designed this past winter for my menfolk for the bargain price of $8.95.

But I do have a favorite number. 27. Twenty-seven. Why? I have absolutely no idea. For as long as I can remember 27 has been the random number I’ve thrown out. “I had to wash the bowl 27 times before that stupid blueberry stain came out.” “I swear I’ve taken the dog out 27 times today.” “It’s been 27 minutes since I texted her with very important information and she hasn’t gotten back to me!”

So yeah. 27. Today is not the 27th of anything. It’s just the 17th of January, a nice, quiet rainy day where I get to keep my boys home with me. I’m hoping the rain breaks so we can do our 5K training this afternoon. But it’s just a comfy, cozy day where I will probably knit while wearing the snuggie I got for Christmas. Yes, I did.

But because 27 is on my brain, and because I can, and because Ravelry makes it so easy, we’re having a sale. Use the coupon code favorite and you can get 27% off any pattern or e-book in my Ravelry store. So if you wanted the Sideways Shawlette e-book,  it would be $18.25 instead of the normal price of $25 for 8 patterns! 27% off everything!