scarf style - how do you wear yours?

When you have a scarf stash like mine - spanning handknit luxuries and light, airy woven varieties - you have to get creative with the wearing. It gets boring to sling scarves around your neck in the same old way every time you grab one.

Here's a great How-To I spotted on Grosgrain today, by way of Wit & Whistle, which is an adorable design-y blog.

Source: witandwhistle.comI am loving the Four in Hand version. How do you wear yours?

If you're looking for some inspiration, here's a website featuring 37 ways to tie a scarf.

A Tale of Two Yarns

Yay! It's officially Knitting & Crochet Blog Week!

Day One: 28th March. A Tale of Two Yarns.
Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

It's rare I find a yarn I don't love, so I've chosen to feature two of my recent favorites: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light and Swans Island Certified Organic Merino Worsted.

Madelinetosh yarns are my most recent fibery obsession. My last four yarn purchases have all been Madtosh yarns, but the Tosh Merino Light has caught my eye the most. Each skein has so much depth and inspires my knitting imagination. I've managed to snap up 4 skeins of this lovely yarn - I took a quick shot of my Glazed Pecan skein last night just before Twilight - this color is magnificent.

I've also started an Inspira Cowl with Olivia and Norway Spruce. The depth of the colorways provide a lovely sheen to the 100% merino, single-ply fingering weight yarn. It produces a lovely fabric on a variety of needle sizes (I'm using US 6 needles for the cowl).

Endless knitting possibilities abound - shawls, scarves, cowls...sigh...I just love this yarn.

The other yarn I'd like to wax poetically about is Swans Island Certified Organic Merino Worsted. Swans Island uses natural dyes, including cochineal and indigo. Dying with natural dyes is a labor intensive process that brings much joy to the dyer, the knitter, and the environment. The image below showcases the beautiful variety of colors achieved using natural dyes and organic merino wool. You can learn more about their process here.

(C) Swans Island

I am also thrilled to announce that I have been working on a few super secret knitting designs for the Swans Island Fall 2011 collection. I swatched and designed with their yarns - fingering, worsted and bulky - and all three were a dream to knit with. They have a lovely bounce and incredible drape.

Below is a sneak peek of one of my designs for the Swans Island pattern collection. Be on the lookout for more details soon!

Pictured: Swans Island Certified Organic Merino Worsted

Featured FO: Rasta Neckwarmer by h82purl

i really enjoy discovering the beautiful finished pieces knit from my patterns. today i'm sharing Rose's (h82purl on Ravelry) Rasta Neckwarmer.

by h82purl

her version is knit using Malabrigo Rasta in Piedras (the same colorway as the piece from Book 3). isn't her photography great? she really captured the beautiful essence of the yarn.

by h82purland great buttons! this makes me ready for springtime, sunshine and flowers :)

Featured FO: French Braid Cowl by amiijjang

like any ravelry designer (...assumption coming...) i like to stalk my pattern projects to see the wonderous FOs crafted by lovely knitters everywhere. it's always fantastic to discover a project that has quirky details or takes a unique spin on my designs.

© amiijjang like this gorgeous piece knit by amiijjang, a raveler that has countless beautiful projects in her portfolio. i'm so pleased with the way the madelinetosh merino yarn (colorway is glazed pecan) she chose to knit with plays among the pattern details without overwhelming the texture.

© amiijjang is this photography great or what? the perspective is interesting and i LOVE the button choice.

© amiijjang the finished piece is extremely lovely. it makes me want to rush out to purchase some mad-tosh in order to make one just like it!

© amiijjang check out amiijjang's french braid cowl

find out more about my french braid cowl pattern

on the needles: inspira cowl

i'm knitting the inspira cowl by Celery Stalks

© breeanelyse shown in madelinetosh tosh merino light (colors: olivia & norway spruce)

my ravelry project page