bay leaf and lime

Posted on Posted in patterns

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here is another one of those serendipitous design projects born from a combination of indecision and gambling. when we first met with rita of yarn hollow to talk about a colorway she would dye for our fall in full color club, i fell in love with too many colors for just one club slot.

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one of them was this gorgeous lime rickie colorway; i just couldn’t get enough of it. it wasn’t on our palette for the club, but my wheels started turning immediately to make something of it for a christmas release.

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i took home a shimmery skein in another yarn base, but when we decided to go with rita’s “superior” base for the club, i thought it might also be a good vehicle for a limited edition lime rickie project kit.

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i had hoped to have the pattern and kit ready for a pre-christmas release, but alas, it was not to be. it is however, the perfect thing for selfish knitting month and with another snowstorm on its way, who wouldn’t look forward to snuggling up with this luscious project?

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i wanted something bold and sassy, a play on the victorian style but in a toulouse lautrec kind of way—womanish and maybe even a little bawdy rather than girly. i love the way it turned out.

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the big, sexy stripes around the hem are absolutely shameless, providing a great contrast to the richly embossed leaves that encircle the shoulders. i’m thinking this pattern will look terrific in stripes of all shades of our breakfast blend or stone soup fingering yarns as well

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the deep textures of both stitch pattens show off the best characteristics of this BFL, cashmere, and silk yarn blend—its luscious sheen, fluid body, and soft hand. the fabric drapes into plump folds for next to the skin warmth that is soft as can be.

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the feeling would melt the heart of even the harshest critic. really.

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the project is a super fun knit, too—starting at the hem with the undulating welted chevron pattern, the stitch work is so entertaining that before you know it, you are halfway there. once you get into the upper portion it really flies, with an easy to navigate openwork motif and wrong side rows all in purl. it’s a great first shawl project.

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the shawl pattern is written for two sizes—petite/tall—and this limited-edition the kit can be purchased in either size; the petite kit includes one skein of yarn hollow superior in the lime rickie colorway and the tall kit includes two.

the triangle is shown here in the petite size.

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to purchase a kit or view complete kit information, please click here to visit the knitspot pattern shop. we’ll be starting up a  KAL for this project in our mothership ravelry group as part of selfish knitting month (and beyond; we never stop at just one month, haha)

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i can’t thank our friend rita at yarn hollow enough for being so much fun to work with. her enthusiasm for her work and for partnering on fun projects is a delight. she has been a really great collaborator this fall and winter and i hope we get to do more projects together.

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and how about our helena here? she really knocked our socks off with her punked out leather and lace look for the photo shoot.

we had a lot of fun with this one, thanks to our friends brennis and todd, owners of second april art gallerie in downtown canton, ohio. they  graciously allowed us run of the entire place for a couple of hours to do our shoot.

 

12 thoughts on “bay leaf and lime

  1. I love the modern Victorian idea, and am really excited to knit and wear this. Just my kinda combo. Thanks for yet another fab kit. Love Helena and the pictures. Awesome on so many levels.

  2. I almost didn’t recognize your model! How fun!

    I love that you and Rita are working such magic together. We are so proud to sell Yarn Hollow where I work and it’s been fun to get to “know” Rita over social networks and Skype.

  3. Recognized Second April! Haven’t wandered down there at lunch for a long time . . . maybe when it’s a few degrees warmer!

  4. I’m in love with this kit. Ordered and waiting for it to get here. Ready to cast on. There is nothing like a knitspot pattern to brighten a cold winter day.

    My Zinfandel shawl and my stonewall stole garnered so much attention this past weekend at my knitting retreat. You make me look good Anne. Your patterns knock people’s socks off. Thank you dear friend for all that you do.

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