juerga

Posted on annePosted in patterns

you know what i enjoy most about december? our tradition of offering a fun, quick, and pretty new project every week, right up to the end of the year (i try to save a good one for the end, to cuddle up with after the rush is over).

i start thinking about the last-minute pattern flurry by the end of july and by september, i usually have most of my ideas in place—not that i start knitting them any sooner for it.

at first, the fun is in the planning—narrowing down my ideas to the prettiest, quickest, most fun, and most likely to please is challenging (there are just four weeks in december after all, and i want each one to be terrific for all of us). november is tough—knowing that i have a secret stash of patterns to present each week, one after the other through the month, makes me feel a little like an over-excited kris kringle.

some of them—like this neckwarmer and cuff set—are a surprise; you didn’t know i was working on this, but i had it going on in the background. it was a spur of the moment birthday gift knit that came out pretty cute and i thought you’d like it. so it made it onto the december short list.

finally at thanksgiving time, the knitting fun can begin. it’s the time of year when i can indulge my inner yarn ho to dabble in a wide variety of yarns, throwing introducing myself and you, dear readers, to any enticing thing that comes along. we can go crazy together, dancing through one fast-paced accessory project after another, with nary a thought to how it might look to the rest of the world. we go all out, right??

take this luscious cashmere set for instance—do you know how many hours this takes to knit? i can assure you, not many at all—it is the easiest frilly thing on two four needles (or circs). i swear, you can knit this in a very short time. the trick is all in the yarn—pick something deLECtable, something you would get naked for. break out that trophy skein you’ve been saving . . .

you won’t be able to resist working on it; before you know it, or are ready, it will be finished and another gift will be crossed off the list. just like that.
(ok, so this one may end up being for you, but it still counts and was hardly even a bump in the road to a successful christmas finish).

shown here, size small in briar rose fibers cashmere special, a pure cashmere 4-ply sport/DK, in colorway chris’s choice.

simply irresistible.

glass pendant earring shown on this page are a recent purchase from moving mud.

to purchase pattern or view complete pattern information, please click here to visit the product page in the knitspot pattern shop.

when standing the briar rose booth at rhinebeck, trying to decide which colorway of cashmere special to purchase, i asked my friend chris, the dye genius that is briar rose fibers, which was her favorite. without hesitation, she reached for this spectacular autumn mix.
“this one”, she said firmly, “this is it.”

sigh . . . she’s right.

many thanks to david for these wonderful photos, nabbed during the last brilliant days of autumn—the leaves are gone now for good, but looking at the pictures, i can still feel some of that warmth on my face.

29 thoughts on “juerga”

  3. The photos are really nice, Anne. If you ever have to publish this one, the 5th from the top and the 5th from the bottom are great, the top one, of you, the bottom one of the product.

  4. Really cute! And I just happen to have a skein of that lovely cashmere…I still need to do the leafprints cowl out of the other skein to go with the fingerless mitts. Sigh-after Christmas…

  5. You have a real gift for using pictures that show the knitted items rather than simply being flattering pictures of you with the knitted items just happening to be in the picture. As in, really good photography work. Compliments to both the photographer and the one who selects the pictures for the blog!

  6. Wow, Anne, you are the sneaky one! This is a great set, I might even break my ‘no Christmas knitting” for it. (I know, what a scrooge, right?) The colors in these photos are so flattering for you too!

  8. You look really pretty in this series Anne! Sam approves of your lipstick, even! I know you were stressed about that fact. . . .

  10. absolutely scrumdillycious! good thing you didn’t bring those out in Montreal or they might not have made it home…or were they already gifted and you only saved the pics to tempt us?! Great gift idea and gee, I just might have something yummy in my stash. But first, the purple label cashmere socks…someone is waiting for them 😉

    Cheers, Barbie O.

  11. Another beautiful pattern, Anne! Thanks for thinking of the procrastinators (like me) and giving us such nice gift ideas.

  14. Anne, how beautiful!! I need a quick hostess gift and this is perfect.

    Love the coat you’re wearing too.

  18. I had just ordered $100 of fiber but had to have this yarn/project! I’ve ordered 2 colorways and look forward to knitting some Christmas gifts in short order! Thanks for the enable-ment. 8 – P

  21. Just ordered this cute pattern. I think I can make 3 neckwarmers by Xmas and maybe the wristlets too.
    I love those earrings – how perfectly matched they are. You look so pretty.

  23. Perfect!! (And SUCH good pictures of you!) Chris was (as she always is) right, and I may just have found a use for that lovely skein of cashmere from our trip to Ohio 🙂

  26. Super cute Christmas holiday surprise!
    Congratulations also on being on the Ravelry patterns page for the second week in the “New and Popular” column for “most active recently published designs. I LOVE Leaving. I have to finish about 20 million projects before I get to it, but this is on the fast track in my queue!

  27. Beautiful. I was convinced I did not like the cuff idea and now you’ve changed my mind. I can’t wait to do this one.

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