I just had the pleasure of teaching a new class at my lys: an intarsia sweater from Roo Designs. These designs are so adorable!

They have nearly forty fun motifs, each paired with different neck, edge and sleeve details that make the sweaters even cuter. In our class we had two puppies, a kitty, a truck, a hippo and a penguin. And they all came out great!

This was my sample swatch. I had wee one come in to the store to look through the designs and choose one I would make for her. She gasped when she saw the pretty flowers, then changed her inscrutable little three year-old mind and asked for a tractor. Somehow I managed to direct her away from the tractor and we were able to settle on the puppy. "But," she insisted, "in pink." "With pink ears." "And a pink face." Of course. For class, however, I used leftover blues and greens from my snowflake hat. Looove those big blue ears!

Wee will most likely get her pink puppy on a skirt, since she's so into skirts right now. Oooh, I wish they had a poodle!

Anyone remember this scarf from this summer? I started knitting it for the store back in June and then got pulled away by design work until now. Since it's now time to be knitting scarves and selling warm, fuzzy angora yarns, it was time to finish up this scarf and get it in the store!

oooh, blocking lace is fun!

Making this scarf was really great. The Angora Extra is super soft (the bunnies on the label are sooo cute!) and the lace pattern (from Ella Rae Book Two) is a basic pattern that only has two different lace rows and was easy peesy to learn. I'd definitely recommend the scarf as a good first lace project to beginners (or lazy experienced knitters like me!).

And it's just so darn pretty!

A quick glance at my finished projects page and you'll find what is really an appalling number of pink projects over here so far this year. Nothing wrong with pink of course (clearly, I LOVE pink!), but a blue blog should probably be a little less pink. So it's back to blue for me!

There's the gorgeous blue pure silk that I've just started working on, the blue baby geek sweater and after another weekend working at the store, more progress on the lacy blue Angora Extra scarf:

I once was lost, but now am found; was pink, but now I'm blue.

Finally some knitting I can tell you about! More rain slowed business at the store this weekend, leaving me with time to start a new sample. A small swatch for KFI's Extra Angora turned into the Short Lacy Scarf from Ella Rae Book Two.

I've never really done a genuine lace pattern before (I just don't wear lace). But I have to say, it's pretty darned cool. The angora is a delight to knit with. I hadn't liked it so much when I was knitting the swatch, but when I started the lace, it's like the yarn felt better. So thumbs up for the Extra Angora. And (yes, you know what's coming) it's blue!

I had a little homework for the store to finish up before we leave for Germany next week. First the Karabella side-to-side scarf that I was knitting while reading the last few hundred pages of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Oh yeah, there's a matching hat! Isn't it cute?! The pattern ("Ring Hat and Scarf") is so clever, with simple patterning and lots of great colors. And the Aurora 8 is such a lovely yarn: yummy to knit with and blocked out soft and beautiful. Love it!

No, I didn't knit this one. Just a little finishing job for the store: a little seaming, a few edgings, and a good blocking. It's a cute design (the Tropical Tee from Oat Couture). It's one of those patterns that I like a lot more after seeing it in person than I ever would have thought from only seeing the pattern pic or schematic. Looks like a great, easy knitting project for beginners. Well, except for the finishing, apparently.