Cloud Forest Cowl

What is a Cloud Forest? A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which case they are also referred to as mossy forests. Mossy forests usually develop on the saddles of mountains, where moisture introduced by settling clouds is more effectively retained.^[1]

Thanks Wikipedia!

I've been lucky to have spent a few months in the Great Bear Rainforest in BC, Canada, one of these amazing cloud forests. With further research, I found that cloud forests exist all over the world, including New Zealand. New Zealand also happens to be home to one of my favorite yarn companies, Zealana, of which this cowl is knit in. Scrumptious Rimu DK, a blend of New Zealand merino wool and possum fur, makes this cowl extra cozy and warm and well as soft.

The all-over fern leaf lace pattern depicts some of the foliage you might find in the cloud forest. The cowl is knit from the top down, and widens with a larger leaf design at the bottom to lay over the shoulders comfortably.

I designed the Cloud Forest Cowl for a promotion for Jimmy Beans Wool, so if you participate in their upcoming Facebook contest you'll automatically receive a copy of this pattern for free just for participating. You'll also be entered to win the yarn to knit this design! Be sure to "like" Jimmy Beans Wool on Facebook and stay tuned for more info. The contest begins 9/24 and runs through the 30th!

If you'd rather cast on right away, the pattern can be purchased directly from me on Ravelry. It takes about 260 yards of DK weight yarn and a US size 6- 16" circular needle. Either way, Happy knitting!

Kristen

PS. And if the boring photos above aren't enough. Here is a shot of my goofy hubby modeling the cowl too. I think it looks better on him, don't you? ;)

Stitch Mountain is here!

So last year around this time, I was hard at work on four designs for a book. That book was Stitch Mountain. Stitch Mountain: 30 Warm Knits for Conquering the Cold actually came out in November, but with the Winter Games going on right now, we thought it would be the perfect time to talk up the book too. Especially since so many of the athletes are competing right now in Sochi!

For those of you who don't know what the book is about, we asked 30 winter sports athletes to tell us what their favorite or dream knitted item would be. We then took those ideas and asked a collection hand-picked knitwear designers to create items based on these athletes descriptions. The result is a book that is both designer vision and athletic inspiration--the perfect hybrid of knitting and winter sports!

I have two designs inspired by athletes competing in Sochi. Julia Mancuso, a downhill skier who has already won a bronze medal at this year's Winter Games in Ladies Slalom and Lindsey Jacobellis who is a Snowboarder who will actually compete later today in ladies Snowboard Cross. Both have medaled at previous olympic games as well. What an honor to design for such accomplished women!

I am an ex-snowboarder myself. Not at the competitive level of course, but it was a sport I really enjoyed for about 10 years until I injured my knee and chose to quit to avoid surgery. I miss it, but I have tons of great memories on the mountain. That's why being a part of this book was so important to me, and such a huge honor!

Ok, so onto the designs. First we've got the Personalized Headband inspired by Julia Mancuso and her home mountain, Squaw Valley. Squaw also happens to be in my neck of the woods (Reno/Tahoe area) so I was really excited to knit this piece. It's inspired by the original Squaw Ski Team headbands and I wanted to make this one reversible and easily customizable. The pattern includes an entire alphabet chart so that you can create a headband that is personal to you. Perhaps in the colors of your alma mater or your favorite sports team? On the inside, a simple stripe pattern is knit to create a completely reversible piece. Julia's version is knit in Rowan Pure Wool 4ply which was a dream to knit with. Such amazing stitch definition and it blocks out so well. I will definitely be knitting with it again.

Next up we have the Sparkle Slouchy Hat inspired by Lindsey Jacobellis. Being a snowboarder, Lindsey's style is super hip so I wanted to create a hat that I know she would love to wear. I chose a fun sparkly yarn by Red Heart called Boutique Midnight in some tonal self-striping colors. The hat features a wide brim that can be worn folded or unfolded depending on the look you are going for. The body is a simple mock rib that is easy, even for a beginner. The hat is super comfy to wear. I actually have 2 different versions of this hat at home and I wear them more often than any of the other hats in my collection.

So these are two of my designs from Stitch Mountain. I'll be back soon to talk about the other two, but I hope you are all enjoying watching the Winter Games in Sochi! Be sure to cheer on these two gals when you see them on the screen and hopefully you'll be knitting along on something cozy while you do! Remember, both of these designs are featured in Stitch Mountain, so if you don't have your copy yet, be sure to snag one from Jimmy Beans Wool (all copies are signed by the author!)

Happy knitting everyone!

Kristen

Truckee Shawlette and a Holiday Party

Good morning everyone! It's been such a fun week! We had our yearly Holiday Party for Jimmy Beans Wool last night and as usual is was loads of fun! Doug and Laura took us to the Charlie Palmer Steakhouse at the Grand Sierra resort which was delicious. They have the best French Onion Soup I've ever had. Hands down. Two things that were particularly amazing about last night:

1) Our party was in the same place two years ago and we were in this little back room and there were just under 50 of us. That's all 25 employees and a guest. This year, they opened that room up and doubled the size and there were about 100 of us. Crazy! It was so cool to see how much we've grown!

2) Last time our party was at Charlie Palmer, Allie, who is one of the resident spinners at JBW and has worked there for a number of years in some capacity or another, gifted me two skeins of her handspun yarn in our yearly gift exchange. It's a gorgeous camel and silk blend and simply stunning. I was so thrilled and touched to be given the gift of hand spun. Such a special gift. This year, I drew Allie and I sewed her a new gardening apron and gave her some seeds saved from my garden as well as some gardeners soap and hand salve from Lusa Organics. She got all teary eyed and gave me the biggest hug. It felt so good to be able to reciprocate her lovely gift.

Overall it was a good evening spent with good people. And today, I am so excited to be able to tell you all about my latest pattern release--The Truckee Shawlette!

The Truckee Shawlette is now available from Jimmy Beans Wool as a Free Download. It uses the new Malabrigo Lace Superwash and I am really happy with how it turned out! I think you'll like the simplicity of the construction and the way the colors blend. Such gorgeous yarn! You can find the Truckee Shawette on the Jimmy Beans Wool Free Patterns page!

Happy knitting!

Kristen

Winter Wheat Hat

For those of you who don't follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Ravelry, I released a new pattern yesterday! It's my first for-sale pattern EVER and it's available for purchase on Ravelry and my brand spankin' new website! Don't worry, there are many more freebies coming down the pipeline from me, but I've been working so hard on this one, I thought it would make a great first for-sale pattern. I priced it at $3 so hopefully it won't break the bank. :)

This design idea came about months ago when I saw this stitch pattern used somewhere.  I loved the look of it and struggled to find examples of it knit in the round. After a little bit of playing with it, I figured out a seamless way to knit this pattern in the round!  I think it looks really pretty.

I showed my best friend the prototype I knit in the pattern and she said that the stitch pattern looks like stalks of wheat and I should knit it in a more golden hue. Done! I grabbed a skein of Berroco Flicker, which lends itself perfectly to this design with it's elasticity and little hint of sparkle, and the Winter Wheat Hat was born! I hope you enjoy it, I really had a lot of fun designing this one. It also has a unique crown decrease which reminds me of pie, so how can you go wrong there?

Yesterday was kind of a big day for me in many ways. I also launched my new website: www.marinadedesigns.com which has been a work in progress since the beginning of the year. My dear friend Amber over at Hold Steady Designs made the site for me and I absolutely love it! My goal is to fill it with all kinds of useful knitting, crochet, sewing, cooking, and general homesteading tips that you all can use. Since I love so many different things, I found a way to combine all of my loves in that one place. The heart of that website will remain on this blog, but I hope you all will take a look around and let me know what you think!

Also, I started work on what will be my first design as the official in-house designer at Jimmy Beans Wool! About a month ago, my boss Laura (aka. Jimmy) called me into her office and told me that JBW was ready to begin exploring their creative side more. She wanted me to be the first in-house designer for JBW and begin re-vamping our entire free patterns library, create new patterns every month, as well as start to create a vision for the future of Jimmy Beans Wool's creative team! I am so honored to be given the task and could not be more excited. I'll continue to blog here and design as Marinade Designs of course, but I am so very thrilled to be able to do this--It's been my dream job for YEARS!

To top of my excitement of the new pattern, job, and website, I also won a free set of Addi Click needles over on Alex Tinsley's knitting and design blog "Dull Roar" yesterday! Thanks again Alex! I seriously must have some good Karma or something because life is on a roll right now!

In any case, I better sign off and get to work! I hope you all have a great rest of your week!

Kristen