A flurry of finished objects – part one

Over the last month, while I haven’t been writing blog posts at all, I’ve divided my time between finishing my WIPs and fretting over my 17-year-old cat, whose health is declining. She’s never been a very nice kitty, swatting and snarling at every other cat that’s ever shared our home. But she’s been mine for about 14 years, and she does have the loudest motorboat purr I’ve ever heard, so I’m still going to be very sad when she goes.

But, the month was super productive on the knitting front. The first two FOs I’d like to share use yarn and designs by Hudson Valley area dyers/designers. These yarns and patterns came to me as part of my yarn-of-the-month subscription, courtesy of The Perfect Blend yarn and tea shop in Saugerties, NY. Each installment has a single skein of hand-dyed yarn, a suggested pattern, and a little goodie, such as stitch markers, a project bag, wool wash, or some such treat. The colors used by the dyers are all inspired by some aspect of the Hudson Valley.

The first project was a ribble cowl using a soft and lush alpaca/silk blend.

It was supplied by Nest Creative Keepsakes, based in Woodstock, NY. It was really nice to work with, and the colors were wonderfully bold. The inspiration for the colors is the Ashokan reservior (image from Wikipedia):

Though the cowl was a Mother’s Day gift for my mom, I had to try it on to be sure it was indeed the right gift for such an awesome mom. It fit the bill.

FO #2 from my yarn-of-the-month stash is the Main Street Shawl by Toby Roxane Designs. The yarn is Chandelier and the colorway is Main Street, which to me looks like copper when it oxidizes, but there’s still a bit of copper peeking through here and there.

The color inspiration is Main Street in Saugerties, NY (image from the Hudson Valley Sojourner):

A great combination of old and new, downtown Saugerties offers independent bookstores, bakeries and eateries, antique stores, unique gift shops, one of the best grandma slices you’ll ever find, and of course, my LYS. And thanks to that LYS, I now have this gorgeous shawl.

Check out the other patterns available in the Toby Roxane Designs Ravelry store. I’m sure I’ll be pulling some of those lacy shawl patterns to use with the yarns purchased in Montreal.

The next “Flurry of FOs” installment – two Andrea Mowry designs.