Matchy-matchy

When I finished knitting the Haro crescent, I had extra yarn. Really quite a lot of extra yarn. This gives a knitter some flexibility: if you like a deeper shawl, you can merrily add extra repetitions of the Fir Cone section. Or you can work the edging chart a few more times. You’ve got plenty of runway. But I wanted a narrow shawl—a scarf, almost—just a little something around the neck for adornment and a bit of coverage for bare shoulders in summertime. And all that leftover Brooklyn Tweed Plains was really giving me the eye: use me, dummy.

Plains is special. There isn’t much of it in the world and there won’t be more, and for many folks it’s an indulgence to buy yarn at this price point. So I was feeling guilty about writing a pattern that require two skeins but uses only a little of the second. And I hatched a plan.

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Now there’s a matching cap. It’s a free pattern, because I like to publish at least one of those per year in gratitude for the generosity of the worldwide knitting community in sharing wisdom, techniques, and encouragement. Like Haro, the Fir Cone Lace cap begins with a curvaceous short-row crescent in garter stitch and then breaks into a simple openwork pattern.

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Unlike Haro, the cap is worked in the round. To avoid a jog in the garter stitch, there’s one jaunty little fir cone placed within the brim itself. I initially thought I’d wear it with that wee detail at my temple and let the garter crescent fall asymmetrically to the side, but found I like it more centered on my forehead. (And please do excuse the fact that these photos look like I’d just spent three days in bed with a fever. I’d just spent three days in bed with a fever.)

Since I had all that yarn to play with, I knit my cap long and slouchy. If you prefer a close-fitting beanie or something in between, the pattern contains directions for working to two shorter lengths. Plains is very springy, so I made this a one-size-fits-most in terms of circumference. The sample measures 19 1/2″ and easily stretches to accommodate my rather large 22 1/2″ noggin. If you have a small head or want to knit for a child, I’d recommend casting on 10 fewer stitches so you’ll have one less repetition of the lace motif. (Your garter crescent will come out proportionally a little wider, but I doubt this will affect the fit.)

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You can download your copy of the Fir Cone cap on the Free Patterns page or from the link in the sidebar. I hope you have a jolly time knitting it and wearing it. Plains is very soft with a pleasant dry hand; the cap is weightless and just a little bit warm. (Read: a good solution for bad hair days. Or no hair days.) I like mine with Carhartts under the oak trees, but you could dress yours up a bit more if you prefer.

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Thanks to everyone who’s written in with kind words about Haro! I so look forward to seeing it in the wild as you share your versions. (Fun fact: my kids pronounce that word “virgins.” I can’t read or write version without substituting theirs in my head and tittering like an elementary schooler. #arresteddevelopment)

Launch day!

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Photo by Jared Flood for Wool People 10

Glad to share a new design today—the Haro crescent shawl is pleased to meet you! I’m so fortunate to have a piece appearing in the wonderful Wool People 10 collection. Go browse Jared’s beautiful photos from Sauvie Island and soak in the scrumptious cables and exquisite lace… I’m wanting to cast on Nadia Crétin-Léchenne’s simple, soothing Scalene triangle, Bristol Ivy’s Marylebone cardigan, and Melissa Wehrle’s Bronwyn pullover especially!

Haro is a simple little summer accessory knit in laceweight Rambouillet Plains. It’s a quick knit and a good project for building your lace skills—the Fir Cone pattern is among the easiest lace motifs to work, but I love how effective it is. And you’re working over the full stitch count during all the lace knitting, so you don’t have to keep track of patterning over an expanding number of stitches. The edging is a step up, with lace maneuvers on both sides of the work, so you’ll feel really accomplished by the end. I’m thinking of making a second Haro in a bright persimmon wool/silk skein (it’s been in my stash for more than a decade!) for times when I want a pop of color to liven up my growing wardrobe of neutrals.

Thanks, Brooklyn Tweed, for another great collection!

A place just right

The first day of the year dawned clear and sparking and brim full of possibility, and that’s the day we decided to buy a farm. A farm on the island where I grew up. We have been thinking all along that someday we’d build a little island cabin, perhaps on the lower half of my parents’ land, to have for summers. When we were up for Thanksgiving, my father pointed out that I talk about dreams like having horses again, and maybe even sheep, and a cabin in the woods wouldn’t really be a step in that direction. He mentioned, ever so casually—and with my deep file of a dad we may never know how artfully premeditated this off-hand remark was—that a particularly beautiful little farm had come on the market. It’s been in the same family since the 1960s and is a generally beloved spot. People from away wonder why you’d want island property that isn’t on the waterfront; real islanders hold this place up among the island’s finest. It has a quaint name and a carved gate post and a perfectly magical oak grove. It has barns and sheep and horses. It’s much, much more than a snug cabin under the firs. I dismissed the notion as totally impractical, but my husband called the realtor and arranged to go have a look.

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It has a weaving studio.The front entry is a Dutch door painted peacock blue. The upstairs bedrooms have barn-style panels that slide back to open onto the high-ceilinged living room and let in the light. The bathroom has a window cut through so you can lob your laundry right down to the washing machine. There are children’s lofts up under the roof, accessible only by ladder. There are window seats along two sides of the sunny living room. Generations of dog toenails have scarred the wood floors. I was arse-over-teakettle in love from the moment we turned up the winding drive.

Inside the tack room in the barn, on a high shelf festooned with cobwebs, was a surprise that could only be A Sign.

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That dilapidated brush box? I made it…more than twenty years ago. It was a birthday present for a little friend—I think she was turning six, and just starting to follow in her older sisters’ barnward footsteps. With my father’s tools I cut and measured and nailed the wood; with my mother’s acrylic paints I carefully added the girl’s name.

All through December I lay awake and dreamed of this farm. I argued all the reasons not to disturb our full and busy lives in Portland. I gazed out the windows dreamed some more. We weighed up what it would mean for our family to tend this place and let it nurture us in return. We made an offer. Today the deal is done and Oak Knoll Farm is ours.

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The next chapter begins today. We can’t wait to find out what happens. Come visit.