Just a few days left and the hat and scarf I designed for the Twist Collective will no longer be free! After February 1st, the Elissa hat and scarf will be available for sale on their web site, but until then, you can still download it. (via the Twist blog)

Feel free to Tweet/Retweet this post by simply pasting the following into Twitter:

Countdown for Elissa: Amy (@plainsight)’s hat & scarf pattern available free at Twist Collective only until Feb 1 http://tinyurl.com/alzv5f

It’s interesting (and a relief) to finally begin to dig down into my virtual and actual to-do piles now that I’m  catching up on things after the move. In May, right before moving, I was putting the finishing touches on a few new patterns, getting them ready for the Columbus TNNA trade show, having photoshoots and finalizing pattern details. Then, the movers came, and the actual “publishing” of the patterns got delayed. (Even though I had mentioned most of them on the blog back in the spring). So, over the next few weeks, I’ll be releasing them one-by-one.

Since we’re already on the subject of soft and warm yak yarn, I thought I’d start with Yogan’s Hat.

This was my first experience knitting with 100% yak down, and it was lovely and natural feeling, and perfect for being next to sensitive baby skin. The yarn was soft and springy while I was working with it, but after I finished the hat, I gave it a quick wash and it bloomed and softened even more.  The beautiful chocolate brown is the natural color of the yak. As with the Cosmopolitan Cowl, I actually got the inspiration for this pattern while at TNNA looking at the beautiful pictures of the yaks in Eileen and Carl’s booth. The Yak who inspired the cap was named Yogan so I named the pattern after him.

This is Lars. I grabbed him at a neighborhood Easter egg hunt back in Takoma Park and convinced his mom to let him be my model.

You can buy the pattern PDF for $4.00.

If you have a yarn store and you’d like to offer the pattern to your customers in print or via PDF download, please visit The Stitch Cooperative.

Sometimes my designs are inspired by fashion or nature or an idea or problem I want to solve, but sometimes, they are the simple result of harmony between yarn and hook. This cowl is such a design. The quiet undulating texture and soft scalloped edges developed organically as I worked.

Forgive the self-portrait–I had to take the photo while there was still some acceptable level of daylight, and there was no one around but me. This was at noon, but it seems like nearly dusk. The sun is at such a low angle these days, we never get bright sunlight, but the sunrises and sunsets are spectacular.

At TNNA, Eileen and Carl, the owners of Bijou Basin Ranch asked me to come up with a one-skein pattern using their luscious Yak-Cormo yarn. This yarn is a bit thick and thin, and it’s soft and light as a cloud, and extremely warm. It was certainly one of the exciting yarns at this years’ show. Clara wrote about it in her recent TNNA recap. I had first envisioned using it for a lace pattern, but the yarn wanted to be more of a solid fabric. I was chatting with Jess, who helped me wind the yarn in the bar/lobby of my hotel on Saturday night, and she mentioned she had been thinking of a feather and fan cowl which is the idea that eventually lead to the textured stitch you see here.

I checked in with Eileen on Sunday morning, and she liked the direction the cowl was going, so I proceeded, happy to have something non-teddy-bear-related to work on. The plane ride home was all it took to finish, and I put it to the test today. It did a great job keeping me warm in Cordova where it was crisp and in the high twenties today. (It didn’t help me remember that it takes extra time to scrape off the car before going anywhere so I was late to work at the yarn store this afternoon. By the way, nowhere else I have lived have I found frost INSIDE the car. Does anyone else have that issue?)

In the spirit of momentum, I wrote up the pattern today, but I’d love to test it out before releasing it. So, I will give a free draft of the pattern to the first five people who request one in the comments. The pattern uses about 150 yards of fingering (sock or slightly heavier) yarn and a 2.75mm crochet hook (USC). Please don’t ask for the pattern if you don’t think you have time to test it in the next week. Thank you!

I got back Monday night from TNNA with a cold. I’m recovering, and it’s nice to be home. Cordova has noticeably more daylight than when I left. There were hurricane force winds and torrential rain while I was gone that washed away all the snow.  I’m hoping well have more snowfall before winter is over.

TNNA was productive and fun despite people’s fears about poor turnout. The yarn companies I spoke to were feeling optimistic about their place in this tough economy. It seems like people still want to knit and crochet–especially with lovely handcrafted yarns from independent companies–these were the folks who did best.

I’ve been trying to remember to check up on the Knit and Crochet Today web site to find the URL for my Step by Step socks pattern. It’s there now. You can now download the PDF for free.

I know, I should be done with the holiday baking. But we were invited for dinner at a friend’s house the other night, so I made a batch of cookies to bring along. I also made quick work of eating the extras we had lying around the house. These cookies are dangerous, I have no resistence to them. It’s great to have a go-to vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe. This one is authentic, tollhouse-style, and it’s also easy using standard pantry ingredients.

I made just a few adaptations to Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s recipe from The Post Punk Kitchen blog. I doubled the recipe, and used a 15ml (1 Tablespoon) melon baller to scoop out the dough, which got me about 5 dozen 2-inch cookies. I did not flatten them, the oven took care of that nicely. I also baked at 360 degrees for nine minutes. If you read the PPK post you’ll see lots of comments with ideas for creative adaptation including adding cinnamon, pecans, dried cranberries. I’m sure that would be delicious too, but I’d rather not let anything get between me and a chocolate chip.

We’re back from a week in San Francisco, where we hung out with family, cooked and ate great food, and did a little siteseeing. Selma is studying San Francisco in school, so we took pictures of her in front of landmarks to bring back to her class. Then we had a whirlwind one-day stop in Seattle where we saw friends and visited our favorite West Seattle haunts including the amazing Bakery Nouveau where I had supèrbe chocolate brioche.

Back here in Cordova, it’s a wintery wonderland. There’s lots of snow, and it’s a bit colder than normal, but really beautiful. I’m hoping the skiis James and I got each other for Christmas arrive soon so we can make the most of it. The kids both have skiis and the lake is a nice flat place to ski right outside our door.

I’m only in town for a week and a half, then I head to TNNA (The National Needle Arts Association) trade show. I’ll be working at the Stitch Cooperative booth (#624), and networking a bit. In the meantime, I have to finish up a bunch of editing and crocheting that was set aside during the holidays, so this will be a busy week. (I kept thinking it was Monday all day today, and had to remind myself it was actually Friday!)

Happy New Year, Everyone!