lovely yellow baby blanket

This lovely blanket, knit with Bunny Hop, fits right into the May is Lilac or Yellow theme, and the design fits with today being summer solstice. apparently this is the earliest solstice since 1896... you know it specifially relates to the orientation of the planet in the universe, in relationship to the sun.... go GOOGLE and find out!
anyway, the wonderful free pattern for the blanket is HERE

off to try some curried onion and spinach lentil soup!
L

in the summertime

ha

it's going to be 89 F here today & our air conditioner is not in top condition.
so am thinking summertime... and saw this lovely pattern for a summery shell in bamboozle.

crystal palace yarns free pattern Bamboozle cabled shell

this is very pretty isn't it?

we have a quail family in our yard... i was out looking and picking flowers - like the colors in this shell! and saw daddy quail on card and 8 tiny little ones about the size of a leaf! they scurried away with mom and were soooooo cute! imagine grass less than 2 in high, and one went into the grass and i couldn't see it!

Candy Toes!

These wholly adorable little shoes were knit with Panda Cotton Cinnamon by Catherine M,
whose blog is yogurtandgranola








of course the same yarn was used to make adult socks....


and... there's a special 2nd picture with the shoes. can you figure it out?
hint... see the blog.

Catherine took a web pattern and tweaked it - i think the results are wonderful!

blessings, :L

Bamboozle Ruffles

I think this is gorgeous... and wanted to share. The sweater
is knit with Bamboozle - cotton and bamboo blend-which is very very yummy and soft, as well as machine-washable! The free pattern is
CrystalPalaceYarns Free Bamboozle Ruffled Jacket

you can see how the jacket ruffled front plays off the yummy print colors.

blessings, L

Lilac for May (entry #2 in the May-June-July contest)

These lovely lilac socks were designed AND knit by Monica J. at worksforyarn

They're called "Step into Summer" -

The yarn shown is Panda Cotton - gorgeous !!

You'll be seeing Monica again soon as she also designed and knit some June socks ...

but i wanted to give her another entry instead of both on one page!


good luck Monica

ps - did you know i wear size 8?

... the cobbler's kids have no shoes, the designer has no socks... waaah! LOL

blessings!

0-6 Mo Free baby sock pattern

Adorable Ian again, in his cute panda soy baby socks (color is Cocoa Mint) .














Also shown here are the same socks in Maizy Earth color.




and now you can knit the free pattern Crystal Palace Baby Socks

by the way - Ian in the photo is 15 pounds and 5 mo old... grandma Beth, member of the Crystal Palace Knit-Team, said that the socks were perfect as there was even a little "room to grow".

blessings, :L

ps the pattern is designed for fingering-wt sock yarns, such as Panda Soy, Maizy, Panda Cotton,
and i think Panda Wool and Panda Silk [knitting those now]. You can easily knit it with #2 us needles, or #1.5 depending on what you need for gauge.
remember, babies don't walk! so their socks don't have to be super-dense to stand wear...
just need to be adorable!

............. hmmm. the socks could be plain - the babies are the adorable ones!

blessings, :L

ps there is also a pretty lacey panda silk baby sock on the site at www.straw.com - free patterns!

White for June - entry #1

Here's our first entry already!

The gorgeous hat is by Susi- and the beauty is Isabella in her "blumenhut" - that's
"blooming hat" or "hat with flower blossoms"....

Susi used Merino-5 to make this hat.

i love it!

that roll-brim shape is lovely on many people, but being young and gorgeous makes it even better!

blessings, :L

Solstice Gift - Colors for May, June & July

Hi folks,
well - in previous months i've been able to set the date so the contest rules were at the top of the blog.
blogger has changed things - dating a post "ahead" now means it won't be posted until it's date.
so this note cannot stay at the top of the blog through the contest.......

LOL, you may have noticed that we didn't do a May contest, and haven't announced June yet either.

Soooooooooooooooo, today i'm announcing that until July 31, '08, at 11:59 pm you can enter to win with anything knit in 3 color ranges -=

A. May flowers - lilac/lavender or yellow

B. June brides - white

C. July fireworks - multi-colored

so email me drlauraAsirius@gmail.com with pics and/or links to pics of your knits with Crystal Palace Yarns in any of these colors!

prizes will vary - might be yarn or might be knitting books or might be knitting magazines, but it will be special!

blessings, :L

Finally - the April blog winners

Well, all the delays & fun & games of the past month have meant i'm much slower than intended!
We used a random number generator [as usual] to select the winners: 4. 6. 7
that's

4 = Barbara M, who knit the kiluea sock designed by Adrienne Fong
and

6= Blogger "ShutUpImCounting"
and

7 Insanknitty

so you've each won 2 sk of the new Panda Silk in DK wt, enough for a luscious scarf
or something fun!

Pick from the following colors DK Panda Silk
Misty Meadow 1012
Frosted Iris 9800
Cranberry Tones 8011
Mint Cream 6008
Natural 6204
Denim Tones 8007

I've just finished knitting a sock with the Misty Meadow and another with Cranberry/Natural/Denim, and promise they are luscious!

Please email me proflaura@firststepinternet.com or drlauraAsirius@gmail.com ASAP
so we can get your addies and send your prizes...

blessings, L

Entrelac Evening

I love the look of this shawl - designed by KyleAnn Williams Knitting with KyleAnn


The Entrelac features each of the Merino-5 colors Merino-5 yarn in a lovely interaction, and you know the pattern will
be "user-friendly" as error-free, clear explanations are a key feature of KyleAnn's designs.

Hooray for Kala!

I am so thrilled to share this with you!

Kala P (whose blog is VeganCraftastic has made her Sock Design Debut with this handsome man's sock in Maizy Earth Maizy Colors

The nifty design is called "Trail Mix"... and the sock has the approval of "he who will wear the socks"... so we know they're a hit!
Watch for the Pattern, coming soon at free patterns

I must confess, that with my own DH becoming Vegan, Kala has been a great resource ... so also
look for recipes on her blog! Yum.
:L

Panda Soy Heartstrings

Susan D, owner of Crystal Palace Yarns, has a special treat for you... a new yarn called Panda Soy , which will have it's "official" debut at the upcoming TNNA.

Jackie ES Heartstrings is one of the first to try it out, and has used her marvelous design "Swirling Lace Anklets" (A34) to showcase the yarn.

You can see more wonderful colors of Panda Soy HERE

blessings, :L

Green-Eyed Lady

Do you remember the description of Scarlett O'Hara? She had "flashing green eyes", and that was the inspiration for these lovely socks at TerryRossDesigns






Called "Miss O'Hara", the socks are sure to please even the most finicky, especially since they're
knit with Panda Silk - see the colors HERE

having knit with this yarn myself, i can tell you it's wonderful!

L

new vest in ample sizes!

F

This pretty vest design by Dawn Leesman takes advantage of the wide range of colors in Iceland
Iceland Colors to make a useful wardrobe staple! Bet you'll want more than one!
The Free pattern is HERE.
What colors will you pick?

blessings, :L

pretty baby & knit-team beauty too!

This wonderful sweater in Panda Silk - color card HERE was knit by our Knit-team member Andrea, who lives in the DC area.

smashing knitting, hmmm?

and the wonderful model is Nadia, now 3 months old. Nadia is the precious granddaughter of Susan D. of Crystal Palace Yarns.

Loopy is making more progress on socks!

well, you last saw this yarn in the "hands" ? paws of Loopy and he was trying to get some socks of his own - look through the blog entries below - and now there's a whole Person sock [no sheep sock, sorry] in pretty Sable Panda Cotton.
as well, there's a gorgeous lacey scarf! interesting - blocked so well!
all these treasures are shown in more detail at SaturdayKnitLive so go look!
and ... please, help Loopy have some more clothes.
LOL
Laura

news flash! panda silk runs the marathon

Just amazing.
Love the golden gate design by Suzi and then she made the sock design have extra details to protect your feet.

these Panda Silk socks are sooooooooooooooo beyond cute and kewl and have even been washed 2x after wearing to run!

see more about the marvy socks and the designer HERE on Suzi's blog


blessings, :L

Lovely Radka knits

Hi
the shawl is Panda Silk, a baby shawl, which Radka has just finished knitting, and blocking.
We'll have some more pics of it soon, but it's soooooooooo luscious.!!

The other knit is the sleeve of a baby sweater. Just looking at Radka's attention to detail
and careful work makes me happy... i can see it's just gorgeous and going to be a nice
baby knit!

blessings, :L

May news!! New Kits coming!

What do i have OTN: "on the needles"?
I am doing another version of the sock in these exciting new kits!!

These are pics of the NEW Crystal Palace kits called "Crazy8".
This one is Panda Wool, and is my own knit.
This is a picture of Samantha's model in Panda Cotton.
And this is a picture of Beth's knit model also using Panda Wool.

The plan is to make kits with Panda Cotton, Panda Wool, Maizy, and later Panda Soy!!

The kits will include 5 Crystal Palace DPN plus and 1 full skein of the MC, and enough of 4-5 coordinated colors wound off to make ANY woman's size, and a man's small-to-medium size!!

And i promise it is fun fun fun!!
blessings, :L
ps i also posted this on my own blog SiriusKnitting

Blue is for April

Hi folks,

well this month is blue ... for april showers!! so first here is the panda silk color card with pretty blues!!

Next up is Adrienne Fong's new sock in Panda Silk
Kilauea

and here below are some lovely free designs you can find on the www.straw.com site!!





gorgeous ruffled shawl
http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/scarves/merino5-ruffled-shawl.html

blessings, :L

Blue is for April- more knits!

Waikiki Vest - nice and springy looking! lovely stitch detail. Find the pattern HERE and look at the pretty yarn choices HERE

Taos Squared Vest - the Free pattern is HERE
and the yarn choices, including the neat new ones in earlier blog post! are HERE

I love the look of these Rainbow Kid Merino Socks.. and really want to pick some colors and
knit a pair for myself!
the pattern Cathy used is HERE. All the pretty colors are HERE...
if only i could choose!!
hmmm i think i'd like a Kit!!
:L