Latest blog posts

River Rush Slouch Hat
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
River Rush Slouch Hat size Adult Large (hence the extra slouch on Hedwig) I wish I had a snappy story about this hat, but I really don't; basically, I designed it as a nice unisex number in order to give it away in a gift exchange, but didn't because I (rather stupidly!) made an Adult Large and the…

Boomerang Bags
MelsNattyKnits,
Have you heard about Boomerang Bags? I hadn’t until my friend Jo, who’s heavily involved in sewing them, told me all about this incredible movement. Boomerang Bags is a grassroots, community driven movement  tackling plastic pollution at its source. Volunteers … Continue reading →

Frost on the Windowpane Shawl
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Frost on the Windowpane Shawl To introduce the shawl, I think it's best to start at the beginning: it's a rainy, blustery day, the place is rural Romania, and the year is 1988. Okay, okay, maybe the origins of this piece aren't quite that dramatic... the truth is, I got the idea for the Frost on th…

Rock That Selfie Cowl
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Rock That Selfie Cowl in the farmer's market at Bürkliplatz Okay, I'm scared I'm going to forget to tell you all of the relevant information about this cowl if I ramble on too long beforehand, so let me skip the intro and go straight to the details. First off, then, I made this cowl with a 120 gram…

Lindy’s Shawl
MelsNattyKnits,
Lindy is a member of my spinning group. She’s also an incredibly talented spinner, knitter, crocheter, weaver, and the list goes on. She’s also extremely generous when it comes to sharing her knowledge and skills. Lindy is also an Ashford … Continue reading →

Ramble On Beanie
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Ramble On Beanie Pictured in size Adult Medium Recently, I had the tremendous good fortune of attending the Loch Ness Knit Fest, where I both drank some truly horrendous coffee AND bought this truly spectacular yarn (you can imagine which one was more exciting...). And, like so many beautiful yarns…

More Simple Skyp Socks
MelsNattyKnits,
I have made these socks previously but this pattern appears to be a ‘go to’ pattern for me as the finished socks always look great! It’s a free pattern I found on Ravelry called Simple Skyp Socks and they sure … Continue reading →

Starlight Slouch Hat
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Starlight Slouch Hat pictured in size Adult Medium The story behind this hat is simple: although it's been months since I attended the Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March, I am still struggling to give myself permission to use all of my beautiful yarns (seriously you guys - the best way to give yourse…

Morning Glory Shawl
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Morning Glory Shawl You know when you buy yarn for a hat, but then you get confused and suddenly you're making a shawl instead? Well, that's pretty much the story behind this little number, which is made with roughly 430 yards of the light purple yarn and half as much of both the white and the dark…

Nikki's Slouch Hat
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Nikki's Slouch Hat pictured in size Adult Small/Medium Here's another pretty hat with a simple story: my friend Nikki was struggling to find a nice slouch hat here in Switzerland. Meanwhile, I had just bought some lovely yarns at my local store knowing that they would be *perfect* for something. An…

The Rose is Magical Socks Test Knit
MelsNattyKnits,
Here’s another beautiful sock pattern by Penny Schumers who designs her patterns under the name Knit-by-Bit Designs. I test knitted these socks a few months ago: The Rose is Magical Socks. Penny actually featured some of my pictures on her … Continue reading →

Two Sock Pattern Test Knits
MelsNattyKnits,
It’s been a while since I posted about some of  my sock knits, particularly a couple of test knits. The first is Leaves are Changing Socks by Penny Schumers from Knit-by-Bit Designs. This sock pattern was designed because of Penny’s love … Continue reading →

Follow Your Arrow Shawl
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Follow Your Arrow Shawl First and foremost: a quick thanks to Nikki from Zender Studios for taking these photos for me; you're a doll for helping (and lending me your shoes for the pictures)! And with that being said, let's get to some details about the pattern... ... like the fact that I should pr…

A Random Act of Kindness
MelsNattyKnits,
We’ve all heard about them and we’ve probably all participated in a random act of kindness but usually it involves someone you know. In this case, a random act of kindness I received was from a complete stranger. If you’re … Continue reading →

Single Stripe Mittens
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Single Stripe Mittens pictured in size small Sometimes I buy yarns because they BEG me to bring them home, all puppy dog eyes and soft squishiness. Sometimes I buy yarns because they're on great sale, and I'm my mother's daughter. And sometimes (like this time) I buy yarns because I happen to wande…

Xcellent Adventure Hat
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Xcellent Adventure Hat pictured in small size What can I say about this hat? Well, I guess I could start by mentioning that I still had a skein of this yarn left over after finishing the Rainbow Rib Mitts , and I thought that the variegation of it might work well for a larger project (since the col…

Zigzag Slouch Hat
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Zigzag Slouch Hat Pictured in size small This is another one of those designs that first appeared in my mind half-formed and hazy, and then solidified as soon as I bought the yarn. And while I know I'm reusing some concepts here (I used the same stitch pattern and combination of a solid yarn and a …

Rainbow Rib Mitts
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Rainbow Rib Mitts as seen near an *extremely* green pond thing I keep looking at the hands in these photos and thinking, "dang how did my nails get so long?!?!" (since I'm always the hands in my photos). Then I keep remembering that today, for the first time ever (that's not exactly true - my husba…

Reflecting Pool Cowl
noreply@blogger.com (Gretchen Tracy),
Reflecting Pool Cowl There's no denying it: this is one of those yarns that I bought because my raccoon brain demanded it (okay fine, maybe raccoon isn't accurate - it's not shiny although it's colorful. You get what I mean). And, as always with these yarns, as soon as I got it home I wondered what…