Willowherb Pullover

By Marine MacLean

I designed the Willowherb Hat and Mittens set early this year after falling in love quatrefoil cable pattern I found in one of my stitch dictionaries.

Willowherb Hat and Mitts

Since I loved knitting the accessories so much, I floated the idea of doing a sweater, to Kristi, and she suggested using some Paulie Worsted. I did a fair number of sketches, trying to decide what I wanted to do with the motifs. I knew I didn't want an all-over pattern. I think the motif is most interesting when it's used sparsely. I also liked the idea of an asymmetrical design, and that's when the idea of grouping 4 of the motifs came together. 

The pattern is designed so that the widest part of the motif cluster, hits at your natural waist. Combined with waist shaping darts, the piece really helps to create an hourglass appearance. 

The next big challenge was making sure the motifs were to scale, even in the larger sizes. The pattern is offered from a 32" bust to a 60" bust, and I didn't want the motifs that looked great in the 30-40" range to get lost in the 50-60" range. I scaled up the motifs for the larger sizes to give a more uniform appearance across the full range of sizes.  Since the larger motifs also add length to the garment, petite-plus women can always use the smaller motifs along the body, to shorten the torso, and use the larger motifs around the yoke, to fit their bust.

I include plenty of fitting tips and suggestions like this throughout the pattern, and hope knitters will really adapt this pattern to make it their own.

It was a real pleasure designing this piece and, of course, I love working with Kristi and her yarns. I hope knitters enjoy this piece as much as I enjoyed designing it. 

Look for a Shalimar Etsy update soon to order your yarn for this sweater. 

Join Falling (S)leeves - a Shalimar Sweater Adventure KAL on our Ravelry forum. 

Penultimate - just one more

Ranger Cookies and the Penultimate Beanies

Here is recipe for the irresistible Ranger Cookies that I have been baking since my little farm girl days and a hat. Both are so yummy I bet you can't eat or make just one.  Once you get started you just can't quit.  Just one more.  This has happened twice in the past week.

I've gathered all my bits and remnants of Breathless DK and Enzo Worsted and started making hats.  I love making hats. I searched my Ravelry projects and realized I have almost 100 hats. Some knitters make socks, some shawls - I make hats. They are quick projects.  They are extremely practical, as we play outside in the winter.  It is the best way my sons can wear Mom's knits.  Michael has a drawer in the bench by the door filled with my hats.  He chooses one every day as he heads out.  Brian has one in his glove box and one in every coat pocket.  I've made them for gifts for my son's friends.  They are the perfect baby gift for all my girlfriends that are becoming Grandmother's.  Hats are perfect for that single skien in the perfect color you couldn't resist.  Hats are a practical use for using up the rest of your sweater yarn.  There is something so satisfying about knitting every bit of yarn.  It must be the frugal farm girl somewhere still inside me.

I sat down with my stitch dictionaries and an idea.  I'm not new at improvising hat designs like this, but I am relatively new at challenging myself to publish a pattern that others can use.  My first couple attempts were discovery missions.  Not quite right, but getting closer.  I use an ideas from this try and another from this try and add one more and I've got a pattern I willing to knit. My hat needs to teach a  technique or stitch, be easy to fit, and include a couple of extras. In this case I have a Contrast Stitch Cast on, a non-traditional brim (it's not ribbing), slip stitch and a icord button top.  That will keep me interested as I knit.   I'm trying to make notes as I go so I can tell you all the story correctly as I write the pattern.  

Hat number one is finished in fresh shades of green - Sprout, Loden and Oyster.  Cute as can be and so soft.   Breathless DK is truly a luxurious yarn.  It will really make a special baby gift.  Now I'm really stoked to make another.

I go back at it again with a new color combination and a slightly improved method of doing the crown decreases.  This is brightly color adding the pink, but still using the the sprout and oyster combination.  I'm going to need to find a cute little tyke to model this.  My neighbor has the cutest little boys.

Then it was time to test the larger sizes.  How about making one for myself?  I've used the lovely shade of Oyster for the highlights in the other sizes.  How about using it for the main hat color on this one?  What I learned from my quilting days is that the trapunto work and surface texture created with the quilting shows off much better on a light background.  I really want the woven stitch to show along with colored slip stitch sections.  But what to use with it?  I have an beautiful skien of Enzo Worsted in Gunmetal.  I lovely color combo - but what about DK vs. Worsted?  Enzo is a light worsted.  I hold them together and decide to try.  It works.

Penultimate is a hat pattern in 5 sizes from tiny to extra large using Breathless DK.  Penultimate is the next to last.  It means I'm not quite finished yet and need to do one more. 

You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

It's the same for these cookies.   Here is recipe for the irresistible Ranger Cookies that I have been baking since my little farm girl days and a hat so yummy I bet you can't make just one.

Ranger Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed, light or dark


1 cup granulated sugar


1 teaspoon vanilla


1 teaspoon salt


2 large eggs


2 cups whole wheat flour


1/2 teaspoon baking powder


1 teaspoon baking soda


1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats 


1 cup shredded coconut


1 cup raisins

3 cups wheat flakes or cornflakes

Beat together the butter and sugars, vanilla and salt until fluffy; add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth.  

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda; add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until well blended. Stir in the oats, coconut, raisins, and cereal, mixing just until blended.

  Drop the dough by large cookie scoopful onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake the cookies in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they're golden brown. 

Marnie MacLean designs for Shalimar

Marnie's generous design hand created two designs for the Shalimarch anniversary celebration.  Thank You so much.  

This mitten and hat pair is called Willowherb uses Enzo Worsted.  These mittens have a fun story she writes about on her blog.  

 Estival is a stunning two color lace shawl.  

It can be created from Zoe, Breathless, Paulie or Homage - the collection of fingering weight from Shalimar.  Marnie has shared other brilliant color options with us in another blog post.  

The Shalimarch celebration was not the first time Marnie designed with Shalimar yarns.  This is Arctium using Breathless.  

This is Cowl and hat set is Treillage using Haven.

Marnie MacLean lives in Portland, Oregon with her three rescued dogs and her husband. She has been designing for over a decade and has a large library of free and for-sale patterns on her website, http://marniemaclean.com. She is also a production assistant and designer for Twist Collective  http://twistcollective.com.

Marnie, Thanks for sharing your designs with all the fans of Shalimar yarns.  We hope to see more.  

Shenandoah Fiber Festival

Shalimar Yarns be at the Shenandoah Fiber Festival this Saturday and Sunday in beautiful Berryville, VA. We are so excited to be there and will have a new larger space which means we will have LOTS more yarn for you to choose from. We will be located in booths 7 & 8 of the Dairy Barn.

New for this year we will have a lovely selection of Knit Ready Kit’s. We know it can be hard to choose yarn and patterns while being overwhelmed with the cuteness of sheep, yarn and fibery goodness at a festival (and let’s not forget about the fried twinkies…). We have taken the work out of it by pairing up some of your favorite yarns with easy to knit patterns.

We will have:

The Outer Limit’s which is a brand new pattern being released this week. The kit includes the pattern and two 50 gram skeins of Breathless which is enough to make one hat.

Monkey Jacobus who is an absolutely adorable and fun seamless knit. Knit him up after the festival and you will be ahead on your holiday gift list. The kit includes our new Enzo Sport and eyes, just add stuffing!

Oktoberfest in Breathless DK. This is a super easy to knit cowl that uses just one skein of Breathless DK.

Jo March Mitt’s in Honey Worsted.

Loxly Gauntlet’s by Linda Wei.

Foolproof by Louise Zass-Bangham

We will also be bringing Enzo Worsted, Enzo Sport, Breathless, Breathless DK, Breathless Lace, Paulie and a special selection of “Lost Souls” in Zoe which will be in our sale basket.

Test Base-Tight Twist DK Color Affection Kit-Blues Join our Slofock KAL done in Breathless DK Quick Links   Facebook Ravelry Group Website Next Etsy Update Breathless DK! Visit our Etsy Shop beginning: Friday, Jan. 11, 9am EST - Friday, Jan. 18, 7pm EST And we have some Suprises in this Update...New colors of Breathless DK, a variety of test bases from this past year, and one-of-a-kinds in Breathless, Honey Worsted and one-of-a-kind Color Affection Kits. Make sure to watch our Facebook page for weekly announcements of some really fun stuff we'll be adding! It's not too late to join the Slofock KAL! Hosted in Knitspot's Ravelry Group! We're using Breathless DK-two skeins for the hat and mitts! Breathless DK Content: 75% SW Merino/15% Cashmere/10% Silk Yardage: 270 *All yarn is available and will ship before or by Jan. 19th Shalimar Yarns' Etsy Shop Thanks for supporting small, independent fiber-arts businesses! Kristi Shalimar Yarns

Breathless DK

Join our Slofock KAL done in Breathless DK Haven in Adiri by Julia Trice A couple of Slofockers Quick Links Blog Facebook Ravelry Group Website Introducing New Breathless DK! Visit our Etsy Shop beginning: Tuesday, Dec. 18, 9am EST - Sun., Dec. 23, 7pm EST Breathless DK, our newest offering, is a luscious blend of 75% Superwash Merino/15% Cashmere/10% Silk that will blow your mind! We'll have 14 colors available, including 5 NEW colors! At a hefty 270 yards, Breathless DK is the ultimate luxury yarn for shawls, wraps, accessories, baby duds and sweaters. And join our Slofock KAL, hosted in Knitspot's Ravelry group, beginning Jan. 11th. We're using Breathless DK - two skeins for the hat and mitts makes a wonderful gift or keeper! Also on our Etsy Update, back by popular demand, we're offering a 10% discount on all preordered Haven. Julia Trice is offering a 10% discount on the three individual Adiri patterns: the Adiri slouchy hat, Adiri, and the Adiri Cowl. Enter the code “shalimarupdate” any time between now and the end of the update on December 23rd to receive the discount. You can use the code multiple times - ‘tis the season!  *All yarn will ship by Jan. 3rd Shalimar Yarns' Etsy Shop Thanks for supporting small, independent fiber-arts businesses!

A Hat for your Honey - Worsted That is!

Have you been searching for the perfect hat pattern to use with Honey Worsted? The search is over!   Anne Hanson has designed a hat for everyone, the slofock.  The pattern has sizes to fit every family member and also includes a matching mitt pattern. 

Best yet it uses only one skein of our Honey Worsted!  Honey Worsted is our superwash worsted with a generous 250 yards.  It's machine washable with a soft and sqooshy hand, Honey Worsted is a versatile yarn for sweaters, accessories and afghans. Available in all 50 colorways.

 This versatile hat looks great knit up in both our variegated and Stonewash colorways.

Shown here in Black Truffle.

The brim can be folded up to keep ears extra warm when winter winds are blowing too.

I love all the ways this hat can be worn. Be sure to check out Anne's blog for pictures of David in his slofock.

Thank you to Anne for this fantastic design using Honey Worsted!

Cheers! ~ Lara