Camellia Wrap | PDXKnitterati

I finished the Dotty socks yesterday afternoon, and immediately drove them over to my friend Doreen’s house. They’re for her birthday tomorrow, and it’s snowing and icing this weekend. I wanted to beat the weather, and I did!

I didn’t take an FO picture, but she did! Our planned dinner out tonight is OFF, but at least she’s cozy.

This photo popped up in my Facebook memories today. It was blocking day for my Camellia Wrap, and for the unpublished striped bed socks. That Camellia Wrap is one of my favorite things to wear, fantastic drape and swing. And apparently there were two of those striped socks…I wonder where they went? They weren’t in the drawer with the orange/purple prototypes that I frogged. Maybe I already gave them away as a gift? I don’t recall.

Remember the Ann Norling Fruit Cap pattern from eons ago? I knit a whole bunch about 20 years ago; they were my go to baby gift for a while. I can’t find the pattern in my house, so I winged it. Pretty close, I think. This is for a baby shower on Monday that may be iced out. Oh, weather.

I actually knit two of them because there’s a baby due at church, too. I bought a skein of Malabrigo Rios in Ravelry Red, what a great color. I paired it with Ivy that was leftover in my stash from designing for my Brioche Knit Love book. Rios is one of my favorite yarns. Lovely colors, not expensive.

I knit these on a US7; I started with a US6 but it was firmer than I wanted. I use a 6 for all my Rios brioche, but not for stockinette, I guess!

Inclement weather is great for knitting productivity. Now I only have one project on my needles again (having four was definitely outside my monogamous knitter comfort zone). What are the other two projects? One is done, and I’ll let you know about both of them in a bit.

But I think it’s also time to swatch for the When Harry Met Lucy sweater KAL, finally!

I’ve been working on a project for Knit Picks IDP (Independent Designer Partnership) program. They’ve begun doing monthly IDP showcases, and I applied to feature my Cherry Blossom Wrapture for their March “green” showcase. This meant that all I needed to do was to knit a sample in Knit Picks yarn. Easy, right?

The colors I chose didn’t want to play along. I think the stronger colors I chose required a simpler, less busy layout. I ended up writing a new pattern, Camellia Wrap. Camellia Wrap is a streamlined version of Cherry Blossom Wrapture. It’s simpler in that there’s just one way to lay out the colors, and there’s only one lace motif for the logs. I did all the thinking so you don’t have to; you just get to knit!

I chose the name Camellia Wrap because I envisioned photographing the wrap in front of a friend’s camellia hedge. Apparently the hedge didn’t want to cooperate either; it will probably be in full bloom in mid-March. See the single blossom above Sharon’s head?

The pattern is available for purchase through the Knit Picks Independent Design Partnership here.

The pattern is also available for purchase through Ravelry downloads, link here.

The pattern is also available through this link to my Payhip store, link here.

On Ravelry and Payhip, you can use the coupon code blooms for 15% off your purchase.

If you previously purchased Cherry Blossom Wrapture, you can get the Camellia Wrap pattern for free! I sent out an update to previous buyers with a special code.

In case you’re wondering, this is what the camellia hedge looks like in full bloom. This is Rosaria, my design for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL in 2014. I was working with Knit Picks for a March 1 launch, so I couldn’t wait for the mass bloom effect. Maybe later…

Just keep knitting…