Oak Grove Mitts by Alana Dakos and Simple Sideways Scarf

I don't remember exactly what the yarn is called but I used 3 skeins of hand-dyed Alpaca that I got at the Pennsylvania Farm Show last winter.  I saw that yarn amid all the cows and crafts and pretty much ran over to get some.

 The mitts are the Oak Grove Mitts by Alana Dakos (Never Not Knitting).

 The scarf is made-up by me.  It started out as a crescent shaped shawl with increases worked evenly throughout, but it turned out very long and skinny, so a scarf it wanted to be!  It is stockinette stitch with a simple applied border (worked sideways) from Nicky Epstein's Knitting On The Edge.

Gnarled Oak by Alana Dakos

This is the Gnarled Oak Cardigan by Alana Dakos.  The pattern is in the Coastal Knits book.  The yarn is Elfin Tweed by Knit One Crochet Two.

I wasn't in love with the loose fit of the design, but I did love the yoke, so the first thing I did was make a gauge swatch and plan for a more fitted sweater.

Ummmm that didn't work out.  The finished sweater is a bit shorter and wider than I wanted, but I'm ok with it.  I think my gauge swatch was too small to be totally accurate, so that accounts for the larger body.  The length I have no excuse for... I guess I just got lazy and didn't think I really needed that extra inch.

I looked in a few stores for a long sleeved tee to wear underneath.  I couldn't find anything in a good color, and then I rediscovered this in my closet.  Perfect!  Also, either the tee has stretched a bit in the wash or I've slimmed down a tad because it no longer feels tight.

As always, I LOVE that the sleeves of my hand-knits are long enough for my chimp arms.

 Blech, bad photos.  :-(  I thought it was a good day since it was overcast, but my son was kind of standing in the doorway, and I guess the brightness of the sky silhouetted me.  I still have much to learn about photography and lighting.

 And one more closeup to show the gorgeous oak leaf texture of the yoke.  The other photos capture the true color of the yarn better, though.

As a little side note: I chose this yarn because I used Knit One Crochet Too's Kettle Tweed for a gift for my mom recently, and I really enjoyed working with it.  This yarn has all the same fiber content but was slightly less silky in my hands.  It was still perfectly enjoyable - just not quite at the zen level of the Kettle Tweed.  I am curious why.  Perhaps something with the kettle dye process of the former.