While prepping for our January tradeshow, I tasked our resident pattern designer Susan with the task of finding some beautiful patterns that would work well in our Maharani Silk yarn.  She went above and beyond when she unearthed this beauty, the Nara Fingerless Mitten pattern.  She whipped them in 1 skein of our Maharani Silk yarn and the end result is nothing short of stunning. I love the intricate stitch design. These would be perfect for to wear in early spring or fall weather too. To learn more about this project, visit our ravelry page here. We knit ours up in colorway Key Lime Pie.

I just returned Tuesday from San Diego, where our big winter yarn tradeshow was held. It was a blast as usual, although especially exhausting this year, being preggars!  The 70 degree weather was definitely a highlight as well as catching up with all of my favorite yarn store owners and designers. It always flies by!  Here are some pics from our week in California.

A California sunrise spotted on my morning run. Insane!

This pom pom/driftwood prop I made was a big hit. The best part was that it took me almost no time to whip up!

Catching up with my yarn bestie Tricia Drake of Tricky Knits. Love her so much!

We had about 10 new patterns and knits to show off at the show! This being one of them, how gorgeous. Knit up in our Maharani Silk in color Key Lime Pie. Stay tuned for lots of new patterns coming soon!

In early July, I discovered an amazing thing, vintage PDF pattern downloads on Etsy. Genius! I love the instant gratification of immediately owning and starting these pattern gems. A favorite etsy shop of mine is Cemetarian La Dolce Vintage Digital. I bought the Lacey Cloud Top crochet pattern there and thought it would work divinely in our Maharani Silk yarn. The pattern was a little cryptic as I suspect many a vintage pattern are. There's no finished measurements given and the gauge information isn't super clear. I ended up having to add many rounds before dividing for the armholes and made other design changes like short sleeves. If anyone would like me to write up the pattern I ended up using, let me know by leaving a blog comment. It is very simple!  I love the finished garment and can't wait to wear it this weekend for the long weekend.

Vintage inspiration!