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New Design: The Inverness Shrug

At last, one of the "secret knitting" projects I've been working on recently can be shared with the rest of the world! I am super-excited to share my newest design: the Inverness Shrug.
It's knit in one of my favorite yarn bases from Bijou Basin Ranch, Himalayan Trail (for more about why I love this yarn, click here!). I was asked to design this shrug to be part of their Outlander-inspired pattern collection, and when I think of time-traveling historical romances, apparently I think "textured cables" (confession time: I haven't read the books or watched the TV show...but I've read the cliff's notes). I just couldn't get them out of my mind as I knit swatch after swatch to find the perfect stitch pattern for this shrug.
Though I have many designs in my back catalog, this is my first-ever garment. I was actually kind of nervous about it, even though a shrug is basically like dipping your toe in the garment pool, right?! Still, the challenge of grading the pattern for a variety of sizes (seven, to be exact) was both interesting and terrifying at once. SO. MUCH. MATH. Not only that, but I was a bit of a nervous nelly throughout the whole process and kept checking and re-checking my numbers over and over again. It was bordering on OCD!
Once the shrug was done, I was so relieved - especially when I went to try it on and IT FIT! Well, it was a little big on me, but it fits the model in the first photo perfectly, which was the plan all along, so I am counting this as a win!
It's currently available at www.bijoubasinranch.com as an exclusive project kit (bonus: you'll save over 15%!),  and it will be available for individual PDF purchase soon.


These kits will also be available in the Bijou Basin Ranch booth at YarnCon here in Chicago next weekend (April 18-19, 2015), and I'll be helping out in the booth for most of the time, so come by and say hello!



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