Wow, what a week – can’t believe it is already Friday! As you may have seen, Atlanta’s been making national news for our amazing powers of traffic jam and a few of us were even a part of it, with only one out of four employees who left the shop at noon on Tuesday actually making it home with their cars. But the roads are clear again, we’ve all been reunited with our vehicles, and everyone here is safe and a bit stir-crazy from our snow days. Which means we’re powering out those orders y’all have been placing! As of this writing, nearly all of the orders placed through today are on the mail truck finally winging their way towards you, and we really appreciate your patience and the kind thoughts our customers have sent our way.

But it wouldn’t be Friday without my rambling pattern ideas, right?

All of this cold means I’m really still on a scarf and cowl kick – anything to stay warm. Knitterella’s Chevron Stripe cowl is super chic and includes an option for a basic two-color cowl or a four-color infinity cowl.

Chevron Stripe is knit in the round to create an extra squooshy reversible fabric, and even better, no weaving in ends!

A lot of Stephen West’s patterns are a little more … fashion forward … than my usual style, but I absolutely love Tungata. Folded over double, this cowl is warm, reversible, and so pretty!

You can knit this with either two or three colors depending on how complex you’d like the design to be, and the reversible back can be a solid color, striped, or really anything you like.

I absolutely love this Walt-Painted Baby Blanket (maybe I’m in a Chevron phase) from Fibre Space (which is a really great yarn shop to visit if you’re ever in Northern VA!).

You can knit this with really as many colors as you’d like and you only need two skeins for the main color and 1 for any contrast colors. The texture is a great feature and I kind of love this color combo!

Gradient is a free pattern from ShibuiKnits that indulges many of my knitting guilty pleasures – an easy, fairly mindless knit, fuzzy super-soft yarn, and a gradient rainbow of colors.

Gradient uses three strands of Silk Cloud held together in four colors to create this circular gradient beauty – periodically you’ll change the color of just one strand at a time to achieve this effect.

And then there is the latest in this series, Nursery Cat! We are big fans of Window Cat at ESK, so I’m sure you’ll be seeing some Nursery Cats around the shop soon.

It’s cold, y’all! It’s so cold! And I know, it’s winter, it’s supposed to be cold, yada yada yada, but this is Georgia and this isn’t how we like to roll. One astute Yarnathoner informed me last week that it was at that moment colder in Atlanta than in Moscow. So indulge me, my house isn’t very well insulated, more than a decade south of the Mason-Dixon line has thinned my native-New-Englander blood to an embarrassing degree, and my fingers are kind of numb.

I want mittens and cowls and warm sweaters, because after years of winters with a low of, say, 30 degrees Fahrenheit, I don’t own a real winter jacket anymore.

(Oh, I also want you to send in your trivia answers! Today’s the day! Trivia at esk (spelled out) dot com! And I apologize for any confusion over the e-mail address but spammers are to blogs like moths to a flame so we are speaking in code here, but please visit us on Ravelry if you are having trouble understanding the right address.

Such a Winter’s Day really encapsulates everything I feel about the season right now. Worsted weight, wool, big warm neck, just, cozy. So cozy I will probably forgive it for being such a pain to knit – all-over textured patterns, lovelovelove the look, lovelovelove the warmth, always dread the knitting a little bit.

These kinds of wide, almost boat-neck-style cowl necks are great, too – I am one of those people who feels like they’re chocking in turtlenecks, but if you see above, I am also always freezing any time it dips below 65 degrees, so this is a pretty classic sweater that will get a lot of wear for the effort. I’d knit it in something that will wear well since it seems like such a great every day sweater.

Blue Sand Cardigan is something I favorited last week, when it was less cold so this seemed like the perfect beautiful accessory for a brisk evening. It still is, of course, though looking at it right now makes me cold!

I love what you could do with this color-wise – knit it in color blocks as shown, or maybe do one color for the main bit and a contrast color for the pockets and hems and button bands, or even in smaller or random striping patterns!

The sample is shown in a DK cotton, which would be perfect for fall/spring in a warmer climate, and of course wool makes all of us happy.

I’d never seen Hedgerow Jam until a lovely Yarnathoner posted a picture of her in-progress “new-to-you” KAL project, but I queued it immediately. If you haven’t tried mosaic knitting, it is seriously fun – colorwork without any of the work! – and this pattern is quite stunning.

Worked in a superwash worsted weight, this project is a great stashbuster for those of you into that kind of thing. And it’s cozy. Did I mention cozy?

Sunriver Reversible Cowl is, well, reversible. (It’s also free, until 5PM today.) Which gives us two advantages – one is it’s reversible. The other is that means the fabric is doubly-thick, which will keep our necks even warmer. And it’s knit in Juniper Moon Farm’s Moonshine, which is seriously soft *and* seriously warm. Let’s just say that I’m grabbing a skein to go with my leftovers from my Portside.

Pinctada. Cables, cables, and more cables. Give me all the cables. Seriously, why don’t I own more cowls?

This one takes just one skein of Pashmina and turns it into an elegant, classic bit of knitting that your co-workers will ooh and aah over. Knit it in a neutral like the sample, or pick something bold like new color Purple Basil!

Today’s Friday Five is also brought to you by my steeking research for this quarter’s knit-a-long, because for me, no pattern searching is complete without somehow ending up queueing a bunch of patterns that are not even remotely like the pattern you are looking for. Somehow, while searching for a first steeking project, I ended up also finding several cowls, two pullovers, a couple of hats, and some mittens I was so excited about I purchased the pattern and cast-on before even finding what I was originally looking for.

But our first pattern is a very special one, designed by one of our favorite customers. If you’ve ever been in the store, you’ve probably met Tiffany who works the retail store full-time and is our go-to girl for color combos, yarn substitutions, and pattern help of all kinds. Well, Lynn wanted to say a big thanks for all of the help she’s given over the years, and so her new Alessia Cowl is named after Tiffany’s adorable 14 month old daughter!

And it’s not just another pretty face – this cowl is a quick but interesting knit that carries a variegated yarn well and takes just 2-3 skeins of Malabrigo Worsted!

 Tar is a really cute pullover I wandered across that would be perfect for our climate – lightweight in its yarn choice of Shibui Heichi, a 100% silk tweed worsted weight, but with enough coverage to keep off the chill that creeps in at night and in the early morning of fall and spring.

The super casual silhouette and loose fit is flattering with jeans, which is pretty much all I wear, but could also be dressed up with heels or even (gasp) a skirt! It also seems like it takes relatively little yardage for a sweater due to the loose gauge so it could really stretch those skeins; the largest size of 52″ only takes 12 of the half-size skeins!

The Lightbulb Cap is, in a word, adorable, and perfect for the slightly quirky electricity-lover in your life. (I don’t know about you, but I have at least three friends of this variety, which may say as much about me as them.)

Calls for a sportweight yarn and would even be a good stash buster if you’ve got partial skeins of two colors sitting around. Or, for added light bulb enthusiasm (and night-time safety), knit it in Edison Bulb!

 You know you need another open-front cardigan. Or maybe just a good, mindless knit for taking to knit group. Or, if you’re like me, both. Fog & Whisper will be your new cozy friend.

The pattern calls for holding tosh mo light with tosh merino light, but I think it would be just as cozy with TML held double, or knit up in a slightly heavier weight (Pashmina? Shepherd Sport? An amazing evolution of color in Kauni’s Effektgarn?) and skipping the whole business of holding things double.

I definitely took a steeking detour to start SpillyJane’s newest Sparkle Mittens. These are SO MUCH FUN.

Really. Look at them. Look how much fun. I was sold as soon as I read that you could knit them with partial skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino. I have been trying to figure out for a year what to do with my leftover balls of this and Manos Silk Blend from my Rust & Stone Cardigan. I love these colors; they’re so fun together, and this pattern is perfect for them. Most cheerful mittens ever.

(These other ones are sort of a relative mitten she released at the same time, also for partials of Silky Merino, if they’re more your style. I kind of love both.)

You get a bonus pattern today, because this Owl in a Teacup is sort of amazing.

(Psst, don’t forget to send in your trivia answers today!)