Forest for the trees towel

TreeTowel2

This is Amy Marie Vold’s new pattern, “Forest for the Trees Towel.” It’s meant to commemorate the centennial celebration of the National Park Service. The Service was created by the joint efforts of lots of folks, even though President Teddy Roosevelt is who we mostly remember. Yep. August 25,1916 was the big day. We have commemorative coins this year and we have Amy Marie’s pattern. I know which will be more fun for me.

The pattern provides lots of knitters’ choice. Amy Marie charts and gives line-by-line directions for six slip stitch tree motifs. The knitter chooses which to knit and in what order. I selected four of the six for my towel.

TreeTowel5

I used Knit Picks Dishie in the Kenai and Swan colorway and ended up with a 25 by 12 inch towel. Dishie isn’t as beefy as the Sugar ‘r Cream the pattern calls for. There would have been more width with an Aran weight kitchen cotton.

TreeTowels3

Ever since completing this piece, as one of Amy Marie’s test knitters, I’ve been daydreaming about putting the pattern on steroids and knitting a slip stitch throw for the cottage. You couldn’t get too much more “up north” than snuggling up under that on a chilly evening.

Amy Marie’s not dishcloths

Eiffel2

This is Eiffel Towel (pun intended). It’s one of Amy Marie’s (CornucopiAmy on Ravelry) newer patterns. It’s 11 inches by 19 inches and I am using it as the kitchen towel it is. I knit mine in Knit Picks Dishie. One and one-quarter balls of the main color (Swan) and three-quarters of a ball of the green (Kenai). I’ve never been to Paris, but I definitely enjoyed knitting the City’s iconic tower as a towel.

I could have blocked this straight, but decided not to bother. It’s a towel, after all. And it’s not really curling at the top. Eiffel Towel was long enough that I couldn’t photograph it in my small studio without it overlapping the place where the background bends upward.

Next is Amy Marie’s newest mosaic-knit design: Celebration Cake Trivet. This one is my Red Velvet version, again in Dishie.

red_cake_trivet

It’s just about 11 inches square and will look great under whatever cake I’m celebrating with. Some Ravelers decided to knit the flames in yellow or gold, but I stayed with the bare bones version.

And I so enjoyed the experience of knitting it that I decided to knit a dark chocolate version too.

chocolate_cake_trivet2

Dishie, and most of the major kitchen cottons, come in such a variety of colors that it’s tempting to knit up as many trivets as the kinds of cakes you bake. Let’s see, it’s actually very rare that I’d bake a cake. So, it’s tempting to knit up as many trivets as the kinds of cakes I’d buy.

For now, I’m well-satisfied with these two.

brown_cakepair

Sticking to the non-dishcloth kitchen cotton theme, these are Amy Marie’s Some Bunny’s Bib.

white_bunnybib

green_bunnybib

So sweet. And they are very serviceable items for the ever-messy babes in your neck of the woods. These are generously sized, about 9.5 inches wide and 8 inches to the neck bind off.

Two balls of Lily’s Sugar ‘n Cream worked up both these bibs, with about half an ounce of each color left.

bunnybibs