Maizie!

Good morning, everyone! The sun is up, the air is clean and the weekend is upon us. I hope you all have fabulous plans that include time for knitting, especially with cool and comfortable plant-based fibers like luxurious linen.

If you know me, you know how fond I am of Quince & Co, particularly Sparrow, their 100% organic linen offering. I’ve worked up several projects in this yarn, including the recently published Lanai Tee for Creative Knitting magazine. I love the cool dry feeling of knitting with linen and, though I’m a devotee of bouncy woolen yarns like merino, I have a summer soft spot for the crisp, stretch free quality of linen yarn. Its lack of elasticity produces pleasingly odd shaped stitches that create an overall feeling of rusticity and naturalness.

I guess it’s not a surprise that I’ve chosen Sparrow for my latest pullover, Maizie. She’s been a long time coming with lots of time for shifting, tweaking and tightening up. I am so grateful for the talents of Tipsy Knitter Dana M. for her extraordinary work! Thanks, Dana!

Maizie is a sweet, simple lightweight sweater designed to be knit in easy wearing linen. Maizie is worked seamlessly from the lacy yoke down and features a rolled edge with twisted ribbing. A wide picture neckline and 3/4 length sleeves complete this hip summer sweater.

Linen yarn is wonderful for creating garments that are dry and comfortable to wear while providing excellent drape. Maizie’s boho, paisley-inspired lace motif, drawn from fields of corn, is a pleasure to knit in linen. Its stiffness imparts a sweetness to the openwork stitches yet creates superb drape through the fields of flat stockinette. And it gets softer each time it is laundered, taking on a brushed, suede-like quality with age. Style Maisie with everything from soft cotton skirts to shorts and jeans for an effortless summer look.

This week, I’d like to welcome Maizie by offering this pattern free through the end of tomorrow, Saturday, July 14. Just head over to my Ravelry shop, pop Maizie into your shopping cart and enter the coupon code CORNFIELD2 at checkout. Then cast on! (Feel free to share a link to this page with your friends, but please don’t give out the coupon code. It helps me a lot when folks come here to visit.) If you like these little discounts (I usually offer them on Friday mornings) and are interested in my work, I’d love to see you over at the new Ravelry group Friends of Littlechurch Knits. Until we meet again, happy knitting!