Osborn Fiber Studio

More wolves today! As Mom described in yesterday’s post, my little sis has been into wolves for a long time. She has also developed a blazing love for cats, and her own beloved Kirby-dog is about as un-wolfish as they can get. Basically, if you are a member of the animal kingdom, this kid is on your side. But wolves are still high on the list.

This is my third or fourth year making something wolf/dog-themed for Bethany for Christmas. But this year she is 12, entering into teenagehood in a few short months. She’s almost as tall as her other older sister, and is starting into that awkward phase where self-consciousness and insecurity sometimes seem like almost insurmountable foes. I think even our own strong-willed little B will have struggles weathering that storm we call coming-of-age.

I still remember being in college the first time our middle sister, Leah at age 12, confronted me with “stop treating me like a little kid!” I was thunderstruck, and stopped indeed. I find myself determined avoid the same mistake with the youngest sibling.

So this year, I wanted to find something wolvish that was a little more grown-up. You can imagine my surprise and delight, then, to find just the ticket in a beautiful fair-isle hat based on a Little House book.

Pattern Review: Laura and the Wolf is a simple, tasteful, beautiful fair-isle hat. It has the added benefit of being free. It’s the designer’s first pattern, and she did a great job of selecting and balancing colors, and creating attractive motifs. Fourteen wolf faces stare out from the first fair isle section, and I decided to make them dark brown. My one warning is to watch yourself at the crown decreases; she uses an unusual symbol three blocks wide to represent a centered double decrease. I would have been saved ripping back the first few crown rows several times if I had just read the key, of course.

It is a beautiful crown pattern, though, and quite worth getting right. I used some of my Jamieson & Smith leftovers from Sheep Heid and The Sweater, which are custom-made for something like this. I did regular ribbing on the band instead of twisted ribbing, but only because I (again) didn’t actually read the pattern.

Merry Christmas, B! I pray that growing up brings you new joys, and that you are always proud of your dearest passions, even as they change along with you.