Don't forget to go enter the blogiversary pattern giveaway here!

One of the gift knits I made during May was a Cabernet Infinity Scarf in Madelinetosh Tart. I knit it for my mom, and doing that turned out to be a very lucky decision!

A little backstory - at the beginning of May I decided I would knit Window to my Soul and Pressed Leaves for Mad May. I figured a fingering weight cardigan and a complex leaf cable motif hat were more than enough to keep me busy. I know, I know, I should have known that I would stray from my plans. Anyway, I never really planned to knit a Cabernet Scarf, but a friend talked me in to it and I'm so glad she did.

I frantically cast on a Cabernet Scarf in Dahlia after a battle with my Window sweater. Almost immediately, I fell in love with the stitch pattern. It's beyond beautiful! As soon as I finished, I knew I wanted to knit a cowl for my mom too. As much as it pained me to do it, I had a skein of Tosh DK in Tart in my stash that I knew would be just perfect. If you're not familiar, Tart is this incredible (and I mean a-maz-ing) deep, complex red. It's seriously unreal. While I really love Tart, I can buy another skein. Only the best for my mom!

Monika Sirna (the designer of the Cabernet series) hosted a celebration in her Ravelry group on May 24th. Anyone that had a current WIP of one of her patterns and posted a picture in the celebration thread was eligible. So I entered my Tart Cabernet cowl. Naturally, I also entered my FO in the Mad May KAL thread. Imagine my surprise when I won prizes in both threads! I was totally shocked and obviously really excited. I think it's the universe's way of paying me back for giving away a hand knit made with Tart. Thanks universe - you keep this up and I'll be knitting gifts left and right. You might even get some Tart.

Project Details:
Pattern: Cabernet Infinity Scarf by Monika Sirna
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh DK, Tart
Needles: US 6 (4mm)

Have you knit any gifts recently? What were they? Were they well received?

I haven't made any progress at all on my Mad May sweater, but I did finish a cowl!

May is crazy, or maybe I am. Since my first post about Mad May, I've finished one project, ripped out the other, and have started two more. And for some reason, I'm still under the delusion that I'm going to finish them all in the next 3 weeks.

One of the new projects I cast on is a Cabernet Scarf. It's one of the official MadMay KALs. I'm using Tosh DK in Dahlia, leftover from my Calligraphy Cardigan. I've been eyeing the Cabernet patterns by Monika Sirna since they were published last year. The full series includes a cowl pattern (in 3 yarn weights and 4 sizes), a hat pattern (in 3 yarn weights and 6 sizes) and a shawl pattern. The cowl pattern comes as one pdf with all of the weights and sizes, which I find really nice. As a bonus, it's also 10% off until the 15th with coupon code "MadMay2013". I wasn't sure what size I wanted, so I swatched and decided on a medium in DK weight. It should be about 23" x 10" after blocking. The perfect size to just pull on, but not too close to the face.

Quick Notes: Thursday is the last chance to enter the project bag giveaway, so if you haven't done it yet, go enter! I also wanted to say thank you so much for all of the wonderful comments you left here and on Ravelry about my Cladonia shawl. I am so thrilled with how it turned out, but even more flattered that you all seem to agree. Thank you.

I'm a member of the Madelinetosh Lovers Group on Ravelry, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. In 2012 they hosted quarterly "stashdowns" where you knit something from your MadTosh stash (has to be stashed prior to the quarter you knit it). About halfway through last year, I realized I had accumulated a ton of MT yarn and I should definitely join their Toshdown.

I entered my Featherweight in the Q3 Toshdown and I was shocked to win a prize! I was lucky enough to win a skein of Tosh DK Twist in Antique Quilt! I also won a pattern of my choice (I chose Gathering Stripes by Veera Välimäki, which I knit for Grace back in November).

I'd never knit with Twist DK before, so I was thrilled to receive some. The colorway is gorgeous - shades of dusty purple, pinks, blues, grays and even a tiny bit of brown. AH-MAZ-ING!

After knitting all of that lace weight yarn for my mom's Featherweight, I needed to knit something in bulky weight. My hands needed a break from all the fine yarn and small needles, and my brain needed a quick project. I whipped up this amazingly soft, scrunchy, drapey, wearable cowl.

I wish that you could feel this pile of amazingness because it's the softest thing I have ever knit. The yarn was a dream to knit with and I can see myself wearing this cowl for the rest of the winter, without pause.