Posts from the ‘Knitting’ category

The Knitter’s Book of Yarn and Rhinebeck

on October 23, 2007

On Thursday, I got a great treat in the mail. It was The Knitter’s Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes, and marks the first release of a book that I wrote patterns for. There may have been childlike squealing. It was so difficult not to show these mittens as I was knitting them, because I was pretty darn excited. Thankfully, they’re free to be shown now.


Double-Thick Mittens, knit in Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 Ply. The whole mitten is stranded, even the solid sections. You betcha they’re warm. They’ve got a picot hem, Latvian-style braid, and twisted, tassled strings to tie them together when not worn. The yarn is a woolen-spun heather, which contrasts the graphic design nicely, I think.


Norwegian Snail Mittens, knit in super soft Dalegarn Baby Ull. I can’t praise Clara enough for allowing me to make such an amusing mitten for her book. These have circus-tent striped palms, fanciful motifs, floops galore, duplicate-stitched kiwi green accents, knit/purl patterning, and SNAILS. This yarn is a smooth worsted-spun solid that shows the pattern to great effect.

Mittens aside, this is such a wonderful book and I’m so proud to be involved. If you’d like to learn about fibers, yarn construction, properties, and selection for projects, this book is for you. The patterns aren’t half bad, either. ;) Right Amy? Amy has 8 patterns in the book!

Rhinebeck:

Rhinebeck was a total madhouse, mainly because I went with Jess and Casey from Ravelry and a bit of a hubbub follows them whenever they go near yarn-type people, but also because 12,000 people were there on Saturday alone. Being around Amy Boogie might have had something to do with the craziness, as well. Amy is like a force of nature, complete with a desire to party and a checkbook, all wrapped up in wool. She’s my kind of woman. I had a great time seeing old friends and meeting what seemed like 9,000 of the 12,000 people who showed up. The Ravelry party on Saturday was a ton of fun: I (well, the Fantom Bohus sweater) was felt up by many a knitter, and neither of us minded, the company was fantastic, and we closed that place down.

I took literally one (bad) photo, but other people were much more prolific. Want to see some Rhinebeck photos?

Ravelry events, including the festival
Rhinebeck 2007

Finished Objects:

I’ve got lots of knitting to show. Cobblestone is done, and I knit a pair of legwarmers (!) in the van over the weekend. I knitting like a maniac on the Jackyll and Hide from the Fall 2007 Knitty. The plan is to frighten the life out of every trick-or-treater we get.

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Cobblestone: Only a Dead Snail is Slower

on October 11, 2007

Things are looking up, now that knitting with the dread Classic Elite ’03 Tweed is finished, since that made my hands feel dirty, and it’s onto my handspun. I’d have washed the yarn before knitting the sweater, only in a fit of preparation some time ago I’d wound all the skeins into center-pull balls. That wasn’t going to come undone, so I just knit as fast as possible. That got me into trouble when I started the yoke. I just sailed along, not noticing that there was a very distinct gauge change after the yarn switch. When I finally saw the puckering at the edge of the garter stitch, I took the sweater off the needles and found that the shoulders were about 10″ too big around. That’s not something you can fudge, so off the yoke came. Down 2 needle sizes was the ticket and it’s smooth sailing again.

I did some simple waist shaping that worked out very well. My usual waist shaping is 4 sts. per decrease row, 2 on either side of the side seam, every inch until the waist is the proper measurement, knit about 2 inches, and back up again. I am short-waisted, so measure yourself, of course. I waffled about where to do the decreasing on this sweater. Inside the garter strip, so that the strip was shaped like an hourglass or at the outside edge of the strip, not affecting its shape? I opted for the latter, decreasing the last 2 stockinette stitches before and first 2 after the garter strip up the sides. K2TOG before and SSK after gave a nice edge to the stockinette, and picking up the bar between the first and second stockinette stitches after and between the last 2 stockinette stitches before the garter bands made a nice increase.

Reminders:

Friday the 12th (tomorrow): fiber club renewals go on sale
Monday the 15th: shop update
Wednesday the 17th: fiber club on sale for everyone

I’ve decided on another change for the fiber club and will be offering a double dose of fiber for an extra $45. There will be a little option box you can check when ordering.

Pushing Daisies:

Are you watching it? You should be! It’s just the sweetest, most morbid, super-saturated, wonderfully charming show on. Also, in the second episode, there’s KNITTING. Actual knitting, with needles and yarn and proper terminology, and when the garments are tried on, the knitter sees the glory of his projects and utters one word- “Sweet.” It’s funny because that’s what happens in this house, too.

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Cobblestone, Navajo Plying, Fiber Club, and Out of Town, Baby

on September 22, 2007

For the last week or so, I’ve been preparing like a madwoman for Yarn School and getting the fiber club dyed and out. The fiber club shipped fully yesterday (I haven’t had a chance to enter all your tracking numbers into the database, but you’ll get them soon) and Yarn School preparations are winding down. I might actually breathe properly soon!

Cobblestone!:

I was calm enough last night to cast on the body of Cobblestone. This is going to make super excellent airplane knitting on Tuesday. The sleeves are done. Wanna see?

I’ve got my waist shaping planned and my yoke yarn wound and ready to go. The body numbers had to be fiddled with a bit, as I’m knitting the smallest size, but I’m a bit hippy and bewbsy for the lower body, though the arms and yoke are fine. There’s only an 8 stitch difference, so the yoke fudging, which will be done on the fly, should be fine. It will be ready for Rhinebeck.

Navajo Plying:

I’ve been preparing and collecting spinning samples for Yarn School and one thing that was missing was Navajo plying, which I’ll be teaching. So, I dug out a bit of hand-dyed BFL wool top and pre-drafted it without splitting so that the color repeats would be nice and long. I spun and Navajo plied it into a bulky, amazingly puffy yarn that acted like a spring when stretched. The resulting yarn was the stretchiest, bounciest, and softest BFL yarn I’ve ever spun. I knit it into a top-down hat (no swatching!) and watched the stripes appear.

I’m going to have to Navajo ply more often.

Out of Town:

I’m leaving for Kansas and Yarn School on Tuesday the 25th and returning on the 1st of October. Any orders and emails placed after Sunday won’t be dealt with until I return. I’ll put a notice across the top of the shop to be sure everyone knows. When I get back, there is a glut of new yarn bases and fibers waiting for me to dye them. I’m going to have all kinds of new lace and sock yarns, and great yarns for sweaters, as well. There will be a bunch of new wools and blends, as well. The next fiber club will go up for sale in mid-October. I’ll post again about that, but mark your calendars if you’re interested in joining. I don’t think I’ll be able to increase the number this time, with the Christmas rush happening in the middle of it. Maybe next time.

Have fun on the internet while I’m out of the loop!

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