Yarn Gallery Blog

THE BIG EASY SWEATER

Originally uploaded by yarngal628

hi trish
just finished your pattern for the big easy sweater.. i used Jeager natural fleece…. the sweater is very light weight but nice and warm …
also just finished my scarf , which i will post a pic after this one…

im going to start the bulky seed st vest…

cya soon
Dave

Jennifer Gensemer is my guru for staying up to date with the doings of the glitterati, the Twitterati, and the knitterati.  She knows what’s happening on and to Oprah, Martha, Rachael, and I don’t have to listen to those annoying 7:30 p.m. celebrity news shows to stay hip.  Well, I suppose just saying “hip” shows just how low my hipness level really is, but Jennifer does her best to at least keep me informed about the latest knitting buzz.  She sent me a link to an article about these headbands that Prada used for their fall fashion show:

Jennifer also sent me a picture of a simplified version from a NYC knitting store, and I developed a pattern for us. I made one in a heathery green cashmere ($25 at the shop) and one in a bright red chunky baby alpaca (getting 2 from one skein, cost each band about $8 – 10).

These take about an evening to make and are practical as well as up-to-the-minute fashionable.  Comfortable to wear, warm enough to replace a hat for dog-walking (yes, okay, I’m always worrying about being warm enough when I walk the dogs in the winter.)  We have a fabulous color selection of Baby Alpaca Grande right now and if you make gifts for a lot of people every year, this may be an idea you want to jump on right away.  They would also be cute with beads or crystals placed here and there, or one strategically-placed button.

Christel Anderson is a knitter from Las Vegas who visits her daughter here a few times a year and usually stops in.  She spotted our samples and immediately bought yarn to make one for her daughter (whom we bullied into modeling for us):

Christel bought green, it will look stunning, yes? Looks cute with short hair too.  So the pattern is available and free with purchase of yarn.

So many new sweaters to show you, but that will be next time!

Trish

I have so many things to show this week – it’s the time of year when we have new projects finished all the time and new yarns coming in and want you to see them.  First I have to show you these beautiful new colors of Manos that we just got in:  I couldn’t restrain myself this year!  Here are new colors of Wool Clasica (the Manos wool we all know and love):

Aren’t the colors wonderful?  I want an easy-fitting pullover in this, something to throw on for almost occasion (except meeting the Queen – I’d at least wear a hat) and be comfy and cozy.  And here is Manos Silk Blend, glowing out of its box,

again, I’m hankering for a sweater in a pretty texture that could stand on its own or go under a jacket. The colors are so rich – I’ve got my eye on the burgundy – or maybe the forest green, or maybe I’m really not over my blue period yet.  At the rate I’m going, by the time I decide, it will all be gone – happens every year. We also received some of Manos’s newest yarn, a laceweight in a blend of baby alpaca, silk, and cashmere, lovely to touch and I anticipate that it will be lovely to work with even though I haven’t had a chance to put needle to yarn as yet.

I finished my latest version of the Bulky Seed Stitch Vest, this one done in Burly Spun Handpaint from Brown Sheep.  Diane DeJesus was sweet enough to model it for me.

This is a quick knit in super-bulky yarn – a little ribwarmer at this time of year and an easy-fitting layer over a bulkier sweater when the chill sets in.

And Karen Wenrich finished this model (and then modeled it, too) for me in Peruvia Quick, a bulky heathery wool from Berroco:

It’s a pretty design with a faux-cable stitch around the front bands and collar.  We modified the pattern a bit to make drop shoulders for easy finishing and eliminated some droopy-looking pockets at the hip (really, who needs a droopy pocket right there?)  I love the way it looks on Karen, just the kind of thing you want to be able to grab and go when the days cool down.

I almost missed Najma Iqbal’s visit to the shop with her daughter Samina and grand-daughter Joya.  Najma knit the sweater that Joya is modeling in the photos below.  Here are Najma and Joya:

And here is Samina with Joya.  Samina calls herself  “Joya Baha’s personal fashion / all-around executive comfort service head consultant),” a pretty accurate job description for a new mom:

This picture makes me smile every time I look at it.  A little peanut enveloped in a grandmother’s love!

Okay, I have one more thing to show you this week, but no time to do it right now, so I hope I’ll have a chance to post again.  It’s cute, cute, cute (not as cute as the baby, but cute) and a free pattern to boot!  Wait’ll you see it!

Trish

I hope you enjoyed Labor Day.  I spent the weekend with my sister Janet, who lives near Baltimore and, like me, works hard for her living.  When I visit, we are both willing to just hang around the house, sit on the deck, watch movies, read, knit, and just generally vegetate.  This weekend was like that only more so.  Janet, her daughter Sarah, and I drank Vinho Verde, a very light and slightly sparkling Portuguese wine (Sarah was just back from a couple weeks abroad, including a week in Portugal – she works hard, too, but travels the world when she gets the chance), ordered Chinese food, chatted, and on Sunday, I had absolutely no reason to change out of my pajamas whatsoever – so I didn’t.  No errands, no commitments, no one to judge my appearance – it was a gift!  I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and hope you had a really great weekend, too.

Classes started this past weekend, and our knitalong gets going on Thursday.  We have a bunch of folks coming, and that’s always fun.  Donna Guthrie, who started working at the shop part time this week, is going to be on hand to help get us going, so we should all get a great start on our Nimbus jackets.

Donna just recently finished this pretty coverup for her aunt, Elizabeth Rudy, who kindly agreed to come in and model it for us.  She looks marvelous in it, and while she was in, she ran into 2 or 3 people she knew and they all did a little catching up!

Isn’t it just a lovely simple look, with the deep ribbing and the natural taupe wool?  Here is the knitter and her aunt:

Marcia Melbert missed our last Adult Surprise Knitalong session, but she entered her jacket into the Elizabethtown Fair and won 4th prize!  You can see why; the jacket turned out out so well:

I think there are two or three more jackets out there to be finished, so I hope to show them to you soon. (That’s a hint, Nancy, Beth, and Judy – finish up and come in to show off!)

My favorite book to be published so far this year is Knitting 24/7 by Veronik Avery.  I usually like her collections and books very much – she also does her own yarn line (St. Denis), distributed through Classic Elite.  She lives in Montreal and her knitting designs are modern with European style, but she uses classic yarns and stitchwork to ground them in tradition.  I took the book with me and asked Sarah (my niece) to pick something she would like for Christmas.  The book ranges from little things like mitts and hats to big things like a wonderful turtleneck sweater that I want to do for myself and this pretty cocoon, which is what Sarah picked:

She’ll look wonderful in it and it will be so much fun to make.  I’m going to use Manos Wool Clasica (instead of Kraemer Mauch Chunky) because it will be lovely and not sheddy, and I’m hoping to send her snips of colors to choose.  Want to get started this minute, but need to settle down.  I’ve got a nice project going right now, the Guenevere cardigan from Cabin Fever, (their photo, not mine)

which is pretty much fun too.  It’s based on Elizabeth Zimmerman’s reverse raglan construction (she called it Nalgar – raglan spelled backward, get it?  Oh, that Elizabeth, what a cut-up!) and I’m doing it in Queensland’s Rustic Wool, a semi-solid superwash.  I’m having a good time, even though I really have to pay attention now – I’m just starting the yoke, so I have neckline decreases, raglan increases, a knit-purl pattern to keep correct, sleeves growing downward somehow, and heaven knows what all else.  It might could (as we used to say in NC) make a pretty good knit-along sometime, perhaps, maybe, there’s a chance.

Okay, I’m just blabbing now and I could actually be grocery shopping, so off I must go.  See you soon!

Trish