Yarn Gallery Blog

Yippee! I can upload pictures again, but first, if you missed the post from last week, be sure to update your bookmarks/RSS feed and any other preset for the blog from http://blog.yarngal.com to http://www.yarngal.com/blog.

The MadelineTosh has arrived and the afghan gals snagged a bunch of it.  I’ll have to reorder right away because I was at the store this morning (ordering fall yarn – gosh, so fabulous!) and saw that the carton was half-empty.  Still some wonderful things in there and I’ve got my eye on a skein of Tosh Sock that absolutely rocks.

Reminder: The shop will be closed on Sunday, May 30.

Let’s catch up with some older photos:

This is the Springtime Bandit shawl that I mentioned several weeks ago, a free pattern on Kelbournewoolens.com.  It’s pretty, fun, quick, and frankly, mine looks better than theirs, probably because of the blocking.  It’s a good pattern.

This is my Let’s dance a fandango! version of the Horizontal Feather and Fan shawl, a pattern that Janet teaches in her beginner lace class.  I used Noro’s Furin and inserted a few rows of Trendsetter’s Cha-Cha, and it’s just plain fun.  Fran Krieger is doing a beautiful version in off-white, very, very pretty.

Here are some photos that might get you into a class this summer.  First is Yuko Lewandoski’s version of the Adult Surprise Jacket.  The colors are bright but overall the effect is tailored and elegant.

This is Janet’s version of the shrug she’s teaching in her Mother-Daughter Design a Shrug class.  It’s too cute in a combo of Jelli-beenz and Fizz:

And here is the toe-up sock in progress, from Karen Walter’s class this summer.  It may be finished this week – it’s sort of like a striptease, every time I see her she shows a little bit more!  (This week she was in to raid the MadTosh before anyone else got their paws on it.)

Carol Whitcraft is knitting like a madwoman for her first great-grandchild.  Look at the beautiful blanket and this perfect little sweater in Jeannee, a soft cotton/acrylic blend.

And Karen Shearer’s granddaughter came in in her Baby Surprise, and even though we’ve shown her before, I had to take her picture again.  You can see why, can’t you?  Do you love the little pants or what?

Anne Nordhoy is an A-one knitter who knits like the wind and does the most intricate colorwork as naturally as you and I breathe.  She and her husband host an auction and fundraiser for the Y every year, and she knits many beautiful treasures to auction off.  Here are a sampling of what she’s offering this year.  They’re just too remarkable to remark on:

A Trio of Christmas Stockings

Thumb Detail (a boy and girl) of a Pair of Mittens

A Multi-Stitch Baby Blanket

Christening Gown and Bonnet

Delicate Lace Shawl

A Child's Ski Sweater

Child's Sweater

See what I mean?  It takes your breath away!

Enough for one day… see you soon!

Trish

Even though it’s totally frigid today, I’ve got the spring-cleaning bug.  You all have got the spring-knitting bug, because we’ve been getting a lot of questions about spring yarns.  These two inspirations have combined into my wanting a permanent place for our lighter weight fibers in the shop.  Currently we put all the cottons and blends away for the winter, and then have to root through the piles of bags, interrupting classes and so on, when someone wants to look at “summer” yarns.  So, I’m going to replace the novelties, which are in the upstairs front room, with the cottons.  That part is fairly easy.  Finding a place for novelties won’t be so easy and they won’t be available until we do.  Most of you won’t miss them!  Anyway, that will all be happening this week because most of my spring yarns will be shipping in the next two weeks and, as usual, I have no room for them.  And as usual, I just can’t wait for the new stuff to get here.

Here’s one new model that’s finished.  It’s from the current Debbie Bliss Magazine, and was quite fun to do. You start by making the back and both fronts to the armholes, then cast on for the sleeves, combine everything on one needle and finish in one piece.  I knitted it from Wendy Supreme Luxury Cotton, because I wanted a really bright color. I didn’t change anything except to add a border of single-crochet to the front edges to reduce curl. (With forethought you could just add 2 or 3 extra stitches and work them in garter.)  You can use any DK weight yarn.  I didn’t buy Prima, which is what all these designs in DB#2 are purportedly knitted from.  I didn’t like it, it’s slinky yet hairy and I can’t imagine it being comfortable to wear in any season.  And very few of these designs were originally knitted in it – most were in Cathay which has been discontinued.  In other words, don’t be afraid to substitute yarns!  If you’re not sure, do a swatch or get some advice.

The shop has been full of people working on projects and I have lots of wonderful pictures to show you this week, so let’s get going:

Mary Ann Posey brought in this delight:

It’s a beautiful lace scarf knit from qiviut, a rare and precious fiber from the muskox.  It’s lighter than a feather, softer than cashmere, and warmer than down.  Mary Ann’s daughter bought the yarn in Alaska and knit the scarf as a present for her father.

Margie Leisawitz knit this sweater using intarsia to add color to the cable panel that runs up the front and down the back.  A perfect skating sweater!

Donna Howard is taking the Great American Aran Afghan classes and brought in her partially-done afghan.  It was the first time I’d seen any of the blocks put together and just had to have a photo even though it isn’t finished yet.  She has, I think, 8 more blocks to go; every single one is a work of art.

And she also brought in a version of the Lady Eleanor Entrelac scarf, done in a bright colorway of Ty-Dy Sock: Can’t wait to get in the new colors of it, and the new colors of regular cotton worsted-weight Ty-Dy.  Speaking of which, check out David Ritz’s latest posting below this one – he’s knitting like a fanatic, as usual, and I really like the design, don’t you?  Looks like it would be fun.

It was tough getting a photo of this cute baby sweater that Sandy Albert just finished (her 6th version of this design!)  You can see how crowded the table was that day  – so many people trying to finish up their projects, we had overflow into the back room.  I love it when the shop is buzzing like that!

I finished a baby sweater too. This is from a Cabin Fever design, very clever one-piece construction that just flowed from the needles.  I did it in Hopscotch, a thick and thin superwash wool, soft and practical too. And Susie Crump finished her Sitka sweater and I had to show you how very special it is.  Now, if I had to bet, I would bet that this little grandson of hers is going to have this sweater for the rest of his life.  Where else is he ever going to find something with his name on it, and that displays the tree he was named for? 

And Lynne Nagle and I sat down to talk about crochet classes and she’s got some good ideas about projects for beginning classes.  We don’t have a schedule yet but we’re getting there.  She brought in this beautiful lace collar that she made from Frog Tree alpaca:

Isn’t it gorgeous?  That lace!  But don’t be intimidated – I made this pretty scarf from Ruca (hand-dyed sugar cane fiber!) and it’s soft and silky and I’m extremely proud of it, even though it was a simple 2-row pattern done on a pretty big hook.

Great yarn, a little (very little, in my case) skill and some patience, you got yourself a real purty scarf!

Okay, that’s it for this week.  I’m yearning to re-do my 80-year-old bathroom and went looking at fixtures and so on today.  I’m still in sticker shock and need to go lie down.

See you soon.

Trish