…change the batteries in your smoke alarms, weather-strip your front door, vacuum your whole house so you could take your vacuum in to be serviced, sort through old store records and shred the ones that could be gotten rid of to make more room in the basement, take your dog to the vet, and cook a pot roast and make apple crisp? Oh, and knit a bit as well.  Guess which one I did?  (And frankly, enjoyed it all because I had the time to enjoy it.)

I got the Manos for Sarah’s wrap last week – it’s such a rich berry color, just beautiful.  It arrives in a huge bundle (a kilo of yarn) that must be separated into hanks -

- then they must be wound into balls -

and then you get to knit it up.  Here is the center back panel, from which the rest of the wrap grows:

It’s coming along nicely, with one half of it done.  I’m taking a break to knit a pretty sort of lace patterned scarf – show you next week when it’s blocked.

I need a knitting plan because right now it’s pretty random – whatever catches my eye jumps into first place.  I’ll certainly have Sarah’s wrap done, but then what about the rest of the gifts this year.  I have a pair of socks for my brother-in-law, but no real plan for the rest of the family.  I’ll do cabled headbands for my niece-in-law and great-niece (matching or not?  Not, I think, because I think Sammie would like a bright purple cashmere and I’m not so sure about her mom.)  My nephew has humongous feet but maybe a pair of heavy socks that he can wear around the house or inside boots, that won’t take me a month to knit.  I want a lightweight triangular lace scarf in something yummy and beautiful (maybe Misti Alpaca Lace – due in this week!) for my sister in Baltimore, and I have no earthly idea what my other sister might want – maybe a lusciously soft cowl – in black, of course – she’s ultra-fashionable but never wants to stand out.  Okay, that’s my personal knitting figured out and it all sounds like fun.

The last session of our Nimbus knit-along is coming up this Thursday – most people will be done, I think.  Jettie Hunt is already done so I talked her into modeling for me:

Doesn’t it look great?  Her colors and a perfect fit.  I hope we’ll have a great group shot for next week.  Then we’ll have to decide what and when the next knitalong will be.  Any suggestions?  Let’s hear them!

Next week on Thursday Donna is giving a blocking workshop.  This session is full, but we’re taking names for another session yet to be scheduled.  If you want to be called, let us know.  Blocking is the ultimate finishing touch for your garment – or almost any project.  Don’t be afraid of it, and don’t ignore it – just learn how to go about it.

A new Begin to Knit class starts next Saturday – there are one or two spaces left.  If you’re on the fence, it’s time to jump in.  Karla Renninger took beginning knitting this past year and has made a number of great projects, including this neat felted bag:

Her crocheted hat is really cute, too, and you can learn to make it in November.  There’s maybe one or two spaces left in the Fair-Isle cowl class that starts October 24.  Check the class page on our website for times and other details.

Look what Patty Kroppe is making for holiday/hostess/spur-of-the-moment gifts:

These adorable coasters are made in garter stitch, then a beaded, crocheted edging is added – aren’t they fun?  Patty loves simplicity of garter stitch – don’t we all? – and has loaded up on yarn and beads to get ahead of the curve on gifts.

What’s your knitting plan?

Trish

I just finished a simple top-down sweater in Noro’s Yuzen, from a Knitting Pure & Simple pattern – boring but I love the sweater that resulted so I won’t complain too much.  Rolled edges, some increases on the sleeves and body and a reverse stockinette stitch rolled neck edge.  Casual and easy to wear over a number of colors.

While I’m waiting for Sarah’s Manos to come in (if you don’t know what I’m going to knit for my lovely niece, you can read about it here) I’m fooling around with a stitch pattern from Barbara Walker’s first Treasury – it’s a neat pattern for a scarf because it’s reversible and it has a tendency to pleat if you don’t block it too hard, so…I’ve had a skein of beautiful Road to China Light from the Fibre Company on my end table next to my knitting chair for weeks, and I started fiddling with it in this pattern.  Here’s a photo so far

- frankly I don’t want to put it down, but I’m not sure whether it’s the yarn or the stitch pattern.  The yarn is absolutely blissful, a blend of baby alpaca, cashmere, camel and silk.  The lightweight version is about a sportweight, and I’m working on a 4 needle, so it’s not growing speedily, but the fabric is pretty in real life.  This yarn has been improved over the years, from costing a fortune for a single skein that was not particularly uniform to a very reasonable price for a luxury yarn, with excellent quality and consistency and a myriad of the loveliest colors.  You can’t tell from this photo, but this colorway called Blue Tourmaline has the slightest hint of pink/purple shading – it’s truly jewel-like.  I really want to find a wonderful project so that I can justify buying a lot of it.  I do have 4 wonderful colors in stock but really want them all, which you can see here.  They (Kelbourne Woolens, distributors for the Fibre Company yarns) have some neat free patterns, too.

Don’t miss David’s latest weekly production – a hat, a washcloth, a vest, and a scarf.  AND he’s taking the Tunisian Entrelac Shawl class with Lynne Nagle.  He made a scarf from Opale, a novelty yarn from Plymouth that is totally cute knit up, soft, shiny, and animal-fiber-free.  Here’s my version in deep rich purple:

Isn’t it pretty?  Available in purple, a creamy beige (see David’s scarf here) and black.

Janet just finished her felted tote class, and here are a couple of photos from the class – some people didn’t felt their bags enough so had to have a do-over.  That’s pretty typical, when you’re alone in the laundry room, it’s hard to judge just how much you should felt something until you’ve done it once or twice.  Luckily, you can throw it right back in and re-do it.  I’m sorry I don’t have the names with the  bags:

Pretty! Done in Lamb’s Pride Worsted with Fabu as a novelty addition, and felted flowers to embellish the front.

This was knit in several heathery shades of Berroco’s Peruvia Quick – the colors really complement each other.  I believe she’s making a hat to match one of the colors.  Love the vintage button!

And this bag was done by Lori Landa, who didn’t take the class – she loves to make bags:

Very elegant, with black suede straps and striking colors.

Here is an adorable baby dress that Carol Whitcraft made for us, using soft and yummy Crystal Palace Panda Silk, but any sock yarn would do:

It’s just the cutest thing, you have to see it!

Virginia Griffith just started knitting – not even a year ago!  Here are two things she’s completed recently – one a summer tee in Ty-Dy Cotton from Knit One, Crochet Too, which she learned from Janet in a class this summer…

…and a Nimbus jacket in a mixture of E. Lavold’s Silky Wool and Trendsetter’s Dune.  Both worn in one week, which just shows how goofy the weather has been:

Virginia has worked really hard on her knitting and has made some amazing projects in a very short time – she’s starting another cardy with lace borders at the hem and sleeves, and worked out the lace pattern by herself – I feel like a very proud mama (and so should Janet, who is such a supportive and encouraging teacher.) (Not to mention Donna, who can always get you on the right track whenever there’s a problem.)

Judy Keely has just completed her first sweater, a top-down raglan in a fun self-patterning yarn.  Doesn’t she look happy?? It’s either the sweater or the fact that she’s heading to the Southwest on vacation soon, I don’t know which.  Anyway, she’ll be able to pack this lightweight sweater for those cool nights:

And Diane Huddleston nicely agreed to model the red coat-sweater I showed you last week hanging on my bedroom door.  It looks a lot better on Diane (as do most things!)

Okay, that’s it for this week, folks.  Fire up those needles and get going – it’s knittin’ weather!

Trish

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

Thank goodness!  I’ve realized just how dependent I am on the internet since I was basically without it for a week – I felt very out of touch.  Sometimes we yearn for that, but not unless it’s our choice, right?  It’s not just that I couldn’t write a post or upload pictures (could, but very slow on the BlackBerry), it’s not just that I couldn’t ramble around Ravelry or download podcasts.  I couldn’t check my bank account at 10 at night, I couldn’t place orders with some suppliers except during business hours, and volunteered for a web-heavy project for our LYS group and had to do it via BlackBerry – very hard on my eyes and thumbs.

Okay -  I’m done complaining.  I want to thank all our Frequent Buyers for a wonderful response to our sale – and let everyone else know that there are still good buys to be had on sale merchandise and as soon as you turn in a new card, you’re assured of an invite to our next sale!  It’s been too long since I had time to think, so I’m not sure what has come in since I last talked about new yarns, but we have a nice selection of summer yarns and great models – including the Sprout Cardigan that David Ritz posted a week ago or so – another great job by David!

We’re hard at work on the summer class schedule – it’s going to be wonderful.  Some of the models for the classes are done, or at least done enough that we could take pictures at our teachers’ meeting.  I’ll  whet your appetite a little next week and hope to have the schedule ready for you in another week or so after that.  I’ll send out emails when it’s up on the site – if you’ve changed your email recently, be sure to update it here.

I’m deep into a wool vest for a rather studly friend, who has a 38″ waist and a 52″ chest.  He also has the nerve to be long-waisted so in addition to remembering to shape the body by incorporating increases into the (thankfully simple) stitch pattern and working 300+ stitches every row, I’m also going to have to lengthen the body quite a bit.  I don’t care, though; after knitting with cottons and summer blends for the last 3 months, it’s just a pleasure to work with a nice plain wool.  No hurt fingers, no sore shoulders – there’s just something wonderful and satisfying about it.

I have a bajillion pictures to show you, so here we go:

Pat Schaeffer finished her second sweater in as many months.  It’s our Misty Mo pullover, but done in yummy pink Alpaca Bouclé and bordered with a pretty multicolored mohair.  It will be wonderful to wear next winter!

Karen Wenrich made this wonderful afghan from a Manos Del Uruguay pattern and various colors of a really yummy superwash merino wool.  I wish you could feel it – even in 90 degree weather, you still want to touch it.

Here’s a detail:

Sheila Yarus and I both made designs from the Noro Flowers collection, and both in the same colorway of Taiyo – I guess we were both just yearning for bright, striking colors after a long winter. Sheila’s jacket is done sideways at the top; she looks just beautiful in it, doesn’t she?

Here’s the one I made: It only took 4 balls, which is still not inexpensive, but do-able.  We have the newest colors in stock as well as favorites from last year.

Look at this cute little creature, knit by Kelly Straub:

And Lynda Slovitsky designed and knit this wonderful sweater, inspired by a photo she loved in a magazine. She used Plymouth’s Royal Llama Silk in a design that incorporated seed stitch and sideways stockinette.  Looks so perfect on her.

Doesn’t Kris Hahn look great in her Curly-Q scarf, knit in a wonderful green shade of Kidsilk Haze from Rowan and edged with Paris Nights from Ironstone?

Sandy Albert finished this wonderful sweater from a Mari pattern in Cascade’s Ecowool.  She added the black accents for collar and cuffs and it sparked up the whole look.

Here is Barb Piazza in her “favorite sweater ever” – what a great look for her in an awesome red:

We started our beginner crochet series this past weekend. The class was full and they all worked hard!  Inspiring them was teacher Lynne Nagle, who has some wonderful projects planned for crocheters this summer, and who wore this beauty to the teacher’s meeting, crocheted in Rowan Summer Tweed:

I should have gotten a closeup of the pretty pin she had on with it – perfect.

Well, I could yak on for a while, but you’ve probably had enough, already, and I’ve got errands to run.  So nice to talk to you again!  See you soon…

Trish