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

Jennifer’s sweater was in Vogue Knitting last summer – I fell in love immediately and went to it, and had a terrible time with the neckline and shoulder shaping.  Jennifer waited a bit and, as she said in her post, found a lot of help on VK’s site.  We still have a couple issues of the magazine in the shop if she has piqued your interest and if you already have it, here is the link to the errata page where you can download the shaping suggestions.

It’s a brilliant, breezy, cold day out there and the dogs are hankering to be out in it, so let me get on with all these great projects I have to show you.  Unfortunately, my website is being contrary and I’m just sick of the clunky interface, so I’m going to Flickr and post them individually.  Very shortly I’m going to learn how to do this from my BlackBerry so I can update this blog more frequently with photos, and then when I sit down to write, I can just write to you all instead of worrying with downloading, uploading, photoshopping, and all that.  There’s just got to be a simpler way!  (That’s my motto for life in general for the coming year – simplify!)

There’s a correction to the afghan classes listed on the Class page on the website.  If you’re interested, check it out. We’re meeting this week to talk about summer classes – how about a nice complex Aran sweater to knit along with?  Hmmm, what did I just say about simplifying?  I’m sticking to that for summer knitting, but for fall, (which, let’s face it, has to be started in the summer) something complicated seems just right.  We’ll explore the possibilities!

See you soon…

Trish