Yarn Gallery Blog

I’ve been spending way too much on Ravelry lately.  (If you knit under a mushroom and don’t know what Ravelry is, check it out here.)  Used to be, in the olden days of knitting, way back in ’06 or so, you’d find some yarn, pick a pattern, go home and knit it up.  Now you go on Ravelry, search for a project from dozens or hundreds or thousands, check out all the yarns people have made it in, see what they have to say about the yarn and the pattern, how they changed it or would if they had to do it again, then (I hope) head for the shop armed with a lot more information than you ever could have had before.  It’s pretty darned great.  And the choices we have in yarns these days is so amazing.  When I knit in the ’70′s, it was hard to find anything but fluorescent green plastic to knit with.

And people think it was just “hippie” style – no, I think that was the only color the acrylic machines pumped out.  If you knew enough to want to knit with real fiber, good luck finding it.  Those were the days when the little black and white ads in the back of the knitting magazines, where some obscure company offered real wool for sale by mail order, could be a life-line to all of us who didn’t live near a real yarn shop.  They were, believe me, few and far between.  In my hometown, there was woman who had a little shop in her dining room (I seem to remember lots of toilet paper covers, doilies in horrid color combinations and doll’s dresses) or there was Monkey Wards.  Both were filled with eye-searing colors of acrylic.  Possibly my passion for good yarn is a hangover from my sad yarn-deprived childhood.

Anyway (now that I’ve finished my trip down Memory Lane) Ravelry is a great place to get ideas when you have some yarn left over from a project or if you just have to have a ball – or you get a great deal from our Bargain Bin – of some wonderful yarn.  I search for new ideas for some yarns we’ve had for a while.  We just got in a shipment of Noro Kureyon and Silk Garden – we’ve had them for years and still love them for the amazing colors Eisaku Noro puts together.  We’ve made many sweaters, shawls, and scarves with them, and have seen some beautiful throws. I still want to make Lizard Ridge from Knitty – this may be the year because the Kureyon colors are simply amazing.

Still, I look on Ravelry for new ideas.  And because they were both in my hand at one time, I decided to make Baktus, a very simple sideways garter-stitch triangle, in a solid color of Elsebeth Lavold’s Baby Llama and a new color of Silk Garden.  I just started it:

It’s fun, and I think I’ll dress it up with a ruffle in the Silk Garden.  Here are all our colors of Silk Garden:

I always find that the Noro yarns don’t come across that well in photos – the joy of them is knitting and discovering how the colors play out.  That’s why I’m having fun with Baktus instead of doing something more serious, like taking the bindoff out of the collar on my Rittenhouse sweater and making it the right size (I tried to skimp, but the proportions didn’t work – oh, well, 5 more inches of k2, p2 rib won’t kill me.)

Here’s a good look at the Beseme (say Bessa-May – it means Kiss Me!) scarf that Lynne is teaching this fall.  How adorable is this thing?

Lynne crocheted it in Berroco’s Souffle, a soft gently-striping wool blend.  It’s so cute, fast, and just an outstanding accessory.  And here are samples of the jewelry she’s going to teach – I love these:

The bracelets are gorgeous and feel really good on your wrist.  I may have to take this class! Check out times/dates on the Class Page at yarngal.com.

We have a new free pattern at the shop for this pretty little cowl or capelet in a new yarn called Fumato.  It’s lightweight and warm with great yardage and has very subtle color changes throughout.  Deb Hawk kindly modeled for me

- and looked so completely adorable that of course she’s going to make one.  It’s super-easy and enjoyable to make, and I’ve also made it in Boboli, Berroco’s pretty multi-color that is also new this year.  I can think of about a dozen yarns that it would look absolutely great in.

And finally, Janet’s felted tote class finished their bags and she snapped this picture to show how different they all look, even though everyone used the same pattern.  It’s so much fun to see which colors everyone will choose and how they put them together:

Aren’t they great?  It’s almost time to think about gifts (!!!), and there are several wonderful ideas in this post alone.  Now, I’m going out to enjoy this beautiful day.  See you soon…

Trish

This post won’t be long because I have a lot of computer work to do today, but I just want to tantalize you with a few projects from our summer class schedule.  First, though, I’ll show you a couple of projects that turned out really well, and tell you not to miss David Ritz’s latest in the post just below. Another gorgeous piece from David!

Carol Sullivan finished her Napa Pullover, and since it’s kind of yucky and cool today, she may even be getting some use from it before summer hits.  She used Kathmandu Aran and did a beautiful job: She chose an Annie Adams pewter shawl pin to secure the collar, which sets it off perfectly, even though it’s difficult to see in this photo.

Karen Wenrich is making a pair of bright purple socks for a young friend – they are such happy socks that I had to snap a picture of the first of the pair: Isn’t it purty?  She’s using Magic Loop, which she’ll be teaching this summer.

And Stephanie Fishkin brought in a wonderful baby blanket that she designed and knit in Nature Cotton and Patagonia, two Araucania yarns that are chunky and funky and perfect for a soft and comfy blankie.  She always has the blankets monogrammed at Initials Only.

All right, now for some glimpses of summer class projects!  That’s the computer work I have to accomplish today – I must get going on the schedule, signup sheets, web page, orders for materials, etc.  There’s a lot of work in putting a full boat of classes together, and we rarely repeat except for a few basics – we try to keep it fresh for you!

We seem to have a theme for summer: nearly every project we looked at had some amount of lace involved, so we went with it!  Janet is going to teach a simply beautiful feather and fan shawl, which Karen Wenrich is modeling here.  Janet used Noro Silk Garden  but this would be lovely in any lush yarn:

And Karen also models a sweet beret that Karen Walter is going to teach, made out of Fibra Natura Mermaid.  It’s a wonderful blend that got a nice review on Knitter’s Review:

Donna Guthrie made and will teach this great vest, made in Sublime Organic DK Cotton:

and Donna is also showing off a market bag that Karen Walter made and will teach.  It uses mitered squares with “cutouts” and is really a neat bag.  I love the two-tone handle.

Lynne Nagle will be teaching some beautiful crochet projects: a really gorgeous diagonal scarf, shown in Silk Garden a cute crocheted and felted handbag, and a pretty lacy shrug.  There are many more, including the on-going Great North American Afghan, beginner series, finishing classes, a lace shawl knitalong  with 2 shawls to choose from, and a pretty top-down tee with a demure lace panel. If I make serious progress today, I may have the schedule up by next week. You’ll get an e-mail if you’ve subscribed.  If not, do it here!

This past week was the last week (until fall) for the fabulous gals who work at the store, so I’d like to say thanks to Becky Lawrence, Janet Kakareka, Karen Walter and Karen Wenrich for all their great help and expertise this past season.  I’ll be on my own in the shop for the summer and I’ll miss them.  I’m sure you will too since you may have to wait for help with your problems.  My advice:  take a class to stretch your skills, or knit something fun and simple this summer, and just enjoy!

See you soon…

Trish