August - 2007

August 29, 2007

It's a busy time at the shop - we're changing seasons, even if Mother Nature isn't quite ready yet.  The summer yarns that are left must be moved - they are either stored, put in the sale closet, or incorporated into the regular stock, meaning they are stocked by gauge instead of by fiber.  Then fall yarns must be re-arranged and sorted out, and new yarns put in the correct place.  (This means that all our onesie-twosie skeins are put in the Bargain Bin - it's a good time to come in for Stash Enhancement!)  The re-arrangement is constant until about the end of October when most new yarns have found their place, and we have models (or at least swatches) to show you.  So when you come in and there are boxes everywhere, and yarn in baskets and tubs waiting for a new home, please don't mind the chaos.  It shall be sorted out, but for the time being, I feel like the old woman who lived in a shoe:  I have so much yarn I don't know what to do.  And the deadline for some sort of order is the first day of classes - the back room looks like somebody whacked a big pinata full of yarn and patterns and then just left it all over the place.

So we're busy, but not complaining, it's too much fun to see all the new yarns and colors and speculate about what to make with it:  A neat little jacket with some modest cables in that slate blue heathered chunky?  An easy-fitting pullover in alpaca bouclé?  A fresh-looking vest in classic tweed?  Or maybe a pair of socks in yummy hand-dyed wool-mohair, or in that fun new self-striping sock yarn, or in that new stretchy sock yarn, or...  Truly, settling on one project to work on at a time is agony this time of year - but it's a sweet agony!

So what do you want to make this season?  Lace is the big buzz in the knitting world, and we love it.  It doesn't have to be that sine qua non of knitting, the light-as-angel-wings lace shawl, you know.  A lace border or collar can add style and femininity to any piece, including plain old scarves, fingerless mitts, a top-down sweater...Hmm, that gives me an idea, and now I can't wait to get to the shop this morning.

I didn't take many pictures this week, but here are two that demonstrate why I adore knitting so much.  The pictures show blankets, but how different they are, and how perfect for their function.  First, Shoshana Tannenbaum knit a beautiful afghan in luxurious Colinette hand-dyed yarns. 

The colorway is called "Rustic"  but you can see the colors are sophisticated, the afghan is elegant, and it took Shoshana several months to complete.  A beautiful finishing touch to any room and soft, cozy, and warm, too.

These are Carol Kohler's baby blankets, which she made for twin babies: ... you can guess the genders, right?  The blankets are happy, fresh, soft and easy-care, and did NOT take several months to complete - a perfect baby gift, especially when the sex isn't known before birth.

Two really different projects with beautiful results because good choices were made up front and because of the skill and dedication of the knitters.  All our projects should be so successful, yes?

Have a great week!  See you soon...

Trish

August 21, 2007

Gosh, I can tell fall is in the air.  Cool, rainy days and lots of yarn arriving at the shop.  Last week we received Ranco, a  beautiful fingering weight yarn in semi-solid colors.  It's marketed for socks, but is not completely machine-washable, so I think it will be gorgeous for shawls, lightweight sweaters, gloves and mitts, and scarves.  Here it is - just look at those colors and tell me you can't think of something wonderful to make out of it!

There's a new schedule on the Classes page - check it out and see what you'd like to learn or make this fall.  I've got so many plans that I need to forget about sleeping until 2010.  This happens every fall, but I do settle down after a while.  Rowan's "Felted Tweed" came in and Knit One, Crochet Too's "Ambrosia" -mmmmm!  I'll have pictures soon.

Not going to write much this week - I've spent way too much time on the computer - but I must show you this beautiful little girl who just entered the world.  She's Carol Slifka's granddaughter, and she is already a model, because she's wearing the baby jacket Carol made her from our shop pattern and Panda Cotton.  Look at those eyes, people!  Congratulations, Carol, and thanks for sending the picture.

Enjoy your week, everybody, and come see me when you can...

Trish

August 15, 2007

Sale on books & summer yarns this week, Friday - Sunday, August 17 - 19.

   Sorry, I didn't get the class schedule up this week.  We got together and made a schedule, but there are a lot of other things that go into it and those are not completely done yet.  Well, see, I decided to have a SALE this week (Did you get the e-mail?  If not, be sure we have your current info) and that all had to be decided, too.  I'm not making any more decisions for a week.  If you come in and ask me "Should I leave this big hole in the middle of the front of my sweater or should I rip?"  I'll say it's up to you.  So if you don't want to hear those ugly words "It's got to come out" now is the time to visit!

  Najme Iqbal heard those words a couple times in the making of this sweater, but you can see how well it all turned out.  She's making a second one in another yarn.  It's a pretty tee with a lace edging that fits her to a - well, to a tee.

And Peggy Schlegel whipped out this shawl in a flash.  It's stunning and the six yarns she chose blend beautifully.

Linda Slovitsky brought in this lovely, cozy garter ridge scarf she made using Noro's newest yarn "Niji" and Schaefer's hand-dyed "Nancy." How pretty is this combo?

Well, I promise to work on the classes like crazy, and get all the details nailed down (materials, homework, sign-up sheets and so on) so I can post the schedule soon.  Then I'm getting out of town for a couple days, but don't worry - Karen, Janet and Becky will be there to help.  Please be aware, however, that if we're very busy during the sale, any problems you have with current projects will have to be addressed during normal help sessions, not during store hours.  Both Janet and Karen will be available for the Saturday help session, 10 - 11 a.m. The sign will say closed, but the door will be open.

See you soon...

Trish

August 7, 2007

Look at the pretty colors of Zephyr that arrived last week:

This is one of the very nicest laceweight yarns I've ever worked with, a combination of wool & silk that is pretty easy to control even at this fine gauge, and the silk's reflectivity shows lacework at its best.  Don't look at the picture too long or you'll get dizzy - I took it at an odd angle, didn't I?  I feel like I'm on a sinking ship.

I'm a little obsessed with lace right now.  I've seen some beautiful shawls:  check out Lisa Scheid's Swallowtail shawl from the knit-along (and she only made it to 2 sessions!!)  Very beautiful...

                                                          ...and oh so delicate. 

And here is Pam Ellenberger in a beautiful stole she made from Schaeffer's wool/mohair/nylon blend Anne.  So pretty, and she says the lace stitch was simple to do... especially after she decided to put in life lines every so often.

And I'm waking up in the middle of the night to pore over stitch dictionaries and books on lace because I'm determined to design a lace shawl dedicated to my friend Georgette Leroux who died recently.  Georgette was originally from Belgium and loved lace and collected the most beautiful fans I've ever seen.  After her retirement from teaching, she was a devoted volunteer at the Museum, and if I can make something pretty, I'm going to donate it for the Museum's silent auction next spring in Georgette's memory.  Thank goodness I've got till next spring because so far all I've done is figure out that I don't even know where to start!  There's always something new to learn about knitting.

Last week, we also received Ecoknit cotton, an undyed organic cotton in 4 natural colors:

I'm swatching it now to see what it's like - it's not easy because the humidity is so high all my needles feel sticky - but I think with its soft hand and light cabling, we'll love it for those basic sweaters that you put on when you want to look great and be comfortable.  And it will be great for baby things, especially those cute designs in Natural Knits for Babies & Moms. Wouldn't something that used all the colors together be pretty?

It's time for our seasonal teacher get-together to figure out what's coming this fall and winter.  It's hard to decide what to do with our limited time, but we'll be trying to get interesting classes lined up for all levels of knitters, and I hope to have the schedule online by next week.  You'll get an e-mail notification when we work it all out.  You ARE signed up for our e-mails, yes?

This is Rebecca Steltz modeling a beautiful jacket that she made as a gift for her sister - all I can say is WOW!  I hadn't met Rebecca before this but I knew the pattern was not easy, with lots of increases and decreases while keep the cable pattern correct.   She figured it all out and only came in for a little blocking advice.  What a great job!

And Amy Mammarella brought in her finished crocheted market bag. I love the color.  The bag is huge - you can fit all your shopping in just one bag!

Me?  I just finished one Sockittome sock, soon to be done with the second.  I took Sandy Albert's advice and worked on both at one time - yes, you need two sets of the same size needles, but can totally avoid Second Sock Syndrome.  I'm working on a cardigan in Mountain Colors' Twizzle in a beautiful semi-solid rust.   The Wrap-Me-Up shawl is languishing in its basket until the heat wave breaks.  And I'm trying to resist starting something new out of the new Interweave Knits.  There is a "Trish" cardigan that I'm having a hard time resisting.  Bet you can pick it out.  That probably means I need to break out of my box a little.

How about you?  What do you want to knit?  Whatever it is, we're here to help!

See you soon...  

Trish

August 1, 2007

Oh, goodness, it feels like August, doesn't it?  Hot, hot, hot...and all I want to do is knit.  I'm nuts!  I'm also flying on about 5 hours of sleep (it's Tuesday night, despite the date above) because I stayed up till three in the morning to finish Harry Potter VII in one fell swoop.  It was good and very satisfying.  I don't read as much as I used to, with all this knitting to be done (oh, boo hoo, poor me), but spending about 13 hours straight absorbed in a book brought back summer days in my school years.  They seemed to stretch endlessly in front of me and included weekly or more frequent trips to the library to stock up on books, which I would spend hours in my room or lounging around the house reading, reading, reading.  I'd almost forgotten how refreshing it is to leave the real world for someone's manufactured version, and become lost in a totally different landscape.

So anyway, if this becomes incoherent or I seem to drift a little, it's because I'm trying to stay awake until a decent grownup bedtime arrives.

I told you about the neck scarf I was making from Handmaiden's Silk & Cashmere last week.  It's finished and turned out well, wonderfully soft and smooth with great drape.  The pattern is written and I talked Joanne Pingitore into modeling it for me, even though she behaved like she was facing a firing squad instead of a harmless digital camera. Her eyes are squeezed shut behind those shades, for Heaven's sake, and I should be ashamed that I put her through this torture.

  But except for that, doesn't she look great, and isn't the scarf nice? I'm calling it the Stay-Put Scarf.

And I talked Barb Piazza into modeling Edie's Wrap for me.  She managed not to look like sharks were biting her ankles while the picture was taken and in fact put a little Piazza pizzazz into it!

This wrap is VERY EASY to make, very stylish and tailored, and easy to wear or carry.  Terrific beach knitting, just in time for fall wearing.   

Meanwhile, here's Loretta Hollenbach in her Swallowtail Shawl from the lace knitalong.  How gorgeous is this?

You would never believe one ball of (very pretty) sock yarn would make anything this beautiful, would you?  Well of course, it won't unless you put your time and skill into it, like Loretta has done.

I finished a sweater this week and hope to have picture for you next week.  Started my Sockittome socks and am really enjoying the yarn a lot.  Should make good headway this week because it's going to be too hot in this house to work on anything big.

Okay, I'm going to bed and I'm not even going to proofrea.....zzzz.