February - 2007

February 28, 2007

Wow, I just took a clear look at my house and it looks like someone set off a bomb in here - not a bad bomb full of harmful things, but a good bomb, full of yarn and knitting paraphernalia.  Truthfully, I've been knitting like crazy lately (you're surprised, aren't you?) going from one project to the next without a breather and having 3-4 projects going at once, something I try not to do because then it feels like there's no progress being made at all.  But sometimes it just happens.  I'll be happily working away on a nice cabled T-shirt when this flirty little fingering weight catches my eye and I think, "Wouldn't that be nice in crochet?  I haven't had a serious crochet project for a while. I should do one, so my crochet customers don't feel ignored."  And off I go, swatching and learning the pattern, investing serious time because crochet is not easy for me.  Love the results but realize this will take a while to finish - fine, I'll do a few rows every evening, which I do.

The cabled T is coming along and I love the Classic Silk I'm working with, but my hands ache a little from the non-stretchiness of the yarn.  It would be lovely to work with wool - just a small project - a hat, a scarf.   I poke around the back room at the shop - oh, gosh, here's the luscious Optimum wool I bought a few years ago.  It's soft and lofty, with a micron count similar to cashmere.  Very pricey - too pricey, it was a mistake to buy so much.  But how can anything so beautiful be a mistake?  All it needs is the right model (and a little discount) and people will see how wonderful it is.  But just a hat or scarf?  This is the kind of fiber that begs to be a sweater worn next to your skin.  A simple little sweater, maybe a top-down raglan so it doesn't take too much yarn - let's swatch and see what a twisted rib would look like.  Oh yeah, baby, that's what I like!  And another project is born...

So now I've counted approximately 500 million yarn snippets all over the knitting chair, ottoman, and surrounding rug, as well as 7 stitch markers on said rug, and 2 on the chair (not counting the ones that are still in projects - I hope).  3 counters, 2 pairs of scissors, 2 cable needles, 14 circular needles and two sets (complete, I hope) of double points.  Two new knitting books I'm still drooling over, 3 patterns in progress along with notes of what I changed, 3 that are next in line (probably), 3 pens, 1 pad of sticky notes, 5 balls of yarn waiting to be swatched, a basket and 2 bags of yarn for works-in-progress, 3 fashion magazines to see what's new in the spring ready-to-wear lines - not much for us BTW, unless you'd like to knit your very own micro-mini - plus Melissy's copy of  Friday Night Knitting Club, which she kindly allowed me to borrow.  (It's a good book and I'm really enjoying it - well-written, good characters with interesting stories.  The author knows about knitting but she also knows how to write, which isn't always true in books aimed at a niche audience.)

So, to get back to my theme, it's time to clean up around here.  And I will.  But we just got this beautiful hand-dyed cotton from Ellyn Cooper and really, it's whining at me to be swatched.  Maybe I'll just see what needle size it likes to be knit on...

Before I start cleaning (yeah, right) I have to show you two beautiful sweaters Elaine Vardjan knit for her girls.  Elaine has been knitting since she was a little girl and does expert work, always with wonderful yarns.  She takes an idea and runs with it:  started out with a vest in mind, but didn't like that look, so added sleeves.  The next sweater is similar but the yarn is different.  She came in for yarn for number 3 and I can't wait to see how that turns out. 

And I did actually finish a project, amidst all the other stuff I'm working on.  Here's a picture of my finished throw in mistake rib on size 15 needles, using three different yarns held together, with a fourth thrown in for the fringe.  It turned out just as I had hoped, soft and with a luxurious drape, even through I used summer yarns that will be usable all year, not just in winter. 

You'll have to come in to touch and see.  We're going to kit these in the colorways I have available - I'll try to have photos next week of the colors.

Oh, good, it's time to get ready for work.  I'll clean tomorrow!

See you soon..

Trish

February 20, 2007

Quick note to say hello this week - I've spent entirely too much time on this computer in the last couple days.  It takes me forever to get an e-mail letter together, but I had to let everyone know about the Frequent Buyer Program, so a letter had to be sent.  And it's almost tax time, so that all needed to be organized. I'm not a last-minute person - when I know something must be done, I have to do it or I just exhaust myself trying not to do it. So I had a pajama day yesterday (yup, never got out of them all day long) and just did computer/paperwork.  Today I must go do errands, and in order to do that, I had to dig out my car.  Just ask me how much I LOVE being able to walk to work. Okay, thanks.  I REALLY, REALLY love it!  And I can attest to the wonderful warmth of wool mittens because I just spent one and a half hours chipping away at the ice that held my little car fast to the driveway.  The ice chipped into its original little iceballs and fell back into the hole I was making, so I had to scoop the iceballs out by hand. My mittens were absolutely soaked - dripping! - but my hands were warm.  Even the poor folks who can't wear wool next to their skin should wear liners, then wool mittens on top.  It's amazing but true!

And speaking of the poor folks who can't wear wool, there's a great new book out by Amy Singer (who publishes Knitty, the online knitting magazine) called No Sheep for You.  Even if you aren't allergic to wool or other animal fibers, this book tells you such a lot about all the alternative yarns out there that it's a great resource for all of us.  Singer talks about the fiber origins and characteristics, how she deals with drooping, slipperiness, ends, and all the other things that knitters don't like about cotton, rayon and other non-wool fibers.  Anyway, I learned a great deal, and it's just as well, because I've been knitting for spring for almost 2 months now.  In fact, I'm giving myself a break from those yarns with a sweet little mock-turtle done in the round in the yummiest wool you've ever felt called "Optimum."   I like summer yarns and I often love the garments they produce, but the actual process of knitting is certainly easier when the yarn started as a nice fluffy pile of animal hair.  We've gotten lots of other books lately, too.  Maie Landrieu's book of designs for her Koigu wool is out (Knits from a Painter's Palette), Interweave's Lace Style is here, we have Lily Chin's Couture Crochet, as well as great new design collections from Debbie Bliss, Rowan, and Classic Elite.  Lots to look at and dream about!

Okay, this is supposed to be short, but I have to show you this.  Bernie Ilgen is a devotee of Vivian Hoxbro who created and wrote a book about shadow knitting.  This technique creates subtle designs in your knitting by changing from knits to purls in a pattern.  This is Bernie's side-to-side vest looked at from an angle.  The diagonals are created by the shadow knitting technique, not by changing color.

This is a look at the reverse side, where you can see the changes in knits and purls really well.  Look at the right side from this angle and the diagonals aren't very apparent.

It turned out very well and Bernie added her own touch with the borders that just set it off so beautifully.  Lots of work, and lots of fun, in lovely fingering-weight merino - good job!

Okay, off to do the errands.  Geordie is in his bed snoring, still recovering from a hard week at the shop, but he's going to have to wake up and go run around with me. 

Keep on knitting - it will keep you away from those deadly fassnachts!

February 13, 2007

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, just when everyone would like it to clear up and get warm.  Oh, well, we knitters and crocheters love a good snow day, don't we?  There's nothing like being snowed in, with a good cup of tea, something fattening to go with it, and a great project to work on. 

This was a fun week at the shop.  We got in new yarns, scheduled some new classes, and came up with some great ideas for the future.  One new yarn is Punta from Schachenmayr, a cotton and acrylic aran weight in great colors, machine washable, and very reasonably priced.  I'm waiting for the new collections for kids and adults, as well as a bunch of their new multi-colors. 

I got the new Debbie Bliss book for Pure Cotton and Stella.  I only bought Stella; the yarns are interchangeable.  I didn't care for the Pure Cotton as much - it was soft with nice colors, but almost too soft - you could imagine the pills forming as you breathed on it.  Stella (you can hear Karen's Marlon Brando routine on the hour all weekend at the shop)  is an aran-weight blend of mostly silk with some cotton and rayon, very nice, smooth but with a firm hand.  I had to start knitting with it right away, and I could because I finished the little Pure Silk top (it's blocking now.)  Very nice and trouble-free to knit, in good grown-up colors.  I also got some nice hand-dyed cotton called Pomaire from Araucania - big hanks, worsted weight, nice colors - and a kind of kooky Noro yarn called Hotaru - lots of color and texture - I see a charming little cardigan in an open stitch, or likewise a quick and pretty spring shawl.  We've received Rowan's new magazine full of interesting designs, and - well - it's definitely a fun time to be at the shop.

Wednesday evenings are going to be starting again in March as I wrote a few weeks ago, and the details are now up on the Classes page. as are several other new classes.  I hope you'll stop in to see the cute projects that we've already made from the One-Skein Wonders book and that it whets your appetite for the series.  I really think it will be fun, and you'll have a stock of great gifts on hand for many different occasions.  We're also featuring several crochet classes this spring - in case you haven't notice, crochet is very popular and there are some really good designs out for it.  (Okay, stay away from the usual magazines and look for the high-fashion collections - you'll see what I mean.)

Here are a couple great projects I snapped this week:  First is Sarah Rothermel's Sunrise Circle Jacket, which turned out beautifully.  It fits just so and matches her fabulous new glasses - I'm jealous of both:

The second is a sweet little baby sweater that Sandy Albert knit for the shop.  It's called the Angel Sweater, which you can see why, with the pretty and old-fashioned lace pattern at the hem and shoulders.

Sandy did an impeccable job of knitting, as usual - can you believe she only started a few years ago?   Now, she's very accomplished and we're just so proud of her!

And of you, too, whatever level you've reached.  When I think that we've filled both a Fair-Isle sweater class and a (very complex) cabled sweater class this cycle, it reminds me of how far we've all come.  When I first opened the doors five years ago, there were very few who would have tackled classes like that, and now it's all just another notch on your technique belt.  My biggest challenge is to keep on challenging YOU!  Our customers are the best and just keep getting better, in so many ways.

Have a super snowstorm!

Trish

February 6, 2007

Darn, it's cold!  I hope everyone who made the Big Easy last year has found it and gotten it out, because it's finally Big Easy weather.  For those who haven't made it, the Big Easy is a big sweater knit in yummy super-bulky wool in seed stitch.  It goes very fast and there's very little finishing.  I've been wearing mine constantly for two days.  In contrast, I've been knitting a delicate little top for spring in Debbie Bliss's Pure Silk on size 6 needles.  I would love to have a project on 15's to whip out in a few days!

Spring is starting at the store already, with new yarns just beginning to arrive.  We've received a nice tweedy cotton/acrylic blend from Lang called Atlantis, and new colors of my favorite Debbie Bliss yarn, Cathay (cotton,silk, rayon, machine washable).  There's a new collection for this (or any DK weight yarn) that I have yet to receive. In fact, there are three new collections from Debbie that I've ordered - all beautiful, typical Bliss, and more technically challenging than her recent collections, which I thought were dumbed down and not very appealing to boot.  There's nothing wrong with easy knitting as long as it results in something you want to wear, yes?

Besides the little silk top, I've just finished a felted bag in Galway Paint.  I've ordered a strap (which is really a dog leash) and put a zipper in the top, so it will make a good bag - a manageable, useful size and a secure closing.  It's from a Two Old Bags pattern called Ann's Traveling Bag.  I think I may do their Kitchen Sink Bag, too - I forgot how much fun this kind of easy-going knitting is.  But I hadn't felted anything for a long time and also forgot that, at least once during the process, you should take the piece out of the washer and pull the insides apart to make sure they don't felt together.  I had to use a razor blade to cut apart the inside surfaces, then re-felt a little.  A cautionary tale!

Have to leave for an appointment with a yarn rep - oh, poor me, have to go buy some yarn!  More later.

Well, it's tomorrow, because the evil yarn rep had some cash-and-carry skeins with her and I fell for it.  Can anyone say impulse buyer?  She had 3 boxes full of pretty Wool-in-the-Woods yarns and we started talking about throws, and I started thinking about how I was yearning for some easy knitting on size 15 needles, et voila!  I brought a bunch home and started putting some stuff together and here's what happening now

: Three strands held together make a pretty fabric on size 15's  in an easy mistake rib stitch. It's zipping along!

Here are some other neat projects I saw this week:  Paula Rosin finished a cute crocheted top in Rowan's Summer Tweed.  She looks too cute in her top and funky glasses:

Amy Diener brought in a poncho she made for her daughter in tweedy Baby Alpaca Grande with a fur trim.  Her daughter loves it but it's still a little too big.  Next year!

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Karen Wenrich and Deb Cech have an idea for Christmas in July at the shop - I'm still snarling at the idea of Christmas but at least someone is thinking ahead! and Karen has been working on Christmas stockings (I'm supposed to be too, but don't tell her I haven't started anything).  Look at these two beautiful stockings and you'll want to get going on one.

They're both gorgeous and the pictures don't do them justice.  The Fair Isle stocking is done in fingering weight merino and is really beautiful.  The red one is, I think, done in Lamb's Pride Worsted and has some fancy stitchwork that doesn't show up on the screen very well.  Both are expertly knit - I'm so proud of Karen, who has become so accomplished in the last couple of years, as have many of our customers.  I'm very, very lucky to know so many enthusiastic, fearless knitters! 

I have more to say but no more time - I promise, next week there will be new classes and more about Wednesday nights!

See you soon...

Trish