SEPTEMBER - 2007

September 25, 2007

Well, last week was fun!  We got new shipments of Claudia Handpaints and Della Q bags, and we're still ga-ga over them.

Claudia does really lovely colorways, and this year I bought her new semi-solids. (Everyone seems to have them this year and I just love them!).  Becky found space for them on the shelf right away and just look at how beautiful they all are, interspersed with a little mohair.

I have to warn you - a couple of the colors shown here are already gone, so if you see something that calls to you, don't let it get away. I'm looking for the perfect color for a wonderful jacket with ruffles in the back.  Don't ask me why, I'm not a ruffle kind of gal but I have to make this jacket, and the color is in here somewhere.

We also got Claudia's Silk Lace, all smooth vibrant shimmer, and irresistible for a special lace project.

(I believe this is known as yarn porn on the net.)

The bags from Della Q are really great this year.  We received totes in her classic striped fabrics, and totes and leather-trimmed bags in her new tweeds, with Ques (her circular needle cases) and Lilys (her combo needle cases) to match. 

The new bag style...             

and a look inside the Que, with these clever pockets labeled with needle size, and a zippered pocket, too.

Geordie prefers the traditional tote style, obviously:

I've found another project for "Whiskey," Reynold's classic Shetland-y wool that didn't work out for my Fair-Isle wrap - it's from the same Jamieson collection, but is worked in various textures using just four colors.  I changed the pattern to work in the round and will pick up for the sleeves instead of working them separately.  I'm having a lovely time with it, and working on my mini-version of the Wrap-Me-Up shawl at the same time.

This is what the sweater will eventually be:

and this is what it looks like now: (Not particularly impressive, I know, but the colors are really quite pretty.)

 The knitalong piece I'm doing looks like this so far:    

I'm doing it in reversed colorways in fingering weight, so the semi-solid (Ranco from Araucania) is the main color, and the contrast is Koigu, very wild and crazy for a whole shawl, but on size 3 needles, it will be an amazing scarf. Everyone else is ahead of me, I think, and maybe tomorrow night I'll take pictures of all the beautiful WIPs.

Here is a really successful project by Jamie Slegal, who used a pattern from Berroco, then changed the gauge and other things to use Southwest Trading's Bamboo yarn and then modified it some more to fit her.  You can see how well it all worked.  Jamie looks like a model anyway and could make anything look good, but this top is perfect for her.

I'm in discussions with Cocker Spaniel Rescue in Virginia for a sibling for Geordie, and if all works out, I may be at an adoption show in the DC area this weekend. I'll be staying in Baltimore with my sister Janet, and this will also be a trial run for Thanksgiving, to see if Geordie gets along with Zack and Maddy, Janet's two golden retrievers.  Should be a very doggy weekend! Dogs, knitting, sisters - what could be better? If all does not work out, I'll be at the shop.  One dog, knitting, yarn and you - still pretty darn good.  Who is as lucky as I am?

See you soon...

Trish

September 20, 2007

I'm late with an update this week.  I met with Janelle from Design Revolution to talk about some changes to this website and her awesome powers must have intimidated my laptop because when I tried to log into the site, it wouldn't let me, and then Janelle had to come back and talk some sense into it. All is well now, and I think you'll like some of the things we want to do, including trying to find a way for you all to post pictures of your own projects - I would love that! 

I do actually have news this week:  Karen Walter, who is an extraordinary knitter - she knits samples for my store and several others and worked at other yarn stores before Alex, her little Princess of Pink, came along - is going to start working at Yarn Gallery, and we are going to expand our hours!  I hear a lot about how long that stretch from Sunday to Wednesday feels when you're in the middle of a complicated project and run into a snag Sunday night.  Well, we're going to be open on Tuesdays beginning October 2 for our regular hours, and we're going to do another help session (Noon to 1) (but you know you can pop in for quick help anytime, right?) on Tuesdays.  I'm also going to be open until 7 pm on Thursdays beginning in October.  What do you think about that?  I hope you're thrilled and will come in on Tuesdays and say hi to Karen and make her feel welcome.  She's kinda lonely with Alex now in school all day and would love to have some grownup conversation.  What makes her think she's gonna get it in our store, I do not know!

I can't remember where I was last time I posted but I know I had some photos to post if I can just find them and remember...oh, gosh yes, look at this:

This is the Elfin Lace Shawl, knit by Patti Barber, with a border of her own design.  Just to let you know, I tried this pattern a few years ago and gave up because it was poorly written and I couldn't make it work, but Patti solved all the problems and enhanced the shawl with the beautiful border.  It's really spectacular.

And here is Margitta Pfleger's newest family member Sebastian, freshly adopted from the Animal Rescue League, looking very handsome in his handknit sweater : I think there are many more sweaters in his future.  Maybe Geordie can get his hand-me-downs because his very bad mother does not knit for him.

And Jane Forry brought in her lovely Ab Fab afghan in "Monet" colorway.  These afghans are often done in the Feather and Fan ripple pattern, but Jane chose to work hers in a garter ridge sequence, and you can see how beautifully it's turning out.

Lots more to talk about, but I must get to the store to meet the guy who's going to fix the toilet. ( It's been that kind of week!)  On the bright side, I'm hoping that a new shipment of Claudia Handpaints, including their Silk Lace, will show up today.  Yes, of couse I'll take pictures, but don't you really want to meet it in person?

See you soon...

Trish

September 11, 2007

Oh, I love a rainy day, love a rainy day...who wrote that dopey song, anyway?  I can't remember but it's running through my head on this off-and-on rainy day.  And it really does feel lovely and fresh today, as opposed to sunny, muggy and way too hot. 

So the weather suits me, but my knitting does not!  The Golden Lotus Kimono that I started last week is not proceeding well because the colors just aren't right.  I'm using "Whiskey" from JCA/Reynolds, a very nice shetland-y wool that I love working with, but the color range is limited to about 15 colors.  I thought this limitation would make it a little bit easier for me, since I'm a bit inexperienced choosing colors for Fair-Isle, and I chose 10 colors that I thought would blend well.  But the colors are too different and the pattern of the lotus flowers gets lost in the changes.  Another lesson learned, for which I'm grateful but the project is at a standstill until I find the right yarn with the color range I want.  I'm going to re-deploy the Whiskey to another gorgeous sweater in the same collection which only takes four colors.  I hope I'll have something to show you next week. 

I'm also working on a cute cardigan in Rowan's Soft Tweed, finished my second Jawoll Aktion sock and think I'll start a pair in K1C2's Soxx Appeal next, and did a great one-ball scarf in Classic Elite's bulky 100% cashmere "Obsession."  Such gorgeous stuff, and a fun stitch to work, too. The free pattern just went up on the Patterns page.

Other wonderful stuff came in this week.  Look at this batch of Classic Elite's "Waterlily" - wow!

  This is a semi-solid extra-fine merino that is so soft, so gorgeous, so beautiful, really well done, with some great new patterns in the C/E fall collection.  Oh, pooh, there's a problem with the image selector function and all I'm getting is the same photo of the free scarf over and over again.

That means I won't be able to show you the yarn I want to, the projects people brought in or anything else!  Until Janelle, the goddess of the website, figures out what's going on, which certainly won't be right now, since it's almost 11 at night.  I probably have way too many images stored. I love those pictures!!

Well, then I'll just go to bed - I'm excited about tomorrow anyway because our beginning classes and our knitalong start tomorrow evening. I have a fun idea about what I'm going to be knitting with for the Wrap-Me-Up knitalong and can't wait to get started. 

So I'll see you soon, preferably with pictures galore!

Trish

September 5, 2007

Well, did you all have a great Labor Day holiday?  I hope so - I did!  Monday holidays don't really do anything for me because I'm always off on Mondays, but sometimes, because I can't do my regular errands and so on and because I feel a little pitiful that it doesn't really feel like a holiday to me, I let myself take a break from the paperwork and the errands that usually make up my days off and let myself be a knitter, period.  So on Monday, aside from cleaning my car (let the cheers ring out- it happens about every three years), I knitted while listening to knitting podcasts and checked out blogs and basically just poodled around the Internet seeing what was up.  It was fun.  Just in case you don't know, the biggest buzz seems to be about socks and especially about indie sock yarn, which, translated, means sock yarn dyed by small "independent" hand-dyers, meaning small dye lots, lots of inspirational color-ways, but also a lot of inconsistency and either pure delight or disappointment when that internet order arrives.  I'm sure it's fun, but don't forget that we have beautiful hand-dyed sock yarn, too, and you get to see it in the flesh - er, fiber - before you shell out the money!

While I was roaming around the net, I was knitting - guess what? - socks! Jawoll has a new line called Aktion - a new colorway every month - and I'm making my plain ol' socks out of July's color.  I'm making two at a time on separate needles (size 1 Addi lace)  - that way, each sock is still separate and portable, but I don't "forget" to do the second one. Nice autumn colors, darker than they appear here.

And of course, each skein has its little spool of nylon reinforcement for heels and toes - which I always forget to use, so I have a lovely little cache of the things with no idea what to do with them.

I also have started a Fair-Isle project called the Golden Lotus Kimono, with steeks and 10 colors but very little shaping (thank goodness because I'm not a very skilled two-color knitter and I don't want to think about where to place decreases and how to incorporate them into the colorwork).  So far I've knit a lot of boring stockinette stitch hem facing, and have a few inches of much more fun colorwork:

As you can see, my lotuses (loti?) are not golden, but periwinkle and lime green, so far.  This is just the border pattern, it gets more complex as you get into the body. The picture is blurry, but that works to my benefit because my tension is a little goofy.  But my gauge is right on, so a few loose or tight stitches here and there won't bother me.  This is a long-term project and I don't expect to finish it any time soon - I just want to enjoy the process and get comfortable with the two-handed technique (and with ripping out the mistakes. I'm getting a fair amount of practice with that, I'm sorry to say.)

Don't forget our classes and the Wrap-Me-Up knit-along start next week so sign up soon if you're planning on joining us.  Carol Slifka was in to sign up for a class or two and brought her "Edie's Wrap" to show us, in a lovely light green shade of Highlander, a luxurious blend of alpaca and wool that glides through your fingers and over your skin like buttah. 

This brings out Carol's greeny-blue eyes like crazy.

I love the way this looks on her and it's so easy to knit, and versatile. 

BTW, if you've looked at Vogue Knitting's 25th anniversary issue, you have seen a bunch humongous sweaters that, to my eyes, looked too big, too cable-y, just too much!  However, I am not very fashion-forward because according to Harper's Bazaar fall fashion issue, knits are IT:  "There are clotted-cream woolens with oversize cables, capacious boyfriend sweaters, ultra-long mohair cardigans...What makes this winter's sweaters different?  The cocoon shapes, full sleeves, raglan shoulders and butterfly-wing shapes..."  So in a year or two, those big, big, big sweaters that looked odd in VK25 are probably going to be the norm.  Hmmm, I'd better start now, because those babies will take forever to knit.

Whoops!  Gotta go to work - see you soon...

Trish

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