We all make mistakes!

contributed by Shawn

Can you spot what is wrong with this mitten?

Yarn: Classic Elite Liberty Wool Print yarn, color "Reflecting Pool"

If you look closely above you will see that the thumb gusset shaping runs right up the middle of the photo. The gusset was incorporated into the body of the mitten hand and is not where the thumb was added. 

OOPS. This is a wonderful reason to put down your knitting when you are tired!

It's a good thing that the pair I did as gifts turned out with the thumbs in the correct spot!

Yarn: Berroco Vintage yarn, colors "Fennel" and "Tide Pool"

Both mittens are from our free Easy Mittens pattern. And it IS an easy pattern, as long as you pay attention when you knit!

No More Hat Head!

contributed by Shawn


Check out this hat style and yarn combo that won't flatten your hair when you need a hat!

Classic Elite Liberty Wool Light is a 100% wool yarn that creates a warm but lightweight fabric. The slouchy style is a loose fit and these two features combine in a project that doesn't plaster your hair down on your head. The color spirals and eyelet details make it a fun project. The hats provide a nice splash of color in the rather depressing mud seasons that occur on either end of winter. 

Classic Elite's free electronic knitting pattern Eyelet Swirl Hats calls for just one skein of Liberty Wool Light yarn. With the color selection available I had a hard time choosing which one to start with. I went with the Ultra Violet Autumn (#6690) and I really like it. The color choices are so good though, that I think I'll need to knit a few more!

Organic Cotton for Baby

You already know we've received Classic Elite Seedling in the hand painted colors, but I wanted to share with you my experience with this yarn.

I'm not a big cotton fan. I always have to go down at least 2 needle sizes to get gauge with cotton yarns. This isn't such a big deal - I mean the number of stitches you are knitting on, whether you are using an 8 or a 6, is the same. But what makes it less-than-enjoyable for me, is the pain I feel in my hands when I'm knitting cotton on a small needle. And now that I've hit my mid-40's I'm feeling every ache and pain. Why give myself more pain if I can avoid it?

But I was in the shop after Christmas and I was looking at some of the new yarns we've received for spring. I pulled a skein of each of the new hand painted Seedlings from the shelf, and was amazed at how soft they were! For some reason, I always thought this yarn had a rougher feel to it. I was so wrong!

We used to sell some similar looking cotton yarns with nubbly textures like this and they were, indeed, rougher to the touch. That must have been what I was thinking about when I was "imagining" the hand of the Seedling. Luckily my imagination has now been replaced with a wonderful reality. This is some seriously smooth and soft fiber.

I pulled a copy of the new Yankee Knitter Baby Sweaters, Hats & Blankets #31 pattern and grabbed 3 skeins of color #4566 Lei. It's fun combination of pink and orange with a hint of avocado green thrown in! From the pattern, I chose to make the sweater: a super simple top down raglan cardigan. The thing I liked the best was that when you finished the yoke, the pattern tells you to work the sleeves FIRST, before the body. What's so smart about this? Well, it eliminates stitch holders, for one. And two? You can work the entire piece on a straight needle. Smart thinking!

I whipped up the size 3-6 month sweater in no time, and was pleased to discover that to get gauge, I only had to drop one needle size. My hands are pain free, too! I started the hat this morning and it should be finished soon.

And... if you like hand paints, there are some great colors from which to choose:

Great News for Cotton Fans!

Just in, Seedling Hand Paints! 

Classic Elite Seedling has been a popular worsted weight cotton in the solid shades for the past couple of years. Now we've brought in 6 beautiful hand painted shades.

Seedling is a machine washable organic cotton with a nubbly texture. The organic fiber is more robust and less stressed by chemicals than non-organic cotton, which increases its absorbency and color intensity. It's popular in garments for both adults and children. 

How fun would this sweater be with a coordinating hand paint shade thrown in?

Simple & Sweet Baby Sweaters

Each day we see customers in the shop searching for sweater patterns for newborn babies. It's no wonder - don't you always get the urge to knit a little sweater for a close friend or family member when you hear she's expecting? I know I do!

And as yarn shop employees, we've handled this many, many times, so we're always prepared to recommend a good assortment of patterns.

Like the Wee One Welcome Set from Knitting at Knoon.

This pattern is simply adorable. It calls for 400 yards of DK weight yarn. In our shop sample (above) we chose Sirdar Snuggle Crofter DK that knits up with a fair isle striping effect. This yarn is reasonably priced (it costs just $21 to make the set), comes in really sweet colors and is soft and machine washable.

We've got other great DK weight yarns that work really well for this little set. Berroco Comfort DK now has really fun variegated colors, and Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend is also a popular choice.

The Puerperium Baby Cardigan is precious! And it's easy and fun to make. This sweater is pretty hard to resist, once you see the (and feel!) the shop sample (shown below). We used Misti Alpaca Pima Silk and this yarn is just the perfect choice for a newborn. The color choice is spectacular, and it's heavenly to knit.

Another pattern that's been getting a lot of attention is brand new from Yankee Knitter. The Baby Sweaters, Hats & Blankets Pattern #31 is a great addition to the Yankee Knitter offering. The sweaters and hats are sized from preemie to 6-12 months and the blanket is a generous 33"x35". And they knit up quickly in heavy worsted weight.

Our top recommendations for this pattern are Plymouth Encore, Berroco Comfort Worsted, Berroco Vintage and if you'd like a soft wool, then Dream in Color Classy or Classic Elite Liberty Print.

And finally, one last recommendation for a great newborn sweater. We came across this one a few months ago and thought it was beautiful in its simplicity. It is more suited for little girls, but it's a top choice on our list for newborns.

In Threes: A Baby Cardigan is a pattern that's available on Ravelry. We also sell it in the shop through Ravelry. It's the sweetest little sweater. All worked from the top down, in one piece. It's absolutely precious!

We had some Putty colored Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece laying around and I knew it would be perfect for this sweater. It just needs buttons now, but the best part about using such a neutral color is that you can really be creative with your button selection!

Beautiful yoke detail

The Perfect Neck Accessory for Fall

Back in August we received Liberty Wool in a sport weight (Liberty Wool Light) and Classic Elite Book #9184 - a pattern booklet of accessories for this yarn.

Each time I add a pattern booklet to our website, I have to resize all of the secondary images. You know, the images of the other patterns INSIDE the book, the ones you can enlarge? The small ones below the picture of the cover...

And sometimes by looking at all of these pictures, I get stuck on one and feel the urge to make it. While looking at the accessories in this pattern booklet, the Triangaholic Shawl caught my eye. It's done in 2 balls (each a different color) of Liberty Wool Light. 

It's a pretty simple top down, triangular shawl pattern, and since this type of knitting is kind of mindless for me, and I didn't currently have a mindless project on the needles, I decided to start one. Barb and I mulled over all possible color combinations, and came up with colors 6606 (Reflecting Pool) & 6698 (Blue Twilight). I love the colors! And as you can see, it looks FABULOUS with bright blue nail polish. Or not... your choice!

It was, as suspected, an easy and fun knit and is ideal for this time of the year, when there's a chill in the air and you just have to have something to keep that cold air off your neck. And I love the size of this shawl! It's perfect for wrapping around your neck and fastening in the front.

Nail Biter Knitting

Have you ever been in the middle of a knitting (or crocheting) project and realized that you just might not have enough yarn? And you check your knitting bag 50 times to be sure there's not another ball in there? And you check your purse, because sometimes you throw your knitting in your purse? And you check underneath the passenger seat in your car, because you were knitting while your husband was driving last weekend? And you check under the pillows on the couch, because sometimes at night you are tired and lazy and don't put all of your knitting back in the bag? And you check all the cats' favorite hiding spots, because you know how they LOVE to mess with you and steal things from your knitting bag?

Well this... all of this... was what I did last week as I was knitting the Double Breasted Baby Cardigan in Classic Elite Liberty Wool yarn. 

The Kyarns staff had recently sent me some new projects and I dove right into this one as soon as I received my package. I think the sweater is SO cute and I just love the seed stitch double breasted front! It's in the new Liberty Wool Baby Pattern Booklet:

So when I started to suspect I'd be short on yarn I was devastated! Especially because if I needed another ball, I can't just run over to the shop and grab one. I'm all the way in Finland and I'd have to wait for another shipment. I kept thinking, "I HAD to have misplaced some yarn!" But I didn't.

Liberty Wool color: Art Deco

In the end, I was lucky and had enough yarn to complete the sweater. But this is all I had left!

Not enough for my liking! 

This sweater is really cute, and I definitely recommend it for anyone needing an adorable baby gift. I just recommend purchasing that extra ball... for insurance purposes! (Note: I made the 18 month size. The 6-12 month size should be fine with the 3 balls called for!)

Liberty Wool now available in a sport weight!

Classic Elite Liberty Wool is now available in a sport weight! Liberty Wool Light is the same beautiful machine washable wool as Liberty Wool Print, but in a lighter weight. 

This yarn is perfect for babies and children, and for lighter weight garments for adults too!

Need ideas? This yarn will obviously make some fun mittens and hats, but what about an adorable baby set?  Or how about some leg warmers?

And even though this blanket pattern was written for a heavier weight, it would be really cool in this yarn.

Crocheted shapes like this take on a life of their own when worked in color changing yarns like this one!

Liberty Wool Print in New Colors!

Last year Liberty Wool Print was a best seller for us in the worsted yarn category. Is it because it's 100% wool? Super soft? Self striping? Washable? Has great pattern support? Has colors for both kids and adults? Or all of the above? 

We're not sure which reason(s) you loved this yarn, but we know we certainly did too! Our Fundamental Baby Cardigan was one of the most "ooohed" over samples in the shop.

We've just received some new colors of this fun yarn. These three new colors join 7 existing colors to make 10 beautiful shades. Enjoy!

When One Pattern is Really 2... or 20!

Some of my favorite patterns are those that offer directions for making the same garment in any number of yarn weights. This means that you purchase just one pattern, and you can make it over and over again in different yarns for different sized people. Heck, you can even add stitch patterning to make each one look different!

Over the years I've used a number of patterns that fall into this category. Some of my favorites are:

Yankee Knitter Classic Socks for the Family #29 is sized for Babies, Small Children, Large Children, Women and Men, and has directions for Fingering Weight, Sport Weight and Worsted Weight Yarns. That's 18 different patterns right there. Then you can customize these by adding texture stitches, ribs, etc. It's the number one sock pattern we sell, and we think one of the only ones you'll ever need to purchase.

Ann Norling's Kid's Top Down Raglan or Bottom Up Raglan: Both of these versatile sweater patterns encourage you to experiment with different colors, textures, yarn weights and stitches. Each pattern has instructions for 7 sizes in 4 different weights (that's 28 patterns!) And then add the choices of cardigan or pullover... and v-neck or crew neck. You do the math!

Yankee Knitter Hats & Mittens Pattern #26 is a great basic pattern for anyone wanting to knit mittens for the first time. These mittens are worked flat, so the pattern won't give you practice working in the round, but the mittens fit great and the seam is barely noticeable. Both the hat pattern and the mitten pattern are written for 6 sizes in 2 gauges, and the hat includes 2 style options.

Over the past couple of years, I've been adding some of the Figheadh Yarnworks Fundamentals patterns to this staple collection. From socks to sweaters and hats to vests, Figheadh has some excellent patterns. 


This fall I made the Figheadh Yarnworks Fundamental Top-Down Baby Cardigan this fall out of Classic Elite Liberty Wool Print. What a great pattern! The self striping yarn did all the work, but next time it would be fun to use a solid yarn and add a cable pattern.

And I just completed a Figheadh Yarnworks Fundamental Junior Vest the other day. I used the SMC Bravo Rainbow Color yarn, which is a fun washable acrylic that's a tweedy striping yarn. There is enough yardage in one ball to make up to a child's size 12 or 14. And this pattern makes 12 different sizes in 4 different gauges, so it's a definite keeper.

Fall's Coming. Wrap Your Head Around It.

Even though things in Vermont are not quite as fall-like as they are here in Finland, our Vermont customers have started to wrap their heads around fall projects. And by "wrap their heads" we find it interesting that a lot of people are making just that... head wraps! Hats, beanies, berets, whatever you call them, they're always fun projects. And we have a few that are standing out as the favorites of the season.

The Zig Zag Tam has to be one of the leaders! Can you believe that these two hats were made with the SAME two colors of yarn? That's right. They just alternated the MC and the CC. Even if you knit two hats using the same colors (without alternating MC and CC) you will have two hats that appear different. The Classic Elite Liberty Wool is for sure one of my favorite yarns. I don't know why I love it (the colorways? the random striping? the softness? the washability? the hand?) but I do. Many customers are finding this hat irresistable, and I'm really not surprised at all. It's on my list as well.

Another is the Spiral Beanie. This one also quenches the thirst of color seekers. It's knit with just 2 skeins of Noro Silk Garden (can also be made in Noro Kureyon if you'd like) and the pattern is in the Knit Noro book. Remember Shawn's blog post about this book? Well the true Noro lovers (and new Noro lovers) came flocking, and it's safe to say that our customers have got a lot of Noro on the needles right now!

The Zeikova Hat is another one that is drawing attention. This style of hat - somewhat over-sized and slouchy - has a unisex look. And it only looks hard! This easy hat is reversible, and worked in two colors of Berroco Flicker, a gorgeous and soft alpaca chainette yarn with an ever so subtle glitter. The new shades that just came out are perfect for this hat.

All three of these are great hats for the coming cold season. And they'd be great as gifts too!

Progress!

Remember this?

Well now it's finished, and I love it! Of course it's going to be making it's way back to the shop this week, so it will not get buttons until it arrives there.

I had enough yarn leftover that I decided to make a super cute jester hat. I found the pattern on Ravelry (it's free) and it is a great project for self striping yarn like the Liberty Wool. It's called the Baby Jester Hat.

I've also completed one preemie hat for our preemie hat drive. (Notice how I'm working a lot with yellows, greens and blues? Hmmm.)

I whipped it up pretty quickly the other day, and then paused for a bit to make the jester hat. I'll be making more... and hey, that jester hat might be a good idea...

Now I'm about to start the Storm Cloud Shawlette, another freebie on Ravelry. I am going to try combining the Blue Heron Rayon Metallic with the Rowan Kid Silk Haze. I love lace weight yarns like the Kid Silk Haze, but I'm not fond of using them by themselves. I thought that blending it with the Rayon Metallic would be more up my alley!

Knitting with Staples

And no, I don't mean the bent pieces of metal that hold papers together! I mean staple patterns. Do you have any?

A staple pattern for me is one I use over and over and over. It's a pattern that is well written and easy to understand. A pattern I can use as a launching pad for my own creativity. One that gives me the basic sizing information, that can be customized by my own yarn choice, or by my addition of a stitch pattern. 

Figheadh Yarnworks Fundamentals patterns are all staples. The patterns in this series are all for basic items like hats, socks, sweaters and vests, but they cover a huge range of sizes and they're all written for multiple yarn weights. It's such a bonus when you can use a pattern multiple times!

We sell almost all of the Figheadh patterns in the shop, and we carry ALL of their PDF patterns. I'm thrilled about the PDF versions - my new printer was recently having issues and it would NOT print. So I emailed the PDF that I was working on to my Kindle, and I was in business!

The Figheadh pattern I'm doing is a new one: #F11 Top Down Baby Cardigan. With all the baby knitting people like to do, this one is a must have. You can make the same sweater over and over, and never have it look the same!

Mine is knitting up so quickly! I am using the Classic Elite Liberty Wool Print, which is new for us this year. I wanted to bring it in to the shop last year, but didn't. Lesson learned... I should have! We're always looking for more variegated or self striping yarns in worsted weight and this was a great addition. This yarn comes in beautiful colors that work well for both adults and kids, and it's machine washable and soft. I'm really enjoying working with it, and glad I will have enough left to whip up a hat of some sort.

As you can see, I finally got my printer to work. An upcoming car trip and a dead Kindle battery was a good motivator for me to tackle the printer issues. I won!

Hooker alert!

We just got the Interweave Crochet Spring 2011 Magazine, and it's got some awesome projects, as usual. I'm particularly fond of the Dahlia Shawl which is done in Manos del Uruguay Lace. This is the one Manos yarn we do not yet stock (maybe now we will have to look more closely at it!) so I would be tempted to substitute the Filatura di Crosa Nirvana or the Malabrigo Lace.

The dew Drop bracelet is really sweet and would make a great gift! It's a perfect project for Classic Elite Firefly, and of course, a visit to Bead Crazy would be in order for this one.

Another beautiful project is the Magic Carpet Blanket. It's completely portable, and I would love to do this in some really fun colors of Berroco Comfort DK.

Just one more to share... the Cupcake Sweater in Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. This one is a sampler Tunisian Crochet Cardigan - that incorporates four Tunisian stitches - the simple stitch, the knit stitch, the purl stitch and a lace stitch. Maybe Barb will have to make this one now that she's so hooked on Tunisian crochet!

Home Decor Anyone?

We just got a new pattern booklet from Classic Elite that is full of things to knit for the home. As I put this product online earlier today, I was struck by how many great patterns there are in this booklet! It's called Home Sweet Home.

I love the Modular throw, knit out of Sprout. This would work up so quickly, and even though I like the bold choices they show in the picture (Cool Olive & New Navy) I would definitely tone it down and use something along the lines of Sepia, Summer Rain, Glacier or Mint.

I am a total sucker for a granny square blanket, especially when it's done in colors like this one! It calls for Classic Elite Pebbles, but I would use Berroco Comfort DK or Berroco Pure Pima.

This little window shade is sweet! It's done in Classic Elite Firefly, and this is a great new yarn that we brought in for spring. It's got it's own pattern booklet for garments, but it's refreshing to see it worked up in an item that your home can wear!

And oh how I love this lampshade! We don't stock the Classic Elite Allegoro yarn, but I would definitely substitute Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy.

There are a lot of other great patterns in this booklet - for curtains, table runners, placemats and pillows. Doesn't your home deserve to wear some of your handiwork too?