On the Needles: Kaitlin

Many of you who've been in to the shop recently have had the pleasure of meeting Kaitlin, who is one of our 2 new employees. Kaitlin recently moved to Vermont from Utah, and we're thrilled to have her on our team. 

She brought in two of her projects the other day to show us. One is the Vernal Equinox Shawl - available for free on Ravelry. It's beautiful! She's using a wool and merino blend that she hand dyed at a "dye night" at the yarn shop she worked at in Logan, Utah. Her first attempt at dying sure looks like a major success to me... I love the color!

She also just started Stephen West's Color Craving Mystery Knit Along on Ravelry. She picked 3 colors of Fibre Company Canopy Fingering. Here is her progress on the first clue:

She's using Crocus & Blue Crown, and Parakeet will be added soon!

Wow, that's looking pretty cool, and crazy at the same time! I'm such a visual person - I need to see a picture or schematic... SOMETHING to show me what I am making. Kudos to her (and any of you doing this MKAL) for being able to do this without seeing it first. I can't even begin to imagine what the finished product will be. Stay tuned!

Upcoming Class - First Time Top-Down Sweater

contributed by Shawn

This weekend I started my own little sweater example for the First Time Top-Down Sweater Knitting class that starts on February 13th. I've decided to use the new Berroco Floret yarn since it has a super soft hand and is a machine washable acrylic & cotton blend. This means it's perfect for spring babies! I can't wait to pick out buttons when it is finished.

This class features the knitbot Yoked Cardigan knitting pattern and this is what it looks like in Fibre Company Terra yarn:

Customers have loved this shop sample but keep saying it looks hard. Trust us, it's not! It's a really fun pattern to make, and since there are still a couple of spots left in the class, maybe you should join us!

A special baby gift

Most baby gifts are made with machine washable yarns, for obvious reasons. We're fortunate because in recent years yarn companies have really come a long way in increasing and improving their selection of washable yarns. 

We've got customers who come into the shop on a daily basis asking for baby yarns. Some of them come in with a real aversion to "blends." Many want just plain acrylic yarns because they are washable. But these days we've got beautiful blends (Berroco Comfort DK and Comfort Baby, Sirdar Crofter DK and Plymouth Dreambaby DK) that are so much softer and nicer looking that plain acrylics. They're reasonably priced AND washable. We love it when "acrylic only" baby knitters try some of these yarns, and love them as much as we do.

We've also got lovely washable merino wools for those folks who don't like synthetics. While some customers can't imagine using 100% wool on a baby sweater, others will use nothing else.  Yarns like SMC Juvel, Tilli Tomas Artisan Sock, Debbie Bliss Rialto and Dale of Norway Baby Ull are all so unbelievably soft!

And then, there are some delicious yarns, that aren't really made for baby. But they're just so incredibly yummy that you think, "Why shouldn't a baby get to enjoy this yarn?" Sure, they require hand washing. But that just means that baby's mom needs to understand that, and there are moms out there who DO understand that! These same moms, probably know not to dress baby in baby's special sweater until it's pretty safe that what just went down, will no longer come up.

If you are lucky enough to a)BE one of those moms or b) KNOW one of those moms, I recommend the KnitBot Yoked Cardigan sweater in Fibre Company Terra Yarn.

Photo courtesy of Hannah Fettig

Terra is scrumptious, and unbelievably soft. The colors are gorgeous, some with flecks and all with texture. Sure, the colors are a bit "mature", but babies don't always need pastels, do they? And this easy and fun sweater pattern takes just 2 skeins for the baby size. 

I'm using Terra in Olive Leaf. It matches Lucy's eyes!

I've just got the button band to do on mine. Patterns are "in the mail" from KnitBot and will be online and available in the shop shortly. We'll have PDFs too!