Noro Silk Garden Afghan

contributed by Shawn

I am not one of those knitters who works on only one project at a time, so over the summer one of my projects was to pick out my favorite colors of Noro Silk Garden and create individual afghan squares. 

This was my go-to project whenever it was too warm to have a large project sitting in my lap. Kay Gardiner very handily provided a lovely way to make these quilt-like squares that I admired in her Mitered Crosses Blanket--for Japan. I used this mitered square technique and made a couple of these over the course of several months.  

Theses squares are addictive... well, so is the Noro Silk Garden! I ended up modifying the original pattern to include more squares because I had so much fun making them.  Here are a couple of my favorite ones:

Once the weather started to cool off it was time to think about putting the squares together. I put it off for a while because I couldn't decide in what order I wanted to assemble them. Finally, I just began putting the pieces together. I really enjoyed this since you pick-up stitches along the edges of the squares and join them with the 3-needle bind off technique.  No seaming! The edges are finished with applied I-cord. 

The blanket went back into hiding for a while because I had some other things to finish on deadlines.  Warning - there are a million ends to weave into this project/blanket because of the color changes. But I decided I love the colors and yarn so much that I didn't care. This blanket is all for me and I absolutely love it so I'm still working on the weaving-in.  I definitely don't mind it now that I can use the blanket to cozy up in the chilly weather that has arrived. 

Of course as soon as I got this out there were two other takers:

Indigo

and Raku

"Oh, thanks mom a new blankie!"

They enjoy the blanket, but also the gas stove. I've been working on it in front of the gas stove on chilly nights and this is also Indigo and Raku's favorite place to 'toast' too!

New Noro Inspiration

contributed by Shawn

The new Noro Knitting Magazine Premiere Issue Fall 2012 (http://www.kyarns.com/product/noro-magazine-fall-2012/noro-knitting-patterns) is full of new Noro inspiration!

I loved the Crochet Slippers:

Crochet Slippers

So I immediately grabbed my new favorite color of Noro Kureyon and worked up a pair of these. They're a perfect summer adaptation of warm wooly slippers!

My slippers!

I love the Crochet Throw made of hexagon shapes.

Crochet Throw

This is a perfect crochet pattern alternative to the Modular Afghan that I love so much from the Knit Noro book.

I already have some favorite colors of Noro Silk Garden picked out for the Checkerboard Cap.

Checkerboard Cap

All you need is 1 skein each of 2 different colors of Noro Silk Garden yarn for this simple color work hat.

And, it you're inclined to begin your Holiday Knitting in July, then you might want to take a look at these classic hats: the Man's Slouchy Hat and the Man's Ribbed Hat.

Slouchy Hat

Ribbed Hat

Each hat can be done with just 2 skeins of Kureyon (1 skein each of 2 different colors). I think they are perfect designs that anyone would love to receive as a gift this winter.

The Cropped Jacket features a wonderful construction that shows off the Noro colors so well!

Cropped Jacket

Cropped Jacket - back view

The pattern calls for 984 yards color A and 656 yards color B Silk Garden Sock.  We no longer stock the Silk Garden Sock, so have already helped some people choose from the colors of Taiyo Sock yarn so they could get started on this one right away in time to wear for late summer!

I hope this magazine inspires you to pick up some new colorful knitting or crochet projects too!

New Noro Knit to Wear

Just the other day we recieved this new sample from Noro and I LOVE IT! I'm so glad that it fits me because now I can wear it here at the shop to show off the gorgeous colors in the Noro Silk Garden yarn.

This is Design Y844 from Noro Volume 26 - a great textured and entrelac project. I just may be wearing it next time you stop in....

Washing yarn

Have you ever had to wash your yarn? Yes, I did say "yarn." Not "finished project."

Before I share the details, we already know that you should never put anything but knitting and knitting supplies in your knitting bag. We’ve all done it sometime or another - carried around something that should never have been in the bag with the knitting. However the next time you are tempted to downsize to one bag for all your travel-about needs, please think about this:

Last Friday I came upstairs from the shop and discovered there was something leaking from my knitting bag. I didn't think there was anything leakable in the bag. I carefully pulled out each item in the bag. First my almost finished entrelac hat, which was fine and free of any liquid substances.

Then another project - the soon to be revealed Noro Silk Garden Sock project, again free of any liquid substances. I was starting to feel less panicked at this point.

The next thing I reached for was sticky. It was the remainder of the ball of Noro Silk Garden from my entrelac hat. And it was more than just sticky, it was saturated. By this point I realized that the maple syrup I brought to work for my coffee had taken it upon itself to explore my knitting bag on the drive in to the shop. Even though I’d removed it immediately when I got to the shop, that short trip from Burlington to Essex Junction was enough time for it to have a wild party in my little bag. BUMMER!

I had used two balls of the Noro Silk Garden yarn in my entrelac hat (it really only takes one!)because I wanted to choose the colors that appeared in my hat. The second ball was still in my bag and there was quite a lot of it left. It was so sticky, it looked like a lost cause. Throw it away? No! Never! I cannot waste yarn! (Some of you may know this feeling.) I had to do something to save it!

So I ran the water in the sink and got ready to do a little yarn washing. :) This was pretty easy for a silk-wool blend, but did I mention that there were also two balls of fluffy, gorgeous, unused, Adriafil Carezza angora that had also been sitting in the syrup puddle in my knitting bag?

I could have thrown them out. That is probably what a sane knitter would do, but I just couldn’t do it. I hadn’t even taken the ball bands off these. So wash it I did, very gently in warm water, without agitating it because I didn’t want it to felt. Poor angora yarn, it looked like a little wad of wet rabbit hair, nothing like yarn at all! I put it in a plastic bag to go home, and when I got there I used my umbrella swift to unwind the angora very carefully into a loose skein so it could dry. It worked! The yarn is back to a fluffy wonderful ball waiting to be knit into a hat. But what a lot to go through!

Repeat after me, "I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, put anything to endanger my knitting into my knitting bag!"

Seeing Stripes

So you know we now have Noro. And I've been knitting with the Silk Garden and the Kureyon and the Kochoran. Barb made something with the Cashmere Island - which I am going to swatch tomorrow (it's so soft!) Shawn is cooking something up with the Silk Garden Sock (not a sock!) and I'm trying to pick a project out for the Iro. And a project went out to Karen in NJ... a sweater in the Kureyon. So lots of Noro knitting going on here.

My intital thoughts on Noro? I really like it. I love the color transitions. You just can't get that in any other yarn. I knit an easy bag out of 2 colors of the Kureyon: and just felted it this weekend. I wouldn't say it's the softest wool out there, but it really didn't bother me as much as I thought it might. And for all those people who swear Noro is loaded with knots... in four balls I had none. (I don't freak out at knots the way some people do. It's a knot... I untie it, and knit on. Just my feeling, folks.)

The Kochoran was lovely to knit with. Very soft and quick to knit and that angora is so gorgeous! I would love this in a sweater because the angora is there, but not so in your face. After the Kochoran is felted, the angora is WAY more in your face, but in a good way. Look how gorgeous and fuzzy these mittens are!

The Silk Garden is my favorite of the bunch. I thought I'd finish the little sweater I'm making this weekend. After all, it was so cold outside that I did manage to stay inside for the whole day (except for a super quick trip to the grocery store!) I finished knitting the sleeves, and then got ready for seaming. Did I mention I love seaming? When you know how to do it right, it's almost as enjoyable as the knitting. I swear!

The bummer about this sweater is that it called for 200gm of Silk Garden. That's 4 balls. When I finished the back, I had an inkling that I would need a 5th ball. And I was horrified today, to find that not only did I go into the 5th ball, but I need a 6th, just for the last 4 rows and bind off of the neck ribbing.

I'm too tired tonight to check my row gauge (my stitch gauge is right on) and really, what can I do? If I need another ball, I need another ball. It is what it is. I'm also going to research online - are there erratas out for this pattern in terms of yardage required? Possibly. And another thought. These little felines could be the culprits of the yarn shortage... at least for a part of that 5th ball. I really think I had another small bit of it in my bag, and left unattended around yarn, both of these cats, well, they have a really bad track record.

The importance of a good needle collection, and checking your gauge

And by "good" I guess I mean "extensive".

I took home a project the other night. Some Noro Silk Garden and the Jane Ellison Designer Mini Knits pattern book. I am making Design #26, which is a cute short sleeved raglan top, with a button closure at the neck. The gauge is 18 sts to 4" on a size 8 US needle, or 4.5 sts/inch. I typically go down one size for needles, so I pulled out my 7 US Addi Turbos and started swatching. After a nice 4 inch swatch my gauge measured 4.25 sts/inch. Only .25 stitches off, so no biggie, right? WRONG!

Had I gone ahead with that needle size, the back of the sweater would have been an inch too large. and the front would have been too large as well. See 82 stitches divided by 4.5 sts (the correct gauge) = 18.25 inches. But 82 stitches divided by 4.25 = 19.3 inches.

So I pulled out my size 6 Addi Turbo needles. And swatched. Typically (and this is not ALWAYS the case) your gauge should change 1/2 stitch for every needle size you go up or down. INCREASE your needle size, your number of stitches per inch should GO DOWN 1/2 st. And DECREASE your needle size, your number of stitches per inch should GO UP 1/2 st. And in this case, this happened to me. My gauge on size 6 Addis was 4.75. But do the math... 82 stitches divided by 4.75 sts (the correct gauge) = 17.3 inches, this time an inch too small.

Luckily, I own a Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needle Kit. I normally use it for emergencies - when I can't find my Addis, or when I am travelling and want all of my needles in one handy case. But yarn slides very differently over Addis than it does over the plastic Denise needles. So it stands to reason that my gauge should be different. I pulled out the Denise 7s and BINGO! 4.5 stitches to the inch.

But beware, the danger of the Denises...

I cruised throught the back of the sweater, and then finished one front. As I was getting ready to bind off the front, I happened to look at the needle in my right hand. It had a "5" stamped in it. Egads! After I had finished my ribbing on size 5 needle tips, I had only switched ONE needle tip to the size 7. So I just had knit the whole front with one 5 and one 7. Gauge? Yes, it was off. So frog, frog, frog.

It's a good thing I really like knitting with this yarn. :)