There's something about ribbing

Do you like ribbing? Or hate it? I'm not sure what my answer is to that. I think normally I would say I'm not a huge fan of ribbing. All that back and forth tends to slow things down. But recently, I've done a few projects that have more than just a bit of ribbing. My Noro Silk Garden top had a nice deep 1x1 ribbing at the raglan neck. I thought it was going to take forever, but I cruised right through it. Then my Noro Iro shrug from Jenny Watson Designer Mini Knits was ALL ribbing. This time 2x2, so in a bulky yarn, it was quick. And my most recent project, finished 2 nights ago, had even more ribbing. (More than you see, since I had to redo the neck twice, since I didn't like how the pattern told me to do it...) This is the KPS #275 Children's Neckdown Bolero in Plymouth Kudo. Ribbing certainly isn't as mindless as garter or stockinette, but it does have such a nice rhythm to it, that it's sort of its own TYPE of mindless.

Tomorrow is our last day of knitting session #2 for the kids at school. This session has been going really well. Suzie and I came up with a plan - a few projects that we thought the kids could finish in a 6 week session. A few of the kids have done really well. They're enthusiastic and aren't concerned with dropped stitches, random increases, etc. They take their knitting home and actually knit a bit during the week. Helen and Sophie knit during the week, because when they are finished their homework, and finished playing and dinner's not quite ready, I remind them that they could knit a few rows. Helen will do it without being reminded. She really likes to create things - and wait until you see what she is doing now. (I'm not helping her at all, and I'm BLOWN away. More about that in another post.)

But Sophie needs to be reminded. Knitting is clearly not her favorite thing to do. In fact, there were 2 days when after school activites (ie: their knitting class) were cancelled due to icy weather. She whooped and hollered and carried on like it was the best present she'd ever received, to NOT have to go to knitting. WTH? (Here she is last Monday knitting a few rows for her bag project. Clearly she would have rather been playing with the stuffed "Hedwig" that is tucked under her arm.)It's okay, she's her own person. Just because I love knitting doesn't mean she has to love it. Anyway, the other day she had finished her "bag" and so she learned how to purl. She practiced the purling and made a little square in stockinette, and she thought it was amazingly fun. More fun than just knitting. Then I was working on my Plymouth Kudo sweater, and she saw the ribbing around the neck and wanted to learn how to do it. So grabbed some Brittany needles and a spare ball of Berroco Pure Merino DK that I had lying around, and I taught her 2x2 ribbing.

Well, there's hope folks. She LOVES the ribbing. I have seen with my own eyes that she has picked up her knitting WITHOUT being reminded and worked on it all by herself. I taught her how to read her stitches, so if she puts it down and then picks it up later, she can look at the next stitch and know exactly what kind it is, a knit or a purl. I have even "caught" her knitting now when she is supposed to be doing homework. And look - proof that at least for now, the knitting has won out over the stuffed animal! Hedwig is nowhere to be seen.So I guess the lesson here is that knitting is surely different for each of us. We're all capable of doing all the different stitches, but of those stitches, some excite us more than others. If you're in a rut, try something new, or go back to something you haven't done in a while. You may be surprised at how much fun you can have.

Current Project – Take Two (or Three, or Four…)

So I don’t know about you, but it seems whenever I make something for myself and start to wear it, everyone who knows that I knit starts to inquire about it. It doesn’t matter what it is, or where I am, people start to ask, "Could you make one of those for me?" Some of them find sneaky, subtle ways to say this and some of them just come right out and boldly state the question. Folks offer to pay for the materials, they offer me a trade or a type of barter, and even my family has tried to bribe me with baked goods for socks when they spied the new Berroco Sox colors on the website.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love to give knitted objects away to people. As long as they demonstrate the proper appreciation for the materials and time that goes into the project...

I’ve even been known to give things away to people who don’t actually ASK for something because I’m so amazed that they can restrain themselves compared to everyone else. (Yes, this is a hint. If you don’t ask and just admire, you may very well get bumped to the front of the project line :) )
In any case, I usually end up making multiples of everything. Some of you may have heard me mention in the shop that I’ve worked my way through at least 12 of the Super Bulky Button Hats in almost every color of Malabrigo Chunky that we carry. It’s a good thing they don’t take long to knit!
But I’ve also started to realize that the proper response to all of my friends who admire the knitting I do is, "Maybe you should learn to knit, then you can make whatever you want."

(We do offer Learn to Knit classes. And for those of you who find yourselves in positions similar to my own you can always suggest that someone take one of these classes!)

I’ve also spent some time spreading the art of knitting to some of my closest friends. In the last several months I’ve gotten four different friends started on their first projects (or their first projects in a 10 year lapse.) I’m very impressed with all of them. Most of them picked out fairly challenging projects to work on this winter or they’ve finished multiple projects and have started gifting knitted items to others. And I’ve had so much fun getting together with them all to knit!

I am going to encourage my friends to share their new knitting experiences in our Kyarns Ravelry Group, and also on our Kyarns Facebook group. So be on the lookout for a Peruvian Tweed scarf, a Baby Alpaca Chunky hat, and some amazing orange Ultra Alpaca sleeves with a turtleneck there soon. We hope you’ll join us there and maybe you’ll let us know what you are working on!

I like to knit with apples, not bananas

The other day Helen came home from school and boy did she have something to tell me. Apparently a boy in her class, Tim (name changed) had come up to her saying, "The yarns in your Mom's yarn shop are way too expensive. My mom said she can buy the same yarns at W-store for much less." Wow! Fighting words from a fourth grade boy!

Helen knew it was an insult, but she wasn't sure why. She knows that my shop is so completely different from a W-store and I think to hear the two together ruffled her feathers.

Her teacher, a knitter, overheard the exchange, and apparently jumped right in and told Tim that it was wrong for him to talk about someone else's mother and business like that. She went on to say that my yarn shop is a specialty shop, and W-store is a chain store, and that they are two completely different things. She even used this incident to prompt a little discussion for the entire class later that day, about how talking about other people, friends, their businesses, etc. can be hurtful and damaging. Right on... a little life lesson there!

After school though, Helen was still irritated that someone would make that kind of comment to her. She is protective of her family, and I'm proud of her - it's a wonderful trait. So we discussed it further. We talked about the quality of yarns at my shop, and the quality of yarns at chain stores, and how quality makes a difference in price. I explained that Tim's comment, no matter how truthful and accurate he THOUGHT it was, was completely bogus, and that it didn't upset me at all. It obviously originated from someone who thinks that I sell the same exact yarns as W-store. This person is not being mean, she is just misinformed. She's comparing apples to bananas. I sell apples. They sell bananas.

We also talked about it in a way that made sense to her - like how there are a lot of places to buy kids' shirts. More expensive stores, medium expensive stores, less expensive stores, etc. In the big picture, all of these stores sell kids' shirts. To some folks, a shirt is a shirt is a shirt. And that's fine!

But to other folks (and discriminating fashionista children, like Helen) no two shirts are the same. Some shirts are cozy, others are scratchy. Some shirts fit well, others gape and pucker. Some are really well made (and you can tell!) and others will fall apart when you take them home. So for all the folks who believe that no two shirts are the same, that's why we have different shops out there. These people are thankful that they can make their purchases elsewhere, with no disrespect at all to the shops that sell the scratchy shirts.

Do you like apples? Do you like bananas? You can knit with whatever you want to knit with. Let's not judge each other. Just eat your fruit, knit and be happy. :)

Building our Community: One Block at a Time

2009 Spring Charity Drive: Blankets for the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program

It is COLD in Vermont-especially on days where the wind chill falls well below zero. Of course my first reaction to winter in Vermont is to pull out my warm and wooly hand knit sweaters, brew some hot coffee, and curl up under a blanket on the couch with my knitting. But I grew up in the Midwest and I am intimately familiar with negative wind chills. I know what it takes to keep myself warm and in good spirits through a long, cold winter season.

Not so long ago I took note of a call for blanket donations and it was a poignant reminder that not everyone who lives in our community is ready (or equipped!) for a Vermont winter. This, paired with a comment by one of our customers about donating knitted items, and a discussion with Jill and Barb recently about ideas for 2009 charitable projects, sparked an idea.

What if Kaleidoscope Yarns knitters took up the challenge of making blankets that are needed by new families arriving in our community? If everyone were to do just a little bit of knitting we would have some fabulously individualized and creative pieces that would help keep people warm in Vermont winters! So the idea for the Kaleidoscope Yarns Blanket Project was born. I’ve since done my research and spoken to staff and volunteers at the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program (VRRP) who are immensely excited about the possibility or having knitters take up their needles for this project.

The Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program (VRRP) helps refugees and immigrants gain personal independence and economic self-sufficiency, become contributing members of their new communities, and able participants in all aspects of American life through a full range of services and programs.

So How Can YOU Help?
We are asking all interested Kaleidoscope Yarns knitters (both local and online) to knit up 13”x13” (blocked) squares and send them to us or drop them off at the shop.
PLEASE READ FURTHER, as there are a couple of things you need to know before you get started!

• The finished blankets will be machine washed and dried so we are asking people to use Encore worsted weight yarn for their blocks. You don't HAVE to use Encore, but we're in Vermont and just that little bit of wool makes Encore a much warmer choice than 100% acrylic.
• We have posted several free afghan block patterns on our website, but these are just suggestions! You may use any pattern you like, but help us out by adhering to the following guidelines: Please keep the first and last two stitches of each row in stockinette (for seaming purposes). Also, please knit the first and last two rows of each square (garter stitch). This will be a big help to all those who volunteer to seam the blankets together.
• Don't weave in your ends! Please leave a one yard tail at the beginning of each block and a one yard tail at the end. This will also help in seaming!
• Please attach your name and address to each block that you submit. We would like to list the first names, states, and number of blocks contributed for the recipients and recognition of our donors.
• Mail all finished blocks to our shop (Kaleidoscope Yarns Blanket Project, 15 Pearl St, Essex Junction, VT 05452) by April 15th (tax day).
• We will be seaming the blocks together into finished blankets locally. If you are interested in taking part in this aspect of the project please indicate this and include your email address on your name & address card, or stay tuned as we will post information about this on our blog.
• As a fun way to thank everyone for her/his participation, we're going to have a raffle once the blocks are completed. Each block will get you an entry, and over the next few months we'll put together some fun prizes, gift cards, etc to be included in the raffle.

Small squares

It's been a weekend of squares... for me and for some others too! On Saturday, our Learn to Love Entrelac Hat class was full, and from 9 am-12 noon we had 8 folks up in the classroom with Barb. By the end of the class, they had all made quite a bit of progress on their hats... and we think they realized that Entrelac isn't really that difficult... it's just different. Really - just one little tilted square after another, all bonded together and looking quite amazing in the end!

Shawn grabbed my camera and went into the classroom to take some shots of the entrelac action: So here we have photographic evidence of entrelac hats getting bigger, with smiling and fun! It was really neat to see the different yarns that people chose, and in the end, the hats will all be unique. I'm not positive, but this looks like Manos Silk Blend in color 3109!

The pattern they all used was the Fourth Grade Hat pattern, a free download from Twist Collective. Each person downloaded it at home - for copyright purposes. Even though it is free, we are not able to download it for each person. Hopefully it got folks familiar with Twist (that was sort of the purpose!) as it's a great resource for knitters. (Like Ravelry... we're still spreading that word, too!)I have been working on squares of my own this weekend. I'm recovering from a nasty cold that hit me early last week, and about 5 nights of insomnia on top of that. So mentally, small squares are about all I was good for this weekend! We got some new yarns in on Friday, and I grabbed a ball of each to swatch. These will be online either tomorrow or Tuesday. A lovely blend of soy viscose and cotton:A blend of hemp, cotton and modal: A 100% naturally dyed organic cotton: And a merino wool, microfiber and cashmere blend (think Kashmir Aran!) in a sport weight:And speaking of squares, stay tuned for an informative post by Shawn tomorrow. She's going to explain our charity knitting program for this spring - and we want all of you to join us if you can! We've been discussing it for a while now, and the details are finally ready...

A happy ending & some tips to beat the masses

Polly came in to work yesterday to find that her hat had dried. And guess what? It's really almost perfect! The only thing a little "off" is the cute I-cord tie at the top, and we think it just needs to be reattached a bit. Then nobody will know that her beautiful hat almost met its death in a cold and dirty snowbank last weekend in downtown Burlington. And we'll never tell... will we?

Here she is, all smiles, with it on yesterday. Notice the gorgeous scarf she has that coordinates with the hat. For the scarf, she used one Be Sweet Magic Ball and 2 skeins of Nashua Handknits Julia, each in a different color. She knit it lengthwise and it came out really well.

Yesterday we sold out of the Cascade 220 (the colors we are discontinuing) in a matter of hours. We picked 18 colors, and are replacing them with colors we haven't had before. These 18 colors were discounted by 30%, and so I sent an email to our bulk email list. Within just 3 hours, everything was gone.

Some folks were bummed that they weren't able to buy this yarn. By the time they opened the email (later in the day, or this morning) the yarn was long gone. I'm sorry - when we put something on sale, we have no idea how long it will last. We have a HUGE email list, and even though we had a HUGE number of the Cascade skeins on sale, the folks who ordered in the first several hours after the email went out, well, I guess they were yarn hungry. You can tell just by looking at the boxes that are going out today... they are all really large boxes, which means people really stocked up on this sale.

So if you missed out on this sale, or any other, here's a suggestion. I did put this yarn on sale the day before the email went out, and we actually sold quite a bit of it that day. I do normally put things on sale about 24-48 hours before I announce them to the masses. So it's a good idea to save our sale page in your favorites list, and check it often. That way, you can take advantage of a great buy, before it's all gone.

But you may be connected in other ways, and we are too. You can follow us on Twitter if you'd like (look - the Cascade 220 announcement!): or you can become a fan of Kyarns on Facebook:
where we post notes and send updates on special deals.

And, as a side note, the Cascade 220 colors that we still have in the shop (the ones we are keeping) are all 15% off through the weekend.

A run of bad luck with at least one happy ending

Well, this is my very first blog entry because I really haven't been working at the shop that long and besides, I haven't really had anything to write about especially UNTIL today.

My bad luck, which is what this story is about, actually all started just before Christmas when my husband and I were on our way to a dream vacation in Hawaii. In my sleep deprived stupor - en route to Chicago - I accidently left my knitting bag on the plane with not one, but TWO brand new knitting projects inside!

Upon our return, my one attempt to retrieve the bag was a total loss as the guy at the United Airlines Lost Article Department, I could really tell could have cared less.

Then more bad luck. This past Friday night we were headed into Burlington on a cold, snowy nights to see a play. I had my latest favorite hat with me - the Sara's Magic Ball Hat, made with Be Sweet Magic Ball and Nashua Handknits Julia. We parked in Burlington, and I hopped out of the truck. Somehow my hat must have popped out too.

I looked and looked this weekend at home, but to no avail. This morning I figured I'd give it one last try, so I went back to Burlington to the exact same parking place... and look what I found!My hat, dirty and snow and salt-covered, but still there. I'm thinking maybe my luck has turned and the knitting bag will be turning up any day now!

Here's the water in the first rinse: Look how much better it looks: And now it's drying...

Isn't technology cool?

Last Monday, my Berroco Sales Rep was in town and stopped by to show me some buttons, sock yarns, etc from some other lines she reps. On Mondays, I leave the shop early so I can meet the girls when they get off the bus. So I asked Andra to meet me at home. She hadn't been to my home since our very first meeting, over 7 years ago to write my very first order.

Helen and Sophie have a great after-school routine. Owning the shop is more than a full time job for me, so when I leave work early those few days during the week, I usually have another hour or two in which I need to work. Helen and Sophie fix their own snacks and get started on their homework and only interrupt a few times if they have questions. Then at 5pm, it's family time. We get any homework questions cleared up, and move onto family activities. So when Andra came, we still stuck to the routine. We sat at the kitchen table and the girls were at the island. They did interrupt once or twice, and told us they were confused with their math homework. Andra said, "Oh, math! My favorite!" And when we finished up our yarn business, she jumped right in and started explaining the power of 10 to the girls. The power of 10 is actually the easiest thing I've seen recently - math was my best subject throughout school, but this whole "new math" thing that my kids are learning? It's for the birds... IMO. If I have to help them with math, I'm sorry, but I'm going to do it my way, the old way.

Anyway, Andra, with her background in engineering, did a great job explaining the power of 10, and then she and I spent a few fun filled moments comparing apps on our iPhones. I told her about Grocery IQ - a fun grocery list. I used to write down my grocery list like every other human being. But this way I can add to my list at any time of the day - which is when I usually remember I'm out of a key ingredient for some recipe I want to make. And an added bonus... it's a great way to bribe my children to come to the store with me..."I'll let you check off the list on the phone!" I also have a couple of math games for the kids, to help with multiplication and division. Andra showed me some fun apps that she has, including StitchMinder, which I am totally addicted to. It's a Kacha-Kacha for your phone!

I used to just use a pencil and a piece of paper to make hatch marks for each row I worked. Now I'm using StitchMinder and so far so good! This was my Noro Iro shrug (Jenny Watson Designer Mini Knits) late last week: I'm another 18" in now - I had plenty of good knitting time this past weekend. Soon it will look like this:

Speaking of technology, and how things have changed, when we were at our camp this past summer, my husband found something interesting at the dump. There are two days each week that are dump days. It's the time to clear out your camp of gabage and recyclables, and other things that may have accumulated over the years. I don't think Marc has every come home from the dump empty handed. After all, one person's trash is another person's treasure.

Last summer Marc went, left the trash and recyclables, and came back with a computer! Not just any computer, but a 20 year old vintage Mac SE with dual floppies. Can you believe this thing sold for $2,900!? Think what kind of Mac you could get for $2,900 today...

Anyway, it was dirty and had been out in the rain and mud. He cleaned it up and some guys he works with got it all fixed up. It works! Helen and Sophie were in his office recently checking it out.

They thought it was broken because the "touch screen" didn't work! :) They also laughed pretty hard at the floppy disks. They have never seen anything so silly, apparently!

And while we are on the subject of dirt and mud and rain (in this case, snow) tomorrow Polly will be posting her first post about a bit of bad luck she had this weekend. It's pretty funny, and part of it has a very good ending. Tune in tomorrow to see what we were all laughing about.

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.

Color Therapy

I think that I’m ready for some sun. The winter blues are getting to me. So I’m indulging in a little color therapy. I’ve been spying great color combinations all over the shop that I just can’t wait to take home.

I know this has everything to do with my current project. I can already tell that I will be making multiple Entrelac Hats since EVERYONE who sees this comments on it, and it isn’t even finished! (Yes, I always end up making more than one of everything because someone who doesn’t knit always makes a special request…more about that some other time.)

Of course it helps that I am, and always have been, a great fan of the colors available in Noro’s Silk Garden. So no surprise really that when I finally had a chance to try out Entrelac (a new technique for me) with the Fourth Grade Hat pattern from Twist Collective I pulled out some Noro Silk Garden for the cause. (My solid is Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed!)Gasp! "Entrelac? I can’t do that!" you say? Don’t worry - it really isn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. It is impressive, all those squares knit in different directions, interlocking together with no seams. Try it and you might love it – I know I do!

I’ll be looking for another project using this technique sometime soon. Maybe the Interlaken Throw in Berroco Book #269 Comfort.

If any of you want to learn this technique, call quickly! You just might be able to snag the last spot in our Learn to Love Entrelac class….

The nice thing about this pattern is that it's a great way to show off almost any stunning yarn that you choose since you can use many different gauges to create the hat. (Love those multiple gauge patterns!) This of course is contributing to my problems about how to combine yarns for the next hat. Or next several hats… I can just see the super soft Loop-d-Loop Moss in Black combined with one of the amazing Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit colors. Or maybe the heart stopping bright color changes of Colinette Cadenza in Jewel with one of the contrasting solids. Then there are all those different colorways of our new Noro yarns - both the Kureyon and the Silk Garden to try and don’t forget the Geode, Jasper, and maybe the River Twist…

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. :)

Keeping warm with new yarns

So things in our area have been a bit chilly recently. This morning I awoke to -21 (F). Photo was before coffee, a bit shaky as you can see. and my windows weren't too happy!

This is the INSIDE of my windows. I spent about an hour with a hairdryer and towels getting off the worst of it. I didn't want to leave for work and have things melt all over the place!

Our house is always SO dry inside so we use a humidifer on the furnace. We neglected to turn it down this week. Oopsy.

Even though it's been quite frigid here, we have been keeping warm at the shop by unloading LOTS of new yarns. It's a time consuming process, though it is pretty fun since we can oooooh and aaaaah over each bag that comes out. On Tuesday of this week we got our Noro shipment. It was large, to say the least. We did have a few backordered colors but for the most part we are very well stocked in all of the yarns we got. And yesterday I finally got the Noro yarns out in the shop. They are a really great addition to our already large selection of yarns. I've already made a pair of felted mittens out of the Kochoran - just took one skein! Haven't felted them yet, but that's because I'm going to felt something in Kureyon, and I don't want to be wasteful of water or energy!

The pattern books are amazing. I'm really pulled to a lot of the designs. I love Design 1 in Designer Mini Knits by Jenny Watson.It's out of the Kochoran and will be a really quick knit. This book has a TON of great patterns - socks, vests, shrugs, pillows, hats, scarves, mittens, you name it! Definitely a good buy.

I also love Pure Noro by Jane Ellison. The Manhattan sweater on the cover is so pretty:It's knit with Cashmere Island which is super soft. This booklet also has several other nice patterns for Kureyon, Silk Garden and Iro.

There's also a great sweater in Collection 3, by Jenny Watson, that is calling out to me. It's a cowl neck done in Silk Garden.

We all keep looking at the books and feeling a bit stressed - too many good designs! I'm going to have to sit down with all of them and make some hard decisions...

New Manos Naturals!

These came in yesterday - Manos Wool Classica Naturals. They are stunning! Same gauge as the regular Manos Wool Classica, but these have a streaky, marled look. Three undyed colors - natural white, natural black, and dark black - are blended with overdyed colors. The result is spectacular - highlightin the beauty of the natural colors of wool in its raw state.

I can't wait to knit with these!

We also got 5 new colors in the Manos Silk Blend Semi-Solids - butter, powder, zinnia, tomato, and lawn - and one new color in Manos Silk Blend Multi - caribe. Yummy!

Don't you deserve a little bling?

We're having a super special on Tilli Tomas Mogul... it's normally $28 on sale for JUST $16! That's 40% off! That's a great deal for this beautiful beaded wool. It's 80 yards of super soft wool strung with gorgeous glass beads. We have 5 luscious colors: Pinecone, Ruby Wine, Black Cherry, Iced Latte and Black.

Mogul is the same yarn as the very popular Tilli Tomas Flurries, but the beads are larger. This gives you way more BLING per square inch. I was really torn between Black, Black Cherry and Ruby Wine, but I ended up choosing the Ruby Wine. I decided to make a quick hat with a soft internal brim. For the brim I picked Bristol Yarn Gallery King George - one of the softest yarns (IMO) in the shop. I knit a little more than 2" in stockinette, did a turning purl ridge, and then changed to the Mogul.

Do you know that most eyelash-y or beaded yarns require a little work to have the full novelty effect appear on the stockinette side? That's right. The hairy stuff and the beads will always gravitate toward the purl side. So if you are doing a hat in stockinette stitch, more than half of your beads will end up on the inside. Don't worry about it. Just knit away, and at the end, flip your hat inside out and gently press each bead so that it goes through to the stockinette side. This will take some time, but it's SO worth it. This shows you my progress on bead poking.

I would be finished this hat, but dummy me... I grabbed two skeins of this yarn that did not match. You can see the difference: No worries, Tracy from Tilli Tomas is sending more Ruby Wine so I will be able to finish my bling-licious hat early next week. I can't wait to wear it!

Today we received new colors of Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica. Hopefully they will be online by tomorrow, but I can say they are SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! Unlike anything I have seen. Just you wait!

We were also supposed to receive our backorders this past Wednesday, but there was a screwup on their end, and they did not come. Nor were they in the boxes we received today. So... many frustrated phone calls later, we have been assured that the remaining yarns that we (and many of you) have been waiting months for, are in boxes that will be picked up by UPS today in Philadelphia and delivered here in Vermont on Tuesday of next week. We're very sorry. This is completely out of our hands and we're as frustrated as those of you who are waiting.

Have a great weekend!

Another closeout - at rock bottom prices!

So we're getting in a number of new yarns later this week and early next week, and while we may be able to squeeze them into shelves in the shop, because we order in such large quantities, we know we're going to have issues with our back stock. We figured now was as good a time as any to blow out a few yarns so we can make some space.

First up, Plymouth Tweed. It's 50% off - that's just $3.50 a ball!!!! Can you say CHEAP? (In a good way, of course!) It really saddens me to see this yarn go. I absolutely LOVE the colors, and it is amazingly soft. It screams cozy winter sweater to me, but today, as I was counting the remaining stock, it started saying "afghan" and I think I may have to grab enough for an afghan for myself before it's all gone. There are some really nice colors!

It's in the shop for another day or so, but your best bet is to order it online. It's going to go quickly!

Sign up for Winter Classes - preview some items here!

We had our winter class schedule ready in the middle of December, and we have some cool things to show you, if you still haven't taken the plunge and signed up.

Suzie finished her first mitten for the Fair Isle Mittens Knitting Class, and here it is in four great colors of Frog Tree Alpaca. This mitten is great - everyone here in the shop loves it! It is so cute and fits so well. I just love the Frog Tree Alpaca - so soft, warm and wonderful to knit with. Reasonably priced, and an amazing color section. What's not to love? Anyway, this class - as of today - has just a couple more spaces available.

And Barb finished her hat for the Learn to Love Entrelac Hat class. Again, what's not to love with this hat? She chose the Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran yarn, which is just heavenly to knit with, and when I put this hat on my head this morning, I immediately put this on my "to knit" list. It's awesome!! Now this class has only ONE SPOT left as of today, and I'm sure that will be filled quickly.

Also - for those of you who are already signed up for this class but who have not yet purchased your yarns... we will have several wonderful New yarns in stOck befoRe this class starts that are perfect fOr this hat, in terms of offering a really cool color transition.... (if you're smart - I left you some clues.)

Barb also finished her scarf for the Tunisian Crochet Scarf class on Feb 17th. It's simply stunning! The pattern is easy, yet beautiful. Tunisian crochet is my favorite kind of crochet - it's more like knitting, actually. Barb chose the Manos Silk Blend Multi in color 3113: Wildflowers. It is so pretty. A gorgeous pattern for a gorgeous yarn. This will be a fun class for sure, and once you learn the technique, you'll be finished in no time.

And for any of you who know someone who wants to learn to knit, we do still have a spot or two open in our January 24th Learn to Knit class from 9am-12noon.