FB Updates

For our non-Facebook Fans, here's what's been going on on FB:

New Manos LE color in stock!

Great new baby blanket pattern from Sirdar

Beautiful crocheted bed set

Don't knit and drive

One of our favorite wrap projects in Noro Nadeshiko

Reminds us of Fraggle Rock!

Looks like a car I'd want to hire for a fancy party!

Article on second graders knitting in Rapid City

The Google Doodle for the arrival of spring was Marimekko!

Need a sweater to go with that Easter dress?

Fun crochet tutorial - great for beginners and good gift for little ones!

Low-fat (actually NO-fat) peeps!

Adorable newborn gift idea

Another cool car... although this one would be for every day!

Great new sweater for men!

Accept it

Today is the first day of spring, but in Vermont it feels like mid-summer. As wrong as this weather is at this time of the year, it might just be time to accept it!

I'm working on a beautiful sweater for warm weather and thought I'd share it with you. A lot of people only knit for cool and cold weather, but there are so many great patterns and fibers available for warm weather. All you have to do is look!

We recently started selling the Knit One Crochet Too Pediwick Yarn at the shop. It's really a sock yarn that was designed for folks who can't (or don't want to) wear wool. It's got 66% bamboo and 34% nylon. Our non-wool-lovin' customers have been thrilled with Pediwick. The bamboo is so smooth and soft, and did you know it's got natural anti-bacterial and wicking properties? A great feature in a sock yarn...

Another bonus - this yarn is machine washable, making it a perfect choice for garments (for adults, kids and babies). I recently started the Monhegan Tee pattern and I've got about 15 more minutes to go on the front and then I'm on the home stretch with the sleeves.

This pattern is a simple one and goes really quickly. 

It's such a flattering top - it will look great with jeans, skirts and shorts!

Alien Invasion

contributed by Shawn

Michele is on a roll with her knitted toys!  She brought in "Alpha" to show us recently. Knit from Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky,  this version of Alpha from the Knitting at Knoon Take Me To Your Leader pattern is 10" tall sitting on the table. This is bigger than the 7"-8" tall worsted weight versions shown in the pattern photo.  We love him!   

Barb and I have both got one of these guys in progress at home - we just seem to have bogged down in start-itis lately instead of finish-itis.  We both picked out Berroco Lustra worsted weight yarn because of it's sheen - perfect for aliens! 

Here's a photo of my Lustra version of Alpha in progress: 

The Five Spice Hat

contributed by Barb

So my second crochet "show and tell" for the Learn to Crochet class later this month is a quick crochet hat.  We just started carrying some Brown Sheep Burly Spun colors and I happened upon this free pattern – Five Spice Hat. 

I know it is not really winter here in Vermont right now, but what a great hat!  I was able to make this in about 1 ½ hours.  I actually made the hat twice over the weekend.  My first attempt was too small, it is a little tricky to keep the tension loose enough – this is done in slip-stitch crochet, which I had never done before. 

I am considering making several of these now and putting them away for gift giving next winter!

A New Hat For Jordan

contributed by Shawn

I had a very surprising request for a new hat a couple of weeks ago. I offered to make a hat for Jordan long ago but he just wasn't ready to let go of his trusty old watch cap. Jordan lives in his watch cap - those of us who know him hardly recognize him without it.  The old hat has been around for years.  There are frayed ends coming out of it and a hole in one side where a dog got hold of it a while ago.  But there is no replacing something like that until you are really ready to let go so despite intervention attempts, the old hat stayed.   

So I was VERY surprised when he asked me if he was going to get a new hat soon.  He assured me he was ready for a new one.  I struggled for a while on how to create a color combination that would remind him (and everyone else!) of the old hat.  I realized after looking around the shop that I was going to need to combine some different colors to get what I was looking for.  I also wanted something nice and soft but warm that would be comfy to live in.  

After a lot of thought, I decided that a "color fade" project would work the best.  I picked out 3 different colors of the Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. This soft blend of wool and silk is available in a wonderful range of earthy colored tweeds. Perfect gentleman colors!  I created an appropriate sized watch cap from the measurements available in my Ann Norling Head Huggers pattern and chose a 3x1 ribbing pattern so the hat would be reversible.   

Hat with no brim - remember - this mannequin head is tiny and has no hair!

I lengthened the hat so that it could be worn with the bottom folded up or down.   

Hat with brim rolled up

The color fade was accomplished by knitting with two strands of the DK yarn held together.  For the bottom 1x1 ribbed section I held two strands of the Dark Oak color together.  Then I changed to my 3x1 rib pattern and held one strand of Dark Oak with one strand of Bronzed Green.  After 10-12 rows I switched out colors again and used two strands of Bronzed Green.  After another 10-12 rows I made a transition using one strand of Bronzed Green and one strand of Granite.  I finished off the top of the hat with the decreases and using two strands of Granite together. 

Beautiful color fade

Folks who saw this hat being made loved the colors.  It is quite handsome!  I gave it to Jordan and he was quite taken with it.  He actually took the old hat off and I caught him taking photos of himself in the new one with his phone later in the evening - I don't think he realized anyone saw that!

Tapestry Crochet

contributed by Barb

There seems to be an explosion of crochet projects lately.  Our learn to crochet class is coming up on the 24th, and sold out just like our last one. 

Because so many more people are becoming interested in crochet, I thought I would make several items for show and tell.  I  recently purchased several patterns from Interweave Press. they've got some great patterns! One was the Spring Market Bag.

I began the bag with similar colors, but have chosen very different colors to finish off the top.

I realized that my spiral is going in the opposite direction. Oops! Clearly, it's been a while since I did tapestry crochet. I know what I did wrong but it is only a bag so I am not going to rip it out!

Nature Spun Fingering on Parade

contributed by Shawn

We thought we would share this lovely customer project with you because it uses one of our favorite yarns for color work!  This fair-isle hat was knit using Brown Sheep Nature Spun Fingering yarn.

This yarn comes in 77 colors (and we sell all of them!) so the hardest thing about using this yarn is choosing the colors you want to use! We do have color cards available for this yarn which does make it easier for folks who use it again and again.

For those of you who doing color work in heavier weight yarns Nature Spun is also available in Sport, Worsted and Chunky weights.

(The hat pattern was published in the Vogue Knitting On the Go! Caps & Hats knitting book.)

An Itty Bitty Toy and Baby Share

Our customer Donna S. from Pennsylvania ordered some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in the beginning of March and we didn't have her entire order in stock to ship. About a week later we were able to ship the order, and sent her an email notification alerting her that her backordered yarn had arrived and was being processed for shipment.

We usually receive emails that say "thanks" or "that's great" and sometimes we receive no emails at all... since really, none are necessary. But Donna made our day with her reply:

********************** 

"Thanks so much for completing the order.  I love Debbie Bliss' baby cashmerino for all things baby, and I've had a LOT of babies to knit for.  I've attached a few pics of the latest project as well as the project recipients, my quadruplet grandchildren!  The quads are approaching their 2nd birthday in the beginning of April.  This is a huge milestone for 4 babies who were born at only 24 weeks and each only weighed one pound each.  They were given only a 1/135 chance to all live by the NICU docs and spent the first 5 months of their lives in the hospital.  I guess they have showed those docs what the power of love and prayer can accomplish!  All are rather rambunctious, crazy toddlers and bring a constant smile to our faces.

The little toys are from Susan Anderson's book Itty Bitty Toys and knit up in a snap.  There are 4 reversibles in this book and all are equally adorable.  The cashmerino works well, with the gauge really close on size 4s."

**********************

She attached four great pictures to her email, and we we were so taken with them that we asked if we could share. Here are her Itty Bitty Reversible Toys:

 The Frog and the Lion...

...change into...

the Turtle and the Elephant!

Now of course we're knitters who work at a yarn shop so obviously we get excited when we see pictures of finished projects. But we ALSO get excited to see pictures of babies. And multiples? Well that gets us every time. Look how precious these four are!

 

Donna said: 
********************** 
 Feel free to use any of the pics, including the kiddos.   They are such miracle kids they've already been featured on some preemie blogs.  Between the two boys they've had 21 major surgeries (cardiac, over 9 brain surgeries and multiple bowel surgeries ).  As they approach their second birthday all are thriving, happy toddlers.   Our hope is that they can give other parents of preemies some inspiration to believe in hope, resilience and miracles!!

I remain a blessed, crazy knitting grandmother ;)  I'm working on two more reversibles and will send along pics of them when they're finished.   I've been waiting on my order ;)
********************** 

Thanks for sharing Donna! You have four beautiful grandchildren and I bet they love their reversible Itty Bitty Toys.

Free Spring Scarf Pattern

It's getting warm out, but that doesn't mean you have to pack up all of your scarves. Make a scarf that you can wear year round! Rowan Purelife Revive is a blend of recycled silk, cotton and viscose. This yarn is absolutely gorgeous and softens nicely after a little blocking and a little wear.

Here's a super easy (and free) pattern for a spring scarf that will be in your wardrobe for years.

• Take 2 balls of Rowan Revive yarn and a size 8 US needle. 
• Cast on 30-34 stitches.
• Knit 6 rows.
• *Next row - work Twisted Drop Stitch (see instructions below) across the entire row.
• Knit 7 rows**
• Repeat from * to ** until you are almost out of yarn. Bind off on a row 7.
• Block - we recommend a wool wash like Eucalan or Kookaburra.
• Wear, wear, wear!

Twisted Drop Stitch: Insert right needle into stitch as if to knit it normally. Wrap yarn around BOTH needles and then around just the right needle. Pull the needle through as you would with a normal knit stitch, taking it through the existing stitch and the extra wrap.

FB Updates

We're posting a lot more on FaceBook these days and if you are only a blog reader, which some of you are, you are missing some things. We thought that a weekly recap of what's been happening on FB would be helpful to blog only readers.

Usually FB posts are quick snippets, pictures, cool links we find, free patterns, etc. and we don't want you to miss out! So come on over and join us on FB so you can stay in the loop!

Here's some recent FB fodder:

Extending your living space

The weather here in Finland is getting nicer! We've had a week now of gorgeously sunny days, and we're up to 11h11m of daylight as of today. In just one month we have gained almost 3 hours of daylight (Vermont - you've only gained about 1h15m!) After experiencing a very dark winter here, you can bet that I'm excited to enjoy every moment of daylight and sunshine that I can get.

Which is why I'm doing a couple of crochet projects for our outdoor living space. Utilizing your outdoor space here is important, especially when your indoor space is on the small side. We Americans call it a patio, but Finns call it a parveke (par-vay-kay). Whatever you want to call it, we've got two of them, and they give us a lot of extra living space once it warms up outside. Last year was our first year here, and I wasn't really sure how to utilize our outdoor space. We didn't have the "right" patio furniture to make it feel like a room, so it kind of felt like a sun deck/eating outside area/grill area/laundry drying area. The large parveke faces due west so it gets quite hot with the sun shining on it from about 1pm-11pm. It was so hot that using it was unbearable at times.

This year, I'm determined to make it liveable - since we would like to enjoy the space. We're going to put up some sun shades to keep the temperatures down a bit during the hotter parts of the day, and we just got some porch furniture to make it feel more like a room. I'm happy to say that I'm already using it, despite temperatures being in the 20s!

I'm taking a break from knitting wearable things and have begun some crochet projects for my "living space". I'm crocheting 2 large scale rugs - a circular one for Helen & Sophie's parveke and a rectangular one for ours. 

 

The circular one is going to be beautiful. I am totally flying by the seat of my pants on this one. I'm proud of the work I've done so far, but circular crochet is harder (for me) than just back and forth! Luckily I haven't had to rip out too much. I haven't written a pattern up for this, but I think that once I am finished Barb (our most seasoned crocheter) should be able to look at it come up with a great pattern. We'll probably make one up in Brown Sheep Burly Spun. (Did you know we are carrying that again? YAY!)

My circular rug taking shape.

My rectangular rug is going really well and is much easier because it's just single crochet. I bought some remnant Ikea fabric and after washing it, ripped it into 1.25" strips. 

The easy part is the crocheting. The tough part is the preparation of the strips! When I rip each strip there are a million threads I have to remove. It's a bit time consuming. 

This ripping was a total arm workout.

But, it's my very first crocheted rag rug and I am super excited about it.

Maisy is already enjoying the rug

For both rugs I'm using the largest hook in my Denise Crochet Kit (a US size 19/15mm) and I won't lie, it's tough on the hands! But the rugs are both so thick and comfy underfoot. I know they'll be awesome this summer.

The past few afternoons at 3pm I've ventured out with a cup of tea, my rug project, and my fabric strips and have joined the girls while they do their homework. 

Soaking up some sun

We open just one section of the patio windows to get that direct vitamin D, and now we're really itching for nice weather!

Not a bad view!

Great news for Denise Needle Kit Owners!

I have a Denise Knitting Needle Kit, and I love it. It's not the only kit I have - but it's my favorite one for travel and for knitting projects on slippery yarns. The case is perfect and everything fits so nicely and stays so organized. That is, if you put everything back. Which I don't.

My biggest problem is that I finish projects and leave the needles in different knitting bags. Why I can't take 2 minutes at the end of any project to actually put the needles back where they belong is beyond me. (Isn't this what I am telling my kids every day? If you took 2 minutes to put your tennis racket where it belongs, you wouldn't waste 20 minutes looking for it the next day? Same goes with school books, water bottles, wallets, bus passes, etc.)

My argument is that I put so many of the girls' things away that when it comes time to put my own things in their place, I've had enough.

And so when I am looking for a Denise cable to use in a different project, at any given time I can open my knitting closet and see several pink Denise needles in clear project bags (I've got the Breast Cancer set). If I'm looking for a certain length cable, I have to open each bag, pull out the needle and measure it to see if it's the right one. (Wouldn't that be a GREAT time to put each set of tips and cable back in it's proper place?)

Denise has just come out with a Companion Kit that is going to make my life a little easier. (Since I don't have any plans to change my bad habits any time soon!) This Companion Kit has 6 cables and each one is a different color.  The cords are 5" (red), 9" (yellow), 12" (teal), 14" (white), 16" (green) and 19" (purple).

All I have to do now is memorize which color is which length, and at first glance I'll know where the one I'm looking for is. Need a 24" needle? Look for the white cable (14" plus the needle tips makes your 24" needle.)

Putting them back will still be optional for me.