The Knaughty Knitter

Rachel's been working at this all day

Making all the new yarn fit and the shelves look really pretty and clearing the aisle of baskets.

Lace weight Alpaca from Misti.  There was some cotton/silk too.... This Frog Tree Sport Weight Alpaca.

And then I did this hat in Jojoland Rythym - It is Barb's flowery hat and the child version in Encore is in the Free Patterns part of the website.  I just made it a little bigger for me.  I used one skein but it would fit better if I had two and made it a bit longer before I decreased.

Frog Tree Alpaca Sport & Zimmermania

There's the pretty new yarn from Frog Tree.  I need to do a sample for the lace class of the Branching Out scarf and I think this is the yarn.  A nice earthy green. 

I just found and joined Zimmermania.  It's a blog/site for Elizabeth Zimmerman fans - we a have a couple of her books at the store.  I have made a couple of her patterns and they are classic and wonderful.  Been thinking of doing a Pi shawl....

Knit Simple for Spring is here.  Great little T's in it as well as a bunch of things to make to make over your child's room - a rug, blanket, pillow, lampshade....

I have finally decided on what double point needles to carry - there are way too many to choose from and so:  smaller sizes will be Crystal Palace Bamboo.  There will be Rosewood DPs for some larger sizes and then Brittanys in 4+. Straight needles will be the same thing.  Now if I could just find the perfect circulars not in metal....

Alpaca Show this Weekend

There's the Southeast Alpaca Show in Shelbyville at Calsonic Arena.  I don't know the exact hours but it usually has been 10-5 both days (Saturday and Sunday).  There'll be cute little alpacas showing themselves off in the ring and you can visit the barns too.  There are vendors with Alpaca related stuff, including fiber and yarn and demonstrations too.

I moved some yarns around the other day and realized we have a LOT of lace weight yarn.  There's Kid Seta, Kid Merino, Kidlin, Harmony from JoJoLand, Graceful by Yarn Place, some Alpaca from Frog Tree, some undyed alpaca that I just skeined... I was amazed and inspired and so I added a beginning lace class to the schedule for next month (Mar. 18 in the evening).  You can use lace weight, or fingering or sport and we'll do a simple scarf. 

Need Finishing Work?

We now know a person who does that!  I am so glad - lots of folks come into the shop wanting finishing and repair work and I am glad to say that Mary Collins - who does this stuff incredibly well - has decided to begin doing it on the side.  So if Grandma's afghan has a hole in it or that knitted sweater got "mothed" or there's a project you just can't bear to sew together, contact me and we'll put you in touch.  Okay now I am going to type in Barb's hat pattern into the free patterns section...

The cutest hat

Barb made this shrug and hat for her granddaughter.   It is sooo cute.  I think I have to make an adult size version of the hat, maybe some of the new JoJoLand or some Kureyon....  The pattern written by Barb will be on Free Patterns (click on the link at the side of the page)by this weekend.

Eli's socks

This one is so pretty - I had forgotten what Ditto did.  It's Ditto by Universal/Wisdom yarns.  The pretty shiny stuff it is laying on - JoJoLand 2 ply cashmere....yummm!

This beautiful sock is out of Happy Feet by Plymouth.  It feels wonderful according to Jessica who had hers on.  Thanks, Eli for bring these in.  It is sitting on top of JoJoLand Rythym (worsted weight) and Harmony (lace weight).....it is too pretty.  I have an abundance of lace yarn now and had to move it.  So I moved some other things too.  Some things went to a second clearance shelf and others just moved.   You know how I like to do that....

A last note.  Someone I know has a loom for sale and if you are interested I will give you contact information.  It is a 36" 4 harness Schacht floor loom.   

There's a New Knitting Book

I just got in Cast On, Bet's Off  - a new knitting mystery by Jack Olesker.  He and his wife own a yarn shop and this is their first book in a series they are planning.  It will not be available in bookstores - they are marketing only to yarn shops at this point.  I am taking one to read and there are more.  There is also the possibility of getting a group together to listen to the audio version so let me know if you are interested in that.  Apparently the weapon of choice was a set of #19 Addi turbos...

While we are on the subject of knitting literature .... if you didn't know already - Julia Roberts is doing the movie version of Friday Night Knitting Club and it should be out early this summer - June 6th I think. 

I put a few new pictures in the galleries.  Darlene finished her latest sweater, beautiful and warm out of Lopi.

I wove on the knitter's loom with some yarn I had dyed using plants and such out of my yard.  There are lots of different colors in the weaving and I just love it.  The pic is in recent projects. The weaving is here at the shop for a few days along with my dye book - where I keep a record of all the fibers I have dyed, mostly with lichens, tree bark, leaves and roots.....you just never know what color something will give you.  Anyone up for a natural dyes class this summer?

A Couple of Classes

Knitting 101 starts this Saturday and runs for four weeks.  If you know anyone who has been wanting to knit, this is the class for them.  Each week teaches some new skills and at the end you could easily make a sweater on your own.  If you know how to knit, but that's all and you want to learn more this is also a great class for you.  There's purling, increases, decreases, finishing techniques and more. 

  The class for this bag starts next Tuesday evening at 6.  There will need to be three folks signed up by Friday to do the class.  It's from the cover of Bag Style and is a fun and fairly easy knit.  It runs three weeks with a fourth if needed.  This one is made of Plymouth Tweed yarn.

And oh, wait there's one more - Design a Sweater Class.  Learn to design your own sweater, or make that pattern you love fit you.  The way we do this one you can add lace or cables or any colorwork designs to your sweater too.  This Saturday from 1 - 3pm.

Opal Anyone?

Here are samples of the what the new opal looks like knitted up.  It's Rendezvous.  It's lovely and now you can see that from the samples.  The price went down a bit with the new distributor too - $17.99. 

And then Crystal Palace sent some more sample garments.  One in Taos.....a couple in Merino 5 - superwash merino worsted weight.  I love this little sweater and the shawl has this great ruffled edge.  The patterns are here for a limited time - free with purchase of the yarn to make them.  At some point they will be on their website too.

While I was out....

Carole got into the Mountain Colors.   Bad Carole! (no not really)  There's Weaver's wool in beautiful hand dyed colors and solids, a light worsted/dk weight yarn, 350 yds in a hank.  There's Twizzle - merino & silk, worsted weight - 250 yds and really nice.  There is also Bearfoot - sock yarn.    I have a sweater I made a long time ago out of Weaver's Wool and have coveted this yarn for a long time.  It was one of those things that I would buy for myself when I visited other yarn stores that had it.   So finally I have it here and I still love it.

Fiber Guild yesterday was very interesting.  Connie had lots of colors and pretty things she had made with her naturally dyed yarns - that she had also spun.  There may be some things showing up in the store dyed with plants and such.  I have not got much time to dye lately but can usually manage a couple of batches a month....and I did just get in some dye stuff that I can't grow in the yard....Yes that's me spinning off into another obsession.....