Archives for September 2012

Congratulations to Katie K, who won a copy of The Sock Report in our haiku contest. Here's her haiku:

A ball of sock yarn
Rolls off to college as it
Ravels by degrees

We had a lot of fun reading all of the entries. Thank you to all who contributed a haiku. Thanks also go to my daughters for selecting the winner.

Color work has always been a favorite of mine. From playing with yarns and planning the colors, to watching the pattern grow as I knit, to wearing those extra warm finished projects, it is a pure joy. A lot of knitters seem to be intimidated by stranded color work. I like to spread the  joy by teaching classes on the subject and showing people how much fun color work can actually be. It is always a pleasure to watch as the fun of working with colors clicks with the students in those classes. I don't have any color work classes scheduled right now, but you can learn a lot from online sources:

Pointers from Eunny Jang

Knitty: Techniques with Theresa

Below are four mitten patterns that I've designed over the years using color work. I hope you'll have as much fun to knitting them as I did designing them. All four of these patterns are now available as a bundle. 

TTL Color Work Mitten Bundle

Price: $16

Kanagawa

Mod

Clematis

Reykjavik

 

Sofie has been bugging me for an over-sized sweater that she can layer over jeans, and snuggle up in. When I showed her the pile of Cascade Eco Cloud that has been waiting for just the right project she agreed that it would be perfect for the sort of cozy sweater that she had in mind.

 

With it's chunky cable on a ground of garter stitch stripes, the Perry Street Rugby will be her go to sweater for heading off to class when the cold weather arrives this fall. She'll wear it over a t-shirt and jeans, adding layers and a scarf as the weather calls for them. This is the ideal sweater for football games, walks in the park on a chilly afternoon or enjoying a crisp fall day on campus.

The best part is that since it's an Aran weight and mostly garter stitch, this fun sweater knits up quickly, so there's still plenty of time to make one by the time the cooler weather truly sets in.

 

Price: $6.50

Thank you to Monika, Bich-thu, Linda, Morgan, & Stacey for test knitting and to Karen for her wonderful tech editing!

I've just returned from Fiber College where I taught three classes. It was a wonderful weekend filled with yarn, lobster, and good people. Speaking of good people see that adorable baby on Rachel of OnTheRound's back? That's her daughter. She was an angel, all smiles, and chubby cheeks, and beautiful blue eyes. It was almost enough to distract me from the gorgeous fiber that her mom was selling in her tent. Almost.

Below, in no particular order, are a few highlights of the weekend:

• My partners in crime Mary Lou Egan & Gale Zucker. I am so happy that I had the opportunity to spend quality time with these two amazing women. Both are crazy talented, interesting, funny, and just a heck of a lot of fun to hang out with. I didn't get a photograph of Gale, but there's Mary Lou above showing off Wearwithall, the beautiful book that she wrote with a group of her good friends from The Yarnary. Gale actually is represented here since she did the photography for the book.

• My students. First there was the lovely group in Knit It On who helped me figure out how to get a breeze going in our hot tent. Next I was lucky to have the opportunity to teach the adaptable, smart, and patient lace class participants. Finally there was the eager, creative group who took Top Down Toppers. I look forward to seeing finished photos of some of those top down hats.

• The beautiful Maine Coast. This is on the beach outside of my cabin at low tide.

• Lobster, lobster, lobster. We ate a lot of it and I LOVED every bite.

•  Meeting Ellen. I was lucky to get to spend time dying yarn (that's the yarn we dyed in the photo above) and chatting with her. I can't believe I didn't know of her or her designs before this weekend. Where have I been? Ellen creates beautiful, wearable sweater designs and I want to knit them ALL!

• The body, dare I say curl, that the ocean air gives my normally straight, flat hair. For the record, it is back to it's usual tricks now that I'm home.

• Fiber & Yarn. The vendors at Fiber College were hard to resist. I tried to behave myself but  the gorgeous yarn cake from Play at Life and the braid of BFL from OnTheRound in the photo above both weakened my resolve.

• Blueberry pie.

• Blueberry pie for breakfast. (thank you Mary Lou)

• My visit with Amy Herzog at her home on my drive up. I know Amy well and always enjoy spending time with her. This was the first time I'd met her sweet family. Her boys are ADORABLE!! Seriously. Adorable.

• Low tide on the shore outside of my cabin. It was incredible to see the colors of the seaweed as it lay on the rocks waiting for the tide to come back in.

• Visiting Swan's Island.  If you're ever in Coastal Maine drop by Swan's Island. Their blankets are spectacular, their yarn is sublime, and you might even get to see their looms in action.

• My cabin & the accompanying view. See those Adirondack chairs? We spent quite a bit of quality time there.

 

I've got a lot on my plate right now. I normally try not to cram too much into one blog post but today I think that might be my only option. Please read through the whole post, I've got a lot of great announcements and it ends with a contest.

I'm heading out again tomorrow. This time I'm off to Fiber College where I'll be teaching two classes this weekend. There's still time to sign up for the classes  that will be held in Searsport, Maine.
I'm teaching a top down hat construction/design class, "Top Down Toppers" and a class on
knitted on borders and edgings, "Knit it On". Learn how to add your own special touch
to your knitting!

Have you seen the preview of Malabrigo Book 4 yet? I'm beyond excited that my design Enrejado was chosen for the cover!

Photo copyright Malabrigo Yarns

The book will be available at your LYS in late October or early November. Head over to Ravelry to queue or favorite Enrejado and keep an eye out for the book's release. There are a lot of wonderful patterns from some favorite designers in the collection.

The design is worked in Malabrigo's delicious Silky Merino, a yarn that is ideal for large, drapy shawls of this kind. The color is "Cape Cod Gray". I managed to take a few photos of Sofie modeling Enrejado before I sent it off.

I'm very happy to announce that I'm teaching at Wooly Monmouth in Red Bank, NJ again this year.

I love teaching at Wooly Monmouth, the customers and the store's energetic owner, Dori are all fun, smart, and inspiring. The store is crammed with beautiful yarn and samples that make you want to knit, knit, knit. This year I'm teaching a class on my Euphrosyne shawl pattern. The class is on September 30th. To register call 732-224-9276.

We'll learn the construction of the shawl, how to work the garter tab cast on, and make swatches of the major motifs, including the knitted on border. You'll leave the class ready to complete your own Euphrosyne.

I seem to be hosting a lot of contests these days. But what can I say? Great stuff just keeps coming my way. This time I'm happy to offer a copy of the gorgeous book The Sock Report Book 1 which contains my pattern, Bivalve.

Photo copyright The Sock Report

The hard copy of this beautifully photographed book, filled with lovely patterns using sock yarn, is now available. Since I've had so many contests lately let's make this one a little more fun. Write a haiku about anything having to do with sock yarn. I'll let my kids choose their favorite. I know they'll enjoy the challenge of choosing from all of your entries. We'll close the contest on September 15th at midnight eastern time.