We are obsessed

We have a few more finished projects for our Joji KAL.

Susan finished Slow Curves in a mixture of Singles. The colours turned out beautiful.

Trina knit Spector in tosh dandelion. I really like how Trina's colours fade. The yoke of this sweater is interesting. I hope Trina will wear it into the store so that we can get a picture of the sweater on her.

Lynn and I have been on a mission. More yarn was hung today. It's become a bit of an obsession for us.

Now I have another job for us on Tuesday - we need to rearrange the Dyed in the Wool by colour.

I showed this wall but it has been rearranged to add a finished shawl. The pattern is Butterfly and we used Uneek Fingering with Hedgehog Sock.

We've been making kits for the Knitters' Fair as well. We aren't wearing our Throwbacks but they will be hanging and we've made up some interesting colour combinations.

Sign ups start September 1.

Welcome to the 10th anniversary edition of the Westknits Mystery Shawl Knit Along (MKAL)! This year is going to be a beautifully bold and graphic shawl to celebrate ten years of Westknits mystery shawls. 

Join the Starflake MKAL Ravelry group here to participate in the fun. 

SCHEDULE  

Clue 1 - Friday, October 4  

Clue 2 - Friday, October 11  

Clue 3 - Friday, October 18  

Clue 4 - Friday, October 25

This year the shawl will be knit with two colours. That makes choosing a lot easier.

Yarn: Fingering weight

Yardage: MC (main color) - 2 skeins of wool (399yds / 365m) 
CC (contrast color) - 2 skeins of wool (399yds / 365m)

Needles: US 5 / 3.75mm circular in 40” / 100cm length or size needed to obtain gauge.

Gauge: 22 sts & 48 rows = 4” / 10cm in garter stitch (un-blocked). Try to get close to the recommended stitch gauge to ensure you don’t run out of yarn. 

I haven't knit in a few days so I need to say goodnight and move to the knitting chair.

Mrs. Crosby

Wannietta finished Navelli. The pictures look fabulous - I can only imagine how beautiful it will be when we see it in person at the Knitters' Fair. Then it will be hanging in the store.

She used Mrs. Crosby Satchel in the colours Charles, Saunter and Waltz.

Mrs. Crosby Satchel is a soft & smooth single ply, 100% superwash merino wool yarn that is made in Italy and dyed in Chicago.

More colours should be added to the website tomorrow.

Today Lynn, Alex and I rearranged Mrs. Crosby Hat Box. While making the colours look pretty on the wall we recounted the yarn. I have all colours on the website with new pictures courtesy of Mrs. Crosby. It took awhile but I'm glad I made myself finish after dinner.

I knit the Greyhound Shawl with Mrs. Crosby Hat Box and loved working with the yarn.

You might be asking, 'Who is Mrs. Crosby?'

Mrs. Crosby is that spirit which lives inside us all. 

She is our craving for adventure, the desire to see all the beauty this world has to offer. Through her, you can ride the rails of the Trans-Mongolian Express along an ancient tea caravan route from China to Russia, watch the ever changing hues upon the Arc de Triomphe at sunset in Paris, or swim with whale sharks off the coast of Isla Mujeres, Mexico.  

Your only limit is your own imagination. 

​

Come with us. Come on. Come Play!

My eyes are crossed and my fingers hurt from typing away so it's time to say goodnight and head to bed.

Number Five

Nightshift (number five) is finished. Alex completed my cast off and blocked it for me. Thank you my finishing elf.

Lynda finished Birch and it is beautiful. The shawl is light and airy. You won't even know that you are wearing it. You can download the pattern on Ravelry (it is free). We used 3 balls of Rowan Cashmere Haze on 5mm needles.

The pattern is written for both a stockinette and garter version, your choice (the difference that even rows are either purled for stockinette or knitted for garter) and measures a generous 80" wide and 40" deep. Knit flat, starting from the long straight edge down to the point, this triangular shawl looks beautiful flowing free and open or gathered in close.

©Andrea Mowry

I played with with colours of Dyed in the Wool and Tough Love Sock for the Stonecrop Pullover (or Cardigan).

The kits have four skeins of Tough Love Sock which will make a finished bust 46".

I will try and get them on the website tomorrow. Lynn and I have created a bit of a mess in the store that we need to clean up. Tosh sport and pashmina have new homes. We found a new spot to highlight our Churchmouse patterns. Manos Serpentina moved in the front room to make room for Rowan books. It's been a huge chain reaction.

I've been knitting on Guthrie (the first sleeve has been cast off and I am six rows into the second sleeve) when it hit me that I didn't finish my post. Now it's bed time. We have a busy day tomorrow.

New Homes

Karen sent me pictures last night of her finished shawl that she knit for the Joji KAL.

I am very pleased to let you know that I finished my Odyssey Shawl. It is quite lovely! 

I used Life in the Longgrass DK Twist Harbour, Soulskin and Amethyst.

Karen chose amazing colours!! I keep looking at the yarn on the shelf and now I want to knit with it.

I knit Time Trades (pattern purchased on Ravelry) designed by Caitlin Hunter (boylandknitworks). Lynn and I are knitting her Guthrie right now.

Hurry to her Instagram page - she is having a pattern sale until midnight August 28.

Mr. UPS showed up this morning with four huge boxes. One was from Spincycle Yarns. Meet the new colours of Dyed in the Wool.

Ghost Ranch

Castaway

Cold Comfort

The hooks arrived and Rockshelter from Meadowcroft Dyeworks has been relocated.

This wall was going to be the home for tosh merino (it is in the worsted weight room) but I switched it up and we hung sock yarn from LITLG, Long Dog and Urth.

I borrowed this picture from the Spincycle Instagram feed.

I sent an email the minute I saw this picture and asked if there was any way we could have this colour - Castaway. I might need to put a few skeins away for myself.

From Rachel who knit this beautiful sweater..

I used Castaway to knit one of my all time favorite sweaters, and that’s saying a lot if you’ve seen my sweater stack. It’s the Carlina Pullover by Whitney Hayward! Clearly I’m crazy about this shape

I'm tired (and I am sure Lynn is too) from all our moving around today. The problem is that we started a chain reaction. Now we are moving yarns that were never on our radar to relocate. By the end of the week we should have everything back in order.

Renovation Day

The lights in the store haven't been working properly for a while and we are finally changing them. Not the bulbs - brand new fixtures. The electricians were here at 7:30 (I was here at 7:15) and hopefully they can get it all finished today. It's 9:42 and most of the store is dark. I'm sitting at the cash desk writing.

The other job today is putting up more slatwall. There are two spots. Dad and Beth should be here later this morning to do that.

It's 12:10 and the slatwall is up. Unfortunately UPS is not bringing our hooks until tomorrow so I can't hang yarn. Yes, I'm a bit bored sitting in the dark. I'm working on signs for the Knitters' Fair.

Lucy waited patiently while the work was being done.

The last bit of work done today was by Austin. He redid our front garden. There was a small patch of grass that he removed and spread out plants.

It's 3:30 and the lights are finished. I'm doing one last mail order and then I'm heading home. I don't want to complain but the lights in the store are so bright that I need my sunglasses.😎

Beth and I took dad to dinner and it's just after 8pm. Is it too soon to go to bed? I'm working on the cuff of my first sleeve. I think I have a few rows in me. I think.

Easy Relaxed Pullover

Churchmouse Yarns and Teas has released five new patterns. The print copies are on the way to us and we should see them this week. They can also be purchased on Ravelry.

This is the Easy Relaxed Pullover.

This quick-to-knit sweater is airy and lightweight. Loose ribbing at the hem and cuffs gives it a lived-in look. Holding three strands of lace-weight yarn together—two mohair, one smooth—we chose high contrast colors for a smudgy marl. Closer tones will render a soft, pretty wash of color for a more tonal look.

Churchmouse patterns are very well written and are easy to follow.

I tried on Guthrie earlier today and my sleeve is too short. I need to add another pattern repeat and I'm almost finished that. I might make it to the sleeve ribbing tonight during Big Brother. I know. How can I watch it? It's that train wreck you can't turn away from.

Sammy went home this afternoon and the house is very quiet. Too quiet. We do have good news on the puppy front - our puppy should be born on Thanksgiving weekend. In the meantime we have our Lucy.

Blocking

Lynn is very close to being finished. A lot closer than I am.

Blocking makes all the difference in a finished garment. The Yarn Harlot wrote an amazing blog post about blocking and I highly recommend you read it.

First-time blockers are always amazed by the difference blocking makes to the final appearance of their knitting. After blocking, sweater parts lay flat, stitches even out, and what looked like a wild mess now behaves nicely. It’s like magic! After 20 years of teaching knitting, I’ve never grown tired of instructing my students on finishing techniques. In fact, the technique of blocking is one of my favorite things to demonstrate. I used to demonstrate blocking with pieces of carpet, but carpet scorched easily and was too thin for blocking pins to sink into. Rugs, towels and bulky blocking boards weren’t much better. Many of my students didn’t bother to block because it was such a cumbersome task. With this in mind, I set out to improve on the carpet pieces. I eventually had special tiles custom made for blocking, and the end result is my Knitter’s Block Kit.

The Knitter's Block from Cocoknits is available in the store and online.

Sandy sent a picture of her finished Broken Wings by Joji (pattern purchased on Ravelry) knit with one skein of Hedgehog Skinny Singles Concrete.

Linda stopped by with her Suburban Wrap by Joji (pattern purchased on Ravelry) knit with Singles.

Thanks for the pictures ladies. Your shawls are beautiful!

Sammy is very comfortable here. I think we're going to keep him.