Flexi Flips

Laura Aylor has a new pattern called North Mountain. You can purchase it on Ravelry.

This raglan cardigan with lacey cables front and back and a small shawl collar is knit top-down and seamlessly. Front bands and shawl collar are knit on separately.

Laura designed the cardigan in worsted weight yarn so you have many, many options. I have knit a few of Laura’s patterns and they are well written.

Photos © Laura Aylor

Derecho is my favourite Laura Aylor pattern. Laura used tosh merino light.

A derecho is a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. One of these storms hit here in the eastern United States while I was working on my second knit of this pattern. 

A triangular shawl knit modularly in two directions to produce a pattern of interconnected stripes. Two circular needles are used to knit on one side at a time while keeping the other side’s stitches live.

My sock is growing. Andrea’s pattern (Bear Paw Socks) is well written and easy to follow. I decided to knit on Addi Flexi Flips Squared. I like knitting with double pointed needles and thought I would give the Flexi Flips a go. It was a great choice. The yarn is Malabrigo’s new Ultimate Sock and it feels good on my hands as I’m knitting with it. 

I really like knitting with the Flexi Flips. Here is Vicky Howell’s video showing you how to use them. 

Now I need to sign off and update the website. A big box of Addi needles arrived this morning.

We received Circular Ewenicorns and more will be arriving next week.

Garden

Tea Garden is another new book for spring from Rowan. 

10 elegant, garden inspired designs by Martin Storey, featuring colourwork, stripes and lace.

These designs are knit with Summerlite 4ply and Summerlite DK.

Linda’s Temperature Blanket is growing. At a much faster rate than mine.

We should have all sizes of Addi FlexiFlips back in stock this week.

Here is a video showing the FlexiFlips. These are a great alternative to double pointed needles.

My vest isn’t knitting itself. It’s time to sign off and pick up the needles.

Playing with Colour

Lynda just finished a sample for the store. It is beautiful. 

We used ProLana Kid Seta Color to make Churchmouse’s Color Play Mohair Wrap. There are 4 colours in the shawl - 2 balls each. We used 180, 182, 183 and 185.

I didn’t think to unwrap the shawl when I was out back. Then it was time to go so I took a quick picture at the door.

Made with a double strand of a favorite lace-weight mohair and silk blend, you'll have fun playing with color, mixing with ombré shading, or crossing the color wheel for graphic punch. For the scarf, we mixed four solid colors—two at a time—to create shaded color blocking. For the wrap, we played with four softly self-striping colorways—sometimes with themselves, sometimes with each other—so no two pieces will ever be alike. You'll just have to make another one.

I knit 5 versions of the shawl when the pattern first came out. It is a fun knit. You are holding two strands together throughout. You start with so many rows of AA, then AB, BB.... No two shawls will look the same.

Mr. Canada Post brought a box of Addi needles this morning. The Squared interchangeable sets are back in stock.

The Ancaster Farmers Market is back. It is in the lot beside us every Wednesday until October. Here is a link to their website. You can order online for curbside pick up if you don’t want to walk around. I picked up fresh strawberries at 3 before heading home. Wow. They were amazing! Dad and Beth have already told me that I’m going back next Wednesday.

Back At It

I finished Beth’s hat today. This is Flicker & Flame from Andrea Mowry. You can purchase the pattern on her website. I used Woolstok and Dream State (the worsted weight version of the hat).

Hats for the whole family in two different yarn weights! These fun colorwork beanies can also double as your swatch for the Spark Cardi or Sparky Pullover! These hats are knit from the bottom up, with the colorwork motifs being read from a chart.

It was so cold out that Beth was wearing it around the house. Even for a lay down on the couch. The hat needs to be blocked but I don’t need to stretch it - it is the perfect size. 

The pattern was simple and quick. I would highly recommend it for someone wanting to try colourwork.

Tomorrow I will weigh the left over yarn. I’m fairly certain that you can knit two hats with one skein of Dream State.

I didn’t work on Cinnabar for a few days but came back to it this afternoon. Once you get the pattern set it is very instinctive.

We have boxes coming next week.

UPS should be coming on Monday with a box from madelinetosh. There will be new colours of merino light.

Interchangeable sets of Addi Squared needles should arrive sometime during the week. These have been hard to come by. The tips are pointier than the original Addis which is a good thing if you are doing lace knitting. They aren’t as slippery as the original Addis so you don’t have to worry about your stitches slipping off the needles.

Boxes are coming from Biches & Buches on Tuesday or Wednesday. There is a new colour of Le Cashmere and Lambswool. This is Dark Blue Turquoise. 

This is Soft Blue Black in Le Petit Lambswool. Another brand new colour. 

Now back to Cinnabar. There is baseball and hockey calling my name.

I’m Brioching

Mr. Canada Post brought us two boxes this morning. The first was from Atenti. This is the Viola Maxi Tote.

Atenti bags are lovingly made in the US. The workmanship is amazing. I have many Atenti bags (with a few more being added to my collection soon 😘) and they stand up to use and abuse.

You can fit a lot of yarn in this bag.

The Flora Sophia is so cute. It will fit your wallet, phone, car keys and a ball of yarn. It can be a knitting bag or you can use it as a purse.

What a bag. Meet the Flora Overnight bag. I am obsessed with this fabric. It looks great in the pictures and even better in real life.

Lynn thought that she was going to make it without me finding out.

The second box was a restock of Addi needles. We have some needle sets back in stock. The original Addi Click Turbos and Addi Click Short Rockets. We also have a new set of Addi cords. 

There are 6 lengths in the package.

I started my Cinnabar yesterday afternoon. I should have listened to my instincts and gone down a needle size. I knit just a bit loose and Brioche needs to be knit tighter. I’m going to start again from the other end of the balls to see what it looks like on a 3.5mm needle.

The top piece (with purple) was the original on 4mm needles. You can see that the garter stitch edging is loose and ugly. The Brioche is loose as well. I’m much happier with the 3.5mm needle - below.

The increases (circled in green) are much neater on the smaller needle. Since these lines are going to run through the whole shawl I don’t want them to be loose and sloppy.

Andrea writes a great pattern that is easy to follow. After a while Brioche becomes very instinctive. Take a few minutes and look at Nancy Marchant’s website. She has great instructions on Brioche. I learned a lot by reading through her information on 2 coloured Brioche.

Now it’s time to knit!