The Day After

Thank you to everyone who visited yesterday. We had a great day. The weather was amazing and everyone was happy to be outside yarn shopping. You rehomed a lot of yarn 😀.

The first cuff is grafted. I didn’t want to start the second sleeve while watching football. That could be a recipe for disaster.

The dogs love tug of war with toys.

Now a bit of knitting. Tomorrow I’m running errands and getting ready for Vegas. Lynn and I will be back in the store on Tuesday putting it back in order and shipping orders.

Island Raglan

Our friend Fiona Ellis has a new sweater pattern.

You can purchase the pattern for the Island Raglan on Ravelry. The sweater is knit in DK weight yarn so you have many, many yarn options.

A classic style raglan sweater with some additional style and fit elements;

Armhole shaping is added to the underarm before the raglan for a better fit

Waist shaping skims the figure for a flattering shape

A turned hem gives an elegant understated look

The raglan seams are highlighted by cable patterning, which differ on the sleeves for added fun when making the sweater

The more I knit on my Alpine Bloom the more I like how the colours worked out.

I put together some more combinations yesterday.

When our next shipment from Emma’s Yarns arrives at the end of the month I will have fun making more combinations. 

Now back to my knitting! Happy Sunday!

Around and Around

We have a new sock book in the store.

They are fun to make, quick to finish and always needed — no wonder so many knitters love socks! 

52 Weeks of Socks, Vol. II offers even more inspiration for all sock enthusiasts. It is a colourful and abundant collection of patterns from a diverse group of interna­tional designers. Using a variety of different techniques and yarns, the book has something for both beginners and advanced knitters.

Here is Andrea Mowry’s Tessellated Sweater. Kits are available on the website. You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry.

I’ve looked at finished projects on Ravelry. Here are some observations

-Fingering weight yarn will work.

-There are some knitters who left out the fluffy yarn. One knitter used a solid colour for the ribbing and then two multi-colours.

Take a look at Illana’s sweater on Instagram. She used one multi and one solid. I really like her version.

Not everyone wants to used Dyed in the Wool. You can use Zauberball Starke 6 or Edition 3 for the multi-coloured yarn.

Here are pictures of the Tessellated Vest (pattern purchased on Ravelry). My sweater observations will also work for the vest.

Photos © Andrea Mowry

I took a quick picture of my sweater. The colourwork is finished and I’m knitting around and around. You can see that blocking will be required.

Back to Work

I finished my colourwork last night just as Vladdy won the HR Derby. I have a few rows to knit and then I can divide for the front, back and sleeves.

I made a few more combinations this morning when I was in the store.

Finally some colour in my garden.

Now a few more rows of knitting while I’m watching the All Star game. It’s a big day tomorrow - I’m back to work.

Happy Sunday

I’m happy to start a new week. I’m feeling much better and will be in the store tomorrow shipping boxes and waiting for Mr. FedEx (more on that later in the post). My Alpine Bloom Tee last night. After some knitting this afternoon I have 7 rows to go in the colourwork. Unfortunately the rows are getting really long.

This is the start of Janice’s top. She is using Madelinetosh Twist Sock (Elizabeth Taylor) with DITW Dream World. The colours look great!!

Mr. FedEx should be visiting tomorrow. He will have a box from Della Q with the new Maker’s Mesh Tote. These are available online.

The Maker’s Tote in orange is in the box as well. I love this colour!

Are you following Spincycle on Instagram? They showed some pictures of Andrea’s new patterns (yes, two) coming out on Thursday. The main yarn is a heavy fingering/light sport. Similar to Dyed in the Wool.  The second yarn is Dyed in the Wool and the third yarn is something fluffy. One of the fluffy yarns is exactly the same base as Emma’s Suri Silk and the other knits to the same tension as Suri Silk.

Heavy fingering/light sport - what does this mean? I’m leaning towards Hedgehog Fibres Twist Sock, Madelinetosh Twist Light and Sweetgeorgia Tough Love Sock. 

If you want to use Sport weight then look at Patagonia from Juniper Moon or Woolcycle from Madelinetosh. 

I don’t know the yarn requirements so I have no clue the yarn distribution. I am going to take some pictures tomorrow if possible so that I am ready when the pattern releases on Thursday.

Happy Sunday!!

Back at it

I went back to my Alpine Bloom Tee this evening. I’m off all my pain meds and figured it was time to pick up the sweater again. 

Do you follow Andrea Mowry on Instagram? She has photos of new patterns coming next week. Yes, there are two new patterns.

My gardens are going crazy. I haven’t seen them since Thursday afternoon.

I might have another row in me and then it’s bedtime. I’m meeting Lynn at the store tomorrow. She is coming in to pack boxes. I was in the store today for a short period of time and picked orders. I’m going to let her play with the tape gun. Then she is going to unpack boxes for me. There are new books (that box is way too heavy for me to touch) and then this morning we received an order from Gleener. If you need something she will be in the store from 11am-4pm. 

Linen

We received stock of two different Linen yarns today. This is Lino from BC Garn.

Material: 100% linen
Yardage: 150m/50g
Needle: 3-4 mm
Gauge: 21 = 10 cm
machine washable 30C

Linen at its best! Lino is a shiny and at the same time a bit rustic linen yarn.

Lino is suitable for hand knitting, weaving and machine knitting. The more linen is used, the softer and beautiful it becomes.

By the way, the linen is from Italy, it is spun and dyed in Serbia. The dyes used are free of animal derivates, so that this yarn can be called truely vegan.

We also received more stock of Linello from Lang. We used one ball of Linello to knit Easy (pattern purchased on Ravelry).

Our scarf is colour 54 which is back in stock. If you want the scarf bigger then you will need 2 balls.

Shawlettes in garter stitch are my favorite: They look great in a colorful yarn, they are squishy and warm your neck, and they are so easy to knit that even beginners will enjoy making them.  

This shawlette is named “Easy” because it is just that: So simple to knit, but the biased construction and change of knitting direction will bring out the best of a multicolored yarn. It is long and skinny and can be wrapped around several times, or tied with a knot – and it uses only 459 yards of fingering weight yarn. 

Length: ca. 200 cm (80 inches), Depth ca. 24 cm (10 inches) 

You start in one corner and knit a long triangle until 50% of your yarn is used up. Then you change the direction and modularly add a second triangle (no seaming required) – and you have made a colorful addition to your wardrobe!

Diana and I talked about the needles before she knit the scarf and decided on 3.25mm. You might want to use 3.5mm - it will depend on how tight you knit. We didn’t want a loose knit for this scarf. It’s a personal preference.

A quick word about the Alpine Bloom Tee KAL. The KAL is just starting and you can join at anytime. 

The colours are finally changing.

Now it’s time to do some baking for the cottage. Dad and Beth are going up on Friday and I’m going up Saturday morning. There is no sense trying to drive up after work on Friday.

Growing

My Alpine Bloom Tee is growing. I wanted to knit all day today but there were chores to do. I need to see the next colour.

Brian Smith has a new pattern that uses one ball of Noro Tsubame. I think you can use any Noro yarn but watch the yardage - you might need more than one ball.

This shawl is worked in short row triangles in two pieces, which are joined using a three needle bind off before stitches are picked up for the borders, showing off the beautiful color changing yarn.

You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry. 

The new colours of Emma’s Suri Silk are online. 

I snapped pictures of the new colours in the Freia booth last week. Today Tina sent a newsletter with better pictures.

We will see the colours by the end of the summer.

Lucy spent the afternoon with me while dad and Beth were at a meeting. She is so dirty and smelly. Friday at the cottage is bath day.

The rain this afternoon was crazy. We had a small lake in the backyard. It went away and then we had an even bigger lake. I won’t need to worry about watering my gardens at the store for a while.

Speaking of gardens, Beth finally found time to go to Terra for flowers for the planters at home. We had pansy bowls until yesterday.

Now it’s time to knit!