New Pattern

Isabell Kraemer has a new pattern. You can purchase the pattern for Kallias on Ravelry.

Kallias is an open front cardigan and is worked seamlessly from the top down. 

Knitting starts with the back part of the neckband. Stitches are then picked up from the long edge of the neckband to work the back part of the yoke first. Increases along the slanted shoulder “seam” are worked on both RS and WS rows. Once the final back width is reached, the back is worked back and forth in slip stitch ribbing to underarm. Stitches for the fronts (left and right front) are picked up from the shoulder “seam” to work the fronts back and forth to underarm. At underarm both fronts and back are joined to work the body top down back and forth to the short row shaped bottom hem. As the front ribbing is built in, there is no finishing required. Sleeve stitches are picked up around the arm openings to work the sleeves in Stockinette stitch top down in rounds to the cuffs.

Isabell knit the cardigan with Aran weight yarn. You can use Cascade 220, Biches & Buches Le Lambswool, Malabrigo Rios or Blue Sky Woolstok. 

Photos © Isabell Kraemer

I would highly recommend any pattern from Isabell. Her instructions are well written and the fit is amazing. 

Solemate kits from Freia Fibers are online.

I made it to the decreasing. I am confident that you will be able to make the L/XL hat with one Minikin.

 It’s time for The Amazing Race Canada. I like all three teams who are in the finale. I’m going to work on my Temperature Blanket so I can pay attention to the TV.

Wild Stripes

The excitement is building for Stephen West’s next MKAL - Geogradient.

Joining a Mystery KAL is a leap of faith. You don't have any clue what the shawl will look like. You aren't sure which colours to choose or what order to knit them in. But the fun factor is very high. You can't wait until Friday morning when the next clue comes out. It seems like a lot of knitting but you will be shocked at how easy it is to keep up. Stephen writes a very good pattern and he has videos for techniques that might be new to you.

If you just can't do it, watch along in Stephen's Ravelry group to see pictures of the progress. Maybe you'll join a bit late or when the shawl is finished. 

I’m going to knit the shawl this year. I’ve missed out on the last few and need to join the fun again. What colour? I think kit PPS - 4 but I’ll wait to see what kits are left when the MKAL starts. 

Here are the MKALs that I completed in the past.

Exploration Station

The Doodler

Building Blocks

Earth & Sky - the first MKAL. You can see how the shawls have evolved over time. This was knit in the fall of 2011.

We had a huge restock of Addi needles today. YAY!!! There were some colours of Zauberball Crazy as well.

We have more Solemate sock kits coming from Freia Fibres next week. These five kits are brand new. I will get them online as soon as I know that the parcel is on the way to us.

We've selected key colors in the related gradient and made a striped yarn for socks that are a little bit wilder!

Denim

This is the snuffle mat. We put food in here and the dogs dig to find the kernels. All three love it. They’ve already eaten and Fred has gone back to find more food. We do it while we’re eating to keep them busy. And to keep Fred out of trouble 😀

Flip Side Tee

Bluegrass is growing. I stayed up too late last night knitting and I paid for it today.

This is the wrong side. Not as pretty as the front but it still looks good. There are some shawls that you have to be very careful when you wear it because the back doesn’t look very nice. I won’t have to worry about that when I’m wearing Bluegrass.

If you are a sock knitter check out this new pattern on Ravelry. I borrowed these pictures from a newsletter that Friea sent out this afternoon.

The socks are amazing! I wish I had the mind that could come up with something like this. 

Some folks put their thinking caps on and ponder about knitting. And then they make really interesting things come about because of it. Jeny Staiman is one of those people - she's the Jeny of Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off - and she has a new sock pattern out that is perfect to pair with my SoleMates.

Singularity is engineered to yield an unbroken gradient along the length of the entire sock. The unique heel structure is worked in the round along with the sock body, allowing a single working strand to flow continuously from toe to cuff. It celebrates gradual color change in all its beauty and glory. No matter where you transition from foot to heel to leg, the resulting sock thoroughly reflects the color’s journey.

You can find Solemates on our website and in the store. 

The pattern for the Flip Side Tee is now available on Ravelry.

It’s hockey/baseball/knitting time. 

SoleMates

Our order from Freia arrived this afternoon. I was supposed to be out of the store early but waited for Mr. UPS. I’m glad I did.

The new SoleMates kits look great! We are the first store to get the kits. 

You're not seeing double! These little guys are tracked all through production from start to finish to ensure each pair stays with it's mate - giving you the pair of perfectly identical SoleMates! These are dyed on a Shaniko Merino Superwash base that just gets softer with each wash - and they are already soft to begin with. You will ooh and ahh when you have these on your feet. 

SUPER soft - US Merino - ethically raised - minimally processed, just enough to make them machine washable and dryable - identical (we're calling them 'Sole-Mates' get it?) - great yardage (460yds total/230yds per ball) and yeah, I said soft, right? 

I have the kits online but didn’t have time to get pictures of the individual kits.

Top from the left

• Dirty Hippie
• Metropolis
• Sobek
• Giza
• Sirocco

Bottom from the left

• Harvest
• Pt. Reyes
• Aurora
• Aswan
• Pearl

Lynn is working on her socks - I brought her a kit home from the knitting show in Chicago. It is her first pair of toe up socks - we’ll get pictures this week.

These are the new colours on Minikins. I will try to get these online tomorrow.

Tonight was our Fantasy Football draft (which is why the website didn’t get updated). This year Beth and I have our own teams. This could get tense. Beth’s team received a B and mine a C.👿

SoleMates

It’s an easy blog post on the day when Stephen West releases a new pattern. He has many, many pictures and you know that I love pictures.

Photos © Stephen West

This semi-circular shawl features seven colors of fingering weight yarn striped together. Textured stitches and eyelet stitch patterns decorate the large shawl shape. Each section is simple and addicting, so you are always looking forward to the next color and stitch pattern. The instructions include video tutorial links to learn how to work the I-cord Tab Cast On, the Elongated Criss Cross stitches, and I-cord Bind Off. Choose seven colors with a high-contrast color relationship for a bold and graphic striped shawl. You can also select seven shades that have a softer low-contrast effect for a subtle textured shawl. The border is decorated with chevron eyelets, resulting in a large, light, and flowy Westknits shawl. 

The pattern is available for purchase on Stephen’s website. 

We don’t have these colours of LITLG in stock but I am very certain we can find colours that are very close in Madelinetosh Merino Light or in Hedgehog Skinny Singles.

Yardage 
1900 yds/ 1737m total 
Color A - 300yds / 274m 
Color B - 240yds / 219m 
Color C - 400yds / 366m 
Color D - 400yds / 366m 
Color E - 180yds / 165m 
Color F - 200yds / 183m 
Color G - 180yds / 165m 

The Shawl Smorgasbord is here and it is a feast for the eyes! This shawl is like a platter of all your favorite stitches and techniques that come together to create this stunning masterpiece. I'm so in love with this design because it incorporates lots of eyelet elements and there are endless possibilities for dynamic color palettes. This semi-circular shawl features seven colors of fingering weight yarn striped together and you can choose high contrast colors for a bold, graphic shawl or softer, low contrast shades for a more subtle textured shawl. I can't wait to see all of the beautiful color combinations you come up with to knit your own Shawl Smorgasbord!

Take a look at some of the finished shawls on Ravelry.

Tina from Freia Fibers shared this picture on Instagram today.

It's waaaaay to hot for socks right now but I couldn't resist sharing this picture with you of some of our samples in our (Fall release) SoleMate sock sets! 

You're not seeing double! These little guys are tracked all through production from start to finish to ensure each pair stays with it's mate - giving you the pair of perfectly identical SoleMates! These are dyed on a Shaniko Merino Superwash base that just gets softer with each wash - and they are already soft to begin with. You will ooh and ahh when you have these on your feet. 

At the H+H trade show I strong-armed shop owners into trying on the socks and everyone was awed at how dreamy they felt on their feet. We will have over 80 colors to pick from.. Which color will you be starting with?!?

I finished the recommended number of rows on my Elah cardigan last night during The Amazing Race Canada. I wasn’t up to putting the stitches back on a needle and knitting the back so I pulled out my Jade Scarf.

This is the finished scarf. I’m at the halfway point. I was hoping that the scarf would be ready for Camp. That isn’t going to happen. It might come out in the fashion show on needles 😀