ZickZack Scarf

I was having a hard time coming up with today's blog post. There hasn't been a lot of knitting happening. Who can knit while watching Homeland? Plus we're getting the house ready for Christmas dinner. Then I remembered this great pattern.

The ZickZack scarf is a free pattern on Ravelry. It is knit with two colours of Mille Colori Baby.

An impressive yet easy to knit scarf in the style of a great Italian designer. 
The chevrons are worked with single increases and decreases – no knots in your fingers trying to knit complicated double decreases and no double increases where the stitches get tight and hard to work with...

The scarf can also be knit in Noro Taiyo Sock or Crystal Palace Mini Mochi. Any yarn with a long stripe.

I was looking up something on the Blue Sky Alpacas website which led me to free patterns.

The Extra Quick and Easy Scarf (download the pattern)

The Baby Jumper is knit in Blue Sky Bulky - a yarn that will be on sale for Boxing Week. Download the pattern...

Now it is time for some knitting. I have about 40 rows to go on my Unicorn Stripes Cowl. I'd really like to start playing with the Mille Colori Baby but I think I should wait until next week to start that scarf. Maybe :)

Boxing Week

We're getting ready for Boxing Week in the store. Here are a few yarns that will be available online December 24-27 when the store is closed. These yarns will be on sale in the store when we reopen after Christmas on December 28. If you live in the area, order online and pay for the yarn but leave a comment that you will be picking it up in the store. When you come in to pick it up we will refund the shipping amount. This way you won't miss out on the colour you want.

There is a special section on the website for all the sale yarns. This is not the complete list. I'm going to be adding all week.

The following yarns will be on sale for 50% off. 

This is just a small sample of what we will be offering on sale. It's time to make room for new yarn.

Debbie Bliss Luxury Silk DK

Debbie Bliss Juliet
This is a sport weight yarn.

Rowan Fur

Rowan Alpaca Chunky

Rowan Tetra Cotton

Rowan Big Wool Colour

Soakboxes are on sale - 50% off.

Don't forget about the Colinette Throws that are marked down in price...

It's been a busy day - tis the season. This afternoon we visited with friends and then we had dinner with Jane and her family. My Christmas gift from Jane was awesome - a ball of Qiviut that she bought on her trip to Alaska. And it's purple.

Qiviut is naturally a soft grayish-brown color, and is one of the warmest and most luxurious fibers in the world. Eight times warmer than wool and finer than cashmere, qiviut is hypoallergenic and will not shrink. Extremely rare, it is one of the most luxurious fibers you can choose for a garment.

Now I need to do some searching on Ravelry for the perfect project.

Homeland is about to start and I haven't knit all day. Yes, I'm moving to the knitting chair for the evening.

Mittens

It was snowing when I left the house this morning and it got me thinking that I should have mittens to keep my hands warm. 

These are the Soft Mitts from Fleece Artist.

You hold a strand of mohair together with a strand of wool to make warm mittens. The yarns are hand dyed in Halifax.

We have kits in many different colour combinations.

Thrum Mitts. What is a thrum? This is how the Yarn Harlot describes them. She has a great explanation on knitting Thrum Mitts...

A thrum is a little wisp of unspun fleece or roving that is knit into your project every so often. Thrumming makes the insides soft and fuzzy, and freakishly warm. This technique is most often associated with Canada’s Province of Newfoundland and Labrador (where they know warm)

We have kits from Fleece Artist for these mitts as well. Both the wool and the fleece are hand dyed.

There are also many patterns available online. You can use a skein of Cascade 220 with some great hand dyed fleece from Manos del Uruguay or Malabrigo.

I'm just past the halfway point. I really, really want to sit and knit today but we're getting the store ready for Boxing Week. I'll post more on that tomorrow and Monday. We are going to start the sale online on December 24. There will be a great selection. If you live in the area, you can purchase online and mark in the comment section that you are picking up the yarn in the store. We will refund the shipping when you get to the store. Then the sale will continue in the store (with more yarns added) on Monday December 28.

Speaking of sale, here are our Christmas Hours

Thursday December 24 10-2
Friday December 25 Closed
Saturday December 26 Closed
Sunday December 27 Closed
Monday December 28 10-5:30
Tuesday December 29 10-5:30
Wednesday December 30 10-5:30
Thursday December 31 10-1
Friday January 1 Closed
Saturday January 2 10-4
Sunday January 3 Closed
Monday January 4 10-5:30

Free Pattern Friday

Happy Friday. Here are some free patterns to download. Think of it as an early Christmas present :)

This stunning vest is knit in Noro Obi. Download the pattern...

We have four colours in stock

#7

#8

#13

#15

The fun thing about knitting with Noro is that the colour keeps changing which prevents you from getting bored with your project. 

A vest knit in Kureyon. Download the pattern...

Knit in Silk Garden. Download the pattern...

Knit in Kureyon. Download the pattern...

Knit in Silk Garden. Download the pattern...

I just got home from work and Beth made pizza for dinner. I'm writing while I eat and then it's time to knit. I haven't touched my needles today and my fingers are itching. The cowl is growing and I love the colours. Pictures tomorrow.

The Doodler

I'm finished. Blocked. Ends sew in.

Pattern: The Doodler (purchased on Ravelry)
Yarn: 3 skeins of tosh merino light
Colours: Court and spark, chicory and wellwater
Needles: 3.5mm

Another fun knit from Stephen West.

 

We received good news last night from madelinetosh. Our next shipment should be leaving Texas by the middle of January and we will have it by the end of the month. There are new colours coming.

All 16 colours are coming in tosh merino light. Then I had to pick and choose for the other yarn bases. We can't order every colour of every yarn although I would really like too. I was ordering colours from the computer screen and until I see them in real life I'm guessing what you and I will like. Here are the bases and the new colours coming. If you see a colour you are interested in but I didn't order it, I can on our next order which should be arriving in April. There will also be lots and lots of existing colours coming.

ASAP
Electric Rainbow
Geyser Pool
Rocky Mountain High
Pelican

Home
Undergrowth
Electric Rainbow

Tosh DK
Electric Rainbow
Pelican

Merino
Electric Rainbow

Pashmina Worsted
Undergrowth
Pelican

Prairie
Undergrowth

Silk/Merino
Undergrowth
Pelican

Merino DK
Electric Rainbow
Pelican

Twist Light
Rocky Mountain High
Arctic
Brick Dust
Cactus Flower
Electric Rainbow
Found Pottery
Geyser Pool
Glass Bottom Boat
Pelican
Undergrowth
The Radness

Pashmina
Undergrowth
Pelican

Sock
Electric Rainbow
Undergrowth
Geyser Pool
Pelican
Found Pottery
Rocky Mountain High
Coquette-Deux

Sport
Undergrowth
Pelican

Vintage
Electric Rainbow
Undergrowth
Pelican

Football is going to start soon which means it's time to stop working and time to knit. We won our first playoff game in Fantasy Football and need to win this week to make it to the finals. Pressure!

Entrelac

A box arrived from Lynda this morning with new samples. Just like Christmas morning.

Pattern: Entrelac Scarf (free on Ravelry)
Yarn: 4 balls of Silk Garden
We used colour 413

Entrelac is a knitting technique used to create a textured diamond pattern. While the result resembles basket-woven strips of knitted fabric, the actual material comprises interconnected squares on two different orientations.

You can easily make the scarf longer and/or wider. You can also adapt the pattern to any thickness of yarn.

We took the October 2015 Dream Club yarn and used it to knit The Honey Cowl (free pattern on Ravelry). The yarn is super soft and the colours look great in this stitch.

Beth is asking (in a kind of loud and demanding way) that I hurry up because the finale of Survivor is taping. I'm going to sign off because I really want to get to my knitting. The colours are working up nicely and I want to see how the next one plays out.

Stripes

For today's post you are going to need to use your imagination a bit.

Unicorn Stripes (pattern purchased on Ravelry) is knit using 30 skeins of madelinetosh unicorn tails. We have the scarf version in the store. You start with one colour and knit until it runs out and then join in the next colour. You get approximately 16 rows with each skein.

You can join the ends to make a beautiful cowl.

Here is where your imagination needs to kick in. Deirdre came in the other day wearing a cool cowl. She took 10 skeins (not 30) and used this pattern. Before she joined it into a cowl she flipped one end to create a twist.

I tried to recreate the cowl with my scarf and I'm close. I asked her why she added the twist and her answer made a lot of sense. If you don't add the twist you get a cowl that sits up high on your chin. Sort of like this.

Add the twist and it lies flat - almost like a necklace.

I really liked the look of it so I cast on last night. I didn't use unicorn tails but pulled out my bag of leftover tosh merino light. You can use any fingering weight yarn. You can use any number of colours. For a uniform look you can do 16 rows of each colour. I'm not very uniform so my cowl will be random. You need approximately 160 rows for the cowl. The great thing is that you are knitting a scarf and sewing it so you can try it on as you go.

The scarf is actually a tube - you are knitting on a circular needle. It's a double sided cowl so no worrying if you have the right or wrong side showing . All your ends are on the inside. And there is no purling. All you need to know is knit, knit into the front and back of a stitch to increase, knit 2 together and ssk. The pattern calls for a provisional cast on but I didn't do that. When I graft the ends together I will have a small seam on the inside but I'm okay with that. Can you say obsessed? I'm only 30 rows in and I'm thinking about the next one. A Party of Five kit from SweetGeorgia would look awesome!

I'm leaning towards English Bay but that can change tomorrow.

Big Box of Freia

Mr. Canada Post surprised me with a box from Freia Fibers this morning. It left California last week and I didn't expect to see it until after Christmas.

I ordered in three colours of fingering weight Flux colours. These colours come in 50gram balls.

This colour is Ultraviolet.

Each 50 gram ball begins and ends with the same color, making for easy transitions from one ball to the next and leading to less waste. Flux Handpaints will have a base of 8 colors per ball, though the dyes blend together and form additional colors. Each ball is unique but we dye in batches of at least 24, ensuring overall continuity through sweater quantities within a single dye lot.

 

 Bird of Paradise

 

Tapestry

I looked on Ravelry and a pattern that looks great in this yarn is Wingspan. 2 balls will make the scarf.

We received more Lace as well. These are Ombre colours.

Smooth, slow gradations are the signature of the Ombré color range. Ombré yarns come in 75 gram balls in super bulky, worsted, sport, fingering and lace weight wool and wool blends. We carefully transition five or more colors/shades per ball making for very long, yet still dramatic color changes. We suggest working from alternate ends of each ball as you go for smooth color transitions since every ball will begin and end with different colors.

The Sonoma Scarf (we have patterns in the store or you can purchase on Ravelry) takes one ball of Lace.

Diamond shaped panels of trellis and leaves surrounded by a slim garter stitch border travel the length of this single ball project. Pattern is charted and easy to memorize after the first few repeats

See our stock of Lace colours...
 
We are stocked on Super Bulky again too.

Dirty Hippie is my favourite colour - I think I need to knit a cowl in it.

That Big Hat (free pattern on Ravelry) knit with one ball of Bulky. The cowls are a free pattern in the store when you purchase the yarn. One ball and 15mm needles.

See the stock of Super Bulky...

I was so close to finishing last night. I had 15 stitches to go but I was so tired that I couldn't see. I finished this morning. The Doodler needs a good soak in Soak - maybe tonight.

That is three finished projects in the last week. I'm scaring myself :)