Knit.Love.Wool

Wednesday evening Spincycle Yarns sent out a newsletter with a picture of something new that is coming.

Jenn Steingass has a gorgeous new yoked sweater featuring our Dyed in the Wool Salty Dog coming out January 1st. We are spinning the yarn as I type.

We ordered Salty Dog Dyed in the Wool and should have it early in January.

I emailed Jenn Steingass (Knit.Love.Wool on Ravelry) and she has given us permission to share her pictures. Jenn designed Newleaf and many more great patterns.

Lynn's Newleaf is so pretty - I really need to finish mine😘

A newsletter went out yesterday afternoon. You can see it here if you missed it. I talk about what we are doing for Boxing Week.

Holiday Hours

In December
Monday 23 10-5:30
Tuesday 24 10-2
Wednesday 25 Closed
Thursday 26 Closed
Friday 27 10-5:30
Saturday 28 10-4
Sunday 29 Closed
Monday 30 10-5:30
Tuesday 31 10-2

In January
January 1 Closed
January 2 10-5:30

Our Christmas party was great. I was home earlier than I thought and was able to get some knitting accomplished. I was also able to start today's post. I had things to share and I was afraid if I waited until today I would forget. 

Mr. FedEx came in with a box from Noro. Tabi is here.

The shipment arrived from Namaste and our Maker's Mini Backpacks are almost sold out. Another shipment will be coming early in January. If there is a colour that you want, please let me know. I think I want Lavender.

We are going to watch the finale of Making It tonight. Wow, the people on the show are so creative. You really need to watch as they are making their projects - it's not a good knitting show.

Destination Unknown

Need a really quick project? This beanie takes one ball of Rowan Big Wool and you can download the pattern for free.

©Cheryl Faust

Cheryl Faust has a new pattern out called Destination Unknown. You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry.

The captivating stitches of Destination Unknown provide visual intrigue, yet are deceptively simple in construction. Like the ever-changing direction of my journey through life, the twists and turns of the path are a mystery. This knit celebrates the journey and encourages us to chase our dreams and greet each new day with excitement for the opportunities to explore and create. 

Destination Unknown is a top down, triangular shawl featuring the hot, hot, hot, mosaic knitting technique. Its stunning herringbone stitch pattern is achieved using just one color per row. For maximum hotness, combine the gorgeous shades of Spincycle’s Dyed in the Wool with the solid, crisp tones of Brooklyn Tweed’s Peerie. This is one yarn combo guaranteed to draw attention and make your Destination Unknown a real show stopper! 

Destination Unknown includes fully written and charted instructions. I would consider Destination Unknown to be suitable for an intermediate to advanced beginner, but will also keep an experienced knitter engaged from start to finish. 

We have lots of colours of Dyed in the Wool in stock including Stay Ready that Cheryl used for her sample. For the main colour, you can use any fingering weight - I suggest Le Petit Lambswool from Biches & Buches. 

Alex played and put some colour combinations together.

Ruination and Dark Blue Turquoise

Narcissus and Medium Green Grey

The Family Jewels and Dark Blue Black

Devilish Grin and Light Yellow

Frosty Nights and Medium Blue

This description of Mosaic knitting comes from Interweave Knits.

Mosaic knitting may be the most unknown form of colorwork. Everyone has heard about intarsia or Fair Isle, but whenever I teach a class in this technique, my students always ask, “Why haven’t we heard about this before?” Mosaic knitting is perfect for beginners who are attempting colorwork for the first time. If you’ve worked stripes in two colors, you can work mosaic knitting. 

Read more about the technique.

Beth loves Mosaic knitting. Simple colourwork - right up her alley.

This afternoon is my dad's Christmas party so I'm leaving soon. Who knows how late I'll be so I'm posting really early today.

New Books

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…

You can download the pattern for the Zickzack Scarf for free on Ravelry. The pattern is super easy.

We received a shipment of Mille Colori Baby today. 4 balls (2 balls each of 2 colours) is what we used to make our ZickZack samples.

This is a brand new colour - 106 Rainbow. We might need a brand new ZickZack for the store.

New books came today as well.

Combining the most popular blanket patterns from Noro magazine with several brand new and exclusive designs, Knit Blankets: 25 Colorful & Cozy Throws is the ultimate collection of knit afghans, blankets and throws. With simple textures, modular projects, graphic intarsia and more, these blankets are as diverse and fun to knit as their colors are vibrant. Knit with Noro's trademark self-striping colorways, as well as their stunning solids, these blankets will brighten your home and warm your heart.

Japanese stitch patterns are eye-catching and much sought after by devotees, but before now, they often seemed out of reach, whether locked behind Japanese only instructions or tangled up in difficult-to-decipher illustrations. Japanese Stitches Unraveled offers 150 rare patterns inspired by these elusive and intricate Japanese stitch designs, along with fully illustrated charts, familiar symbols, and clear instructions for every single stitch. Each stitch pattern receives Bernard’s unique four direction makeover—top-down, bottom-up, back-and forth, and in-the-round. Bernard also includes instructions for six garments as well as her famous formulas for knitting without a pattern. 

We're getting ready for Christmas dinner at my house. It looks like a small crowd this year. Only 29. Of course Beth has games planned. If you've been to Knitting Camp you know that Beth loves coming up with something new and different for Thursday evening.

I'm very late tonight. We watched Survivor and now we are finding out the singers on The Masked Singer. I'm going to be tired tomorrow morning.

Just in Time

Mr. Canada Post came in late this afternoon with new enamel pins from Twill & Print.

This fun and shiny piece of knitter flair is a great way to glam up your jacket, backpack or project bag! Hard enamel is smooth and durable, the finish is super high quality, and the plating really shines. 

I have an update to Stole Twilight. I said that it was a triangular shawl. It isn't. It is a rectangle. I guess 'stole' should have been the clue. I didn't see the last two pages of the pattern.

©Stephen West

Stephen West has new patterns coming out on Friday. 

This triangular shawl begins with a tiny triangle at the center of the shawl. Parallelograms are stacked on the three sides of the triangle hence the name Trianglegram. Each parallelogram shape is knit one at a time while being attached to the previous sections for an entirely seamless project. Repeat the stripes until you are ready to bind off. The small size features four colors of West Wool Bicycle and the large multi-color size features a variety of fingering weight yarns and some fluffy suri alpaca accents. Relaxing garter stitch makes this pattern easy to knit and striking to wear.

I'm working on my new project but I want to get a bit further before pictures. It's good to have my knitting mojo back.

Hot Right Now

Ms. UPS brought in another shipment of Rasta this morning. The website has been updated and Rasta has a new home in the store. I went back through the blog and found pictures of some cowls that I have knit. We first started to carry Rasta on April 1, 2010. (These photos are pre pretty shed in the parking lot).

Pattern: Textured Cowl (free on Ravelry)

Yarn: one skein of Rasta in the colour Anzules

Needles: 15mm

Pattern Changes: I cast on 42 stitches instead of the 48 that the pattern called for and worked four full repeats.

This was my first Textured Cowl. It is a bit too wide. I case on 48 stitches for this one.

Pattern: Textured Cowl (free on Ravelry)
Yarn: one skein of Rasta in the colour Zarzamora
Needles: 15mm

If you've made a cowl and find that it is too big, don't rip it out. I'm against ripping out. :) Instead try a shawl pin. It will hold the cowl in place and looks great. Jewelry for your knitting.

This is an easy checkerboard cowl. We have the pattern in the store and it is free with the purchase of a skein of Rasta.

We love Ravelry but it can be a daunting place if you aren't sure how to navigate the website. 

If you are wondering where I find the new patterns, here is a screen shot from Ravelry.

To see this click on 'Patterns' at the top of the page and this is your landing page.  On the left you will see 'hot right now'. You can see the patterns that people are currently viewing. If you click on 'browse patterns in this order...' you will see all the hot patterns. Then on the right is 'your pattern highlights'. Patterns similar to something you have knit. Designers you like.

You can also see your history - patterns you have recently looked at.

I started this post about Ravelry a while ago and it has sat in my drafts. The 'hot right now' patterns aren't actually the hot right now patterns😘

Wannietta came in today and took the yarn for Ginny. I switched colours.

Ciaran - a dark brown with coloured flecks.

I might have brought some new skeins of yarn home tonight. It's time to knit.

Knitting Funk

I've been in a bit of a knitting funk but I'm out of it.

I finished another Nightshift tonight. I'll have better pictures after it is blocked. For this shawl I used Noro Ito in 19 & 20. This is my 7th Nightshift and I still love the pattern. I'm all about playing with colour and this shawl is a perfect way to play. Once you get going to pattern is easy. I would recommend it for a beginner or an advanced knitter.

I pulled out Newleaf and am going to get this finished next.

I am going to TNNA in January and need a new sweater. Newleaf will be perfect. I'm still debating between long and short sleeves. I guess it will depend on how far I get before I go.

Pictures ©Andrea Mowry

I purchased the pattern for Ginny and need to make a decision on which yarn. I'm pretty sure it will be Arranmore Light. Sorry Wannietta - I think it might be black.

It's bed time after a stressful day of football. We are in the semifinals of fantasy football. It looks like we are going to win but the day didn't start out good.

Twilight

Photos ©Svetlana Gordon

Svetlana Gordon has a new shawl pattern. Stunning as always. This is Stole Twilight and you can purchase the pattern on Ravelry.

The self-striping yarn is Mille Colori Baby. We have more stock on the way to us. Yarn Bombs, Shawl Balls and Minikins from Freia Fibers would work as well. How about Noro Silk Garden Sock?

When you look at the finished shawl on the mannequin you might think it is rectangular - I did. It is a triangle.

My shawl is almost finished. Just a few ends to sew in. The pattern is the Easy Three-Yarn Striped Triangle Shawl from Churchmouse Yarns. It is free on Ravelry.

A shallow, garter-stitch triangle, this free pattern is a breeze to knit! Long, tapered ends offer tons of styling and tying options, while an eyelet edging adds interest. Three-color stripes shine in this scarf’s clean simplicity. We’ve added a bit more magic with three different yarns—one sparkly, one fuzzy, and one fluffy! 

We knit the Easy Three-Yarn Striped Triangle Scarf with three chunky-weight yarns, with each garter-stitch row knit in a different yarn.

The pattern is very mindless. You will have it memorized after the first 4 rows.

The three yarns that I used (one ball of each)
Rowan Brushed Fleece
Blue Sky Brushed Suri
Borgo Bibi 

Boscoe had a very busy week at Boot Camp. There were a few time outs. I keep reminding Beth that he is only 9 weeks old.