Another Modified Fading Point

Ambah has a new pattern. Of course I love it - she used purple. Make sure you sign up for Ambah's newsletter and you will receive a discount code for the pattern.

Purchase the pattern for Jacinta on Ravelry.

Jacinta means “beautiful” and its colour changes resemble the spring-blooming hyacinths that are lush with fragrance.  

Designed for a six-colour gradient set from Sunshine Yarns, my sample is washable and delightfully soft. The all-over textured lace pattern is perfect for speckles, gradients, or solids, and the resulting asymmetrical triangle is easily adapted for more or less length. Completely reversible, Jacinta is a perfect, uncomplicated accessory that will be a welcome addition to any wardrobe from autumn to spring.

This would be a great project for using leftovers from other shawls. You need approximately 686m of fingering weight yarn. Ambah used 6 colours and each skein was approximately 115m. You might have leftovers from Find Your Fade or Fading Point that would work great.

Sometimes I have a good idea.

We made a clothesline to hang shawls for our booth at the Frolic. Why don't I make one at the store? This will make it a lot easier for showing our work. It came in handy when Elizabeth visited today with her Fading Point. What a beautiful colour combination.

You might notice something interesting about Elizabeth's shawl. She made the same omission that Diana made. Elizabeth missed the 16 rows of garter stitch between the fade and the lace. She thought that her shawl was smaller than it should be and then she read my blog post about Diana's shawl. Yes, it was smaller and now she knew why.

It was another beautiful day here in Ancaster. My hostas are growing like crazy. I think they are bigger every time I go outside. The other plants are growing as well. I can't wait for flowers. I hope it stays like this until September.

Ziggy Purple

New bags are on the way from Atenti. There will be 2 new Hope Baskets. Above is Ziggy Purple and below is Rambla.

A roomy stand-alone project bag. Top rolls down for easy access. Wide opening and two handles. Fully lined in water repellent taffeta. Three inside pockets. 12" tall x 8" wide x 8" deep

There are two new Prairie's coming. Above is By the Grove and below is Tulips & Leaves.

Opening wide with a 14” snap frame closure, the Atenti Prairie bag shows off a fully lined water resistant taffeta interior. Inside are a zippered pocket and an open divided pocket with a cell phone slot. Double straps with a 6.5" drop and an extra detachable and adjustable crossbody strap (21" drop).

The Atenti Fiore Maxi- It’s practical and roomy with double 26” suede shoulder straps and is fully lined in water resistant taffeta with a zippered pocket and a divided pocket with a cell phone slot. 

The end is in sight for Alex. She could have Fading Point finished next week.

She has joined her two ends. This is the best part of the shawl. The rows get shorter and shorter and go quicker and quicker. It's almost ready to wear.

Now I'm inspired to get mine finished. Tonight we will be watching the finale of Survivor. For some reason it didn't tape last night at it's proper time so we taped it at 11pm.

I spoke with Amy at madelinetosh today. Our order is going into production next week. We should see new shades in merino light and dk by the middle of June.

I can't wait. When they arrive I will be making up kits for the Comfort Fade Cardi.

Another way to fade! This open cardigan is super cozy with its garter shawl collar! The Reverse Stockinette makes a stunning canvas to fade on for the most unique cardigan in your wardrobe!! This cardigan keeps me feeling cozy and stylish all in one!

I better finish my post now. It's almost time to close the store. We're having dinner with dad and then home to watch TV. And knit!

Log Cabin Afghan

Lynda has been busy. She is working away on the squares for the Log Cabin Afghan. I decided to use one colour for the whole afghan. It is Noro Kureyon 416 which is back in stock.

Every ball is wound differently which makes each square distinct. There was no cutting and joining yarn to make the squares mismatched. It would be a lot of work to make the squares match. You would need extra balls and have a lot of ends to sew in.

The border will be dark grey Cascade 220.

A shipment of Kureyon arrived yesterday and we brought back an old colour that would look great in a one coloured afghan. You could do a brown border or light grey would be interesting too.

I was going through my photos looking for something and came across a picture of Lynn's Log Cabin Afghan before she finished putting it together.

This is a great picture to show how the afghan is finished. You pick up along the bottom of one square and knit 5 rows. You then pick up (with a different needle) along the top of another square and knit 5 rows. You do a three needle bind off. You repeat until all the squares are in columns. Lynn's are all in columns and now she will repeat to join the columns. Then you work a border around the whole afghan. It is very easy to do and there is no sewing - everything is joined with a three needle bind off.

A newsletter went out yesterday. We send out a newsletter about once a month. I try not to send too many unless there is something really important to share. You can sign up to receive the newsletter at the top of the blog.

What a gorgeous day. The sun is shining and my garden is growing. I swear that I can see my hostas growing. A couple of days of sun and then some rain at night and they will be huge!

Goodbye Pashmina Worsted

Doreen finished her blanket just in time for the baby shower. Oh my goodness. How cute is this? What child wouldn't want a blanket with a stuffed animal?

All kits are back in stock - bunny, kitten, lamb, monkey, puppy and teddy. They are not available on the website at this time. The packaging is big and we have to ship them in a box that is bigger than we normally ship in. Please call the store if you would like to order.

I borrowed these pictures from Instagram this morning. Claire from Autumn and Indigo is dying fade kits. Maybe these are for us. I can't wait to see what she puts together for the Comfort Fade Cardi.

The colour is Piggy Bank. The base above is Skinny Singles and below is Sock Minis. You can see how the different yarns take the dyes differently.

We're doing some spring cleaning in the store. It's time to say goodbye to a great yarn that is discontinued. Tosh pashmina worsted. It was $41 a skein on sale for $29 a skein.

Pashmina Worsted is a 4-ply yarn made up of 75% merino wool, 15% silk and 10% cashmere. This yarn is a heavier weight version of our very popular Pashmina base. A similar fiber blend to the famous woven pashmina scarves, this machine washable blend is hand-dyed in small dye lots and knits up to create a soft fabric with great drape.

You can make the Adiri Cowl (pattern purchased on Ravelry) with one skein. 

The pattern uses a combination of cables and lace to create an overall pattern that is complex in texture, yet surprisingly easy to work

I passed the lace (2nd colour) on my Fading Point and am fading in the 3rd colour. It's time to sign off and knit. I want need the shawl finished for mid-June so I better get going. I must leave Alex time to sew in my ends and block it :)

Paint the Town

Dad, Lucy and I spent some time together this afternoon. We started at Wally Parr in Caledonia. My sausage was awesome. Lucy enjoyed it as well. Then we went to see one of their jobs in Caledonia. Dad and Lucy are napping now, Beth is golfing and I'm working.

A newsletter has been finished and should go out tomorrow. Beth will proofread it later this evening.

I have been updating the website and I added a new feature. It isn't totally finished but I'm happy with it so far.

I made a section for all hand dyed fingering weight yarns. Now you can see them all in one place.

On the left of the website, click on Hand Dyed Fingering. Then click on All and you will see the full list.

Lynn finished a great looking shawl. The pattern is called Paint the Town (purchased on Ravelry). She used 3 skeins of tosh sock.

Paint the Town is a colorwork scarf, knit from end to end using three colors of fingering weight yarn. This bias knit stockinette stitch design has striped sections and garter stitch borders. Instructions are included for both striped and solid scarves.

The pattern is an easy knit. You need to know knit, purl, an easy increase and an easy decrease.

Lynn originally picked this yarn for a different shawl but after starting it decided that she didn't like it. I am sure that we have all had this dilemma. I have yarn but I don't know what to do with it. This pattern is perfect.

I'm almost to the next lace section on Fading Point. I need to move it to a longer needle so that I can spread it out for pictures. Now it's bed time. I should have had an afternoon nap.

Mosaic

Diana loaned us two shawls to display that she knit using Ambah's Columbina pattern (purchased on Ravelry).

Harlequin’s cheques dance across this alluring wrap knit in Circus Tonic Handmade’s yarn. Named after the romantic hero’s conniving mistress, Columbina begins and ends with a steady rhythm of easy garter rows, interrupted by a dramatic and entertaining crescendo of two-colour mosaic, and is embellished with a picot flourish. The perfect project for vibrant, high-contrast colours, the bias shawl comes in two sizes and is shaped only with simple increases and decreases, resulting in a spectacular and sophisticated accessory.

Both shawls are knit with SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock. The first one is a multi-colour (Windswept) and then Diana used ecru for the mosaic.

She enjoyed knitting the pattern (obviously or she wouldn't have made it twice). It's one of those patterns that you think 'This would look great with this yarn and that yarn' so you have to make it again.

For the second shawl Diana used Charcoal with a Party of Five kit - Botanica. She picked 3 of the 5 colours for the mosaic.

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. 

I looked up Mosaic Knitting and found a great explanation from Interweave Knits. 

Dad and Beth went a little crazy at Terra yesterday. They saw a finished basket with the palm leaves and decided that Beth could make baskets like this for our front porch. This was the picture she sent me after the first basket was finished.

All baskets are finished. By the end of the summer you won't be able to see our front door.

Dad just left - he and Lucy came for steak dinner. I'm knitting a few rows and then bed. I'm still trying to catch up from my time away. If I could stay awake longer I would because I'm back working on Fading Point and am into the second colour. Pictures tomorrow.

Modified Fading Point

I couldn't help myself. I was going through the new Hedgehog and put together a Fading Point using one of the new Potluck colours.

From left to right
Sorry Not Sorry
Potluck 1550 (we are on the only store to have this colour)
Pinky Swear
Naive
Harajuko

The new kits from Mrs. Crosby are beautiful in real life. Diana has taken the denim kit to knit up for the store.

Diana just finished a Fading Point for her nephew's wife. It is gorgeous - she used Rockshelter Sock. We made up a kit for her colours - it is #27.

We have had customers comment that they think the shawl is too big. Diana's isn't quite as big. Sometimes you read the pattern wrong. You think you know what you're doing and off you go. Then you realize that you missed some rows. That happened to Diana. She was so far in that she decided to keep going with her modified version. We really like it. You are supposed to knit the lace section, then a bit of fading and then 16 rows (8 ridges) of one colour. Diana left these rows out. She goes lace, fading then lace.

She came in about 4:30 yesterday afternoon and I should have taken pictures. It was sunny and beautiful out. Today it is rainy and foggy. I hope the sun comes out soon.

Dad and Beth are shopping at Terra. I received a text asking if I liked this for my store. Of course I do!

I'm a little jealous that they are having fun in the flowers.

I am so early today. Blogging is so much easier on days with lots of pretty pictures.