City Limits

Sarah has a new sweater and it looks cozy on this very cold April day. The pattern is called City Limits by Tanis Lavallee. Sarah said it was a fun knit and she couldn't stop.

Sarah used 5 colours of fingering weight for the fade (double stranded) and held them with a strand of Hedgehog Kidsilk Lace. It is gorgeous!!! The mohair gives the sweater a beautiful haze.

City Limits is my perfect sweatshirt style pullover. Written for a versatile worsted weight gauge, what I love about this pattern is that you can really make it your own. My sample was knit holding two strands of fingering weight throughout in 5 different colours to create a marled fade. So much room to customize! My sample features about 5” of positive ease with no waist shaping but instructions for optional waist shaping are provided. A versatile blank canvas sweater pattern - my very favourite kind! 

I will make a few colour suggestions over the next few days.

I spent some time this afternoon making new Breathe and Hope kits.

Don't forget that you have until Sunday to purchase a kit and get the pattern for free. If you purchased a kit I have emailed your Ravelry download code. Please contact me in the morning if you didn't receive the email. There seems to be a lot of emails lost in space right now.

I was in the store late waiting for Ms. DHL and a box from Spincycle.

I didn't take any home but I really could have. I will get pictures tomorrow afternoon and then I can update the website.

A few minutes of knitting and then bed.

Oddments

Brian Smith has a new pattern called Oh Purleeze! (pattern purchased on Ravelry)

“Oh Purleeze” uses yarn from your stash. All of those oddments from previous projects that you've never known what to do with! 

Starting with an easy, one colour, flat brioche stitch, then a garter stitch section. Finishing with a garter rib border. 

Be creative, mix up your colours, work colour blocks or stripes. When choosing colours, make sure all of your choices have one colour in common. Mine all had pink in them. This means that they will all go together/blend okay.

Andrea sent me an email yesterday with some very pretty pictures.

Last time Deanna and I were in I bought some Tsubame colour 2 & 10. I was going to crochet something and got into it only to realize I didn’t like it. So I ordered Tsubame colour 11 and started the Shift pattern but instead I’m making a blanket. It looks beautiful, a lot better in person then in the photos.  I decided to use a 4mm (recommended needle size on the yarn label) which I really like, the 5 mm the pattern calls for seemed a bit to loose.  Also instead of casting on the 191 stitches that the end of the pattern say there should be I only cast on 180, the blanket will be wide enough for my purpose (a baby blanket) but when I make the other one I’ll cast on the full 191.   

That is going to be a beautiful blanket!

If you have a parcel for curbside pickup, I'm adding a few more days this week.
Thursday 10:30am-1:30pm
Friday 10:30am-1:30pm
Saturday 11am-1pm

I want to make sure everyone can pick up their Breathe and Hope kit to start on the weekend.

If you purchased a kit, I am emailing out Ravelry download codes. Everyone should have their codes by tomorrow evening.

Today's post is going to be short. I am exhausted. I was here at 8am and packed orders etc until 5:30. I really miss Lynn and Alex. Beth is taking Boscoe for a walk and then it's Survivor time.

LYS Day

LYS Day was supposed to be this Saturday but has been postponed until September.

Local Yarn Store Day (LYS Day) is a TNNA program designed to drive traffic to local yarn stores. LYS Day has brought thousands of 'yarnies' from across the US and Canada to go to their local shop to see the exclusive, unique products created specifically for LYS Day. Think of it as a nationwide Yarn Crawl!

Every year Casapinka designs a LYS Day shawl and she decided to release it this weekend.

It is an asymmetric boomerang shawl.  

There is nothing more complicated in the pattern than a "knit one below" or slipped stitch. The yarn does most of the work.

I have been busy making up kits. You can purchase a kit (yarn and Ravelry download code for the pattern) between now and Sunday. You might decide that you would rather pick your own colours. No problem. Pick any two hand dyed fingering weight yarns and request the patten when you place your order.

I was able to make two of some kits but many are one of a kind. I am using hand dyed yarns and these aren't easy to replace. In 'normal' times it can take 6-8 weeks to receive an order. Right now we are looking at 12-16 weeks because many dyers are working with a skeleton staff. Don't wait if you see a colour you like.

We are still waiting on our box from Biches & Buches. It is sitting at the UPS depot in Brantford. Maybe tomorrow. I am tracking another shipment - this one from Spincycle. Dyed in the Wool - YAY!

Deep Bump

Idle Nights

Cataclysm

Komodo

Sadly there wasn't any knitting last night. I am going to move to my knitting chair after dinner and get some rows knit on my shawl. I need to get moving because I want to start Breathe and Hope on the weekend. The colour? I'm still undecided.

Refresh

I spent this afternoon making kits. What for? You will have to wait until tomorrow to find out.

The latest Mason-Dixon Knitting Field Guide is on the way to us.

A welcome breeze of clean, fresh design from Carol Feller, the Irish designer whose work we have loved for many years. These four patterns explore texture, structure, and the beauty of a special yarn. We want to make them all. 

Ravelry pulled me in this afternoon and I came across this shawl from Casapinka. I love the lime and teal. Bronwyn (aka Casapinka) calls this shawl Fabulosity.

I often use “Fabulosity” to describe the state of something “over the top wonderful” which is how I feel about this large, drapey shawl. It’s so fun to wear! Designed as a collaboration with Emma’s Yarn for my annual visit to Four Purls Yarn Shop in Winter Haven, Florida, there are slipped stitches, “made up” decorative increases, dots, mosaic, a dragon scale stitch and a statement border. All of this gives you nothing short of a statement piece of fabulosity!

Materials - Four Skeins of fingering weight yarn. No more than two variegated colors (suggested). Note that Colors A And B should be highly contrasting since they are used in the “Dot” section.

Now I need to finish a newsletter to send out tomorrow. There are kits to tell you about.

Happy Sunday

It was a lazy Sunday here. I knit a few rows on Luverne.

Getting pictures was a bit tricky. Someone picked up my ball of yarn and then the actual shawl. I reset and we tried again. Yes, he has yarn in his mouth in the top picture. It is Hedgehog and he loves Hedgehog. There are 2 skeins in the house that he has had in his mouth more than once. The labels are broken and the yarn feels hard - like it has been chewed on.

Dad and Beth made cupcakes again.

I did spend half an hour working on a newsletter that will be going out on Wednesday.

There isn't a lot to write about today but hopefully I will have yarn to show you tomorrow if Mr/Ms UPS brings me the box I am expecting.

Easy Project

If you need/want an easy project take a look at Ambah's Kallara. You need two skeins of fingering weight yarn and a contrast is good. I have a feeling that most of us have more than two skeins of fingering weight yarn hidden away at home.

This is our store sample knit in Hedgehog Skinny Singles - Naive and Boombox.

Go subtle or go bold with this fun shawl. Opt for gentle stripes for a neutral shawl, perfect for any occasion, then knit another in your favourite brights, neons, gradient or speckled hues teamed with a strong solid for a show-stopping accessory. 

Kallara features a slightly asymmetrical, shallow triangular shape with long tapered ends. Sitting comfortably on the shoulders without too much bulk, it’s adaptable enough to be worn as a wrap, shawl, or scarf.

This is Lynn's knit in Uschitita.

Trina sent me a picture of her Newleaf in progress. The colours look great! She is using Very Light Green Le Petit Lambswool and Truth Bomb Dyed in the Wool for the colourwork.

I had some help in the store this morning. Dad taped boxes for me and Lucy stood guard.

When I got home someone was in my chair. Not his chair that is nicely covered in a blanket. He looked so cute that I left him.