Projects and emotions

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Do you associate a project with an emotional event in your life? Maybe the birth of a grandbaby ,  the illness of a spouse, graduation of a child?

I dug out a ufo this weekend.

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I think this was last seen while waiting for my mom’s heart surgery. Two weeks ago, her SO Joe suffered cardiac arrest. He’s recovering, thank God! But it brought out the garter stitch, stress relief, project once again. 

Now that we’re weathered that stressful time and we’ve been through a fantastic event learning “lever” knitting with none other than Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. swoon, laugh, learn — what a great time!
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Now, I’m ready to start another life event project…. TWINS! My son and daughter-in-law are due in December. Aren’t they cute! The new superwash sport and 60 baby knits book will be getting a workout.
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And I can’t finish this post without a great rasta hat shot!
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Before the baby knitting commences, I’m going to knit another short sleeve summer project. I’m leaning toward a knitty.com pattern with Tatamy Tweed DK starting June 1. More to come….

What event knitting do you do or have you done?

Anatomy of the Sweater: Part 4

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The hood is a breeze! I loved it with the cables on the side. It’s feminine but comfy looking. Anyways, I have a hint for the section between the hood rounds and the body. When I first knitted it, I never decreased liked it asked. I found that out at Sweater night, and Mom wanted me to tear back and follow the pattern. I ripped it later that night; but when I did, I noticed that the decreased number would make the ribbing out of pattern with the 8 stitch cable repeat. I’m saying the pattern: cable repeat, purl two, slip marker, k2 p2 until marker. At the end, it is two purl stitches, slip marker, two purl stitches, cable repeat.  That’s weird looking right? But it’s just the hood and no one would see. What if I wore the hood up? It’s weird looking then. Let’s have it look right, here we come math! So let’s get you caught up.

At that point, the pattern wants you to decrease 20 stitches on the next right side row. We got out the Sweater 101 book that had a math equation for us to know how to decrease evenly. Instead, decrease 18 to have the two extra stitches (don’t worry, it’ll balance out with the increases coming).  With the decrease of 18, you get to miss your first increase when you start to divide the sweater out by left front, left sleeve, back, right sleeve,  right front. When I increased, I skipped the increase on the front left and right pieces. The next repeat row, I was at the number she wanted.

Ta-da! Math can do some good. I did keep increasing longer than I should have because of my armhole but that’s the next lesson.

For more lovely information, check out the book and this website: http://howtoknitasweater.com/

Hayley Hoodie going along…

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How’s the blogging? I know, I know. I don’t blog much, and I lose focus after blogging for awhile. Right now on my hayley hoodie, I’m 6 inches down and may have the pocket to start in 4″. Woo! I should be doing a little bit every day, but then I had ideas for scrap yarn. You can’t blame me. We all have a project we start then put it aside. I know feel guilty that it’s sitting in my bag upstairs lol.

A community of knitters. I love that. I love it because I need you guys to yell at me to get it done. Make sure you leave me lots of comments to get it done and bring it tonight. It’s sweater night tonight, so if you want you can bug me tonight to knit it ;)

Spring Enews: discussion and yarn giveaway

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Its time for some spring knitting (vs. cleaning!).  If you received the latest enews, we were talking about our favorite cotton, linen, lighter weight wools and projects for warmer weather knitting and wear (could be shawlettes, socks, tanks or tees).

GIVEAWAY: Post a link here telling us what you are interested in knitting and with what yarn. You’ll get one entry for posting, and another entry for any link to those project or materials on our website.  You can post on the KTNews blog, Knitting Today facebook page, or Knitting Today Ravelry group.  YOU COULD WIN: a skein of Stiletto, Florafil, Starbella AND Creative Focus Linen. Winner will be drawn on March 31.

P.S. Download the enews to get the coupon for purchase off any yarn mentioned in the enews (with the exception of the Blue Bag specials which are already 40% off!)

Anatomy of a Sweater: Part 2

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Time for part 2! You have to do a gauge swatch. I’m not saying it because my mom enforces it; I’m saying it because if you’re going to invest that much time and money on a sweater, it’s important to have it perfect on the first try! :)

I did not do a gauge swatch. Why did I tell you to do a gauge swatch when I didn’t? I started the hood way back in August then stopped. My gauge swatch was the hood and was perfectly fine. I picked back up, and my gauge is tight! I thought I fixed my gauge problem in the few projects I completed recently. Apparently, if I speed knit, I think tight and fast —- not fast and loose! Problems will occur later on if you did not do a swatch! But, never fear, my mom (Lea-Ann) will help me through!

From Lea-Ann — BASICS OF HOW TO SWATCH: If you don’t want to use the hood as a swatch, like Tara did, gather together your needles and yarn. Start with the recommendations in the pattern and cast on at least 4″ worth of stitches and work in the stitch pattern for at least 4″. Remember to use the needles that you will use for your project (and the yarn too).  BIND OFF! Yes, you need to bind off. No, you are not wasting your yarn. You did buy an extra ball for “just in case” (and that can be returned for store credit if not needed). You will want to treat this swatch like you will finish the finished garment. For example, if its wool and you’ll hand wash and lay flat to dry, that is what you need to do. Or cotton that is machine wash and dry, then do that to the swatch.  This gives you a chance to observe if the swatch will shrink, grow, pill, etc.  It helps if you keep really good records about your swatch including the needle size, the yarn ball band, the measurements, etc.

NEXT: The next focus for this project is the provisional crochet-cast on.

Anatomy of A Sweater: Part 1

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Welcome to the first Knit-a-long on the Knitting Today Blog! I’ll be going step-by-step and asking questions, figuring out answers while knitting along on my Hayley Hoodie.

First thing,  get the pattern and the yarn. The Hayley Hoodie has a measurement of 32-35, 36-39, 40-43, 44-47 and you want to make it 2″ to 3″ bigger than bust. You’ll need 850 (950, 1150, 1200) yards of #4 medium weight yarn.

I’ve taken the time to find some lovely choices in Knitting Today. When I first wanted to do this project several months ago, I wanted to do it out of Dream in Color Classy. Well, we didn’t have enough purple in stock for me to do it, so I chose Shepherd’s Wool. Now, we have the new colors of Classy in stock and I wish I had waited but my Shepherd’s Wool looks awesome and will feel great so I’ll choose another project for the Classy.  Included in the picture are some other great alternative yarns: Cotton Fleece, Julia, Creative Focus Superwash, Creative Focus Worsted, Galway, Ty-Dy, and Encore. I love all the color choices in these yarns. It just depends on what color or if you want superwash.

After researching more about it, the Hayley Hoodie is actually made out of a cotton.  It surprised me but it would be a nice summer hoodie or fall. Oh well, mine is going to be wool. The recommended gauge is 18 stitches = 4″ — we’ll address that in the next post. Off to knit.  I’m ready to get mine done because it’s chilly but warming up.

Please post a comment if you’ll be knitting along with us and if you need help picking out your yarn, just give us a call at the store!

Celebrating ten years!

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I’ve just updated the website with an “About Us” page. Hard to believe its been ten years at the store.

   

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Tara’s been busy working on the Noni yarn packs page. Its not quite working yet, but she’ll figure it out. She had the Nomad, the Cinch, and a few others to do. She did say “Bettie Boop” is working though.  And, I noticed we are restocked in the Rhythm Superwash for the
Lilly blanket if that is something you’ve been waiting on.

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A new yarn in the store is Stiletto. I’ve started a shawl with it. Chelsea, which is one of the Ravelry LYS download service patterns we now support. Doesn’t it match my blouse perfectly? I feel so springy working on it, even though we’re supposed to get six inches off snow tonight! This yarn would make a sock with a little glitz too. I’m not feeling the lurex on my hands but then, I am knitting on size 6 needles. I think if I don’t start a pair of socks, I might do a baby sweater in it. Wouldn’t that look great with a little Easter dress?

Ten Days To Completion

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I took the day yesterday and road to Fort Wayne on a shopping errand with Tara since her classes were canceled.  First, we met up at the coffee shop in Kendallville with Lyn, who showed us her all-finished-but-the-ends pullover that she started — did you hear me, she started on superbowl sunday! That was the 5th, folks.  We saw Lyn on the 15th. That was ten days to knit a hooded pullover! Size 9 needles,  Plymouth Tweed, Knitting Pure and Simple pattern. I hoped to get pictures while we were out and about but I forgot, urgh. How long does it take you to knit a sweater?

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And look at the new addition to the store! HiyaHiya Sharps! Come on in and try them out.