KNews at Knitting Today

As announced in the Knitting Today E-news (sign up at http://knittingtoday.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/list/ktnews/ if you don’t receive it!), to celebrate our new yarn, we’re having a contest!  Tell us why you love knitting with wool and be entered in our Shepherd’s Wool giveaway for one of the Andean-Style Caps shown below!  Contest ends September 30, so don’t delay.

Don’t worry, if you don’t win the contest, the kits will be available for purchase shortly. 

As promised, the new fall line of Noni patterns is here!  I am in love with the boys’ and girls’ pants and T’s sets.  I can visualize my kids when they were little running and tumbling and rolling around in an outfit like this. Almost makes me wish I still had a little one… almost.  The Ella and the Legume Coat is absolutely adorable and how can you go wrong with a hoodie pattern that goes from a size 2T right up through an adult 50″ chest?  Okay, enough talking… click on the link to see all the Noni patterns, including the new fall line:   Show Me The Noni!

Susan

P.S.  Don’t forget, we will be glad to special order the hardware for the bags too!

The first thing that comes to mind when I squeeze this yarn is “YUM”.   It’s top merino so it’s extra lofty, which also means that it’s perfect for felting.  The really cool thing about Shepherd’s Wool is that it’s practically homegrown- it is milled and spun right in East Jordan, MI.  I have three projects picked out to do with this yarn, and that’s only because I don’t have time to pick out any more.  I want a Wonderful Wallaby , a pair of Felted Clogs, and a Covered Rock Saddlebag. Oh, and maybe a Felted Door Mitten. Check back in a few days and look for the new Noni patterns.  She’s expanded into clothing designs (cute, cute, cute!) and she now uses Shepherd’s Wool for her designs.  Can’t say as I blame her!  We’re going to carry all 45 colors…. here’s what we have so far.   - Susan

Click to see Shepherd’s Wool

Why am I the only one who has TEN on her list (notice comments from previous post entitled “With a Little Help from some friends . . “? Don’t you guys really have other things stashed away that you need encouragement getting through? Carli, I had to mix the list order up a little bit more than what *we* had originally decided. October is almost here and I want Vicky’s prayer shawl to be done. I think I’m going to stash away the Mexico Socks and only work on them during class time. I’m seriously feeling the need to start a sweater in the new Shepherd’s Wool so I’m diligently working to get the projects that belong to other people off the list. Cross off, done, finished, yeah –

1. Cross Stitch Scarf
2. Peg’s Sweater
3. Becky’s Sweater. 

Retired to Hibernating status: Filigree Lace Shawl. In the bag and working on:

1. Vicky’s shawl
2. Penny’s Baby Sweater repair,
3. Marilyn’s sweater finishing.  
4. Ring of Lace shawl — my travel knitting but I dropped a stitch late during UFO night and I now need to do a repair. I’ll tackle it tonight at horse.  

Notice I have not yet added more to the list, but when I do its going to be Shepherd’s Wool projects. That stuff is just wayyyyy too yummy to ignore for much longer. Oh, and I’m working on a postcard mailing for an upcoming sale — keep your ears tuned! Lea-Ann

a big thank you to Lisa, Patti and Carli — you know, sometimes the pile just gets overwhelming and it takes some friends to help straighten it out.  It took 4 hours to sort through the stack on the table, my desk, and my shelves and voila, now I can think again!  Do you ever feel like that?  So overwhelmed that you just don’t know which way to turn or what project to pick up?  And, before you ask, NO, I will not show you a picture of the before and after, but I will give you a list of my top ten UFOs:

Cross Stitch Scarf (Andy’s Merino II, 101 Designer One Skein Wonders) - finishing today
Wristers (1 strand fingering wool, 1 strand mohair, my own design)  - 1 down, 1 to go
Mexiko Socks (for moi’, 2 at a time, toe up, jojo heel, stretchy cast off) - at the heel, travel knitting
Peg’s Sweater - repair for a customer
Marilyn’s Sweater - Sally’s Favorite Summer Sweater finish for a customer
Penny’s Baby Sweater repair - Baby Uhl newborn design - I LOVE this yarn!
Felted Snowman - a quick, fun project, I’ve been working on it for almost a year I think
Vicky’s Prayer Shawl - finish by October for the Chilifest
Wrap Me Up - this moved back to my top ten when the sisters from Goshen stopped by with a little show and tell and one of them had this done in a combination of Noro, Donegal, and other odds and ends
Filigree Lace Shawl - this will remain on my to do list for a long time since it takes forever to get across a row — anyone interested in a lace knitalong to encourage me?
Ring of Lace Shawl - had to tear out and restart on bigger needles.  This one is the most likely to become something else (I sort of like Anita’s feather and fan scarf she brought in better but am not quite ready to give up on this design yet).

There you have it, the top ten UFOs.  The other UFOs went in a container (or two) in the back room. I think they’ll let me pull another one out when I have one finished.  Or maybe I can start another one when I have one finished.  Now, perhaps, I can concentrate on getting my list of classes ready for the fall.  Classes will be Tuesday evenings, Thursday mornings and Saturdays all day.  I have a list started, but not all the samples are done.  I really like to concentrate on techniques vs. projects, can’t you tell? 

Okay, tell me your Top Ten!