Category Archives: Patterns

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!

End of Year sale: Happy New Year!

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Thursday starts the end of year sale at Knitting Today.  We don’t make a habit of sales, except Superbowl Sunday, but I am anxious to start the year fresh with new yarn and project choices so there we go. If you are in the area, drop in and see what we have. The hours are noon to 6pm on Thursday and 10 to 4 on Friday. We’ll be closed then on Saturday and Sunday. I’d say I’ll be back with pictures before the end if the year but Tom and I are on our own for sale days, so we know that won’t happen.

Here’s my new project I started early.  Its the Shawl Collared Cowl by Never Not Knitting (which is available in our store, btw, using the new Ravelry LYS Download service — one stop shopping, woohoo!). I’m using Jewel by Cascade, a hand dyed thick and thin. Lovely. Two starts though, cause the yarn was pooling and I didn’t like it

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—–whoops, that’s not the picture! That’s my grandson and daughter on Christmas day.

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– here’s the pooling part.

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— here’s how it looks after switching yarns out every other row. I like it much better!

 

Have a safe and Happy New Year! Thank you everyone, for your patronage, your enthusiasm, and your friendship. Here’s to 2012.

Woolly Holiday Hunt Day 2 – he is a jolly ????

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Clue:

Frosty the snowman was a jolly ???? soul,
With a corncob pipe and a button nose
And two eyes made out of coal.

Here’s the scoop: the picture above is copied into one of the products on the page related to the ???? word missing from the clue.  If you search for that word, you’ll find a number of products you can click into to find the featured picture.  It seems like it should be easy, but we try and make you click around just a little bit so you get to know our offerings and how the website works. Once you find the featured picture on the product page, you need to email that page URL to customerservice@knittingtoday.com.  You’ll receive a reply back that you’ve been entered or a try-again if you aren’t quite there.  While these clues seem fairly easy to us because we’re in the store day-in and day-out, I realize those who don’t know the products we carry might be having a little trouble.  Feel free to email us (customerservice@knittingtoday.com) for clarification.

Come back again tomorrow after 9am est to get the next clue.  Every time you email the answer, you are entered into a drawing for three Marie Mayhew Woolly patterns or projects (up to a $30 value).

Here’s a glimpse at some of our favorite patterns, including the cute little snowbaby in the photo above: Woolly Snowbabies, Woolly Snowman, the Snowman Materials Kit, Woolly Accessories, and Woolly Hats. Note, the Woolly Accessories and Materials Kits are new this season to accent your Woolly Snowman. We found that Galway and Rejuvenation make good Natural Snowy colors for felting.

P.S. While you’re busy clicking around,  I (Lea-Ann) am working on installing a coupon module in the store and working on some of the design functionality, so don’t be surprised if things move around a little bit.

Join Our Woolly Holiday Hunt!

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 Once a day, starting December 12th and ending December 18th, we’ll post a photo along with a clue, on the blog at: http://www.knittingtoday.com/knews  of a felted holiday project from the Marie Mayhew Trunk Show.

The projects include snowmen, santa, gingerbread men, ornaments, a nest, candy corn, and a penguin.  The photo and the clue will give you a hint where these adorable projects will be hiding in our online store at http://www.knittingtoday.com 

Once you find the page on the online store with the photo, email us at customerservice@knittingtoday.com, tell us what page you found it, and be entered in a drawing to win 3 Marie Mayhew patterns or products (up to a value of $30)!

The blog picture will be posted at 9 AM Eastern Time daily which gives you 24 hours to find the projects! You will receive a return email confirming your entry (although it won’t be immediate since we don’t check email 24/7).

Only one entry per day, but you can enter every day for more chances to win! Winner will be announced on December 19. Happy Hunting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easy One Skein Knit: Project 4

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Another great gift for winter is hats! Teens and adults love slouchy hats. You can always find some great patterns online. One of our favorites is the Knit Celebrity Beanies for the family book (we keep selling out!).

If you want to learn how to do cables, the Quick Cable Slouchy Hat is the perfect one! This was designed to help a student learn to make cables. One skein of Shepherd’s Wool will do. If you love a plain slouchy, I will say the best one for girls is Plymouth’s Slouchy Hat. It’s a free with purchase pattern at Knitting Today. Any yarn you buy to make a hat will make this a free pattern. I love it. I would recommend to cast on 80 stitches instead of 100. I have a head about 22″-23″ big and 80 is perfect. Then increase by 20 stitches. When you are ready to decrease, go to the step with (90 sts). I made revisions, yes I know. If you want it to be like the male hat on the Slouchy book, you can increase by ten and add more length than 8″ total.

A man’s hat that I love is Quest for a man off of Ravelry. It has some detail but not over the top full of flowers. Just perfect for his walk in the winter. Another man’s book you might want in your collection is the Scandinavian Caps for Guys. 

Hope this piques your interest in knitting hats for the family! 

Make sure you buy your yarn from us or find something comparable to the pattern ;)
We want to please you.

 

Order online at www.knittingtoday.com

or call us at 1-800-426-5098

or stop in and talk to us!

One of a Kind Kits

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Hey everyone! I love these mosaic patterns called the Key to Warmth Cowl, All Keyed Up Hat, and You Hold the Key Mitts. It looks like Fair Isle, but it’s not! You work one color at a time! I was looking through the bins of Noro Kureyon and Shepherd’s Wool. I decided to make limited One of a Kind Kits for these three patterns.

You can only order these kits by calling us at 1-800-426-5098 or if you are local 1-260-351-2260.  But here are your choices:

 

All these kits are limited edition because we only have a few skeins of the Kureyon or the Shepherd’s Wool. If you like the original colors for the Key to Warmth Cowl, we can special order it for you!

Pick your color arrangement, which pattern you want to do, and call us!

The price for the kits are 27.95 (not including shipping). Hope to hear you call!

One easy Skein: Project 3

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I always want some thing to keep me warm. I love scarves. I wear some sample scarves around the store while Iwork.  A favorite of mine is the Reversible Cables Scarf. We had a customer come in and even tried it on herself, almost walked away with it! When mom is chilled at work, she even slips it on. It’s the perfect length and great to slide into your coat.

It’s a 6 in X 40 in scarf. The pattern says it’s for intermediate knitters. I am one, so it would be easy for me. If you’re worried about cables, don’t be. They are super fun to learn and do! Don’t say you can’t handle this because it’s out of your experience. Think positive thoughts, and you’ll do great. Even when you mess up on a project, think positive thoughts on how this will be a learning experience.  It only takes one skein of Ty-dy Socks with many colors to choose from in that category. You can make an optional keyhole (seen in the photo) or you can do one wthout. When I first started looking at Christmas gifts, this was the first one I wanted to do for my girlfriends. They are on campus at college, walking in the cold winters. If it keeps my neck warm, it sure would for them! This project is still on my bucket list to give to my friends.

We aim to please! If you don’t see what you’re looking for online, please call us! We’d be happy to help! 1-800-426-5098 or for locals: 351-2260

 

One Skein Easy Knit: Project Two

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The whole point of Christmas is giving, not because you have to give but because you want to give. You give your heart out with projects especially with knitting.

A great gift to give for the holidays because you want to give is baby booties. Lea-ann (A.K.A. Mom) made Jacob (my nephew) baby booties. These are great one skein projects for Christmas. A lot of our customers come in looking for projects for their family that are expecting, and what a great idea to make that won’t burn a hole through your pocket.

The pattern is a free download off of Ravelry.com. It’s free to join and share your projects and stash and everything about knitting.

Personally, I would love to make these baby booties and give them away. When I have enough money, I would like to buy toys and take them to a hospital where kids are staying over Christmas. These booties would be great gifts for new babies that are born around Christmas or any time. I would love to see a hospital give these away with a special little note for the parents. Also, it’ll include washing instructions. That image just warms my heart. I should get over my fear of knitting on small needles to make these for that purpose soon.

A great yarn to make them out of is Baby Ull. The colors are so pretty in the store! So many cute colors for babies. You can also use sock yarn. We have a new color of Happy Feet that would be so cute to makes these booties in.  I really love the color way of Heart & Sole. I just can’t wait for someone to come in and buy out the whole bin because of the colors.

Another great pattern is Saartje’s Bootees. It can also be done out of the yarns talked about above. These booties are more for little premature babies. They would be adorable with Baby Ull as the main color and Heart & Sole as the contrast color. The ones we have as a sample at the store are just one color with cute buttons. We have a cute collection in the store, Knitting Today.

 

With the extra yarn, you could also make a little hat to go with. Make an Easy Peasy Newborn Sock Hat! Such a cute pair for the new member of the family.Since the patterns are free, all you would be spending money on is the yarn. Great savings for this project! Make sure you buy your yarn at Knitting Today and buttons :)

Picture from rgorsegner’s ravelry account. Check out her projects on flickr! http://www.flickr.com/photos/62391131@N00

We’re going to be prepared.

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Be prepared, for what? CHRISTMAS. It’s less than two months away. What are you going to get your family, friends, co-workers, grandkids,etc.? SO MANY PEOPLE!!!! I understand completely. I’ve been on Christmas since October.

So, I decided to ask you on facebook and ravelry what do you want to hear about: Easy One Skein projects or Top Ten Ways to Hide You’ve Been at the Knitting Store? Most of you want to know projects. But I’ll do both at some point ;)

Right now, be ready because I’m going to be posting projects for Christmas, done out of the yarns at Knitting Today. There will be one skein projects or more than one to get you Christmas ready and not always hurt your budget. I know because I’m a college student, and my list for people has escalated: my family, my brother’s family, my boyfriend, his family, and my friends! So many people, but I had to cut it down and found some cheap ideas. So I’m saving with as many people I have to get presents for and searching always for ideas to do with my stash or use my employee discount :) . Well, we’re going to be prepared.

Project of the Week: Classy

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Today’s project of the day is Tom’s Hoodie (click to be wait listed for the pattern — so popular, we sold out!).  He made this out of Dream in Color Classy.  It took him a month to knit it, about two hours a night in front of the TV.  His original intentions was to find a sweater that he could wear out ice fishing — EWE (and that’s not the sheep)!  I think he might just wear it to keep warm, and maybe we’ll let him wear it out hunting.

Another sweater we adore in Classy would be the Hayley Hoodie.  It’s a great pullover with feminine touches.   I have drooled over this pattern for the past year,  and I want to knit something cute.  Well, this is my favorite color option and I only need four of them for this beautiful garment.  Add an extra, and I can change to long sleeves with the help of yours truly (Lea-Ann, my mom) at  Knitting Today.

Another great group of patterns is Chic Knits.  The sweaters and pullovers are great to work with Classy. In fact, mom wants to work the Mondo Cable Pulli.

We have a deal for you:  buy four or more Classy and receive 20% off, and check out those patterns (since they are in the Classy category, you’ll get 20% off those too)!  It’s a steal. This coupon expires  August 19, 2011.    Coupon Code: classy  – Remember to click Redeem Coupon!

-- Tara