Category Archives: projects

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/

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.

Not by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin

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How did that old nursery story go?  I’ll huff and puff and blow your house down?  Well, that would admit defeat and I’m not about to when it comes to my new Classy project!  I’m knitting ChicKnits Elisabeth. Tara knit the headband and with the leftover yarn I’m knitting the cowl.  I have yards left and I’m finally on the bind off row.   Will I make it?

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This has been a really fun pattern. Fairly quick to knit, especially if you know how to cable without a cable needle. The short row shaping on the cowl makes it lay nicely against the back of neck without bunching up.  I’d knit this again. I’d choose a different color of Classy though, probably a green, so I have one to wear with each outfit.

 

It took just one skein (YMMV = your mileage may vary) of the scorched earth solids Classy to do the headband and horizontal cowl.  There is also a version of vertical cowl.  The pattern is available in the store using the NEW “Ravelry LYS download service” or you can purchase it online direct from the designer, http://www.chicknits.com.

P.S. I’m playing with an add-on for the blog to see if I want to add a discussion group to the website.

 

 

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.

Stash (n): a secret store of something

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We all have a stash. I have a stash. Lea-Ann has a stash. Our stash just happens to be yarn! We bring that yarn into the house, put it away, buy more yarn we like, choose to use it for a purpose other than originally intended, decide to put the project aside and start something new, or just throw it in the stash bin and leave it as an unfinished projects. Here is my stash story:

Back in August, I bought Shepherd’s Wool for the Hayley Hoodie.  I’ve ogled this sweater pattern for a while in the store and decided to make it since my sister, Haley, would not. I bought the yarn and was vigorously knitting it during my lecture classes in college. It was a top-down, cable edge design, and I got the hood done. I was working on the ribbing inbetween the hood and the shoulders when I stopped. I got bored, or maybe I just wanted to get DONE with something!

So, I started to pick up one skein projects. I knitted two headbands (Calorimetry from Knitty.com) for friends Christmas gifts, a ribbed scarf with odds and ends of Shepherd’s Wool interspersed with one matching skein of Noro Kureyon which I didn’t use it for it’s original intentions, a hat for someone else, etc. It felt good to knit those items. I set a small goal for myself every time.For example, the ribbed scarf was being made for my trip to Chicago. I learned that setting dates and times for these projects helped me finish them.

Some of those projects were not one skein, some of them were two!  I bought Rio and knitted a 2-skein hat with that.  I rummaged through my stash and found yarn from a sale a long time ago. I had started something and got bored with it, so I stashed that.  When I came across it again, I searched on Ravelry for a pattern with my weight of yarn and found something I liked. The color of the yarn was pink, and I knew my sister-in-law would love it, too.  I made her a cowl in a couple of days with that yarn (it’s a bulky weight).

The point is, stashing is just fine. We buy yarns and don’t want to knit what we originally planned but eventually find a new purpose for them and renewed determination later to get that project done. It’s what I did. Many of us do that. If it’s taking way too long to make a sweater or your bored, do a couple quick one skein projects. My motto at the store lately is “if we get something accomplished, we need to push the ‘easy’ button.” Reward yourself for getting it done. It helps. Don’t be worried about putting something down and picking it up later, Lea-Ann can help you figure out where you left off or write yourself a note saying what row, repeat, etc. you stopped on. I know that the Hayley hoodie will be picked up again someday. Just not yet… :)

What project have you started and stashed?  What yarn are you stashing?  Did you know we have a sale at the store on Thursday and Friday of this week? Its the ideal time to pick up some project yarn or enhance your stash!

Woolly Holiday Hunt Day 7 – Baby It’s Cold Outside!

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Our inspiration, Baby It’s Cold Outside — so cold, your fingers turn a shade of blue, but what better to  warm that cold baby in than a blanket made of yarn Ull fall in love with.  Look at this flickr photo for inspiration!!

Use the bolded clues above to find the picture on our website at http://www.knittingtoday.com.  Send the URL to customerservice@knittingtoday. and you’ll be entered in the drawing for a Marie Mayhew three-pack of patterns or projects (value up to $30). Submissions will close at 9am on Monday, and the drawing for the winner will be at noon.

The featured Marie Mayhew pattern today is Woolly Snowbaby! They are all decked out to keep warm while singing Christmas carols, don’t you think?

Comment below and let us know if you’ve enjoyed this scavenger hunt through the website.  Did you get a chance to use the 40% off coupon we emailed those who entered? We have another coupon thank you gift coming, so check your email after noon on Monday!

Woolly Holiday Hunt Day 6 – He licked all the candy canes, ’til he turned them all green.

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The “Grinch Who Stole Christmas” returns every year for an encore presentation.  While looking at the pictured yarn, I was reminded of the lines:

When the Grinch discovered
There was no way,
To Keep Christmas from coming
On Christmas day,
He devised a new plan…

Though not quite as mean.
He licked all the candy canes,
‘Til he turned them all green. 

But, really, he couldn’t take away the taste.  

Use the bolded clues above to find the picture on our website at http://www.knittingtoday.com.  Send the URL to customerservice@knittingtoday.com and you’ll be entered in the drawing for a Marie Mayhew three-pack of patterns or projects (value up to $30). There is one more clue tomorrow at 9am and the drawing will be Monday at noon.

In the meantime, imagine this beautiful Woolly Nest and Eggs added to your tree decor.  While you’re at it, throw some scraps to the birds outside for their own nests.  If you want a slightly smaller nest, there is the Woolly Nest Ornament Kit which includes everything you need including the poem.  We just stocked the refill kits too, in case you want to make more than one. Our little pathetic tree is actually an ornament hanger display filled with greenery.  I’ll take better pictures later to show you how cute the display looks with the Woolly Ornaments.