It's Confession Time!

I told Tim last night that I'm in love. Of course I love him to pieces, but I am having a "yarn love affair" with Madelinetosh Pashmina! It's the most beautiful, softest, bounciest yarn I've ever used. I'm making the Imogen Cowl and the pattern just screams fantastic in Pashmina. What do you think? I've got a bit left to knit, but here's a peek prior to finishing and blocking. 

My Imogen Cowl in the Thicket colorway

A few of the other lovely colors of Pashmina

I've got more Madelinetosh yarns slated to come in very soon, so I'm sure a little more Pashmina will wander home with me. I just hope that Tim won't mind! :) 

As you prepare your New Year's Resolutions, be sure to add "knitting with Madelinetosh Pashmina" to your list. You won't be sorry ... except for maybe when you get hooked like I am. I hope you have a Happy New Knitting Year!

Knit a Quick Cowl!

I found a miniature leaf pattern in Barbara Walker's book A Treasury of Knitting Patterns and decided to use it to make a quick cowl/infinity scarf for my daughter Katie as well as for a shop sample. I made Katie's cowl in a couple of hours, so just in case you need a pattern for a last minute gift, here are the instructions. The finished cowl is 8 inches wide by 56 inches in circumference. If you would like to make it longer or shorter the pattern is a multiple of 6 stitches.

Leaf Lace Infinity Scarf

Materials 

• Size 13 circular needle (24- to 32-inch is just perfect) 

• 2 skeins of Cascade 128 Superwash.

Miniature Leaf Pattern 
Round 1: Knit.

Round 2: *Knit 3, yarn over, slip 1, knit 2 stitches together, pass slipped stitch over, yarn over; repeat from * around.
Round 3: Knit.
Round 4: *Yarn over, slip 1, knit 2 stitches together, pass slipped stitch over, yarn over, knit 3; repeat from * around. 

Instructions
Cast on 132 stitches.

Join carefully to avoid twisting your cast-on stitches. Purl one round. Knit one round. Purl one round.
Work Miniature Leaf Pattern for width desired.
Knit one round.  Purl one round. Knit one round. Purl one round. Bind off knit-wise. 

Enjoy!

The Grand Prize Winner Is...

On Saturday December 17th we drew the name of the Grand Prize Winner of the Holiday to Holiday: A Path to Knits and Purls contest. There were 8 names in the "hat" and the suspense was killing us! Then Tim drew out the first name for the Grand Prize; the winner is ANN GILBERT!

Ann won a gift basket worth over $700 in prizes. The generous vendors that supplied prizes are Cascade Yarns, Classic Elite, Misti Alpaca International, Mountain Colors, and Westminster Fibers/Rowan Yarns. We at Knitted Together donated a set of Addi Turbo Clicks and a Namaste Buddy Case. Ann was thrilled with her winnings. We continued to draw names of the 7 other contestants: Carrie Cavanaugh, Colleen Dawson, Ashley Davidson, Marsha Duea, Dawn Mooradian, Kim Moore, and Tasha Wells. They all won a prize!

Ann as well as all 7 other contestants had completed 4 of our 6 different contests. We want to thank all of them plus everyone that completed even one of the contests for participating! We also want to thank our vendors for so generously giving in order to make this possible!

We have truly discovered the joy in giving. Be sure to watch for future contests in 2012! 

Winners of the Fall/Winter Sweater Contest!

Yesterday the voting for the final contest ended. We are happy to announce the winners! With eight absolutely beautiful sweaters, the details of the winning sweater caught the attentions of many! The winner is ...

#3
by Dawn Mooradian

Dahlia Cardigan

Designed by Heather Zoppetti

And as always we also had a drawing for the "voter" prize, chosen at random. The Voter winner is Dee Henderson, chosen for the vote she placed in the shop. 

Dawn has won 12 skeins of Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Chunky and the Donegal Tweed pattern book. The retail value of Dawn's prize without tax is $197.95. Congratulations to Dawn!

Dee has won two knitting pattern books: Simply Glen by Debbie Bliss and Chic Knits published By Martingale & Company. She also won a knitting bag that was hand-knitted by me (Nancy). Congratulations to Dee!

As this sixth and final contest has come to an end, we want to thank everyone; knitters and voters alike who have made this such a wonderful series of contests. We may just have to do this again in the coming year!

We will announce the winner of the GRAND PRIZE(S!!!) in the store on Saturday, December 17th. Stay tuned for details.

Customer Profile: Irene Erker (Ravelry name: Knitting4Sweetie)

This month my eyes are on Irene who is a fantastic and talented lady I have gotten to know through open knit times here at Knitted Together.

Irene is a first generation American who learned to crochet from her Yugoslavian grandmother.  Thirty years later, Irene's mother taught her to knit with just a minor drawback - all the knitting terms Irene learned were in Hungarian because her mother didn't know the English terminology!  When Irene returned to Iowa she walked into Knitted Together, put her hand out to Nancy and said, "Hi, I'm Irene and I'm new to knitting."  Irene said that Nancy was so kind and helpful that first day that she was truly bitten by the knitting bug and hasn't put her needles down since.  Irene knits with the "Friday Afternoon Sparklers" - a wonderful group of gals who meet at open knit time at KT.  Irene is currently working on Embossed Leaves by Teva Durham and is using Artyarns Silk Rhapsody.  Check out more of her projects on Ravelry.

She is married to a wonderful man who loves it when she knits (he says it keeps her yelling to a minimum) and they have three children who also reap the benefits from more knitting and less yelling.  While living in San Diego, Irene was a formulation/method development chemist for a pharmaceutical company.  She has since replaced her lab career with cooking (Irene indicates she loves to cook, cook, cook!) and would like to share one of her favorite recipes with her KT friends.

Cherry Scones

•  2 cups flour 
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1/3 cup chilled butter (cut into pieces) 
• 1 egg 
• 2/3 cup whipping cream (can sub low-fat milk) 
• 1 cup dried cherries (add chocolate chips, if desired) 
• 1 tsp almond or vanilla extract 
• egg wash (1 egg, 1 tsp water)

Preheat over to 375 degrees.  Combine dry ingredients in food processor.  Pulse.  Add butter pieces.  Pulse.  Add wet ingredients.  Pulse until dough is formed.  Spoon-drop dough onto greased baking sheet.  Brush top with egg wash.  Bake 15-18 minutes.  ENJOY!!

If you or someone you know would like to be in the Customer Profile, please contact Renee at Knitted Together (515-222-9276), by email:  reneepetrie@live.com or send me a pm on Ravelry (BobIsMyCat).  I would love to hear from you!  This could be one of those cases where it's better to volunteer before I volunteer you :)  Mwahahahahahahaha!!!!

Happy Knitting!
Renee