Have a good holiday weekend!

We have chosen to close the shop tomorrow so we can have a nice long 3-day weekend! I'm so excited to go to the Farmer's Market with all the other crazy people. We will join the fray of strollers, dogs and people just so we can enjoy an unusual breakfast. We will stop by Saloo's and have some delicious Indian food and pop by Java Joe's for coffee! We may or may not buy anything else.

I'm sure I'll find plenty of time to knit on my long weekend. I'm hoping to finish my Meandering Mesa's scarf. I have about 20 grams of yarn left ... so I'm 80% done.

Other knitting WIP news: I finished my Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe scarf on Wednesday evening, so as of yesterday it's hanging in the shop. (I will definitely knit another one.) Then last night my friend Stacy B. gave me a small ball of our gorgeous Regia sock yarn from the new Kristin Nicholas design collection to knit a blanket square. She is now way ahead of me on her blanket squares, so I think I may need to get my rear in gear! Thanks for the kick start, Stacy!

Also yesterday our new Rowan sales rep came and we placed our fall order. Can I say AWESOME?! I'm really excited for our fall inventory to come in August.

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend.

Keep on knitting!

Nancy

Shades of Blue: Skinny Summer Scarves

Renee and I have been feeling blue ... in a good way though. We have been knitting our many skinny scarves all in shades of blue. We choose yarns that make them wearable as decorative indoor scarves. We ended up with nice size scarves by using only one skein of yarn for each of the scarves!

Shades of Blue Summer Scarves!

Names of the scarves shown in the photo above from left to right: Noro Tanabata Garter Stitch, Cascade Sierra Open Star Stitch, Noro Shiraito Daisy Stitch, Rowan Revive Bias Lace, Araucania Ruca Dappled Summer Lace, Rowan Kidsilk Haze One-Row Lace, and Schulana Tamarillo Drop Stitch Skinny Scarves.

A bowl of assorted colors in the yarns for the above scarves.

If you would like the patterns for any of our scarves, we have typed them up and each is available with the purchase of a skein of the appropriate yarn for the scarf.

Another Potato Chip Scarf using 2 skeins of colorful Rowan Summerspun.

Stop in and check out our lovely little scarves! We hope to see you soon.

Keep on knitting!

Nancy

Meandering Mesas Scarf KAL

Tonight we begin the Meandering Mesas Scarf KAL at 6:00 pm at Knitted Together. I started my scarf awhile back, but set it aside for all of the "summer" scarves we have been knitting for the shop (oh and a couple other projects as well ...). This week I started to work on my scarf again and it seems to move along rather quickly. The pattern is from Mountain Colors and calls for one skein of Crazyfoot sock yarn, size 6 US needles, and a cable needle. If you've never cabled before, this is a nice reversible cable that is crossed every 10 rows. Other than the cable row, you just have to knit the knits and purl the purls (except for the first 3 and last 3 stitches which are in seed stitch and you knit the purls and purl the knits). In other words you don't need to look at your pattern unless you are on a cable row once you get going! Easy.

You can see the reversibility of this cable scarf.

Keep on knitting!

Nancy

We are busy knitting little scarves

This week has been scarf knitting week for me and Renee. I know what you're thinking. Scarves! How boring! But what a perfect way to try out a new yarn or try out a new stitch pattern! Skinny, lacy, textured, or wispy scarves are fun to knit as well as wear as a wardrobe accent at any time of the year. 


I have enjoyed trying out some new stitches ... well not actually new, just new to me. I've been thumbing through all my Barbara Walker "Treasury of Knitting Patterns" (I have them all and have treasured them for years - now you know why they are called treasuries) and trying out some simple lacy or textured stitches that work well for scarves.

The start of a skinny scarf using Barbara Walker's Open Star Stitch.

You will have to stop in next week for the Mid Iowa Yarn Shop Hop April 25th through April 28th and see the scarves Renee and I have made. The yarns we've chosen are quite nice as well!


Keep on knitting!


Nancy

Knitting Up A Storm!

This mostly rainy week has been Spring Break for the kids and families in our school district and my daughter was fortunate enough to get away from our rainy weather for a trip to Sarasota, Florida with a school friend and her parents. She's had nothing but perfect weather for swimming and sunning! (Right now I'm just hoping she doesn't bring a lizard home with her ... )

Since we have the shop we are unable to take week-long trips away. But that being said, why shouldn't I have a little fun too?! All week long Renee and I have been sitting back at our "class" table planning KALs and classes for the next 6 months. You might be asking yourself where the fun is in that. Well, with all that planning I have "homework" of knitting samples for the shop!

Missoni Inspired Baby Blanket in progress

Meandering Mesas Scarf in progress

After just finishing the Hitchhiker sample for the new Friday afternoon KAL, I started a second one using some lovely stash sock yarn. For the upcoming KALs I've also started the Missoni Inspired Baby Blanket this week, as well as a Mountain Colors Scarf called the Meandering Mesas Scarf (a super interesting reversible cable pattern). Both projects are lots of fun, plus simple enough that anyone who has completed a Beginning Knitting Class can join in. The scarf KAL is going to be in May, so while our supply of Mountain Colors Crazyfoot is in good supply, you may want to stop in to purchase a skein soon! (The pattern is for sale here as well, but if we run out of them we can get them back in without a problem.)

I'll have more information about the baby blanket KAL as soon as I've completed my sample. I'm hoping to be able to kit the yarn since it requires a lot of colors (12 to be exact), but not a lot of quantity of most of them!

Keep on knitting!
Nancy

Daybreak KAL

We had a fantastic time last night starting the Daybreak shawlette/scarf by Stephen West. Our first KAL of 2012!  It started off by most of us getting to KT just in time to see Suzanne E. finish up her very first knitting project.  It was the Noro Striped Scarf and she did an amazing job considering she just finished Nancy's Beginning Knitting Class on December 10th! Then everyone pulled their color choices out and we spent some time helping each other decide which color to start with.  We all cast on and were able to get our 'Make One's' under control by evening's end. 

I brought a couple bottles of wine and a new recipe called Robert's Corn Dip featured in Where Women Cook magazine.

Robert's Corn Dip (Makes about 6 cups)

• 3 (11-oz) cans sweet corn & diced peppers, drained
• 1 (7-oz) can chopped green chilies
• 1 (6-oz) can chopped jalapenos, drained & liquid added to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 (16 oz) pkg shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• Scoop-style corn chips

Mix all ingredients except corn chips together and refrigerate. Serve with corn chips.

It's not too late to join us for the Daybreak KAL  - Tuesdays in January from 6:00-8:00 p.m.  Most, but not all of us are using two skeins of tosh sock - many beautiful and vibrant colors are left to choose from.

Renee

I'm still knitting gifts...

I was very fortunate to get the gifts on my gifting list knitted in time for Christmas. Well, all but Tim's sweater, and that's a totally different story!

Tim's "Hiker" sweater has a wide ribbing ("k5-p3" pattern repeat) for the entire back. And when I got to the top of the back it seemed like the gauge changed dramatically. When I got to the decreases for the armhole, the instructions read that I should knit 31 rows and the armhole should measure almost 9 1/2 inches. When I measured the completed opening, it was a little over 7 1/2 inches. I was afraid that even if I blocked the back like crazy, the sleeves, the front and the back wouldn't fit together well when I seamed them. I'm going to ravel and knit the back again with a 7-mm needle instead of the 6.5-mm that I'd previously used. I'm also going to TRY to work at an even tension. The reason I snugged up on the back was because of the loose knit stitches that sometimes occurred on the last stitch of the knit 5 section when I went from knit to purl.

Tim's sweater will have to wait a bit while I knit a scarf for our nephew Zach and a baby blanket for another nephew's baby boy that will be born sometime this March.

I'm using the "Noro Striped Scarf" pattern for Zach's scarf, but I'm knitting it with my favorite yarn, Cascade 220 Superwash (machine-wash and tumble dry low). He picked his own colors (Jet and Christmas Green) for the scarf so I know he'll be really happy and a whole lot warmer walking across campus. Now if he can only keep from losing it!

As for the baby blanket, I'm knitting the "All Purpose Knitted Afghan" from Project Linus. Again, I'm knitting it with Cascade 220 Superwash in a blue-green hand paint color called Celtic. Hopefully I can ship it off to Ben and Karie in Southern California by the end of March...

Keep on knitting!

My Husband Really is a Knitter!

Tim has finally become a real knitter. He gets it! He really does! At least four years ago a woman that worked for us at the shop, taught him how to knit. Tension was his problem from the beginning. I remember that on New Year's Eve of that same year, we actually sat around and watched movies and knitted together (hmmm ... that's a great name for a yarn store). That is until he started sweating in our really cold family room and took off his sweatshirt. I noticed he had a white knuckle grip on his knitting needles. I helped him relax his grip and soon he was ready to put his sweatshirt on again. Well, that part of his knitting career didn't last. As soon as spring came, he was back on the golf course. End of story (at least at that time).

Two weeks ago Tim decided he wanted to try to knit again. He pulled out his old sample which was still on the needles and he picked it back up right away. Within minutes he committed to knitting a seed stitch scarf and a hat. We picked out Cascade 128 Superwash in a beautiful nearly-black color called Jet. That night after we went home and finished dinner, he cast on 21 stitches and started knitting a seed stitch scarf. He made a few mistakes that night and because our big-boy cat, Louie was on his lap, I kept having to get up and fix his mistakes. For about a week he knitted on his scarf before he went to bed. Rarely did he have a problem, but every time I looked at it I could tell his tension was becoming very regular. Then this past Sunday he spent 5 hours knitting. The next morning he woke up and told me his left elbow had a knitting injury! The injury is related to an old golf injury... sort of a tendinitis issue. He's taken this week off, so hopefully it will heal soon. Half a scarf won't keep him too warm this winter! With his knowledge of the yarns we carry and his new knitting knowledge, Tim has become a great salesperson in our shop!

Last Friday when we had the Friday Night Knit Club, one of our customers brought in the most addictive snack mix. She sent me the recipe and her changes. I'm passing them on to you now. Watch out though, you might need to make a double batch, just because you can't stop snacking!

Addictive Crunch

• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 6 Tablespoons corn syrup

In a sauce pan, bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Pour over the following and mix gently, stirring until the mix is well covered:

• 1 large box of Rice Chex cereal
• 4 cups small pretzels

Spread mix out on a large cookie sheet and bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to cool on wax paper. Gently break into small pieces. Store in a cool airtight container.

Here are the variations that Jo made for us: She used a gluten-free rice chex cereal, gluten free pretzels, and coconut. She also added 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to the coating mixture. You can also add nuts of any kind. Jo said she has also added 1-2 cups of miniature marshmallows to the cooked mixture.

Too, too busy!

Sorry about my lack of blogging lately. I've been busy planning and writing up classes and Knit-Togethers for the shop. We've also had a bad flu at our house. Thankfully so far I've stayed well, even if poor Tim and Katie had it. I hope you all are washing your hands and using hand sanitizer. You don't want this bad virus ...

I recently finished my Feather & Fan scarf using gift yarn that was really lovely! Now I'm knitting Truly Tasha's Shawl from Nancy Bush and I'm also making the French Press Felted Slippers. Both of which we will be doing here at the shop. Check out our class list for June for the slippers (it will go up next week after I finish the slippers) and check out our event list for the May Knit-Together on Thursday nights. The shawl is a mindless knit so far. I'm not on the lace edging yet, but hope to be there very soon. As for the slippers, I cast them on this morning and will plan to felt them this weekend. They are a really quick knit, that's for sure!

Happy knitting!

Calling all followers and followers-to-be!

I would love to have everyone that reads or occasionally reads my blog to become a "follower." We will be having prize drawings and they will be for followers only. The more followers we get the more often we will be able to give prizes away. Sign up to follow me soon if not today!

I'm really close to finishing my first toe-up sock. It was a stretch for me since I have always done cuff down. The heel was my biggest issue, because I like a slip-stitch heel flap and a lot of patterns that I looked at had short-row heels. Anyway, thanks to Jean who works for me and also teaches our Toe-Up Sock Class, I got through the heel and I'm nearly done with the cuff.

I've picked out a couple of WIPs in my collection to work on, too. I've made it halfway through on my Stork's Nest Scarf and it's looking really nice. I also am working on my Revontuli out of Zauberball Crazy. I think It's going to be really beautiful, too. I put it away about 5 months ago and basically forgot about it... The other day someone reminded me about it, so I got it out today and will dive in and try to finish the remaining 20 rows!

My friend, Kelly recently had surgery and has been off of work. She's been getting out more and more and everytime she comes into the shop she has baked something delicious. I told her she's going to kill me! Last week she brought in Dutch Letter Bars. They are wonderful! I asked Kelly for the recipe, and if I could share it. She gave me the recipe and I made them this weekend and now I'm going to share the recipe with all of you. I hope you enjoy them as much as we all did.

Dutch Letter Bars

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 stick margarine, softened (do not substitute either of them, you need one of each)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 can Solo Almond Paste
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

Cream the butter, margarine and sugar together. Add eggs to mixture, then *almond paste, and finally flour, mixing well after each addition. Spread the mixture into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle with white sugar. Bake at 350-degrees for 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Cut into bars and share with your knitting friends!

*pinch off small pieces of almond paste and add in to the batter or it is hard to mix well! Using a stand mixer works really well!

FYI: You can find the Solo Almond Paste in the baking aisle near the pie fillings.

My Olympic knitting efforts!

No, my efforts haven't been that Herculean! But I have enjoyed knitting Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket for my Ravelympics K2-Tog Team project. It's a small project, but with working in the shop I thought that was the best I could commit to. I cast on last Friday evening during Opening Ceremonies and I'm afraid I'll be looking for another project to do by tomorrow!

I think I might work on the Stork's Nest Scarf that I started a year or so ago and found this weekend in one of my many bags of WIPs (remember how we are cleaning and organizing at our house?). I've often thought that scarf would make a wonderful "first" lace project. The pattern originally appeared in a Piecework knitting issue a couple years ago, and just reappeared in a new magazine called Knitting Traditions from Interweave Press (a compilation of previously published material). We have a stock of those magazines in the shop if you're interested. Anyway when I peeked into that bag of WIPs, the scarf just spoke to me. Really it nearly reached out and grabbed me, since it's so beautiful! I'm making mine out of cashmere, so what's not to like?

FYI, we are offering a class at the shop in March for the Baby Surprise Jacket. I think it's the perfect project for a new knitter, since there's very little finishing. If anyone is interested in taking the class you can find out more about it here.

Well, it's time to share a recipe. I have been trying to think of a good one and remembered this Spanish rice recipe that I got from a friend I worked with in Los Angeles. It tastes fairly authentic like "real" Spanish rice thus the name!

Real Spanish Rice

• 1 cup raw white rice
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/3 cup tomato sauce
• 1 T. olive oil
• 2 T. finely chopped onion
• Ground cumin to taste
  

Pour oil into pot (with a lid) and add onion. Cook onion for about a minute, then add rice and brown lightly. Stir in liquids and ground cumin to taste (I usually add a heaping teaspoon). Bring to a boil, stir once. Turn down to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Stir and serve with your favorite Mexican dish.

Keep on knitting!

Snowbound Knitting

When I left the shop on Tuesday night (earlier than normal because of a whole lot of snow), I had the foresight to bring along a few projects to work on for shop samples. I brought home one skein of Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool for a cowl and one skein of Mirasol Tupa for a scarf. Both are incredibly lovely to knit! We recently got these and other new yarns in at the shop and it's always nice to have samples in the shop for customers to see.

When I got up yesterday (Wednesday) morning I knew we weren't going to be coming in to the shop. There were nearly 16 inches of snow on the ground and the snow plows hadn't been by at all! It was going to be the perfect day to stay in, watch movies and knit! Knitting any time is definitely something you don't have to twist my arm to do, but knitting on a day when I would normally be really busy in the shop doesn't usually happen until I'm home at night. It was a wonderful way for me to feel like I was actually accomplishing something for the shop, yet I was doing my favorite things; lounging in my sweats, knitting, and watching movies with Katie.

By late afternoon we were all feeling a bit stir crazy and wanted something other than soup to eat for dinner. Tim had gotten the driveway cleared, so we headed out to Super Target (without cleared roads it was only possible thanks to his truck with 4-wheel drive and his superb driving skills). It was bizarre on the roads, some vehicles were just left abandoned in the middle of the snow drifts! Super Target was dead quiet. Maybe only 20 cars in the parking lot, which hadn't been cleared. Inside we had fun buying things to make Peanut Butter Blossoms (cookies) and other nonsensical food items and stuff. Tim was so cold, he even bought a cozy blanket for lounging!

Today we are back at the shop and attempting to get back to normal. Customers are few, but that has given me opportunity to blog! The poor UPS guy just ran in, dropped off a package and told me he's trying to get two days of business completed in one day. I'm glad I don't have to lug packages around all day!

If you have a few last minute gifts to make, you may want to whip up A Noble Cowl or the One Row Lace Scarf. Both are fun to knit. The cowl takes the longest to make, but is well worth it! FYI: I only cast-on 20 stitches for the One Row Lace Scarf in order to get the most out of my one skein.

New yarns gets me excited!

We've been getting loads (and I mean loads) of yarn in for this fall. Every box I open provides me with an adrenalin rush, creating more excitement to add just one more project to my WIPs!

This week we put the new Ella Rae Lace Merino into our inventory. It's not a lace-weight, it's more of a fingering/sock weight. Need I say more? I probably don't since I've already clued you into my addiction for fingering/sock yarn, but I have to tell you this 100% merino yarn is so soft and the colors are so intense that you just have to see and feel it.

We have Ella Rae Book 13 which has three or four patterns for sweater designs in it. But if you don't have the desire to knit an entire sweater on U.S. Size 4 needles, one scrumptious 100-gram skein (460 yards) will make a pair of socks or a beautiful lacey scarf. When I was searching patterns on Ravelry, I found Brooke's Column of Leaves Scarf, http://brookenelson.com/leafscarfpattern.html which I've decided to try. I'm going to work the center leaf section twice so it will make the scarf wider than it would have been (I'll give you dimensions later). (The designer used Mountain Colors 4/8s which is a worsted-weight for her sample scarf, so she cast-on only 39 sts.) I've upped my cast-on to 60 sts and I'll knit my scarf on U.S. Size 6 Addi Lace Needles. I'm hoping to post some photos after this weekend, so check back for an update on my scarf.

Last night at our Thursday night Knit Together one of our regulars brought in Caramel Rice Krispie Treats to share (thanks to my friend Kelly P, a.k.a crochetkelly on http://www.ravelry.com). That really made me think that knitting and cooking or baking are similar in many ways. They are creative and they are comforting!

I'll post Kelly's recipe soon, but for today I'm including one of my favorite Blue-Ribbon winning (as in the Iowa State Fair) recipes. I made Chinese Chewies to enter into the fair when I was in grade school, and won a blue ribbon. These bars are somewhat similar to pecan pie because of the brown sugar in the filling. The coconut and the pecans are good together and I've found that even people that don't normally like coconut seem to like them. I hope you'll bake a pan of them to share with your favorite knitting friends and family.

Chinese Chewies

Ingredients

• 2 Tbl. sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 Tbl. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup coconut, flaked
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  

Mix together the first three ingredients. Flatten into bottom of an 8"x 8" x 2" pan. Bake 15 minutes at 375 degrees. If using a glass pan reduce cooking time for the crust by about 5 minutes.

Mix remaining ingredients and pour over the crust. Bake for 45 minutes (reduce by 5 to 10 minutes if using a glass pan). Let cool and cut into bars.