Join me for a new KAL!

I'm back in the shop after my fantastic mini knitting vacation at home. And I'm just in time to start a new KAL! Michelle Hunter of Knit Purl Hunter started a new "Progressive Needles" knit along, and her first clue came out today for the Independence Pillow. You will need two skeins of HiKoo Simpliworsted to make one 12-inch cabled pillow. We have the yarn in stock at the shop, so be sure to stop by. You will also need three 1-inch buttons and a 12-inch pillow form for finishing. As always she offers outstanding videos to help you through the process. I'm really excited to watch her "Cables Without a Cable Needle Video." You have a month to finish the project and can win great prizes; check out Skacel who sponsors the KAL for all pertinent information!

As for my mini vacation, we had a lot of fun as a family. Tim took off the doors and the front roof panels of his Jeep and we drove around and played House Hunters in the heat. Not because we are planning to move, just because we like to look at architecture. And yes, it was fun even in our record heat. We also managed to make some good meals together. We made fish tacos one night. And last night we made steak, grilled veggies, mushrooms, and potato salad. It was a feast. 

Whenever I was at home over my vacation, I knitted on my sock yarn blanket squares. I am a few rounds short of completing five squares in five days, so later today I will have 51 total squares complete. (Hey Stacy, are you still ahead of me?) I also worked on the linen version of my Bias Before & After Scarf. I didn't get too far, as it's hard on my hands to knit with linen. I may have about 8 inches done, but it will be an ongoing mindless project I can pick up when I feel like it!

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

Hitchhiker KAL

Well, you know how it is, we get a new yarn in the store and we immediately start wondering, "What can we knit with this little gem?"  First of all, our Misti Alpaca family of yarns is growing.  We introduced you to Qolla with the Linen Stitch Cowl and now we want you to meet Pima Silk Handpaint.  Pima Silk is a DK weight yarn of 83% Peruvian cotton and 17% silk.  Yes, its soft.  Yes, its dreamy.  Yes, its colorful. 

Hmmm KAL . . .  The Hitchhiker by Martina Behm it is!  Stop in at KT to choose your yarn.  With names like Ambrosia, Faberge, Fuschia Fusion and April Showers you may have a hard time choosing.You can even purchase your pattern at KT and it will be directly downloaded to your email or your Ravelry Library!

The KAL is set to begin Friday, March 23rd.  Stop in any time between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. and join the fun.

Knit on!

Nancy

Knitting Winter into Spring

The groundhog recently predicted an early Spring, and we've definitely seen weather changes here! I like to knit smaller projects when it gets really warm, but in the last days of Winter and the first days of Spring, I still love to knit socks (for my small-size projects) and shawlettes (for my medium-size projects). I just finished two pairs of socks, and I'm in the process of helping a couple of ladies learn to knit socks by the magic loop method, so I'll probably be knitting at least one or two more pairs before Spring is actually here by the calendar.

Yesterday we got a good-size shipment of Regia sock yarn at the shop, so I think I'll try one of them for my next pair. Regia is well known for it's easy care and sturdiness. We also got 6 colorways of Regia Lace (100 gram ball with approximately 659 yards). It's a beautiful yarn with long color changes (kind of like Noro only more subtle). It would be lovely for so many of the shawlette patterns that are so abundant on Ravelry. How about Annis from Knitty? Don't forget about our class for the Annis shawlette that starts tomorrow evening! We still have a couple of openings.

So if Spring is just around the corner, what are you planning to knit?

Finally... a sweater for my guy

Tim has wanted a hand-knitted sweater for a long time. I've finally decided that I'll knit him one. It's not that he's not worthy, it's more like I didn't want to knit a man's sweater. (I knitted a REALLY LARGE vest many years ago for an old boyfriend, but before I gave it to him, we were finished!).

Tim has liked many sweaters since we've been in business and last year I'd planned to make him a cardigan out of Rowan Big Wool, which would have been a quick knit, but I sold the yarn before I could even put any of the Big Wool on the shelves. I'm actually glad, since I would have hated knitting an entire sweater on size 15 or 17 knitting needles. Last week he showed me some of the men's sweaters in the new Rowan #48 magazine. When he showed me the one called Hiker which is made out of Rowan Cocoon. I was ready to start making one for him immediately. I love knitting with Cocoon. It's a super soft merino and kid mohair chunky-weight yarn that's a delight to knit with. We choose a soft gray color and after I finished the gorgeous green hat for a friend of ours, I cast-on the back of the sweater Monday night. Tim hinted to me that I should have it done in time for his birthday on October 23rd (I doubt that will happen). He'll be lucky if I'm done by Christmas! One thing I know, as soon as it's done Tim will wear his sweater into the shop.

Keep on knitting!

The Wrap Group -- July/Aug #5

It's been a little while since I blogged. This is mainly due to being super busy unpacking and shelving lots of lovely new yarns! I'm sure you can forgive me for that one good reason.

It's looking like fall in the shop, but still feeling a whole lot like summer. We've had record heat and record rains that have caused flooding in Iowa. My heart goes out to all the poor people in Ames, Colfax, and other parts of Iowa that have lost so many things in their really soggy homes. I keep hoping that the rain is over, but it sounds like there's more coming today and tonight and that it could affect the Des Moines River and in the long run affect the people here in my hometown.

As for the Simple Yet Effective Shawl, we are close to winding down. I wanted to talk about the blocking process for this triangle shaped shawl. If your shawl made from a wool or a wool blend yarn, you can totally wet the shawl; then you need to roll it in towels and gently squeeze out most of the water before shaping it. You don't want to stretch it as that can cause it to be misshapen. Lay out the shawl on several large towels and gently spread it out making sure that there aren't any lumps and bumps in the shawl. Check the edges to make sure that they are smooth and straight. You can use T-pins to hold the final shape of the shawl in place, but make sure that the pins don't pull bumps out along the edge. Since this shawl is a combination of stockinette stitch and garter stitch you need to push the garter edges in and gently pull the stockinette edges out so they are all even. Allow the shawl to dry completely before you remove the pins. Depending on the yarn, you can sometimes merely steam the shawl, shape it, and allow it to dry on a towel. The Rowan Colourscape Chunky yarn that I used is perfect for the steaming method. That yarn shapes easily with steaming. Other yarns may require a total dunk in water or else you'll still have curling of the edges.

If you're in our neighborhood, be sure to stop in and check out the new yarns. We still have lots to come, but for now I know you'll love what you see.

Keep on knitting!

The Wrap Group - - July/August #3

Hi Wrappers!

This past week I've spent time working on another new wrap, plus working on a kit for our Friday Night Knit club, so I've been really busy. The new wrap I'm working to complete is called Opal and is from a book called Winter Blooms by Kim Hargreaves. It's basically a very quick knit, requiring only 4 skeins of Kid Silk Aura (so less than 400 yards). It's just so soft and super light. I think it will be wonderful to wear this fall and winter. It's triangular and has a really pretty picot edge along the two sides.

Several of our newer Knitted Together knitters are working away on the Simple Yet Effective Shawl. It's a nice transition project for new knitters that want to make something that isn't straight. The good thing about that pattern is that you really can do any number of rows of garter stitch and stockinette stitch. It's just a matter of looking at it once in a while to see if you need to vary your rows again.

As a bonus project I'd like to suggest Coquille a shawlette from the new issue of Knitty. It requires 3 skeins of Crystal Palace Mini Mochi to complete it. We have 3 colors in stock now with more on back order. Lots of new colors will be coming!

Next Friday is the Friday Night Knit Club and I want to invite you all to come. We are feeling a little like a fiesta, so watch for our newsletter soon. You may want to get one of the kits this time, since the project would make a great gift. (And no, it's not a scarf this time!

Keep on knitting,
Nancy

The Wrap Group -- July/Aug #2

Hi Wrappers!

I really like the look and feel of my completed Simple Yet Effective Shawl. I love the Rowan Colourscape Chunky yarn so much! But I did discover some technical things that I would change on my next shawl. When you work the wrong side rows, knit or purl the yarnovers (yos) that are along the shawl edge through the back loops so the holes close. Maybe it's just me, but I don't care for the yos along the edge! I also didn't like the inconsistency of the bumps on the center stitch of the garter sections. I would always Purl the center stitch on the wrong side of ALL sections.

I hope you are staying busy with your knitting. Stop by the shop and check out my Simple Yet Effective Shawl.

Nancy

A rainy Fourth makes way for knitting!

We've had so much rain in June that we nearly flooded. Then we had one week of no rain. Of course that wasn't going to last, nor would we want it too! But, we had rain on July 4th and it was tropical for temps and moisture. Just plain gross out...

With all the rain and gross weather, I did a whole lot of knitting. I finished my Damson, but nearly wasn't able to. I could tell I would run out of the Ella Rae Lace Merino yarn I chose to use when I got to my bind-off, so I cut it and used some Malabrigo Sock (which is the same yardage) that looked similar in color to my shawl to bind off. I've heard that yarn companies are allowed a certain percentage for shrinkage in the amount of yarn on a skein, but I think that there was more shrinkage than should be allowed. That or designer Ysolda Teague used every yard of the skein of Malabrigo Sock that she used for her sample. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone else has had trouble completing Damson with 440 yards. I think it could be an issue with Ella Rae Lace Merino ... someone else at our shop had to buy more yarn to finish the Damson she was making with ERLM yarn in a different color. She was even shorter than I was. We both got gauge, so that wasn't the issue.

I also worked hard on finishing my Simple Yet Effective Shawl for the Wrap Group. I will end up using about 2 1/2 skeins, so if I have enough I may add a simple edging.

Yesterday I pulled out my Swallowtail Lace Shawl from Evelyn Clark. I was happy to get back to it! Maybe I'll knock another WIP out.

We look forward to seeing you in the shop whenever you can make it. I know it's hard when everyone is so busy in the summer. Have a good one, and keep on knitting!

My Truly Tasha's Shawl Update

I got the body of my Truly Tasha's Shawl (TTS) done this weekend and have completed nearly half of the lace that encircles the body. The instructions for the first corner were difficult to understand, but I finished it. The rest is downhill from here!

Tomorrow night I can get everyone started at the Knit Together, knowing they will be able to do the lace when they come to it. I certainly didn't want to lead anyone down the wrong path ... anyway the end is in sight for my TTS.

It's a good thing I'm almost done, since I found the Travel Shawl in Veronik Avery's new book Knitting 24/7. I'm going to actually start it tonight. (I know I'm not done with my TTS yet, but I think I work better when there's something I'm really excited to work on calling out to me.) I decided I'm going to use Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds DK for the Travel Shawl. It's a scrumptious undyed blend of Suffolk, Jacob, and Bluefaced Leicester.

Remember to print off your Truly Tasha's Shawl pattern for the Knit Together tomorrow night. I hope to see some of you here for some mindless knitting that we can chatter to!

Join us tonight for the Lizard Ridge K-Tog

We often hear knitters in the shop say they would love to knit the Lizard Ridge (throw) from Knitty.com. For any of you who might be interested, we are starting the Lizard Ridge Knit-Together tonight!

Be sure to print off your pattern from this link before you come tonight. We’ll teach you how to knit backwards tonight, which is a big help with the short rows that occur in this undulating Noro Kureyon color-fest! The pattern calls for size 8 needles (straight are fine if you are planning to knit the throw in squares (or strips as I'm doing). If you want to knit it in one piece, you will need long circulars.

We hope to see you tonight from 6 to 8 pm.

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.

Wrapping up your holiday gifts

If you haven't picked up a copy of Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts issue, you must! (We only have one issue left at our shop, but I'm sure you can still find a copy at Barnes & Noble, Borders, or from Interweave directly.) I found so many great projects that I'm putting on my Christmas To-Do list.

I already made a couple of the Little Entrelac Bags shown on page 103 of Holiday Gifts. They will be fun to use as a gift bag for something fairly small. They were so much fun to make and I learned a new technique; entrelac in the round. The instructions are easy to follow and I made each one in less than 2 hours (minus the felting process and the cord handle). We have a lot of great colors of Noro Kureyon in the shop should you want to add a few of those bags to your list of must-make projects. It takes less than a skein to make one bag and with the leftovers you can make the Kureyon Coffee Cozy. I've made many of them this year and they're a great "first" in-the-round project. Especially since you felt them (which hides the mistakes you might make...).

Holiday Gifts also has some great ideas for actually using yarn (think about some of the leftover yarns you might have from your projects) to make bows on packages and decorate gift tags. I think that sometimes I toss out yarn leftovers just because I can't think of anything to do with it. Wow! I'm going to stash my little leftovers (especially Rowan Kid Silk Haze) in a sealable baggie and use them each year for gift wrapping.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner I want to share one of my family's favorite recipes. I like to make this for Thanksgiving and Christmas for a side dish. I hope you enjoy it!

Scalloped Corn Casserole

• 1 16-ounce bag of baby sweet corn, thawed in the refrigerator
• 1 15-ounce can creamed corn
• 1 8-ounce container of chive sour cream dip
• 1 cup finely shredded cheddar jack cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup sweet yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick butter or margarine, melted
• 1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

Mix all ingredients together, except cheese. Pour into a greased 9x13-inch pan or a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-60 minutes, until the mixture no longer wiggles when you shake the pan.

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving, taking time give thanks, to enjoy family, delicious food, and fun.

Sale yarn ... stash enhancers

There's nothing wrong with a little stash yarn, is there?! Long before I opened my shop I had accumulated quite a bit of stash (I filled 4, well maybe 5 or 6 of those JUMBO Rubbermaid containers). Since then I've continued to add stash to my stash. Sometimes it's just my need to own a particular yarn, other times I have plans (possibly distant plans...) for a specific project and NEED that particular yarn. I've also bought sale yarn and stashed it. Sale yarn is one of those things that can be good, but can also present problems. It's hard to know how much you'll need unless you know exactly what you're going to knit. You can always guess, but what if your guess is SHORT!? I always say, buy an extra ball when you buy discontinued yarn!

What turns a yarn into a SALE YARN? Sale yarn can be a discontinued yarn style or color from the manufacturer, which is when it's really important to know you've purchased enough! Sometimes sale yarn is just on sale because shop owners (like me for one) have decided certain yarns need to move on, since there's always new yarn that needs a home on the shelves! Be sure to check out our Sale section for special buys. We'd love to enhance your stash with discontinued yarns that need a good home! Occasionally we'll offer yarns that are ONLINE ONLY sales. You'll find the special deals on the online store when you click the "SALE" button. Remember, the Online Only Sales yarns are full price in the shop.

With Labor Day coming, I decided I needed to post another one of my favorite recipes. I got this one from the Lutheran Church of Hope cookbook. (I think church cookbooks are my favorite kind of cookbooks!) If you head to the Farmer's Market, pick up your sweet red bell peppers there!

Zesty Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients

• 2 (2 cup) bags boil-in-bag rice (Uncle Ben's brand is what I've found)
• 4 large red bell peppers
• 1 lb. Italian sausage (if you live in or around Des Moines you must use Graziano's sausage!)
• 1 can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes & green chilies
• 2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• Jar marinara sauce (this is my addition as it adds a little more sauce, *especially if I'm baking it low and slow)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare rice according to package directions. Remove the tops and seeds from the peppers; slice in half. Blanch the peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes. Brown sausage and drain fat. Fold in tomatoes and rice. Heat through. Add cheese; heat until melted. Remove from heat; divide mixture into prepared peppers. Place peppers in baking dish, and if desired, spoon a little marinara over the peppers. Bake for 15 minutes. (*Sometimes I've covered the pan with foil and baked this dish at 325 degrees for an hour or more if I'm not in a big hurry.)

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.