The Wrap Group -- Jan/Feb #1

Happy New Year and welcome to The Wrap Group! I’m Carol Huisman, Wiz on Ravelry. Mostly retired, I just love making things. My DH and I moved back to Iowa two years ago after living in Kansas City for 16 years. There, I worked at a LYS and revived my interest in knitting after a long hiatus. I taught myself to knit from the encyclopedia when I was about twelve years old. No one in my family knit, and I have no idea why I thought I needed to. Unfortunately, I couldn’t master binding off, so I just kept knitting. It was a VERY long scarf! Luckily an older friend took me under her wing and taught me how to bind off, as well as other tips that kept me knitting. Later, as a mom, I taught my three sons to knit, then quilting took over my life for a lot of years.

My background is that of an art teacher, with a lifelong love of color and fiber. Moderation has never been my strong suit so I knit like I do everything else - with passion! My friends here at Knitted Together know how crazy I am about knitting shawls, wraps, scarves, etc. I get to try out all kinds of yarns with fairly quick results. My favorite patterns involve some stitch variety, and my favorite yarns have color and texture changes to keep this ADD knitter entertained.

Come along with me as we enjoy a year of knitting wraps: shawls, stoles, cowls, scarves - whatever. We’ll offer a new pattern on the first Friday of every other month - not every month, because, after all, we have lots of other projects on the needles, don’t we? I’ll be blogging about the current pattern and I’ll look forward to hearing about your progress in the comment section. If you can join us, we’ll be knitting together at the shop every Friday, 1-3 PM. Feel free to drop in, especially on the first Friday of the pattern cycle, and I’ll be glad to help you pick out yarn, get started, and offer some hints.

Our first pattern is a free one! It's available here and on Ravelry: The 5th Avenue Infinity Scarf by Margaux Pena from tentenknits. On the fall fashion runways, Infinity Scarves were everywhere. They’re just a loop of fabric to be worn loose or wrapped around the neck for a cowl effect.

For some unknown reason, I made my first one using a size 9 needle instead of the recommended size 8, and 5 skeins of Noro Silk Garden, so it loops around my neck twice for the warmest, coziest thing ever, absolutely perfect for the winter we’re already having here in Iowa. I then made one according to the pattern for my DIL for Christmas. Lovely! My latest is also according to the pattern, using 4 skeins of Silk Garden. I think this would be fabulous in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, Misti Alpaca Tonos Worsted, or any soft worsted weight yarn. We always urge you to support your bricks-and-mortar local yarn shop, but if they don’t have what you need, you can order online from Knitted Together or call and Nancy and her staff will fix you up with whatever you need.

Until next time, knit on!

New Year's Day Soup

Katie's having a friend over for New Year's Eve who will spend the night. On New Year's Day, Tim is going to paint our hallway on the main floor then will continue the color upstairs. I'm going to knit and watch movies most of the day. So I've decided to make some snacks and soup for us to eat that day.

My main dish is going to be Megan's Cream Cheese Potato Soup. She gave me the recipe today (after bringing it in today for us to have for lunch). It's so incredibly yummy! I will also have veggies and dip, crackers and cheese spread, and a few other snacks that I haven't decided on yet.

Megan told me I can share her soup recipe with you, so here goes! It sounds simple enough that you can still enjoy a day of relaxing knitting.

Cream Cheese Potato Soup

• 4 cups potatoes, peeled and cut up
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
• 8 ounces cream cheese, cut into chunks

Put potatoes, broth, onions and spices in pot. Boil on medium heat until potatoes are tender. Smash some of the potatoes to thicken the broth. Reduce heat, add cream cheese, and stir until melted. If desired add shredded cheddar cheese to each bowl when you serve it.

See you all in 2010!
Nancy

Carol's BIG Idea!

Our good friend and part-time employee, Carol, loves to knit shawls and wraps. She usually has at least one or two going at all times. When she wears them in our shop, everyone loves them. One reason Carol's shawls/wraps are so beautiful is that Carol is an artist. She taught art when she worked full time. But beyond that she has an artist's eye that our customers really appreciate.

Carol proposed that in 2010 we offer a Friday afternoon Knit Together from 1-3 pm here in the shop. Her plan consists of six 2-month long shawl/wrap projects. To make it more fun she made her idea even bigger by offering a virtual Knit Together that she will handle through my blog. She will introduce each project to blog readers here and on the Knitted Together group on Ravelry, where you will know her by the name of Wiz. Carol/Wiz is always the cheerleader for our group. She's a moderator there and I frequently hear from our customers who are on Ravelry that she always makes them feel good about their finished projects.

Watch for the next blog this week. Carol will be the guest blogger.

I hope you have a Happy New Year!
Nancy

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.

I've got this shawl thing going on!

Lately I've been intrigued with shawls and shawl patterns. I'm not sure if I'll wear any of them, but they're so much fun to knit.

This weekend I was super busy and for the most part that didn't seem to include knitting. You might have heard me groaning about that! Finally on Monday (and instead of blogging) I dug out a skein of Schaefer Anne that I had intended to make socks with. I grabbed an Addi Lace Size 6 needle and started a triangle shawl using the Gull Lace pattern that Elizabeth Zimmermann used for her baby sweater for the February project in her book, Knitter's Almanac. I haven't made the baby sweater, but I made the February Lady Sweater this past February for one of our Knit Togethers. I liked that simple 4-row lace pattern and had an idea that it would be fun to use again. Carol, who works at the shop, used the Gull Lace pattern on a pair of socks, so I got to thinking it might be fun for a shawl.

I'm also working on Ysolda Teague's Damson with the Ella Rae Lace Merino that I was going to use to make the leaf scarf I blogged about awhile back. Another shawl I'm close to finishing is the Revontuli, using 2 balls of Zauberball Crazy. I think there's at least one or two more shawls in my WIP pile!

Here's the Gull Lace pattern just in case you would like to play with it. If you want to make a shawl with it, you can easily make a rectangular one by casting on multiples of 7 stitches (plus you may want to add on a garter stitch border of 5 to 8 stitches on each side and a garter stitch edge at the bottom and top). If you want to try to make a triangular shawl, talk to me about how to work your 7-stitch pattern repeats into the triangle.

Gull Lace pattern (multiple of 7 stitches)
Row 1: *K1, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1; rep from * across.
Rows 2 & 4: Purl across.
Row 3: *K2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk; rep from * across.

Now if you get hooked on shawls and lace like I have, you won't have a lot of time to cook! I thought that with cooler fall nights you might like to try my sloppy joe recipe. It's simple and would make quite a few sandwiches. Of course you could always double the amounts if you need to feed an extra hungry crowd!

Nancy's Sloppy Joes

• 1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 T. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. prepared yellow mustard
• 2 T. cider vinegar
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 T. Worcestershire sauce

Brown ground beef and onion; drain off fat. Add other ingredients; let simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
Enjoy!

My sad sock story

If you've ever knitted socks for someone, you know that knitting them is a true act of love. That said, my story is sort of a sad one ...

Our nephew Ben got married this year and he and his wife Karie came to Iowa this summer to visit the Iowa side of his family (they live in Los Angeles). So on the Fourth of July we had Ben and Karie over for a cookout and a trip to see fireworks. Prior to the fireworks, we ran by our shop to show it to them. Karie told me she wants to learn how to knit and if I'd had more time I would have crammed in a lesson, but time was far too limited. Anyway, I showed her some socks that I'd made and she told me she would really love some. I told her I would make a pair for her, knowing that in California it still gets cold enough to enjoy wool socks in the winter. Her favorite color is orange, so a week or so after their visit I got in a shipment of sock yarn from Skacel. There was a perfect pattern and color of yarn, so I got started. Within a week or two I'd quickly knitted up a pair of socks for Karie. I wrote her a quick note about all the love that goes into a pair of socks and told her how to care for them. I popped them into a padded mailing envelope and Tim took them to the Post Office to mail. As time went by, I began to wonder if Karie didn't like them, since I hadn't heard from her or Ben. Finally, about two weeks ago Tim sent Ben an email to see how Karie liked the socks. Ben sent a return email that they hadn't gotten the socks yet! (This is where I start to get tears in my eyes!) Over a month had passed since we sent the socks, so it appears they are lost for good. That or one of their neighbors will be enjoying warm feet this winter! Our Post Office said the package may still show up as they sometimes get caught in the equipment, but I'm not going to hold my breath!

This past Friday evening I started another pair of socks for Karie. I even like this yarn better. It's a Trekking XXL sock yarn that is red, orange and hot pink. When it's done I may try to ship it to Karie's office, since she and Ben currently live in an apartment. This time when I write my note to Karie I can tell her that the new pair of socks has double the love knitted into them!