Stripes Alive Sock KAL is ON!

I rushed right to my computer on Tuesday morning and immediately printed off Part 1 of KAL 3, the Stripes Alive sock pattern from Knit Purl Hunter. Rose's comment from my last posting is exactly right, it's like a month long present and you get something new to open every 7 days! I've never done a KAL on the web and it's proving to be lots of fun.

For those of you who haven't joined in, we have more of the March Trekking XXL yarn (you can see what the yarn looks like in the ball at the link above) coming in at the shop, so you can have as much fun as the rest of us. I'm sure it will arrive sometime next week; so far only one is spoken for. Here's a little peek at my sock on the needles...

Join Us for the 20 Years of Trekking KAL

I'd heard about the Twenty Years of Trekking Knit Along, but didn't get interested until my sales rep, Kim came in. If you're a sock knitter/sock yarn lover and are interested in participating in the KAL with us, go to Skacel or Knit Purl Hunter for all the important information, including all the ways to win prizes! There are weekly and monthly prizes as well as a Grand-Prize Winner and Not-So-Grand, but none-the-less Great Prize Winners. (Once you check out the prizes, you'll be hooked...)

You can come into our shop for the yarn. The yarn for the January (toe-up) sock is a beautiful blue called Susanne; your purchase of that particular yarn makes a $10 donation to the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research. The March (cuff-down sock) is a colorful striped yarn. The April (toe-up sock) is a yummy striped tweed. The 6-ply tweed for the February (fingerless gloves) is on backorder, but will be in the shop next week. I'm planning to start with the March sock (you know how much I like sock yarn and knitting socks!). I'm not sure if I'll get four of the six KALs completed, but I'm sure going to try. I'd like to be entered for the Grand- and Not-So-Grand Prizes!

I joined the Knit Purl Hunter KAL group on Ravelry, too. There you'll find tips and conversation about each of the KAL projects (at least the ones that are currently in progress). All of the KAL patterns will be up on the Knit Purl Hunter website through July 15th, so don't waste time!

Happy knitting! Nancy

You're Invited to a Ravelry Party!

This Friday, February 25th we are having a Ravelry party for our Friday Night Knit Club. Meet other Knitted Together customers and learn their Ravelry persona. The following particulars detail our party.

• When: It starts at 6 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m.
• At Knitted Together. If you don't know how to find our shop click here for directions.
  
• Bring: An appetizer or dessert to share.
• Project: Our special guest that evening is heyjenrenee, a local designer and fellow Knitted Together customer, who has designed something special for our customers. (If you want to start the project that night, you will need a Size 19, 24-inch-long circular needle... we have some 29-inch-long 19s for sale at the shop.)
  
• More: We will be discussing Ravelry as a tool for knitters, so if you have questions, special tips, favorite patterns, favorite designers, or bones of contention, come prepared to share!

We can't wait to see you. We'll have Ravelry buttons for everyone to wear (as long as our supply lasts).

Happy knitting! 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?

Relax, stretch, and knit!

On our January Friday Night Knit Club (FNKC) our theme was all about rest, relax, and renew. We had a spa night and partnered with Salon Bliss who is our neighbor, two doors down from our shop. They did paraffin hand waxing on everyone and showed them all of the wonderful amenities of their salon. Then everyone came back to our shop and one of our customers, Carrie Cavanaugh, who is a licensed massage therapist, kindly gave the ladies hand and forearm massages. Need I tell you how heavenly it was?

Carrie also shared some great tips and stretches for knitters who are having hand and arm pain while knitting. I've decided to include Carrie's tips and stretches (minus the actual demonstration that she showed us). Thank you, Carrie!

Tips

• If a pain arises, take a short break to do some stretches, clean, run errands, make a phone call, etc.
• If pain becomes chronic, take a few days off to allow your hands, wrists, etc. to heal.
• Make a point of taking breaks to prevent pain from occurring.
• Use circular needles instead of straight needles whenever you can! Circulars bring your work closer to the middle of your body, reducing the torque placed on your arms and shoulders.
• Watch your posture! Do your best to keep your back in a relaxed, but not slouched position. (Boy did this speak volumes to me!)
• Sit up as straight as you can. Your neck should be straight, elbows should be at your sides, and wrists straight or slightly flexed in.
• Taking breaks helps to keep your posture by allowing your muscles to rest.

Stretching
It's very important to understand how a stretch should feel. A good, effective stretch shouldn't hurt. As you go into a stretch you should feel tension building up until you feel the stretch begin. The beginning of the stretch is where you want to hold it. If you strengthen a stretch too much you lose the relaxing feeling you get from it. When muscles are over-stretched, they have a tendency to contract or spasm, causing the potential for injury.

Gently hold stretches for 8-10 seconds.

Warm up muscles before stretching by shaking your hands and rolling your joints (wrists and shoulders), to get the blood moving.

The Stretches

• Extensors (the tops of the forearms) - With your hand face up, wrap your finders around your thumb into a fist and brind your hand towards you with your opposite hand, bending at the wrist.
• Flexors (the bottom of your forearms) - With your hand face down and flat, use your opposite hand to lift your hand and fingers backwards, bending at the wrist.
• Biceps Brachii (front of your upper arm) - Find a wall, and while standing, place the backside of your hand against the wall. Turn your body away while keeping your arm close to the wall.
• Pectoralis Major (chest) - Use the same technique for biceps, but place your palm on the wall instead.

If pain persists even after trying Carrie's tips and stretches, SPEAK WITH YOUR DOCTOR to rule out any serious conditions. They can offer options such as physical therapy or massage therapy, medication suggestions or prescriptions, or additional home care tips you might not have tried.

If you're interested in getting a massage, visit Carrie's website for more information! She left a corporate massage business and just opened her own business, so we'd like to help her get started.

Keep on knitting (after stretching occasionally)!

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.