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!

To Stitches Midwest & Back

This past Friday and Saturday I took a mini vacation and road trip to Schaumburg, Illinois with three friends (Ann, Dana and Stacy) from the shop. Each of us had signed up for an all-day class for Saturday. The class I took was called How Do Your Socks Get Striped. Elise Duvekot, author of the book Knit One Below was the teacher. I'm so glad I took the class, because when reading her instructions in the book the technique had seemed kind of confusing. After taking the class, my friend Ann who took the same class, and I talked about class potential for what we had learned! Maybe in the near future we will have a class at the shop to teach the technique.

Dana and Stacy took a class in a Swedish color knitting technique. They really loved all of the history that their teacher gave them which included lots of slides for them to see.

Our other goal was to visit the Stitches Market! For me the market exposed me to some really fun yarns that were new to me. (Some have potential to be new yarns for the shop.) If you've ever gone to Stitches, you can surely relate to the frenzy that all knitters get when confronted with an entire show floor with different booths filled with gorgeous yarns they can purchase!

On Saturday after our classes, we packed the car and started back after a quick dinner. On the way back Dana and I laughed about feeling like we'd been in the car for days. Well, technically we had ... we drove over on Friday morning and drove home on Saturday night, so more than 10 hours was spent in the car! We were all thankful for Ann's expert driving skills, since there have been so many accidents on I-80 lately. I arrived home at midnight and was glad to sleep in my own bed!

I missed the Wrap Group while I was gone, but hopefully this Friday they will enjoy listening to my Stitches class and shopping stories.

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 #4

Hi Wrappers!

I've been really busy working on the kit for tonight's Friday Night Knit Club (FKNC), so I'm going to tell you a little about it just in case you want to come get one. I think it would make a great closure for one of your wraps. I designed a flower pin that you can felt or not felt out of lovely Cascade Cloud 9 (50% merino, 50% angora).

Here's my short list of some of the uses for a felted or knitted flower: make it into a pin as I have, wear it on a knitted hat, attach it to a felted purse, wear it on your winter coat, attach it to a shawl or wrap as a closure, or tie it onto a gift bag for a friend.

Since we chose a "fiesta" theme for tonight's FNKC, I'm making a couple of Mexican dip recipes that use one of my favorite canned tomato products, Ro-Tel Original Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies. I use it in my homemade soups and chili all winter!

The recipe I'm sharing with you came on the back of the large box we picked up at Costco. It's delicious!

Black Bean Salsa

Makes 12 servings (1/4 cup each)

• 1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (10 oz.) Ro-Tel Original diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies, drained
  
• 1/2 cup whole kernel corn, frozen or canned
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon lime
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Mix all ingredients in medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Serve with tortilla chips, tacos or burritos, if desired.

Happy 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!