Show and Tell

Elizabeth finished her sweater knit in Sheep Shop yarn, it is gorgeous. I love the colors (I think I say that every time I write about this sweater/yarn). Since she has some yarn left, she may add on to the sleeves to make them 3/4 length. Otherwise, it fits great and is soft and wonderful.

She's going to start a sweater for her husband knit with Karabella's Aurora #4. Small Needles! We talked about the Kitchener stitch, which she'll need to do for the sleeves. Here's a video clip of the stitch (you have to scroll down for the video).

The ruffle on Sara's blanket looks so cute. She's still looking for the second ball of yarn she bought for the ruffle.

We talked about the exasperation we all feel with second sleeves and second socks, etc. Sara only has the second sleeve to complete before she can finish her husbands sweater. I think it's starting to feel like a forever sweater and she really wants to make something for herself for a change. Some people knit both sleeves/socks at once for just that reason.

Danielle finished knitting her poncho at chat and was able to get one side sewed up. Putting a poncho made from two rectangles is always a bit of a challenge - lining up which side goes where. We got it aligned and pinned and hopefully this week Danielle will be able to wear it, especially now that the weather is gotten more fall-like.

Here are the names of books that are good for one-two skein stash yarns:

One-Skein Wonders

One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit and Crochet

101 Designer One-Skein Wonders

Sara and I have been enjoying the dinners from Cooking Dinners . Their motto is "we shop, chop, and mop". Each month, George, the owner and chef, sets up a menu of healthy gourmet dinners and you pick the dinners you'd like, a time you'd like to go and you can either put the meals together yourself (all the ingredient are there with the recipes) or they'll do it for you. I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to come home at 6 and not have to first figure out what's for dinner (and if I have the ingredients). My family loves the meals too and I have picky eaters. George has a video on his website explaining cooking dinners. It is infinitely better than take out, healthier and priced right.

Michelle had some Kitchener stitching to do on her Wonderful Wallaby: the hood and the sleeves. During the course of the chat, she finished the wallaby and it's adorable! She's in the midst of turning the heel on her sock for the Knitting Central Sock Club . She's noticed a few mistakes as she knits along and knows what she would want to do better and/or differently on her next pair of socks. Michelle is going to knit her husband a cable scarf (the same cable used in the scarf from earlier posts) in Lobster Pot Cashmere (worsted weight 100% cashmere from Cape Cod which is truly dyed in Lobster Pots). Knitting Central has an amazing assortment of new colors in.
Mary! Mary knit her cotton hat up to the crown shaping and it looks great. She began to shape the crown during chat time and next week we can pick up stitches for the brim. Mary is loving working with the cotton. She may combine the Blue Sky Organic cotton (on Blue Sky Alpaca yarns website you can check out the dyed cotton) with variegated cotton to make an afghan. She showed me this cut purse she bought at a craft fair. We're going to come up with our own pattern for making little gift bags.

We came to the conclusion that Sheilah is project oriented (and Michelle I think you are too) Robin, Mary and I are more process knitters. Robin likes the mindless activity of knitting while Mary and I enjoy the whole picking it out starting it part. We teased Mary about finishing her hat and Mary wanted to start something new. The "village" voted that she finish her hat and maybe the cotton bag that's been hibernating. The Ariel shawl is near halfway done too.

Sheilah (who always comes in looking great in one of her hand knits) came in wearing a sweater from Mango Moon . It's knit with Mango Moon's Recycled Silk. The pattern is free on their website (click Mango Moon above).

Continental knitting demo

I received this link from a blog called anxious dog . She linked me to the craft sanity blog with this awesome youtube demonstration of Continental Knitting.

For those of you who might not be aware of the fact that there are different methods of knitting or what exactly the differences are, here's the Wikepedia definition:

"Knitting with the yarn in one's left hand is commonly referred to as Continental knitting,German-Style Knitting, left-hand knitting or European knitting. Unlike English knitting, the yarn is kept in the left hand and more importantly, the left hand never leaves the needle. While the English knitter can work by lifting the one hand up off the needle to wrap yarn around the opposite needle, the Continental knitter keeps both hands on their respective needles at all times. Most German/Continental knitters feel that this style is more efficient than the English/American method. Continental/German style knitting is also referred to as 'picking', whereas English/American style knitting is referred to as 'throwing.'"

I'm a Continental Knitter who (based on this video) was holding the yarn under my fingers instead of over. I was so excited, I grabbed my yarn and tried it out. It was great. I love the educational side of the Internet. Then, on youtube, there were other knitting with different techniques. I like anxious dogs idea of learning about different techniques. Stay tuned for more techniques.

Artful Afghan

This is the coolest afghan. The pattern is from Lion Brand and it's called a "Artful Afghan". You can get it by creating a log in for from on the Lion Brand website. I've seen it made twice, you start in the middle on double point needles and keep increasing and working outward. You can have a lot of fun with the colors, you could use stash yarn if you wanted it to be really jazzy.

On Friday it was Elizabeth, Sara, Michelle and me. Elizabeth is nearly (and by now, might be) done with her Sheep Shop sweater knit from an Artyarns pattern. I love the colors in this yarn, they are just beautiful the way they blend together.

Sara brought the baby blanket to work on, she was able to bind off and begin the ruffle. Somehow, she's short one ball of yarn for the ruffle (done in a contrast color). We're going to see if we can track it down. Sara's got two gift giving deadlines - the baby blanket (for a baby due in November) and her husband's sweater (Christmas). I think she'll be done well before that and onto something for herself!

Michelle finished the fantastic cabled scarf she's been knitting. I love this cable pattern and it looks so rich with this yarn (Gems Sapphire). We needed to join the sleeves to the body on her wallaby sweater (Cottage Creations Wonderful Wallaby W03). I tell you, we're not loving the directions in this pattern. The wallaby will be adorable, knit in Artyarns supermerino. It's just a matter of sorting out the directions.

Book Updates

I normally like memoirs, I just couldn't get into this one. Has anyone read this? It is exactly what is says, tales of sibling rivalry, it just didn't grab my interest/attention.



My sister introduced me to this book series. Their mysteries with a "unique" main character. Little did I know that I jumped into the middle of the series. The book was really good and the suspense was great, the only thing I didn't like was that it was pretty descriptive in the gory parts. I didn't like that too much. My sister said that it was the "goriest" one. Reading a book in the middle of the series didn't matter too much although I am going to go back to the beginning of the series with the first book, Relic .

Nicky Epstein

Nicky Epstein will be coming to Knitting Central in Westport on November 10th for a Fashion Forward Fair Isle Class and Nicky's "not so traditional" Fair Isle techniques-including color work (her way), felting fair isle and embroidered embellisments over fair isle knitting. If you're interested, call the store at 203-454-4300.

Nicky Epstein is the author of many outstanding and unique knitting books:
Knitting on the Edge: Ribs, Ruffles, Lace, Fringes, Floral, Points & Picots: The Essential Collection of 350 Decorative Borders

Knitting Over The Edge: Unique Ribs, Cords, Appliques, Colors, Nouveau

Nicky Epstein's Knitted Embellishments: 350 Appliques, Borders, Cords and More!

Knitting Beyond the Edge: Cuffs and Collars*Necklines*Hems*Closures - The Essential Collection of Decorative Finishes

Knitting Never Felt Better: The Definitive Guide to Fabulous Felting

Nicky Epstein's Knitted Flowers

Nicky Epstein's Crocheted Flowers

Crocheting on the Edge: Ribs & Bobbles*Ruffles*Flora*Fringes*Points & Scallops

and the list goes on!

Today as we knit together we uncovered a significant collegiate "urban" myth. Three of us have kids in college and/or prep. schools and we randomly learned that all of our children claim that the food services at their respective schools put ex-lax, yes, ex-lax in the food. They have come to this conclusion because the food doesn't stay with them that long. Mary has known of this myth for years and was able to debunk it readily. Peggy added that before the "ex-lax" rumor it was salt peter (spelling?). I can't wait to hear the rebuttal from our college kids!

Theresa was back! (We miss you when you're not there. ) She came in sporting a really cool bag. We all had bag awe and envy. She told me where to find it and here is the link ebags, baggelini doctors bag
After we all drooled over her bag :), she showed us her progress on her Brilla sweater. She wondered if the directions for the left and right front were reversed. Elizabeth, since you made the sweater, did you find a discrepancy in the directions?

Michelle is in her finishing phase. She's sewn the shoulders (quite nicely) on her Rowan sweater, the cable scarf is fantastic, she finished her first sock for the Knitting Central sock club, and after struggling with the directions, we managed to get the sleeves on and the sweater up and running.

Mary, who has a side career as our resident knitting comic, decided that knitters who "throw" their yarn burn more calories than knitters who knit continental. Of course, this did raise a discussion on balance out the muscle groups and possibly having to throw with the other hand for half the year. On the knit side, she's almost done with the first side of the lace poncho and is getting along in the cotton hat.

Danielle finished the first half of her bulky poncho and is happily changing her expected completion date for the poncho. She liked the look of a baby blanket Michelle had knit in Sirdar Spree yarn and Michelle is going to bring her the pattern.

I managed to finish the front of my daughter's sweater and started on the hood. I just might have it done on time!

Playing Catch up

I've gotten way behind in my posts, so this one is a catch-all for the past two weeks and I plan to get on track!

• First of all before I forget, Elizabeth, the book we talked about on Friday We Are Our Mothers' Daughters by Cokie Roberts. Awesome book, very empowering and a great book to give teens and young women.
• National Public Radio shows: "Car Talk", "This American Life", "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" also available in podcast free. I know you can download them from the itunes store if you have an ipod. Click this link for the homepage.
• Michelle got a wonderful knitting journal for her birthday, click here to check it out, Knitspiration Journal .
• Find fun socks here .

What's on your pointy sticks?

Here's what we were working in last week:

Michelle has got her next batch of projects well under way: Socks from the Knitting Central Sock Club, wonderful wallaby sweatshirt, men's knits cabled scarf, Rowan Couture Jacket - did I leave anything out?

Elizabeth picked up her dog afghan and was working on her sheep shop sweater. Even thought the dye lots are different on two of the skeins, they balance out nicely.

Robin is in the last panel of her baby blanket. Yeah! Then onto bigger and better things.

Mary's La Baguette bag is parked literally and figuratively in her car. :) She began a hat in Blue Sky organic cotton. She also found a great cotton to use in a Manos afghan pattern, Peruvian cotton (Patagonia cotton would work well too).

Danni is plowing through her poncho. The yarn runs thick and thin and has great texture. She got a lot of fringe ideas from the group, different yarns to add to the main yarn.

Sara finished the first sleeve of her husband's sweater and has started the second. She's almost at the ruffle for the baby blanket she's making as a gift.

Peggy is balancing several projects, she was working on the Oat Couture Stowaway bag this week.

I'm in the midst of finishing a pair of fingerless gloves with rabbit fur trim (a gift ~ pattern available soon), a knit sweatshirt (also a gift), my modern quilt wrap, and squares for the great American afghan. (This list does not include purses I've made that are pining away, awaiting to be finished - this involves sewing).