Can We Also Have New England Weather?!?

New England Knits has arrived!

This book has been the talk of the knitting town for some time now, and now you can have your own copy! We tried to come up with a book review for it, but it's been reviewed so much since it was put on Amazon's pre-order list and buzz began on Ravelry that we'd rather link to one of those reviews. We'll just show you some pictures!

The book has patterns that feature a few yarns we carry here in the shop: 

Here we have the Greylock Tunic in Rowan Purelife Organic Wool....

...the Lewiston Striped Vest in Cascade 220 (and with all of the colors we have of this yarn, you'd be hard-pressed to not find a combo. Maybe Cascade isn't your thing? Rowan Calmer, Manos Rittenhouse, Swans Island Worsted, O-Wool Balance, Nashua Creative Focus Worsted, Noro Kureyon, Shirakaba, Retro, (do I really need to name all of the worsted weight yarns that we have in this shop that could work for this pattern?!?)  & Dream In Color Classy will also work for this cute vest. The button hunt for this project might be just as fun as picking out the yarn. 

The worsted weight patterns continue! This is the cover sweater, the Middlefield Pullover. 

The Mystic Pullover is worked in the Fibre Company's Organik. Check out that side pocket detail? You like? 

The Providence Pullover is worked in O-Wool Classic, which is soon to come to Rosie's! If you can't wait, we have a bit in stock in large amounts at a really nice discount. Just pop in and ask for the really huge skeins of yarn....we'll point you in the right direction. 

The Salem Hooded Jacket features the Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica. Could you ask for anything warmer to wear this Fall/Winter season? That hood, the A-line shape, the texture.....I'd probably enjoy knitting the fabric more than wearing it!

Last but not least, we have the Whale Watch Hat by Kate Gagnon Osborn (go Kate!) It takes 1 skein each of Canopy Fingering in Orchid, Fern & Macaw. You don't get 241 hearts on Ravelry with just any ole design!

So there you have it. Speaking of books, we have a new book shop on Amazon.com! We have a few back issues of magazines & older books on sale, but have been adding other books over the past few days and will be adding even more books. We'll still keep our yarn company books (i.e. Rowan, Classic Elite Yarns, Noro, Berroco) on the website, but most of the other books that come through the store will be available here! Keep your eyes peeled for some other new designs we have up our sleeve....heh. 

Crochet Friday

Yarn is made. Patterns are made to support said yarn. Some like to let the yarn do the work and keep the stitch pattern to a simple stockinette or some knit/purl combination. Other patterns want to show off the stitch definition and work cables and/or lace to make each stitch pop. I can't speak for anyone, but I wonder if anyone thinks of whether a yarn will look better when crocheted rather than offering only knitting patterns.

Well someone at Rowan realized that crochet is no longer the bald-headed stepchild of the craft world. That's been said for some time, but support is being developed to back up that statement more often it seems. The staff of Rosie's has never been crochet-discriminatory, but more of us have been picking up hooks lately.You can imagine that we were excited to see that Rowan 47 had crocheted garments. Not just some toaster cozy/pillow cover amalgamation made solely of granny squares, but things that you could wear with a pair of jeans, a pair of cute knee boots (brown always works), and go out the door feeling stylish without having tried too hard. 

Enter Cheery, an over-sized crocheted pullover with knit ribbing at the hems & neckline. As soon as I laid eyes on it, I knew I was going to make it. At first, I sighed. Summer Tweed is 70% silk/30% cotton. I will be completely honest and say that cotton isn't exactly my favorite fiber for knits. I like a bit of stretch in my sweaters and you just don't get that with a cotton/silk blend. So what do you do? You crochet!!!!

The sweater has a knit ribbing that is bound off before working the crochet pattern. The jump from knitting Summer Tweed to crocheting it almost feels as if you were working two different projects. (The ribbing does seem to go for a bit longer than you want it to, but it wouldn't be ribbing if it didn't, now would it?) After that's done, you crochet the body, which doesn't even take that long compared to how long it'd take you to knit it. Crochet isn't always faster than knitting, but this is one of those times when it is. 

Summer Tweed won't mind if you knit it. Rosie's regular Karen has nothing but amazing things to say about her Hey Teach cardigan. It's just something about the texture of the yarn that makes it feel lovely when you crochet it. Hopefully, by next week there should be a finished product with pictures to boot! Check out all of the Summer Tweed colors we have here! 

Last but not least, in something unrelated to Summer Tweed, check out the new First Fall Knitty! Milly is worked in Felted Tweed, Winnow calls for Louet Gems, the Coquille Shawl features the amazing Swans Island Fingering, and Lamina shows off Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend. It's good to see Fall things coming down the pipeline when the low for the week is 89 degrees!

Stay Classy, Philadelphia

Dream In Color Classy is back!

1st row: Petal Shower, Ruby River, Lipstick Lava

2nd row: Butter Peeps, Spring Tickle, Happy Forest, GoGo Grassy

3rd row: Midnight Derby, Dusky Aurora, Black Parade

The last time we got it, it seemed to fly out of the door so we made sure to get a few extra skeins of the colors we picked at TNNA. (Can I just say that being in a booth full of the stuff is an entirely different blog post?....aaahhhh.) Classy is sometimes referred to as a worsted weight, but it works well, if not better, at 4.5 stitches per inch rather than 5 stitches per inch.

If you need some patterns to get you going:

    

 

The Garter Yoke Cardigan (left) by Melissa LaBarre is a great sweater whose biggest size (unfortunately only a 40" bust circumference) only requires 5 skeins. The February Fitted Pullover (which goes all the way up to 50"! yay!) is one of those garments that can be worn with jeans and a t-shirt or over a nice blouse paired with a cute skirt or slacks.

The Baby Surprise Jacket is a great one-skein project for this yarn. Parents will love the fact that it'll be something to throw in the wash when the little one throws up all over your precious handknit item. (Just kidding, but they will appreciate this attribute.) If you like Elizabeth Zimmermann, then the Baby Sweater on Two Needles AKA the February Baby Sweater is another design to which this yarn lends itself to quite well.

There are many other projects that you could make using Dream In Color Classy. Go check them out here on Ravelry. Each $18 skein holds 250 yards so you're looking at a sweater with fewer skeins than you might need in some other yarns. Honestly, I don't know what else to say about it? It's handpainted 100% superfine Australian merino superwash.

This blog post is over. I think I'm going to choose which color to use for my own Garter Yoke Cardigan.

P.S.: We will be closed on Sunday, July 4th. Enjoy the holiday and your weekend everyone!