Update:

Remember this?

It's bigger now.

Also, it's been wet-blocked: fully soaked and then stretched and pinned.

Though I obviously still have a lot to learn about photographing lace, I think most people would agree that the prettiest stitch so far is the fourth one from the left, the one that might look vaguely like rows of umbrellas if you turned your head sideways and squinted a bit. That's the one we'll be starting with in class tonight.

Toward the right end of this half, where things start to go all blurry, is the section that's been knit since I did the blocking. I find that, the better lace looks while it's on my needles, the more apt I am (paradoxically) to forget how much better it will look after it's blocked. When it looks bad, I keep reminding myself that it's going to improve; when it looks good, it seems unlikely that it's going to look better. But it always does. (All you lace-class students getting the hint here? Yours is going to look better, too. More better than you can anticipate right now.)

That big complicated diamond-shaped thing in the center of the last photo? That's the Trellis Diamond from Shirley Paden's "Wrapped in Tradition" in Wrap Style, which we're trying out at Wendy's request. (Hint to all you lace-class students: got your eye on a specific project? It's not too late to suggest other stitches for us to try out. It is a sampler, after all.)

Meanwhile, Robin's got the edging going on her Rambling Rows:

The consensus is that the color could not be more perfect. And now she's got lots of nice, mindless knitting for her upcoming plane trip.

Finally!

With just a few ends to weave in, the Jamaica kids' sweater is finally done.



It was a quick knit; it only seemed to drag on forever in my mind, because I kept waiting for a time when I felt fresh enough to tackle the finishing without the fear I'd be too braindead to do it right. Pattern is forthcoming...

Robin's Rambling Rows, & an Entrelac Bag

Every last square is knit:

Which brought Robin, and several others of us at Knitting Circle, to the brink of the final decision:

What color to use for the edging?

The blue-green Koigu along the upper-right edge had been the original plan, but not everyone thought it was perfect; it seemed maybe a little dull, maybe a little too blue. There were quite a few constraints--pardon me, parameters--to the choice, as well: vaguely the same gauge, washable, preferably gender-neutral. (The recipient is a boy baby, but he may someday have siblings.)

The ultimate winner was the pale green Koigu along the upper-left edge. If you don't agree that it's the best, please feel free to say not one word about it: everyone knows computers don't show color accurately, anyway.

And if you've got time on Sunday, you should come down and make your own one of these:

(For those of you who know my issues with felting, Jen did this one.) Class starts at 1:00.

Turnabout

And now, please join me in wishing a happy birthday to my friend and colleague Carol. With three little kids, she still manages to spin the yarn, dye the yarn, knit the yarn into a garment of her own devising, work in the shop part-time, edit Rosie Knits patterns from home, return e-mail within 15 minutes no matter what time of day or night, write a witty and informative blog of her own, and maintain her sense of humor.

(Though perhaps her biggest achievement this year was persuading Tom to allow a pet into the house.)

Best wishes for a great day and wonderful year, Carol!

A special message for Mrs. Myers

Dear Mrs. Myers,

I know it's not easy being pregnant -- the morning sickness, backache, and all those other unmentionable symptoms -- and I know it's even harder going through labor (oy!), so on behalf of the staff and customers of Rosie's Yarn Cellar, I would like to thank you for giving birth to Lisa however many years ago today it was. Lisa is an amazing woman and her personality, her intelligence, her sense of humor, and of course, her knitting prowess make Rosie's the special place it is for all of us.

Happy birthday, Lisa!

And thanks, Mrs. Myers.

Meet Dolly

She's another one of the projects we'll be doing in the Intermediate Class.

She's not finished, of course, but I can't tell how far from finished she is. I have a shawl on needles, her skirt isn't fastened in back, she'll need a blouse or vest or something . . . .

Thanks, though, to all at Knitting Circle this evening who advised on hair color. This was clearly the best choice. (I'm still thinking about ways to incorporate the orange eyelash.)

P.S. Because it's "Blog Against Sexism Day" (or was until an hour ago), let me take this opportunity to remind you: if you see a man in a yarn shop, don't assume he's buying a gift for his mother or waiting for his girlfriend.

Welcome Back, Patti!

It's not that we haven't always loved Great Adirondack yarns. It's just that they were very hard to buy, for us: no sales rep, no functional color cards, and when we'd see them in person--Stitches, MD Sheep and Wool Festival--we'd be overwhelmed by the crazy, feathered, sequined ones that grab all the spotlight.

Now, however . . .

. . . they're back. This photo is the colorway called Kenya. (My monitor is showing the purple tones a little bluer than they really are--think blue, green, and plum.) The yarns you see are Sirino (a fingering-to-laceweight silk/wool, 675 yds, upper right), Soxie (merino, 360 yds, left), and Silk Delight (100% silk, 263 yds, foreground). Here they are in Paprika:

No time right now to photograph the other colors, or the Nassau (silk/cotton) or Silk Noir. Silk Noir is an old favorite: if you've ever looked at the Landscape Shawl here in khaki and mauve tones, that's Silk Noir. It's a raw silk, not shiny, kind of rough-looking. 900 yards in the skein is enough for the shawl; $30. Or maybe that Lotus Blossom shawl from Fiddlesticks?

Those of you who aren't within driving distance, my apologies: you won't find these for sale on the website. I'm not trying to tease you. I've just learned the hard way that selling hand-dyed yarns online is a quick road to misery.

The next sound you hear will be the staff scratching and clawing one another for the chance to knit the shop model Clapotis out of the Silk Delight.

TiVo Alert

This Sunday, March 5, at 3 p.m., the Oxygen network is going to premiere a new knitting show. This episode features Adina Klein (an editor at Vogue Knitting) and Lily Chin. Whatever you think of the specific personalities (and let's keep those comments clean, please!), it should be worth checking out.

Oh, and the stuff in boxes we can't find room to unpack right now includes Nicole (from Adrienne Vittadini, with the new Spring Vittadini pattern book), Classic Silk (from Classic Elite, blended with viscose and linen, with a raw-silk look), and Candy (the hit Artful Yarn from last year, with a bit of elastic).

My Favorite Book This Season

Even without having seen all the new releases, even though I've got stuff in a book that's coming out this month or next, even though the Stitch'n'Bitch crochet book is gonna sell the pants off all of them--

My favorite new book this season is Inspired Cable Knits by Fiona Ellis.

Some of the designs are more traditional, some are less, but they've all got the elements that are so hard to find in cabled sweaters:

-- Attention to detail, and interesting details. The necklines are carefully worked into the cable patterns. And check this:


It's part of this:


Which brings me to the next item:

-- Shaping. I don't think there's a single drop shoulder in the bunch. And you can see the side shaping in the photo above.

-- Sizing. Because the cables make for large pattern repeats, plenty of cable sweaters are sized "40-44-48-tough luck." The size ranges here include at least one that starts as small as 30" and at least one as large as 60".

-- Cool stuff. I'm not usually a fan of books that claim to show what "inspires" the designer, but I could look at photos like these for hours:



And I probably will.

Just In Case You Were Wondering

Ever wondered how yarn winds up where it does in the shop? Why this yarn on this shelf, in this bin? Of course you have. It probably went something like this: "So she said this one was the right gauge for my project, and this one, and . . . this one over here . . . and, wait, wasn't there one on this wall, too? Couldn't they just keep all the DK-weight yarns in the same place??"

You wish. So do we.

Most often, what determines a yarn's location is its put-up, which is the industry term for the shape of the unit: is it 50 grams or 100? And is it in a hank (like Manos or Peruvian Tweed), a twisty skein (like Rapture or Summer Tweed), a doughnut shape (Cashsoft DK or Natasha), a pull-skein (Alpaca Lace or Blizzard), or wound on a spool (Suede or Oriental [which is on sale, by the way])? Even with the versatile shelving system we've got in the West Wing (thanks again, Brent!), some yarns don't work in some places. Some yarns shouldn't be shelved at all, since the skein tends to fall apart as soon as you turn your back.

Or there are so many colors (La Gran) that you can't hope to show them all. This is a chronic problem with Big Wool, but we do it anyway: if it's a yarn we're constantly selling a lot of, we don't want to have to run into the back room for it every minute every day. So if projects frequently call for just a skein or two, we'll devote more shelf space to a yarn, so that people will be able to help themselves.

Which brings us to Provence. What are there, 50 colors? Through the winter, demand was low, and we let the color selection diminish, and we hung a skein of each color on a series of rods in the West Wing, near the other non-wool options (Manos Cotton, Celia, All-Seasons Cotton--see, we try to put yarns of similar function together!). But once the Spring magazines start coming out, and the Spring yarns come in, we're going to be reaching for Provence constantly. It's going to need some serious real estate.

In past summers, Provence has gone in the big glass bins in the front room. This has worked well for several reasons: the colors are very visible. There's enough room for all of them, and for more than just a skein or two of each (that fixture is the single most capacious in the shop, barring the Manos wall). Because the skeins are big, they don't avalanche out of the bins every time someone picks one up. And because Provence is the perfect yarn for so many Spring and summer projects all the time, people have to look at it--even though it's over the bench, where there are often people sitting. See, as prominent as that location is, customers often won't browse it at all; whether they're aware of it or not, they're reluctant to disturb anyone sitting anywhere nearby. So we've learned--it took years--that we're dooming a yarn to failure if we put it there, unless it's something that people just have to have: like sock yarn, or Provence, or (sometimes) Noro.

(Notice that it's not just the characteristics of the yarn that come into play when we're deciding where to put something: it's the characteristics of the fixtures, too.)

So Provence is going back into its old spot, here:

But wait! That space wasn't empty before. It was full of sock yarn. Where does the sock yarn go? We thought we'd try the gridbin at the bottom of the stairs--the small bins work best for the small skeins, and that wall is another one where people are reluctant to linger. (That's why the Koigu goes there: because people will do anything for Koigu.)

So we move the sock yarn here:

But wait! That space wasn't empty before. It was full of ribbon and fluffy stuff and things that are good for silly scarves. Hmm. Some went onto the dowels the Provence used to occupy, on the theory that the scarf season is winding down, so it won't be such a problem to have those yarns where people have to ask us to get them from the back room. Some moved to the bookcase by the register, because there were so few skeins left. Some went into baskets on the floor, waiting for inspiration. Some went into the sale bin. Like this:

Ta-da!


Frankly, that was a pretty simple move: time-consuming, but straightforward. So the next time you come into the shop and see a few boxes, like this:

--and then, a day or two later, you come in again, and see this:

--bear with us. It's not as simple as it looks.

And (Someone Else's) Finished Object

Ever wondered how a Clapotis would look in Mountain Colors' "Mountain Goat"? Roz found some of the color called Mystic Lake, and she wondered, so now you don't have to:

She was thinking about making one for her mom, but worried that the yarn (wool/mohair blend) would irritate Mom's skin . . .

. . . so this became just a sort of trial run at the pattern,

and Roz will have to keep it for herself. Poor Roz!

Medals and Munchies (or, Any Excuse for a Party)

It's official: we'll be celebrating the end of the Knitting Olympics at the shop on Sunday from 4:30 to 6.

(Some may notice that this overlaps the timeslot for Sunday's workshop--"Jump-Start Those Stalled Projects"--but there seems to be a sort of thematic link. Something like, "Be inspired; challenge yourself; nothing is impossible, not even finishing that [fill in dreaded project here].")

Come one, come all--official members of Team Philly, or of Team Wales, or unaffiliated participants, and spectators. Bring refreshments if you want; Rosie will provide some, too. And by all means, bring any Finished Objects you can.

Sigh of Relief

This

is why I've been so cranky about the Knitting Olympics.

Huh?

Months ago, a customer brought this in to be finished. She'd knit the cardigan and the matching dress, and wanted us to do the steek on the cardigan. (The dress had no steek and she finished that herself.)

Sure, we do steeks. Though usually, that's all we do: machine-stitch where the steeks go, cut them open, and hand the piece back to the customer to complete. I didn't really stop to think about the difference.

Or about the fact that most Dale Baby sweaters I've seen have been in the 6-month size, not the 3 year.

Time passed.

And when I finally had to buckle down and do it, it just wouldn't end. There's the neckband



and setting in the sleeves with their facings (the photo of which came out really bad, so just imagine), and the buttonband and buttonhole band:



(And a few ends to weave in.) And of course, all the bands are doubled, because they're turned under and stitched down to cover the cut edges of the fabric. I particularly hate having to do the buttonholes twice; I'm always sure they're not going to line up right. And I was on #1 needles, knitting tightly to keep the bands firm, and my hand hurt.

So along comes the Knitting Olympics, and I couldn't cast on anything new, and I couldn't even go on a UFO-finishing binge, because I couldn't do anything until this sweater was finished.

But at last, with help from Courtney in the last mile, the wretched Dale sweater is finished.

Cute, isn't it?

WIP

Is "Work In Progress" a standard knitblog abbreviation? Or have I imported it from my grad school days? Anyway, I haven't used it here before, so I'm obliged to provide the definition either way.

Because (with a little help from Courtney) I finally finished the finishing job from hell (pictures later), I'm working through the shop sample for the Lace Sampler Workshop:

(Blogging before coffee sure is difficult. The keys don't seem to be in the right place; I've backspaced and retyped the same typo 3 times, and resting my thumb too near the touchpad thingy on the laptop has caused me to exit the editing screen by accident. More than once.)
Anyway, I like the scarf so far. This is what it will really look like, and this is why we block:

I love being able to block things while they're still on the needle.
There are going to be quite a few more patterns--among the challenges the class is going to cover, we've got to consider a variety of different lace notations, stuff where the stitch count changes, things where markers won't work. And (regrettable but necessary) handling mistakes. (If there are other topics about knitting lace that drive you nuts, and you're free on Thursday evenings in March, let me know, and we'll work them in.)

One last thing: all you Olympic Knitters out there, I don't know the technical rules for the finish line, but don't you think there should be something--say, champagne and munchies--with the closing ceremonies next Sunday? Rosie's would be happy to provide the venue (though not the large-screen tv), and some non-Olympian fans to cheer you on as you frantically weave in the last few ends. What do you think?

You try it

All right, most of you know what the shop looks like: where do we put 30 colors of Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Cotton? It's put up in 50-gram bullet-shaped pull-skeins (that is, like miniature Encore).

This is not a theoretical question. Knitting Circle may have to sit on the stuff tonight. Hey, maybe we should offer a prize for the best solution!

Oh, and if you were wondering: 93 yds, cabled, mercerised, 5 sts per inch, says "Handwash" but I bet you can put it in the machine (we'll test and get back to you).

Just in time for the snow: spring yarns!

If you haven't visited the shop recently, be forewarned that there's all sorts of boxes full of spring yarns being schlepped in by the faithful UPS guys. When I came in Saturday, I pretty much stumbled over a box full of Rowan goodies -- Calmer, new colors of All Seasons Cotton and Summer Tweed, and more -- as well as some very interesting RYC stuff: a wonderful book with cabled and other textured sweaters, a very cute RYC kids book called "Classic Bambini" and new colors of CashCotton, among other things. RYC's Natural Silk Aran looks luscious and it was probably the most tempting of the new yarns so far. We got a few more colors of Debbie Bliss Cathay, and a new Noro booklet featuring Silk Garden Lite. I'm playing with some Classic Elite Premiere -- we got new spring colors in that, too, and it's an extremely soft, drapey blend of pima cotton and tencel. Provence is coming in, too, and you'll see the all-colors-of-the-rainbow display where the sock yarn used to be. Probably the most unusual new yarn is called (I think) Meditations: it's lavender-scented to provide you with knitting aromatherapy. Seriously. Even I couldn't make that kind of stuff up.

So if you need a lift after shoveling out this weekend (we got about 18 inches in my suburban neck of the woods), you might want to stop in and starting thinking about spring.

Info You Need

Whether you're participating in the Olympics or not, all knitters should read this knowledgeable advice about preventing knitting-related damage to your hands.

Also, though it's once again going to take a little while to get the new stuff onto the website, the spring yarns from Rowan have started to come in: Summer Tweed (including the two new colors, 540 Orient and 541 Blossom), All-Seasons Cotton, 4-Ply Cotton, and Calmer.

On the Fence

Anyone out there who hasn't heard of the Knitting Olympics? Unlike the sporting events in Turin, the Knitting Olympics aren't competitive; the idea is to challenge oneself as a knitter -- with a new technique, or unusual speed, or whatever. I've been completely undecided about participating, and I haven't even been sure about why. Mostly, it seemed like any challenge I set myself would be rigged: it would either be a project I could complete comfortably in the given time period (and where's the challenge in that?), or it would be a stretch, and I'd have to lose sleep, diss offspring, and neglect work responsibilities to complete it (and hate myself afterward, to boot). Either way, not much suspense. Didn't sound like all that much fun, either.

But as I thought last night about another of my hesitations ("You mean, work for 16 solid days on the same project?"), I thought suddenly about my unfinished tallit (which you can see here, though you'll have to scroll down quite a bit), and whether two weeks' work would complete it. And then I thought, how many UFO's could I finish in two weeks, if I put my mind to it, and didn't cast on anything new in the meantime?

[And then I thought, that's ridiculous. Surely I don't cast on a new project every two weeks. I mean, I can't possibly, right? Even though I mostly knit small stuff like hats? Even counting stuff for the shop that's mostly for display and may never get finished? All right, how often do any of you cast on a new project? Honestly. Including stuff that turns out to be just experimental swatching, that may never turn into a project, let alone a finished object. Confess. Inquiring minds need to know: how crazy am I?]

Now, one of the rules of the official Knitting Olympics is that one may not cast on until the opening ceremonies. So if I go on a finishing marathon, I'm ineligible, technically. Which is a shame, because I'd really love to see the "Team UFO" button. But I'm still really tempted. Anyone want to join me? We can have our own alternative to the alternative games.

And here, because I'm still trying to catch up and I know how boring a post without pictures is, are some snaps of Michelle's holiday knitting:

She made some socks (this isn't all of them),

and some catnip pillows,

at least one of which was, um, appreciated immediately.

We Don't Need No Stupid Groundhog

Spring is here! I don't have time to scan the cover, let alone anything inside, but the Spring Rowan mag (#39, for those of you keeping track) arrived this morning!

Lots of super-feminine stuff, and lots of non-knitted stuff--things trimmed in crochet, but also armbands and necklaces and headbands made of (hold onto your seat) macrame.

You'll have to come see for yourselves. I have to go back to counting yarn.

Tuesday

Sometimes, you just have to knit a hat. This one is Noro “Blossom,” a yarn which interested me not at all—right up until the evening it bashed me over the head from behind and needed to be knit into a hat. 2 skeins, color #5.

Andrea and I are finally getting along better:

Clear, simple, geometric lace pattern; stockinette base. About 7” wide right now (somewhat wider than I planned, but the pattern repeat dictated it), about 56 sts on #2 needles, for a gauge of . . . well, some things it’s better not to think about. Not that I have anything against fine gauges. Just that I’m not used to seeing them look lacy. I mean, lace patterns often use pretty skinny yarns, but think about it: they’re usually knit on larger needles, and the blocked gauge is more like 5 sts per inch. I don’t know what’s going to happen when this is blocked. I don't need to know.

We interrupt this broadcast for sudden emergency shoveling of Noro Silk Garden Light and Debbie Bliss Cathay--out of boxes, onto shelves, into backstock, into the dungeon--as usual, just when you think there might almost be enough storage space, it snows yarn.

Come & see the AlterKnits trunk show!

Just in: a trunk show featuring garments and accessories from Leigh Radford's AlterKnits book. If you haven't at least browsed through AlterKnits, you really should. It's not a typical pattern book, but rather a jumping-off point for your own creativity: sure, there are some cool patterns that you can follow if you like, but also tips and exercise for how to unleash your own creativity and personal style, even a notebook for your jottings and drawings.

We've got the AlterKnits trunk show through February 6th. The silk skullcap



is even more gorgeous than it looks in the book.

The mixed media pillow, in a lovely shade of dusty rose, has texture that you can't keep your hands off of.





We've got several other items: the sweater with velvet trim, polka-dotted baby caps, felted bag and more. If you've been baffled by the notion of the knitted screen door,




cast aside your skepticism and come see these beautiful garments. Even if you don't want to make one of these, we expect that the examples may unleash your fertile knitting imaginations.

A Bit of Knitting

Thank you all for bearing with us as we implement the new point-of-sale system. (And thanks to those who've pitched in with the installation of new hardware!) The machine still thinks we have -23 copies of The Knit Stitch, but there's less swearing every day.

And from time to time, some knitting gets done:


One skein of the new Noro, Silver Thaw. It's a scarf. It's about 64" long. Short-rows again.

For those of you wondering what this Sunday's workshop--"Knitting with Unspun Silk"--is about, here's a clue:

We start with silk caps, separate them into layers, draft the layers out into long roving-like strips, then cast on for a scarf. The finished result is soft and warm and lustrous like silk, but with a really rustic, casual look:

And of course, we'll be using hand-dyed caps, so there will be the additional adventure of seeing how the process affects the colors.

Just a little something new, in case any of you are, you know, kind of tired of yarn.

The Toughest Yarn You'll Ever Love

And by "tough," I don't mean "strong," "durable," or "coarse." I mean, "This stuff is going to kick my -- " well, never mind, my mother reads this blog.

Welcome the much-anticipated Andrea from Schaefer Yarns:

100% cultivated silk, 1093 yards per 100-g skein. This is what everyone expects silk to look like: shiny; smooth; beautiful clear colors. Looks as good in the ball as in the skein, too:

This color is Elena Piscopia.

Now for the bad news.

It's $52 a skein. It tangles if you breathe on it (I truly don't understand this, since it's so slippery). The needle size recommended on the label is 00. None of this deterred me. Then, I started to swatch.

I considered the Clapotis from Knitty. You'll have to take my word for it that the swatch was unsuccessful; the photo didn't come out. But the dropped stitches were too stringy and the pattern was going to bore me to death. So I tried variations on a dropped-stitch pattern with shorter ladders, working in stockinette (since it's pretty clear to me that this stuff has very little elasticity and wouldn't respond well to the ribs that are typical of such stitches):

Feh. But I did learn that it likes stockinette. Because my colorway has so much contrast, detailed lace patterns won't "read," so I kept trying for something with floats; toward the top of this photo, you can see some crazy bundles of lateral strands where I was trying to get floats without slipped stitches. (Digression: you'll note in the first photo above that most of the skeins we've got are low-contrast--there's the tonal silver-grey of Greenjeans, the denims of Everywoman--because I was trying to get colors that would be interesting but not preclude interesting stitchwork, either. My skein was sort of a random advance copy.)

Up at the top of the swatch, I finally got the hang of it: lace, but simple geometric lace. So then I started this:

A scarf, starting from a point at the bottom and expanding in pattern to a width of about 6". The skein probably has enough yardage for two generous scarves, and I am not promising to knit the second, but I didn't want to get all committed to a shawl. This was intended to be the actual beginning of the scarf, but it still has (at least) two problems: there's one row where the pattern interferes with the point-shaping increases, and the eyelet in the center of the alternate rows of diamonds isn't reading.

And to top off the frustration, the needles in these photos are #2s, and I can't see what I'm doing. These swatches took me 3 weeks. Can you say "presbyopia"?

For further tales of woe, and a very different solution, go here and see what Wendy's doing with the color known as Indira Gandhi.

A Knitter's Progress: Follow-Up

Here are Diana and Isaac, with Isaac modeling his scarf:

What more is there to say?

I Know, I Know

Yeah, it's been, like, days since the last substantive post. And several of you sent in photos of your holiday knitting which haven't been posted yet. And the Yarn of the Week is from before the turn of the year, and the Project of the Month is still December's. All I can say is, I'm dancing as fast as I can.

Also, you know how your smoke alarm starts to make that chirping noise when the battery goes? Well, there's one in my bedroom, and it went on Monday night, and it won't stop (because the thing has both a battery and electrical wiring), and it would take a 12-foot ladder to reach it (which I don't have), and the electrician keeps putting me off. So I'm not getting as much sleep as might be, um, optimal.

Hey, maybe we could shoot the thing. Anyone got a BB gun?

Sherry's Christmas Knitting

Here's a Half-Pi Shawl for Sherry's grandmother, pre-blocking. Looks like it's made of Anne, though I don't know for sure.

I just love it when people knit things for their grandmothers; it's such a great role reversal.

Some of Allison's Holiday Knitting

Why knit Christmas tree ornaments?

Because you can.

And a Spiral Rib hat from the Ann Norling pattern, made of Noro Shinano:


More photos to follow. Keep those cards and letters coming!

Calling All Triumphant Holiday Knitters

Show us your stuff!

Send us pictures of your finished items. We'll post blocking pictures, knitting-in-the-car-on-the-way-to-Mom's pictures, sis-wriggling-toes-in-her-new-socks pictures, you name it.

Come on -- you know you want to!