Rowan Roundup

Where to begin?
It has been pretty hectic here since the new Rowan came in. As Courtney mentioned before, we have all been working to get it organized and ready for you! Now that it is all inventoried, photographed and on the shelves, we're ready to share!

New this season is Pure Organic Wool - Naturally Dyed. Similar to the Pure Life Cotton, this yarn is certified organic and dyed with all natural plant dyes and non-toxic mordants. The yarn has a beautiful hand and softness and the colors are subtle and rich. We currently carry six from the line (How pretty would a pair of fair isle mitts in Tannin and Horsetail be?):

If you're looking for more inspiration, true to their nature, Rowan has excellent pattern support: The Purelife Organic Wool Collection. Inside you will find rustic yet fashionable sweaters that effortlessly meld the organic qualities of the yarn with modern styling. Lovage is shown below:

This next yarn needs a disclaimer: I am not normally a yarn sniffer. To be honest, I think its a little weird. But this yarn smells so good. We talk a lot about Yarn with a Capitol "Y" here, and the British Sheep Breeds collection definitely fits the bill. Minimally processed and directly in support of local British farmers and breed quality and maintenance, the 5 natural colors are a treat for the eyes.

The British Sheep Collection Book is, like the Organic Wool Collection, excellent pattern support for the yarn. Not only are there some beautiful sweaters for women, there are a few men's patterns, like Gunnerside shown below, destined to become classics:

Cocoon was a new and popular yarn for us last year so we were excited to see ten new colors introduced this fall to compliment the 7 original "naturals" in the line:

The Cocoon Collection, the new pattern book for the line is beautiful. The cover sweater, Cheri, deals with bulky yarn in a clean, sophisticated and feminine manner. Too tempting.


Not wanting to ignore the "little" guys, we expanded our collection of Scottish Tweed 4 Ply to include the whole line. It is hard to find words to describe this yarn. It is just too beautiful. Perfect for colorwork, accessories, cabling, steeking. Perfect for everything. I can't get enough.

In addition to the 4 ply, we decided to carry a few colors of the Scottish Tweed DK. I knit a sweater out of this yarn last year and it continues to be one of my favorite handknit garments. I have my eyes on another bag of Apple for a cabled sweater for fall. (We also have some exciting news about this yarn and our dear friend Laura...but thats for a later date!)

And, last but not least, we added new colors to the Kaffe Fassett Regia line and stocked up on some of the most popular from the Landscape line last year:

Two new magazines we are uber excited about are Heartfelt: The Dark House Collection by Kim Hargreaves featuring modern and funky patterns in all gauges and styles:

and Rowan Magazine 44: The 30th anniversary edition.

We've all gone a little batty for Dietrich (I am thinking steel grey with cream crochet accent and pearl buttons)

And I can't wait to see Abby in Lombard:
We also received other great patten books such as Rowan Studio 11, Winter Gifts, Vintage and Alpine and new colors of Pure Wool DK (coming soon to a website near you), and Felted Tweed:

Now all that is left to do is decide what to knit first!

Driven to Distraction

When you are overwhelmed with work, finding yourself taking one step forward to be kicked two steps back isn't it nice to feel like you've accomplished something? Like a scarf, a garter stitch scarf, on #13 needles? We just finished knitting a maddening number of sweaters on deadline only to be faced with doing it all over again, the Rowan order in all of it's 14 box glory arrived, the October Project of the Month is on the 3rd re-knit, the website is drowning me in code-of-doom, Clyde is cutting his first tooth AND he learned how to move his little body around the room (and occasionally into other rooms) by scootching. It's been quite a week.
On Wednesday last I worked at the store with Kate and a woman came in and described a scarf she had seen on a TV show. It had two leaves at the bottom, one end went into a slot on the other side. We noodled around for patterns, found a little choker type thing in Classic Elite's Make it Modern, and finally settled on Dorlynn's Koigu Neck Cozy, which is essentially what she wanted but it was in Koigu, not a quick knit and more of a...well, neck cozy than a scarf.
After work I found myself at Macy's, which is unusual for me but we had to get a watch resized. While wandering around listening to the closing notes of the Wanamaker Organ I saw the scarf! It had occured to me when the woman was in the store that this would be a pattern worth writing, and now it was kismet. When I got to work the next day I wound yarn and got out my notebook and cast on. Just a few days later I was weaving in the ends! Ah, the sweet smell of a finished project.
The pattern uses 2 skeins of Manos del Uruguay yarn held double in color #46 and a #13 needle for a gauge of about 2.5 sts per inch.
Cast on 2 sts.
k1, m1, k1
k--3 sts
k1, m1, k1, m1, k1
k--5 sts
k2, m1, k1, m1, k2
k--7 sts
k2, m1, k3, m1, k2
k--9 sts
Continue in pattern as set until:
k2, m1, k17, m1, k2
k23
Now work decreases back as follows:
k2, ssk, k15, k2tog, k2
k21
k2, ssk, k13, k2tog, k2
k19
Continue in pattern as set until:
k2, ssk, k1, k2tog, k2
k7
Work keyhole:
k2, sl1 to a holder, k1, sl1 to a holder, k2
Work in garter on the 5 sts remaining on your needle for 8 rows.
Break yarn and place sts on a second holder.
Rejoin yarn to the 2 sts on holder and inc 1 in each st--4 sts.
K 8 rows in garter on these 4 sts.
Rejoin sts from holder:
*K1 from holder, k1 from needle; rep 4 times ending with k1 from holder--9 sts.
k1, *m1, k1; rep from * to end--17 sts.
Work in garter on these 17 sts for 120 rows.
Work second leaf backwards as follows:
k1, (k2tog) 8 times--9 sts.
Work keyhole:
*k1, sl1 to a holder; 4 times ending k1.
K 8 rows in garter on these 5 sts, break yarn and place on holder.
Rejoin yarn to the 4 sts on holder and k 8 rows in garter.
K2 tog twice--2 sts.
Rejoin:
k2 from holder, k1 from needle, k1 from holder, k1 from needle, k2 from holder--7 sts.
k2, m1, k3, m1, k2
k9 sts
k2, m1, k5, m1, k2
k11
Continue in pattern as set until:
k2, m1, k17, m1, k2
k23.
Now work decreases:
k2, ssk, k15, k2tog, k2
k21
k2, ssk, k13, k2tog, k2
k19
Continue in pattern as set until you have:
k2, ssk, k1, k2tog, k2
k7
Now:
k1, ssk, k1, k2tog, k1
k1, sl1, k2tog, psso, k1
k3
k2tog, k1
Bind off 2.
Weave in ends and block. To give it a little extra length I wet it and squeezed it out then hung it over the shower rail in my bathroom. When it was almost dry I smoothed the leaves out to shape on my bed and let them dry completely. I think this scarf would also be great in Misti Alpaca Chunky, held single. It's sooo soft. If you do it in this I would skip the hanging to dry part. Alpaca is pretty heavy and it might get too long.
I hope that the woman who was looking for this pattern reads the blog!
Ravel it!

FALL ROWAN IS HERE!

The Fall Rowan Shipment finally arrived yesterday, all 14 some odd boxes of it! Stacy has been busy rearranging the store to accomodate it all, Jen's been busy inputting it into the computer, Kate's been snapping photos and I'm busy today uploading it all to shiny new webpages. Whew! If you want to see it all in person head on in, and this Saturday and take 10% off any Rowan project in celebration! Don't miss the Rittenhouse art show while your in our neck of the woods.
Blog post with all the juicy pics forthcoming...

Rauma Ull

It all started with Selbuvotter a few months ago and was fueled by a visit to Arnhild's Knitting Studio at TNNA: Rosie's has Rauma Fever. We now carry Finullgarn, Gammelserie and Lamullgarn.

Gammelserie is a 2-ply 100% wool. Each ball is 50g, 175 yards each and spun at a recommended gauge of 28sts/4 inches but would stretch happily between 26-32 sts/4 inches. We chose 5 colors from their more traditional palette:

Funullgarn comes in over 100 colors, and we carefully selected 25 colors plus the traditional black and white. Perfect for Fair Isle sweaters or traditional accessories in modern colors, Funnulgarn is 2 ply, 100% wool. Each 50g ball is approximately 180 yards. Funullgarn is labeled at 24 sts/4 inches, but, Like Gammelserie, can work anywhere between 24-30 sts/4inches.


Lamullgarn is the finest of the three, at 30-32 sts/4inches. We went very traditional with this one, and currently have true black and bright white.

Each yarn would work beautifully in all the patterns found in Selbuvotter, but we also carry wonderful books and single patterns filled with mittens, hats, stockings, sweaters and much more. Each book has an English insert by Arnhild, and she is always available for any additional translation support if needed.

Raumagarn no. 4 and Raumagarn no.3 are tradtional pattern booklet filled with mittens, stockings and hats:
Selbustrikk is a pure accessories book with a focus on imagery and motif:

Per Tryving AS is a family accesories book:


Stacy is busy working on a pair of Selbu mittens in modern colors of OWool 2 ply and I picked up some magenta and mint green Finullgarn for some mittens as well. Abby is ahead of the pack and has already finished a pair of traditional black and white mittens from Selbuvotter (and, as we hear it, already deep into her second pair!)

Whether purely traditional, or someone who goes for a more modern twist, you, too, can catch Rauma Fever.

September Project of the Month: Sugar Mountain Beret

As cooler weather swiftly approaches Rosie's has shifted into high gear in preparation for fall. A lot of this means we've been gussying up (come check out the new space if you haven't already -- I still have paint in my hair!), excitedly putting out the new fall yarns (Rowan is on its way - check here for first notice of arrival!) and dreaming up the perfect projects to compliment your Fall wardrobe. Fall is a wonderful time of year: the smell of crushed leaves, apple cider, crisp clear mornings, hayrides, pumpkins, the beauty of foliage, my..ahem..birthday. Most importantly, hand knits are worn again after a summer hiatus and appreciated once more.

While on vacation this summer in the mountains armed with a few balls of yarn, needles and no doubt dreaming about cooler weather, Courtney designed the beautiful Sugar Mountain Beret. Knit out of Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran and designed to show off the many wonderful qualities of the yarn: sheen, drape, stitch definition, softness and subtle rich colors, the beret is an interesting and enjoyable knit from start to finish. Necessary skills include knitting in the round, reading charts, lace and cable comprehension, increasing and decreasing. The result speaks for itself:

Isn't D.C. Beautiful?

If you would like a jump start on Fall, too, download a .pdf of the Sugar Mountain Beret below. Knit one for yourself, or get ahead on Holiday knitting for those you love.

Little Known Treasure: Japanese Pattern Books

Many new visitors to Rosie's are temporarily taken aback by the sheer quantity of goods we have in the store - especially considering the deceiving entrance and locale. To me, even after a 1 or 2 week absence (vacation, infernal grad school, etc) I always have to take a moment to let it all soak in. (We think this is a big plus. So much amazing stuff!) We thought it would be nice to take a moment to introduce you -- both frequent and new friends of ours -- to a few sometimes overlooked gems we have here at Rosie's.

I can't exactly say when Rosie's started carrying the amazing, delightful, stunning, transport-you-to-another-time Japanese pattern books we currently have in the shop, but recently our selection has expanded to include some wonderful treasures.

One of our absolute favorites is this mitten book:


It is a unique mix of traditional Fair Isle (think Scandinavian) work with Japanese minimalism. The combination is stunning. This is probably the point where you are all saying to yourselves "but I don't speak Japanese!" No worries. This -- and the vast majority of the others -- come with charts and imagery that need no words:


Another winter accessories book we love:


Admittedly, the cover is slightly deceptive. The vast majority of the patterns are more traditional selbu-style, including the red and white beauties at the top of the post.

There are books featuring a wide variety of garments:

Or funkier, more modern styles:


As well as Knitting and Crochet titles, we have the opportunity to extrapolate when picking out the books, and inevitably a few others make it on the list:

This book, "Sewn Frocks", is chock full of beautiful dresses and outfits. What kills me about it is the styling -- this is, hands down, the coolest 8 year old I have ever met. (It is no secret I wish I could re-live my adolescence as her).

Another gem is "Bonjour mon Petit Bebe!" Filled with both sewing and embroidery patterns, it is a classically beautifully book with just enough cuteness, but not sickly sweet.


The books are located above the Koigu in the main room of the shop. Next time you have a moment, come in and take a peek!

Thrummed Mittens, After the Fact

I woke up the other morning and was shocked to discover that I was in fact chilly. It was such a strange sensation. The windows had been open all night long, with the fan blowing on us in the usual Summer in Philadelphia way but when I awoke Clyde was nestled under my chin with is shockingly cold feet buried in the blankets. It was awfully cute and reminded me that Fall is right around the corner. When I got to work I put together our Fall Class schedule which you can find in your inbox if you are signed up for our newsletter, or you can download it here. (FYI, Thrummed Mittens is on Sunday November 15th from 1-5 pm).
One of the classes I really wanted to do this season was a thrummed mitten class. I love these mittens. They are so warm and cozy, and I'm going to tell you a disgustingly saccarine story all about them now. The first year I was in college was the year I decided I was going to learn how to knit, for real. I had learned garter stitch from my Grandma as a kid and couldn't really remember how to do anything except a backwards loop cast on. That winter my boyfriend at the time and I went to his family's house in Maine. They lived in this picturesque seaside town on the mid-coast that was so small it had no police, fire or school. There wasn't even a store. Well, I should elaborate, there WAS a store but the people who owned it disappeared one night and the store was locked up so you could SEE the food inside but couldn't get to it. In typical Mainer fashion no one was concerned about this and they couldn't understand my incredulity at the situation. Equally concerning to me was the amazing house near theirs, an old clapboard farm house with a windmill and 1940's car out side. No one was sure whether the old man who lived there was still there or not. I commented on how sad it was that the house had been abandoned and they assured me it wasn't although my boyfriend admitted that when he was a kid the man who lived there was really old and that no one had seen him in years. I think is skeleton is still in that house. See, this is why I don't live in New England, Kate. But back to knitting. My boyfriends mom was a knitter and I tried to get her to teach me to knit, she handed me a copy of Knitting Without Tears and said, "If you can't learn from this book then no one can teach you." I took the book and poured over it for days with needles and yarn in my hands and cried. I didn't get it. It was all words, and those damn drawings that make no sense if you don't already have a vauge idea of what you're supposed to be doing. I let her think I lost interest instead of admit that I was a lost cause. On the bright side, for Christmas that year she gave me this amazing pair of mittens. Mittens like I had never seen before. They had little colored dots
and the inside was all fluffy and warm. I now know they were thrummed mittens. I wore them all that winter in freezing cold Chicago and now I'm not sure what black hole they got lost down but maybe now it's time to make my own.

We have friend visiting this weekend, which means lots of hands to hold the baby so I managed to cast on and knit this entire mitten last night while doing the social thing over dinner. I don't think everyone realized what was happening until towards the end someone said, "Did you just knit an entire mitten?!" Well, yes, I had but unfortunately I hadn't looked up in advance how to actually thrum the thing so I invented this "Afterthought Thrum." It's really just like doing duplicate stitch with roving and a crochet hook, because that's exactly what it is.

Start by deciding what stitch you are going to thrum. In the stitch BELOW that one pull a little 3-4 inch long tuft of raw wool or roving from the inside to the outside, leaving a 1-2" tail of roving inside the mitten.
The crochet hook is inserted above into the stitch that you are working the duplicate stitch on. See how the roving is coming out of the center of the stitch underneath? Now insert your hook in the same manner as above into the stitch ABOVE the one you are thrumming. Pull the roving through, behind the stitch from right to left.
Now put your hook back in to the original spot where you pulled the roving out of in the first step and pull the end down and into the inside of the mitten.
Voila! An afterthought thrum. Not the best way to thrum a mitten, but works if you want to make an existing pair warmer, or just give an old pair of mittens a face lift for the coming season. It gives them a nice vintage folkloric feel, I think, which is a great look this winter. If you want to take a stab at making a more sensicle pair of thrummed mittens sign up for our one day workshop on Sunday November 16th from 1-5.

They Yarn Harlot also has a great blog post with links to a tutorial (check the second link, the first is knitting mittens flat, silly IMHO) here on thrummed mittens, which I looked at this morning, after the fact.

Beijing or Bust!

We don't need super duper aerodynamically designed Speedo straightjackets, er swimsuits, to compete - just pick up your pointy sticks, and cast on by 8:00 p.m. Beijing time - and that would be 8:00 a.m. here in Philly!

That's right, it's time for, drum roll please . . . Team Rosies!

You still have an entire day to set up your "athletes" (projects) in your Notebook . . .

Huh?

If you're kind of scratching your head, saying, I don't get it -- well, I don't get it really either, but it's a great challenge to finish off a few languishing projects OR take advantage of Rosie's 15% discount, and start something new. Here's how it works - as best as I can explain it.

What it Is:

While the real Olympics is clearly a competion with all of the thrills of victory and the agonies of defeat, the Ravelompics is simply an organized challenge to the individual knitter to tackle a new skill, finish an old project, cast on the thing you've been dying to knit - and, to see how many finished projects Ravelry can produce during this Olympic fortnight. As of yesterday, there were 10824 projects from 4283 Ravelers - amazing!

So, pick your project, or your WIP that desparately needs attention, and join a Team, or don't join a Team. If you join Team Rosie's, and print out the Team Button, you can get a fifteen percent discount on the yarn you need to start/complete your project. Once you've picked your project, enter it in a "event." An event is simply another way of categorizing things on Ravelry so that with the search function, for example, all shawl knitters can see what other shawl knitters are knitting, etc. You can enter the following "events":

Afghan Marathon
Amigurumi-n-Toys Toss
Baby Dressage
Bag-n-Tote Backstroke
Balance Beads
Cable Steeplechase
Colorwork Cross-Country
Cowl Jump
Designers Discus
Fantasy DecKnitathalon
Felted Freestyle
Free-For-All Freestyle
Fleece to Finished Fencing
Glove Decathlon
Gift Knits Pentathlon
Hand-Dyed Hurdles
Handspun Heptathalon
Hat Dash
Holiday Handball
Home-Stuff Hammerthrow
Itsy Bitsy Bikini Breaststroke
Laceweight Long Jump
Mitten Medley
Pets Pommel Horse
Scarf Stroke
Shawl Relay
Sock Put
Sweater Sprint
Synchronized Flirty Skirts
Vest Vault
WIPs Wrestling

Make sure you create your project in your Notebook by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. If you want to participate, and you're thinking, why the heck did you wait til the day before to tell me (well, I was going to post this earlier, but a. that lawyer job thingy got in the way, and b. Kate put up that lovely post about Noro Sock Yarn, see below, and I didn't want to push it off the front page), just create a filler project - upload the Rosie's Button, tag it with Ravelympics(see below), and whatever event you think you'll compete in and decide the details later. Create as many filler projects as you want, because you never know, you could be working at gold medalist pace, and finish your initial project right away, and want to start another "event" - so, here's how to get started -

How to Participate

1. Open your Ravelry notebook, and create a new project.
2. In the picture area, upload the Rosie's Team Button, above.
3. Fill in the details of your project.
4. In the Tags area, click on the Ravelympics "r" next to the entry box.
5. First, tag your project with Ravelympics, then type in TeamRosies (one word), then tag your entry with your event.

And that's it! You cannot start your project before 8:00 a..m. tomorrow morning. You may swatch - that's training. You do not have to cast on exactly at 8:00 a.m. - you just can't start until then. You can take advantage of the Rosie's discount during the entire two week Olympic period, as long as you've tagged your projects Team Rosies, and bring in the Rosie's Button.

Good luck to all participants!

On Yarn, Names and a Freebie.

In the past few months, the color striping geniuses at Noro have come up with 2 new yarns, Kureyon Sock and Silk Garden Sock.

Kureyon sock is a 70% wool and 30% nylon blend and Silk Garden Sock is a luxurious blend of 40% wool, 25% silk, 25% nylon & 10% mohair. Although of a slightly different fiber percentage and blend than the other yarns in the Silk Garden line, the hand and appearance are pretty much the same. Like the other Kureyon and Silk Garden yarns, both are singles -- there is 1 ply per strand. The colors for each yarn currently represent the best selling yarns from their respective lines.

So, lets talk about that name. Kureyon Sock was the first to hit the shelves in the spring and immediately got an undeserved bad rap due to its behavior when knit -- especially when in the hands of "tight" knitters. Silk Garden Sock is brand new this fall, and seems to be a bit stronger and more consistent in spin than the Kureyon Sock, which has an ever so slight variation in weight in the strand. The nylon in both yarns adds strength to the protein fibers and the properties of the singles and lighter weight makes the yarns wonderful for fine accessories, shawls and sweaters, but -- although we have seen many a beautiful finished pair on the internet -- not ideal for socks. (And in the case of the Silk Garden, not a "sock yarn". Period). Instead, lets forget the name "Sock" for a minute and focus on the actual yarn qualities.

Kureyon Sock comes in beautiful striping colors, exhibits wonderful drape when knit slightly looser than the recommended 30 sts/4" and is great for textured stitches. Due to its fiber content, it has a little more stretch and give. Silk Garden Sock is heavier than the Kureyon Sock -- after swatching a few different stitches on size 3s, 1s and 0s I believe it is ideal at 5.5-6.5 sts/inch -- has lots of texture in the singles due to fiber content and spin and is very soft. It also, again due to fiber content, has very little stretch but beautiful drape and hand.

When Kureyon arrived at the store, Jen immediately cast on for a pair of socks. (She knits socks. It is called Kureyon Sock. Perfect). This made sense but didn't quite work out. Instead, using some knitters intuition she let the yarn do what the yarn wanted to do. She paired a classic pattern with the modern yarn and produced a beautiful small version of the Landscape Shawl.

The shawl only took 1 ball of the Kureyon Sock and is an interesting play on the construction -- the horizontally knit diagonal eyelets and textured "V" segments are broken up by the color stripes in a really neat way.

I, too, was hit by Noro Fever when the Silk Garden Sock arrived a few weeks ago and immediately cast on for a Fair Isle beret. This also made sense. I knew the Silk Garden Sock wouldn't work for me as a pair of socks. I love berets. I love Fair Isle. My vision was a contemporary take on a classic design -- my favorite way to knit. Perfect. One very long week, a numb hand, and some beautiful yet way-too tight and completely non-functional corrugated rib on size 0s later, I changed gears and let the characteristics of the yarn speak for themselves. I went up a few needles sizes, turned to garter and let the yarn do what the yarn wanted to do: drape.

The end result is a simple, yet effective, triangular kerchief (not quite "shawl" sized) in alternating stripes of two highly contrasting colorways. The increases are placed in a way -- as opposed to Jen's Landscape Shawl -- that creates a diagonal stripe as you go. In sharp contrast to my rock-hard corrugated rib, when washed, the yarn bloomed and grew and has really beautiful drape. (I am still determined to Fair Isle the yarn -- I am not sure what it will be, maybe an epic sweater, a hat on the right needles, or mittens, but I am sure there will be no corrugated rib or a size 0 in sight).

At Rosie's we spend a lot of our time helping customers finding the right yarn for the project at hand. It is always exciting when the match between pattern, personal taste, desired characteristics and end product comes together with the perfect yarn. Many variables come into play and it is important not just to look at recommended gauge, or name, and really look at the yarn itself, its behavior when knit and the properties that make it stand out as the right match for your needs. Everyone is different; if knitting socks out of either of these two yarns worked for you, then you have found the right match. If not, don't immediately dismiss either of them as vehicles for potentially beautiful handknits.

If you would like to knit the Landscape Shawl, come into Rosie's and we'll set you up. It is a classic, fail-safe and wonderful shawl pattern that is highly customizable to your desired finished measurements and yarn gauge and suitable for both beginner and highly experienced knitters. If you would like to knit my Silk Kerchief, you may download the free pattern below:


Enjoy!