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!

New Project of the Month

You probably just recieved our August newsletter in your inbox (and those of you who haven't should visit our homepage to sign up!) and saw this cute capelet designed by DC Boyd.
It uses 4, 5 or 6 balls of Rowan 4-Ply Cotton for sizes to fit bust 32-36, 38-42 and 44-48. It's knit from the top down with a garter stitch yoke. The sleeves are placed on holders and a Trellis Lace pattern (only a 4 row repeat) is worked to the waist. There is a nice, dense picot bind-off for the sleeves which creates a ruffled cap sleeve effect. Simple, cute--and perfect for the Ravelympics! Wendy has organized "Team Rosie's" for the Ravelympics. If you are on Ravelry.com visit our group for more instructions. Wendy has promised a full blog post with all the details in the coming days, so get ready for the opening ceremonies!

New Books and a New Look From Classic Elite

We received our new Classic Elite shipment, and while Kate is working on photographing all the yarns and colors for our website I thought I would give you a preview of what Pam Allen and her design team had been up to!

Each book had lots of patterns for all of their great yarns. The yarns we just got are the brand new Silky Alpaca Lace (which we do have online here); Fresco, which is a wool, baby alpaca and ANGORA blend at 6.5 sts per inch, perfect for all your Bohus knitting needs and just an all around great and innovative blend. Good job guys!

Also, we have new colors of last years favorites: Aspen, the super bulky single ply alpaca blend; Wool Bam Boo, which many people used for the Yoke Cardigan (ravel it!) from last year's pattern book.

I can't get enough of Alpaca Stories, above. This book is phenomenal. When I started knitting seriously in the 90's Classic Elite patterns were definitely a "go-to" for anything sweater related. Then, I don't know...other pattern companies grew, knitting on the internet became a thing...I just stopped going straight to the Classic Elite binders. Now, wow. They have been working out their new vision since Pam Allen took over as creative director and this is the book, in my humble opinion, that really proved it to me. Great style, great design, great layout, great photography, all of it.

And thank you Classic Elite for Curvy Knits! This is a compilation of the best of this year's designs sized with our curves in mind. I am so happy that a yarn company has realized that you can't just keep making the proportions bigger and bigger and say that you do "plus sizes." It just doesn't work that way. Jillian Moreno has used same principles she used in Big Girl Knits to make sweaters to fit any shape. Way to go!

Stop in and check out the great patterns inside and see (and feel!) all the new yarns from our old friends, Classic Elite.

New Manos Colors

The new colors of Manos Silk Blend and Clasica Multi's arrived this morning. I think that the Silk Blend colors are a nice balance for the cheery brights of last season, and it makes a wonderful cohesive palette. There are some good neutrals like Natural, Black, Coffee and Briar (a darker version of the wildly popular color Dove), perfect for blending with the brights like Henna, Citric and Topaz from last season. Think Fair Isle mittens or sweaters for this winter!

Natural

Briar

Coffee

Rust

Bing Cherry

Midnight

Black

Olivewood

Lava

Mermaid is a beautiful new wool multi that would look great as My So-Called Scarf. The colors are cool, but reminiscent of our favorite, Wildflowers. The colors are cool, shimmery and woodsy.

122 Mermaid

And Cornucopia is a great fall color! I have heard that someone actually sent a shipment of fall squashes from New England to Uruguay last year to get the colors to reflect our beautiful autumnal tones.

121 Cornucopia

These colors are now available in the shop and online. The new books are coming soon...
We'll keep you posted!

New Vogue Knitting Has Arrived!

I stopped in to the shop today to drop off all the new Manos colors (more on that tomorrow!) and the new issue of Vogue was waiting for me.

And this is a truly great issue. Trisha Malcolm has really got a bead on what is going on in the knitting world, and it shows. The cover mittens are knit with Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift, one of my all time favorite yarns, in a complex cable pattern. No dumbing down here!
Then these Manos Mittens, in a cheery color perfect for the winter blahs:

These are knit in a lattice cable and bobble pattern using two skeins of Wool Clasica in the color Straw (Z). In addition to these two pairs of mittens, there's a whole mitten spread! There are some cute ones done in Louet Gems fingering, which we have here at the shop, in a fair isle pattern with little birds, really adorable. There's also an article celebrating 50 years of Schoolhouse Press and a great article about Ravelry.com and one all about our northern knitting neighbors, those fabulous Canadians! I know what my bedtime reading is going to be!

Rosie's Featured Yarn of The Week!

As we sit down to discuss what yarn we want to feature in the upcoming Yarn of The Week, inevitably we bring up one of the many gorgeous and varied yarns we carry that embody "green" characteristics. As a result, an earth friendly theme has permeated our choices for this summer's featured yarns. This week is no exception!

This week we are proud to feature Lorna's Laces Green Line DK. Green Line DK is a 100% certifiably grown and spun merino that is happy anywhere between 5-6 sts/inch. Hand-dyed in soft deep subtly shaded solids, it would make a beautiful garment for babies or adults. The minute we got the Knit.1 Summer 2008 Green Issue a few months back, everyone in the shop wanted to knit the featured cardigan on the cover, designed by Nicky Epstein:

As "green" ideals have permeated our daily life, the misconception that organic and earth friendly products and styles are "hippie dippie" or lack bright colors and soft fabrics has (slowly but surely) gone by the wayside. Green Line DK is no exception to this -- check out the mix of earth tones and brights featured in the incredibly soft line:

Surprise surprise -- my favorite is definitely Mirth! I could see it working beautifully in a striped cardi paired with Echo and some large vintage buttons.

The specs:


Browse online or come on in to the (air conditioned!) shop and check it out!

Coming up for Air

There is always something exciting about late July-Early August at a yarn store: while many are trying to keep cool -- especially during this heat wave we have been experiencing in Philly -- we have been receiving packages filled with yarns for the chilly fall and winter months. Most of what we unpacked was all the more exciting as they were yarns new to the store -- either brand new for Fall 08, or gems we once overlooked but now will happily make rooms for on the shelves.

We received new colors of Kureyon Sock to go along with our already popular collection (highly recommended for shawls!)


And 5 colors of the irresistible Silk Garden Sock (and are highly anticipating more to come soon!) -- I immediately cast on for a Fair Isle beret but could also see it work really well in a lace shawl asking for a lot of drape. What about a subtly striped version of the Vladivostock Stole designed by Courtney?


A new beauty from Classic Elite is Silky Alpaca Lace, 70% alpaca 30% silk (!) a gorgeous laceweight yarn that comes in a 50g/460 yard ball. We were lucky to receive 6 colors this week, and anticipate more asap.


A yarn we are particularly excited about is Sublime Yarns Cashmere Merino Silk Aran. We have been trying to come up with a better blend than 75% extra fine merino, 20% silk and 5% cashmere, but just can't think of anything. Knit yourself a sweater, a cute striped pullover for your niece or nephew, or a set of accessories for your best friend. Here is a smattering of the almost 20 colors we received:


Another yarn we just had to get was Ella Rae Bamboo Silk. A luxurious blend of 70% bamboo, 30% silk, rich jeweltones and a classic worsted weight, we couldn't find a reason to say no! It is hard to describe the drape and sheen of this yarn, so come on in and check it out for yourself.


With Rowan, Artyarns, Koigu, Berroco, The Fibre Company and more on the way, we're starting to place bets on what goodies will arrive next week!

Rosie's Featured Yarn of The Week!

Continuing with our Earth friendly theme, we are proud to feature Vermont Organic Fiber Company's O-Wool Balance for our yarn of the week this week. (Hey, Yarn of the Week needed a 4th of July vacation, too! We hope you enjoyed the extra days with Pure Life Cotton).


Vermont Organic Fiber Company, established in 2000, has quickly become a world leader in creating beautiful and high quality organic yarns and products. (Check out their website for more info about the other products they offer!)

Balance is a 50/50 blend of certifiably organic merino and cotton. It is dyed and spun to create a slight tweed like effect and has a soft, light hand and feel. We currently carry Balance in 10 summery colors:
A worsted weight yarn at perfect for a breezy cardigan, heirloom baby garment or other lighter weight project, Balance is an incredibly versatile yarn. Beautiful in a drapey lace stitch, as a modern Fair Isle garment or in cables, it is perfect for all your summer project knitting.

Yarn Specs:
50% Certified Organic Merino and 50% Certified Organic Cotton
19-21 sts = 4" on US size 5-7
130 yards per 50g ball
Yarn of the week price: $6.75/skein!

Come on in to Rosie's to check it out, or order online here.

It's Christmas in July!

Or Hanukah or Kwanza'a.

Make your December holidays less stressful and more about spending time with friends and family (oh, is that what they're supposed to be about?!) by making your gift list now. We all end up spending the last few moments before the family get together running around the mall like maniacs wondering if Aunt Jess would like Strawberry Punch Sparkle Body Lotion (my guess is she would not) or if Uncle George actually cares if he only gets a card this year. And for the chronic procrastinators among us--myself included--getting a head start is not a bad idea. My thinking is that even if I only get one of Max's mittens done by August they are at least 50% done when I lock myself in the bathroom trying to finish the other one at 6 am Christmas morning. 50% done is better than nothing at all.

Here's the scoop:

•We'll take 20% off any yarn you need for your winter gift projects.
So bring a list and be prepared to say, "These socks are for Uncle
Bob! This scarf will be for Mom! I'm felting a bag for my sister!"
It's that simple. (This works on the honor system – we may draw the
line at lists with "Every member of my family has requested Sea Silk tunics.")
Having trouble generating ideas while the temperature outside is 102º?
Don't worry, there will be plenty of staff suggestions to get you rolling. Remember, small gift projects are perfect take-alongs for
vacation knitting.

Sale Dates: Now until July 31st.

Kate's Edelweiss Mittens

Ever since traveling to Switzerland last spring, I have had a little obsession with all things Edelweiss. I was able to quench my thirst a bit last winter with a bright red jacket adorned with Edelweiss ribbon. Without the perfect pair of matching mittens, though, the outfit was woefully incomplete.

Enter a few skeins of O-Wool, some quality time with Excel, every Latvian, Estonian and Folk book we carry in the store (well, not every -- I couldn't carry over 25 books home on the train!) for inspiration and the end result are the Edelweiss Mittens. Knit with an extra long cuff, they are a perfect armwarmer and mitten combination. If a shorter mitt is what you're after, the length is easily customizable to your knitting preference.

The mittens employ 2 and 3 color Fair Isle techniques, knitting, purling, the ability to read charts, increasing and decreasing. The perfect summer project, they are portable, soft, small enough to fit into a beach bag or purse.

If you, too, would like some Edelweiss in your life, download the free pattern here:

The Edelweiss mitten pattern features O-Wool Classic 2-ply. It is a wonderful yarn that comes in an array of gorgeous "off" tones and is certifiably organically grown. The fingering weight feels slightly "in the grease", yet still incredibly soft to the touch in the skein and blooms and softens even more when washed. The tightly spun 2-ply construction gives it strength and stitch definition -- perfect for Fair Isle work -- and would also work well as heirloom baby gifts or other projects made to be worn next to the skin. It comes highly recommended by us at the shop, but is not the only yarn that would work for these mittens. We have at least 14 other yarns that you could use as a substitute. (14!)

If softness is what you want, why not try Pear Tree 4 ply Merino? Or, if you are looking for a more traditional yarn we have Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift or Rowan Scottish Tweed 4-Ply, both a little more rustic and tweedier with a slightly looser twist. If a classic yarn is what you're after but you want a solid color, Baby Ull would work like a charm. New to Rosies (and something we are super excited about!) is Rauma Wool - Gammelserie, Finnullgarn and Lammullgarn. (More on those asap!)

If you are looking for a more modern yarn, we carry Louet Gems, Rowan 4-ply soft, Rowan Cashsoft 4ply and Reynolds Soft Sea Wool. All four yarns come in a wide array of solid colors enabling you to create a bold or subtle combination, depending on your preference. Nature's Palette Fingering, Arucania Ranco and Koigu KPM are all great hand and kettle dyed yarns with subtle shading that would add an additional pop to your work.

Would you hold a hot beverage while wearing wool mittens in the summer?

Come on in, pick out your perfect color combination and knit away! Enjoy! - Kate

It's a Puzzlement

Well before my nephew was born (in February), I began a baby blanket for him: Rambling Rows, in Koigu. I blithely followed the yarn-requirement guidelines posted on the office wall, which represented the accumulated wisdom (or so I thought) of many knitters before me: 1 sk of Color A, the color that only appears in the four large squares near the center; two skeins each of B, C, D, and E; one skein for the border.

Knitting proceeded apace. It was . . . let's say it was intermittent. In my defense, I'd like to point out that, since I began the blanket, I've also cast on and completed a Swallowtail shawl, a cardigan from Rowan Studio, a Manos jacket, a Manos Silk Blend shawl, a Manos afghan, a felted Moebius basket, a pair of felted baby booties, a baby hat with a flower on it, another Manos jacket, plus sundry bits and swatches.

So what with one thing and another, blanket progress was a little slow. But a few weeks ago I got back into it and was making good progress -- once I was past square #40 (out of a total of 55), I really felt like it was the home stretch. Then, this happened:



Near the end of the last big block of Color A, I ran out of yarn.

I went digging in the ol' stash to see if there was another skein of the same stuff, and I found 3 contenders. But when I started to check the tags, I got stuck: the three full skeins in the photo aren't all the same color (let alone the same lot), and none of them matches any of the tags I've got in the bag with the blanket.

Here's what I know: two of the full skeins are P518, and one is 113. My labels are 1030, 3005, 820, 407, and 509. I can eliminate 1030 and 3005 because they're solids (KPM rather than KPPPM), and I know 509 is the bright yellow-green because I've got a skein with a label still on it.

What would you do? Go with one of the new skeins (knowing it's the wrong color, and that the difference will probably be more obvious when it's knit up)? Keep trying to find out whether the original A was 820 or 407, and hunt for more of that? Rip the partial block, so that it's a different color from the other 3 but at least the same color all the way through? Something else?

I'm beginning to feel a sense of pressure about this: that baby isn't getting any smaller. Help!