An Eye Candy Tour.

Yes, consider yourself warned. This post is full of pretty photos guaranteed to tempt and hopefully to inspire. But no worries, I promise this is a calorie-free treat!

First, on the wall behind the yellow table, our just-arrived shipment of Treenway Silks Kiku, a silk laceweight in a generous 100 gram/1,100 yard put-up. We have two color collections of seven colors each, plus two neutrals. The great thing about the color collections is mixing and matching for multi-color projects like Color Affection . The 100 gram skein has enough yards to be a Main, Contrast 1 and Contrast 2 color.  All you need to do is find two friends to join you; everyone chooses a different color and you'll end up with three different shawls. Of course the company and encouragement of friends will be helpful for the knitting, too; the laceweight version of the pattern is a lot of stitches!

collection one is on the left and collection two is on the right

these are the two neutrals; that cream would make a lovely wedding shawl or even a veil

Next on our tour is the back wall, now stocked with Shibui, Swan's Island and Manos. We've added new yarns across all three brands and have lots of different weights and fiber combinations.

And now the side wall behind the sales counter. No longer the "Cascade Wall", it's now full of Malabrigo! I am so happy we have a place to show these yarns hanging.

Because really, you need to see them displayed like this to really see them!

And yes, we have a full shipment of Rasta ready to be knit into cowls for holiday gifts.

The final stop on the tour is the area formerly known as the Library. There are a few patterns left, but mostly it's now full of Habu and Shibui fingering, with sample knits to show off the different fibers. 

Funny, as I look over this post, I realize I should've also thought to take a photo of the interior... no worries, it's still chock full of yarn, too!

Hope everyone gets to visit us soon so you can see it all in person. Happy Knitting!

Eye Candy.

The Knitter's Edition.

the front table, stacked high with Habu merino, silk stainless, bamboo, kits, ...

the table to the left of the front entrance, stacked high with Habu cotton gima and tsumugi silk.

If you've been thinking about knitting with Habu (or really, even if you haven't!), this is the time to do it! I'm delighted to see Habu's Tsumugi Silk leading the poll to knit Kozue:

have you voted yet? (the poll is on the sidebar to the right)

And today someone bought three cones of the silk to knit her second Color Affection shawl. (She's going to follow the lace version stitch/repeats and use a size 4 needle). I can't wait to see how it knits up!

If you're wondering what happened to all the bright cotton that was up front...it's now making a bold statement in the kids' hall.

...as always, you really need to see it in person to appreciate it fully. We hope to see you soon!

Color Affection Starts Tomorrow!

That's right - our Color Affection KAL starts tomorrow - Friday, July 6th, 2pm-ish. And judging from the diminished piles of Madelinetosh Sock, Madelinetosh Light and Malabrigo Sock stacked on the shelves, we think this is going to be a popular one!  (you might want to arrive early for one of those coveted seats around the yellow table :-)

One of the (very many!! in my humble opinion!) advantages to a knit-along is sharing tips and techniques. Based on my review of projects on Ravelry (oh my, more than 4,200?!!!), talking to folks who have knit this, and my own experience with garter stitch and short rows, I have just a few thoughts to share. Of course once we actually get into the knitting, I'm sure we'll have more.

First, many have asked about needle size and swatching. The pattern suggests a size 6 for the fingering weight size. I usually like a size 6 or size 7 needle for fingering weight shawls, so a 6 seems fine. And no, I'm not going to swatch - but if I were worried about having enough yarn, or if I thought I was a loose or tight knitter...I would.

Second, the most prevalent modification I saw on all those project pages was about the edge. And making it looser by adding a YO between the first two (knit) stitches on every row, and then dropping it on the next row (or some variation thereof, but the one I just described is by far the easiest!). If you want your finished shawl to have a crescent shape at the edge, I would knit the pattern as written. But, if - like me - you'd like to block that edge into a straight line, I suggest the modification. Yes, I'm going to do this.

Third, twisting the two (and then three) colorways along the edge so it's pretty. This photo tutorial shows the method I plan to use. It adds one more twist to the color change than I usually do (which is what Jared Flood described in his ever-so-popular Noro Striped Scarf).

and Fourth (and finally), a reminder that short rows in garter stitch are easy. You just wrap & turn (think "move the stitch, move the yarn, move the stitch") and you're done! I also suggest hanging a locking stitch marker around that wrapped stitch (or placing it on the needle just before or after that stitch) so you can easily find it knitting back...and know where to start counting for your next wrap & turn.

...off to wind my yarn and cast on. Writing this post has made me lose whatever self-control I had about waiting til tomorrow to start!!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Color Affection.

Have you been bitten by the bug? As of this writing, over 15,000 people have favorited the pattern and there are over 3,600 projects on Ravelry. Yes, it's Color Affection ,  a crescent shaped shawl, knit in three colors with short-row shaping (and remember garter stitch short rows are wrapped and turned, but not picked up!)

© Veera Välimäki

It's also known as Color Affliction, or Color Addiction...and it's going to be our next knit-along.

We helped Melody choose her colors and a few weeks ago we saw her finished shawl; it's stunning. Deanna's too!

I guess it's amazing we held off this long, but all that garter stitch seems like the perfect project to follow all of Bandit's stockinette. Of course it's even better that we have a new shipment of Malabrigo Sock and plenty of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light and Sock.

Doing a bit of research on Ravelry, I saw a lovely version in Kidsilk Haze, which makes me think Shibui's Merino Silk would be fabulous, too.

No rush to decide on your colors; we're still knitting Bandit and won't be starting this new KAL until July 6.

Hope you'll make plans to join us... and let us help you pick the colors. That's the fun part!

Tosh Merino Light in Composition Book Gray, Terra and Moss

Tosh Sock in Vanilla Bean, Clematis and Composition Book Gray