Colchi Cast-on.

Our latest KAL started Friday with the cast-on. Three of us were there in person - and that means we cast on a whopping 1,035 stitches - WOW!

...after 2 hours of knitting...

That's mine in front, Kathy's on the right (she's using Venezia Worsted in a colorway that's going to look fabulous at the Masters in April!) and Jessica's in the back (she's using something in a light worsted weight from her stash).

If you're joining us virtually, be sure to read the details I posted here about reading the chart. And if you have any questions, feel free to leave them here, or in our forum on Ravelry. Looks like we've got great participation for this KAL - thank you to everyone for participating!

And special thanks to Beth for letting us know how to pronounce the pattern name. If you missed it on Ravelry, it's coal - ki - KAY - kI (i = little i sound, KAY = syllable that’s emphasized, and I = long i sound). So no "ch" sounds, just "k" sounds :-)

We'll be meeting again this Friday at the shop - 2-4pm (ish) if you'd like to join us in person. We'd love to have you!!

Even More Madelinetosh!

...as in 108 POUNDS of it! By the way, that is two UPS boxes that are about four feet by four feet by four feet - we're glad our UPS delivery person is a strong guy (cute too!) because we can't lift a box that big!

This latest order, which arrived just this past week, includes Vintage, Merino DK, Merino Light and more colors of Pashmina.

First up, the Vintage, 200 yards of 100% superwash merino in a worsted weight (18-20 stitches over 4 inches).

a few colorways of Vintage up close

This yarn is great for accessory projects - our very own Kathy knit up these Susie's Reading Mitts in just one day! - because you can get a hat or a pair of mitts out of one skein. And it's washable!

But of course I love it for sweaters. It would be perfect for the February Lady Sweater, or Cassis (next up in my queue, in the Composition Book Gray colorway), or the Creature Comforts Cardigan.

Creature Comforts Cardi - seriously LOVE the back of this!

...and a few more colors up close

Then the Merino DK, another 100% superwash merino, single ply, 225 yards per skein that knits up to 20-22 stitches over 4 inches. The colors are - as you'd expect - simply gorgeous; and the single ply makes it super soft. Again...great for accessories - one skein would make a lucious cowl - and sweaters. I just added this one (Hooray Cardigan-> ) to my queue!

Merino DK

The Merino Light is also 100% superwash merino, single ply, but it's 440 yards of fingering weight. Yes, it screams "make me into a shawl" :-) and with that generous yardage, it would be perfect for just about any of those super-popular lace projects.

Merino Light

I've written about Pashmina before (and again!) but now we have more colors. Pretty isn't it?

Pashmina

I'm knitting the Fall Away Cardigan with the Cove colorway and I am loving it. The yarn is just yummy and the colors. oh my. (you can read more about my love affair with this project here).

Happy Knitting! ...and Happy Friday - a cold wet day like today seems perfect for knitting, doesn't it?

A Colchi Swatch.

As promised! I've selected a pretty dusty purple shade (#107-rhubarb) of Sublime Aran for my Colchi (even though I've finally learned to type its full name, I have no idea how to pronounce it, so for now this is going to be Colchi, which I say as "kol-chee" :-) The finished projects on Ravelry that used worsted weight used about 440 yards - the Sublime has 94 yards per skein so I bought five.

For this swatch, I decided to test out the first section of the chart. I cast on 25 stitches, using the knitted cast on (remember back when we did the Annis shawlette, we needed a very stretchy cast on and that was the one we suggested) and a size 8 needle. I then worked one repeat of the chart through row 18. I like the fabric and love the texture in the pattern. I think I'm going to use a size 9 needle for the "real" cast-on just to be sure I have a stretchy enough edge for blocking out the points. Also, I am not planning to knit or purl back a plain row after the cast-on, before starting the chart - we did that on Annis, but I like the look of the lace starting right away on this swatch. I do need to remember to switch back to my size 8 needles for the first row (if you're there on Friday, please remind me!)

A few notes about the chart. Because we're knitting flat, we read the odd rows (right side) from right to left, and the even rows (wrong side) from left to right. The chart symbols (at the bottom of the first page) for the empty square and the square with the dash are only shown for right side rows. An empty square is stockinette - it gets knitted on the right side and purled on the wrong side. A square with a dash is the opposite - it's purled on the right side and knitted on the wrong side. Note that the two edge stitches are worked in garter stitch - knitted on every row; they have empty squares (knit stitches) on the right side and dashed squares (knit stitches) on the wrong side. There is also a "cdd" = "central double decrease", which gets worked over 3 stitches: slip 2 together knitwise, knit one, pass the 2 slipped stitches over. Here's a video to demostrate.

We'll be casting on at the shop this Friday afternoon. 345 stitches might take the whole two hours!

Please let me know if you have any questions. We've had a great response in the Ravelry forum about this project - hope it continues!

Seasonal Thoughts.

I'm in Florida right now, visiting my parents, and it's a balmy 58 degrees outside (and yes, that's at 7 am); they're forecasting a high today in the upper 60's. And my Google homepage shows Roswell with a low of 25 and a high of 40 and those little white dots that mean snow flurries. So while I have spring here, I know it's still winter at home.

And I think it fits perfectly to share ideas for knitting winter....


Dave's Montera Set

 Dave's Montera Set is the latest free pattern from Classic Elite's newsletter. It includes mittens and a hat sized for both women and men, knit in a textured stitch pattern that works great in one or two colors. The suggested yarn is a 50 wool/50 alpaca blend at 4 st/in. Cascade Pastaza would be perfect - and comes in about a hundred colors (and it's reasonably priced - you could make the set with two skeins for around $20).

...and spring.

photo from silberfee on flickr

This is the Colchicaceae shawlette and it's going to be our next KAL. It's a free pattern on Ravelry (). The pattern suggests about 380 yards of DK weight yarn, but there are also beautiful projects knit in worsted weight (like this one in my favorite Venezia Worsted) and sport weight (this one in madelinetosh Pashmina is stunning!) as well. In a bright color and a yarn with some silk (and of course a cute white t-shirt!) this screams SPRING to me. We're going to start the KAL next Friday, February 4. And with any luck, by the time we've finished, we'll have some warmer weather!

I'll be back early next week with yarn suggestions and a gauge swatch. If you're planning to knit with us in person, it's 2-4pm at the shop. But we welcome virtual participation as well - feel free to participate in our Ravelry forum, or on Facebook.

Stay warm and happy knitting/stitching!!

edited to add (in response to Lydia's question in the comments): Ravelry has finished photos of three finished shawls knit in fingering weight yarn. All three report to use close to 500 yards and one used a size 4 needle (the other two don't mention the needle size).

More Madelinetosh.

In my last post, I showed you the recently arrived Madelinetosh Sock. But I later learned I'd showed you only half the colors - yep, Theresa ordered 24 colors of Sock, not "just" 12!! Here's the other half. and a close-up of the gorgeous gray and pinky purple on the bottom row:

One of the great things about getting Madelinetosh at the shop, where you can see (and touch!) the yarn is that our shipments are all dyed at once. And Theresa always orders project quantities of the yarns. So if you want to make a sweater, say out of Pashmina

next up in my queue - the fall away cardigan in cove

or maybe out of DK

february lady sweater knit in kale

or Merino

tea leaves almost done knitting in olivia

or maybe even out of the Sock, you can buy skeins that match. And you probably won't have to alternate skeins (I hate alternating skeins!)

Happy New Year!

Wow, I can't believe it's 2011 already! December just flew by (like the rest of 2010) and I apologize for the long silence here. I overcommitted a bit on my holiday knitting and things like blogging took a back seat. I intend to do better this year - in both my overcommitting and the frequency of blog posts!

The shop is closed today but we'll be open tomorrow from 1-4pm (our regular hours) in case you need a knitting or stitching "fix". On the knitting front, we have several new yarns from Berocco, including the very popular Remix. And the first box of the Madelinetosh re-order, including 12 colors of Sock and 14 of Pashmina has arrived. I hadn't seen that many colors of those yarns except online - so I visited the shop on Thursday to see them in real life. I wasn't disappointed! and as good as photographs are, believe me, these yarns are even better in person.

First, here's the Sock. One long skinny photo to show off all the colors....


a close up of the blues and golds on the top row



and then a close up of the grays on the bottom row... I tend to think this yarn is too nice for socks, but wow, wouldn't these colors look wonderful on a man's foot?

and a portrait of my absolute favorite colorway




and then the Pashmina - the long, skinny photo that shows all the colors.... 

a close-up of the 2nd row

and the 3rd...

Wishing everyone the best for 2011! Hope to see you soon... and until then, happy knitting/stitching!!

Holiday Decorations.

In case you haven't seen the shop's holiday decorations - or even if you have and you're just as smitten as I am  - I wanted to share a few of my favorite holiday views.

a very festive welcome

the tree in the entry way

deocorated with birds and snowmen

hanging balls

...favorites until yesterday, when Greer, who won the $100 gift certificate from the Open House drawing, came to claim her prize. and her wonderful smile completely lit up our tree. Congratulations, Greer! (and to all the winners - check out our Facebook page for the complete list)

my new favorite photo of our holiday decor!