Roadtrip – TNNA!

So Jenny, Alisha, and I are all heading out to Phoenix AZ for TNNA!  This is a industry only trade show for retailers, wholesalers, designers, and other professionals in the needlearts community. You may remember our trip from last summer!

We are all very excited to be attending, getting to meet local yarn stores from all over the country that carry our needles, meeting with designers we work with & getting to look at all the new product being offered.  What I want to know is what sort of new products would you like us to carry?  We’ve been expanding our accessories & tools recently but we’re always on the lookout for new things to play with!

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Podcast Episode 177: Socks – The Perfect Travel Companion

Kelley talks about one of her favorite things – sock knitting!
Listen along as Kelley shares all of the reasons why socks make the perfect travel
companion. Kelley also offers words of advice and encouragement for those new to
sock knitting. Next, Kelley follows up her chat on socks with three wonderful book
reviews – The Knitter’s Book of Socks by Clara Parkes, Sock Knitting Master Class
by Ann Budd, and Socks a la Carte Colorwork by Jonelle Raffino and Katherine Cade.
Finally, Kelley catches you up on how her works in progress are coming along.
Books Reviewed:
The Knitter’s Book of Socks by Clara ParkesSock Knitting Master Class by Ann BuddSocks a la Carte Colorwork by Jonelle Raffino & Katherine Cade
 
3 easy ways to listen…
Subscribe in iTunes Episode 177: Socks - The Perfect Travel Companion RSS feed

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Kitten Mittens

When I first told my friend I wanted to knit Kitten Mittens, she assumed I meant mittens for kittens, not mittens that look like kittens! I’ve done my fair share of charity knitting, and I do like volunteering at the humane society, but even I draw the line at knitting teeny tiny mittens for little kitten paws. Can you imagine? The poor little cats would slip and slide all over the place!

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Warm up the Winter Blues with Color!

Anytime you are involved in a creative or visual craft, having a good understanding of color relationships is a foundation that you will appreciate over and over again. Color is all around us. It has the ability to affect our mood, it can make us feel energized, it can make us sleepy, it can make us hungry, and yes, it can even effect our knitting and crocheting. The study of color is complex and can sometimes feel overwhelming, but getting comfortable with the basics will empower you to create stunning sweaters, hats, mittens, and so much more.

As we embark on another year filled with fiber fun, we will be crafting through the seasons! During the next few months of cooler climates and dreary weather, we will be warming up our winter blues with projects, ideas, and inspiration that focus on shades of blue.

Here is a basic color wheel that includes the primary colors – yellow, blue, and red – along with secondary and tertiary colors. Although only twelve colors are show, it can go a long way in translating color relationships. More advanced color wheels also include a large range of these basic colors in different hues and shades.

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A flower of a different color

Wow, the response to the Viola Afghan
was much bigger than I expected! Some of you have been asking about
washable yarn substitutions for it, and I’ve been working on that for a
few days to get the colors right.

One benefit to our good ol’ workhorse Wool of the Andes
is that, since it’s really a ‘staple’ yarn, we can have an enormous
breadth of color. That makes it so versatile for designing – but not
machine washable! Finding a suitable substitute for Viola has proved to be quite a challenge. The palette of Swish has waxed and waned to a balanced, tight family, and Brava
is too new to have the expanded color range that it likely will see in
the future. The best option came in the wide range of purples in Shine. So, along with washability, Viola has had a drastic hue shift in this version!

Since the yardage on Shine is a little less than that of Wool of the Andes,
you’ll need a little more of each color, and each substituted color is
used in place of the original in every instance. So, here is a Shine-y, purple Viola!

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Felted slippers… perfect for these cold winter days!

When it gets cold outside, there’s nothing better than to snuggle
your feet in a cozy pair of felted slippers!  They are so toasty warm! I
have made many as gifts and for myself.  Wool of the Andes 
is the perfect yarn for these projects, and my preferred yarn of
choice. I used worsted weight for this project.  This last week I
finished a pair for a good friend of mine using the Fiber Trends Felted
Clogs pattern. (I love this pattern!) They have a double sole which
felts nice and thick. Before felting, these slippers look enormous!

prefelted clogs

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Resolutions

Earlier in the year, I wrote a post outlining my crazy goals for 2011. Well, 2011 is over – how did I do?

First of all – the total! I wanted to hit 100 knitted projects, plus
11 sewn projects to make a total of 111 in 2011. Did I make it?

Boy howdy, I sure did! 100 knitted projects, from cast on to bind
off, finished in 2011. To me, that’s really the biggest achievement,
considering how much else I’ve been working on. But, what were they?
Well, here you go!

(see them all after the jump!)

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Intarsia gone wild!

In the past I’ve shared different techniques that I’m learning.  I finally tried Fair Isle last summer, which I absolutely love!  Also, I shared that my grandson wants a lego hat. (that decision was after I convinced him he didn’t really want a skeleton hat!) After lots of research and asking all of you, I’ve decided there wasn’t a hat pattern out there that fit my idea of what the hat should look like.  So, as is so usual for me, I did things the hard way!!  I’ve created a pattern! But the only way to get the pattern to look the way I wanted it to look, was to do intarsia, a technique I had yet to learn!  The hat is not done, but it’s on its way! (I’ll blog later with the complete hat on my grandson).

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