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by Stacey on April 29, 2010
We are throwing ourselves a little party in Portland to celebrate our new spring yarns – and you’re invited! If you are in the Portland OR/Vancouver WA area on April 7th, please come join us at the Ecotrust building from 7-9 in downtown Portland! We are going to have samples of our new yarns available to play with (so bring your needles & hooks!). All attendees will be entered in a raffle for fun Knit Picks’ products (new yarns, kits, needles sets) and, while we won’t be selling products at the event, the first 200 guests will receive a coupon good for 10% off of their next online yarn purchase. We are also going to have a panel discussion with local area designers, moderated by Kelley! Plus you can meet all us crazy Knit Picks people in person! It’s going to be a lot of fun & we hope to ... |
Category Archives: Inspiration
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by Knit Picks Staff on April 29, 2010
Spring is here! It’s a gorgeous sunny spring day in the Pacific Northwest. The sun is shining, my flowers in my garden are still alive (I have a black thumb). I’m not even wearing a coat today! Speaking of flowers, have you seen our new spring kits that we introduced today? I’m excited about the Backyard Garden kit. I’m much better at knitting flowers than growing them, and these flowers will bloom all year! Kerin is both an amazing gardener and the designer of this kit, and all of the bugs and blooms in this kit are incredibly detailed and realistic looking. Each insect, leaf, or flower in this kit is quite small, only a few inches across, so you can knit a couple of them in an evening. It was really fun to think of things to embellish with the Backyard Garden kit. Headbands, wreaths, magnets, crib mobiles, ... |
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by Knit Picks Staff on April 29, 2010
I have a new design out! Introducing, the Tilt-a-Whirl Spiral Kit! (in Blue or Brown!) Spiral knitting is a simple trick that produces jog-less stripes which twist and spiral up the piece like a barber pole! It can be worked on DPNs or circular needles, and in this project is used for socks, fingerless mitts, and a slouchy beret. I got to use some of my favorite colors of Stroll Hand Paints in this kit, and the resulting pieces are lightweight, fun to knit, and easy to wear. Trying to name this kit was a challenge, but we all loved the fun colors so much, we decided to go with something that we had (mostly) fun memories of: |
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by Knit Picks Staff on April 29, 2010
We got an interesting call this week from a representative of a local park in Cape May, NJ. Since late February, a team of mystery knitters has been “attacking” the park by attaching swatches of knitted fabric to trees and lamp posts. You may have seen the story on Facebook, Twitter, or Ravelry, CBS picked up the story so it got a lot of media attention. Most of the town’s residents like the guerrilla knitters and don’t mind the addition the park’s landscape. If you haven’t seen photos of the park yet, you can see them on the CBS web site and get the whole story. The caller told me they know the identities of the “knit bombers”, but have decided not to release them, but the mayor and the town are supporting the knitters. They wanted to know if we wanted to partner on some events and if we had recommendations for ... |
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by Kelley on April 29, 2010
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Knittin’ Mittens KAL/class. It was just my second online class so I appreciated everyone’s enthusiasm and questions. What I really love is the idea that an online class doesn’t have to end! The videos and comments will stay up on the KAL page as long as there is interest. So if you have any knitting friends who want to give mittens a try, be sure to have them watch the video series! |
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by Alison on April 29, 2010
I’ve knit Dan a number of sweaters over the years, both pre- and post-marriage, and a few months ago I pulled the stack of not-worn-very-often knits out of his closet and had him put on a little fashion show for me. Let’s just say that I’ve learned quite a bit about sweater shaping and design over my knitting career, but (sadly) Dan’s sweaters came before all of that fancy knittin’ book learning. Too-tight necks, gaping collars, short sleeves, ridiculously long sleeves, too much/little ease, every major sweater disaster was present. So, time for a New Fancy Sweater for Dan! I love Norah Gaughan patterns, and she had just written a booklet of men’s sweater patterns that were perfect for Dan’s wardrobe: clean lines, detailed without being fussy, and interesting textures. Beagle has double moss stitch across the shoulders and these nice slightly-fancy ribs ... |
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by Knit Picks Staff on April 29, 2010
Naming this kit sent me into a spiraling downfall of tongue twisters! Super Speedy Stroll Sport Socks: I love to knit socks no matter what, but I love to wear hand knit socks, too, and sometimes the demand for hand knit socks in my household surpasses my ability to produce them! So I was really excited when we introduced our Stroll Sport yarn–it makes thicker warmer socks in a fraction of the time as fingering weight. In fact, when I was working on this pattern, I knit an entire sock (for my partner’s rather large foot!) in only a bit more time than it usually takes me to swatch! I wanted to highlight the quick-knit possibilities of this yarn, so I designed this pattern to be easy, intuitive, and modular, which means that once you get the hang of it, you can adjust it for any gauge and ... |
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by Kelley on April 29, 2010
Are you ready to knit the thumbs of your mittens? Here are the videos! |
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by Kelley on April 29, 2010
jwdrop! Congratulations! Kate will contact you to see what colors of Wool of the Andes you would like us to send to you! And, there will also be a copy of Knitted Gifts. |
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by Kelley on April 29, 2010
Just in case my monologue on Short Rows in Episode 134 of my podcast caught your interest, here are a couple of videos that I think will make Short Rows even more understandable. |
