Yarn Line Price Increases

As you already know, everything has been getting more expensive over the last year or two.  Gas prices have gone up, along with grocery bills and the cost of various services.  The fiber world hasn’t been immune to these global changes, unfortunately, and we’ve seen dramatic pricing increases in the cost of our raw materials and shipping since 2009.  We’ve been able to keep our pricing from increasing through the worst of the economic crisis, but wool and other fibers are staying at the higher prices and our new contracts reflect this.  
On January 4th, we will be increasing prices on wool/wool blend and alpaca/alpaca blend yarn lines.  Any lines introduced as new in 2011 already have their price increases built in, since their shipments came in at the new higher prices, and those 2011 new yarn lines will not be increasing on the 4th.  Discontinued yarn lines will not …

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The Last Minute Gift Freebie Friday

If you’re in a bind for a gift, nothing beats a couple of handknit washcloths with some nice soap!  I’ve given similar gifts to friends & family who have moved into a new house as well as for last minute Christmas gifts.  I always have some cotton laying around, since most washcloths take less than one skein of Dishie or Simply Cotton  If you’re in a pinch, the Knit Picks staff have several free patterns for you!

Jenny created this adorable Chomp Chomp washcloth:

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Iceland Wins!

So, In my post Fana, Faroe or Fair Isle?
I asked for your opinions on what my next project should be. After
reading through the comments, I realized that I was really captivated by
the Icelandic yoked pullovers that were suggested. Not only were the
geometric yoke patterns really interesting, but I realized as well that
it would be a perfect excuse to do a stranding project with more than
two colors in a round!

As soon as I got home on that Thursday, I wound up my yarn and cast on.

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A Cushy Freebie Friday

This time of year, I’m always reaching for my handknit wool socks, the thicker the better.  My poor feet get so cold!  I normally knit my socks out of fingering or sport weight yarn, but sometimes I just want something a little bit thicker.  Well today designer Audrey Knight shares with us her pattern for some nice thick socks.

These are her Cushy Chroma Socks!

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Gifts for the Interminably Picky

I have a few people in my life that aren’t keen on wearing crocheted goods and their objections vary quite a bit. Some think crocheting looks “hippie-ish”, others think it makes you look like a doily. Whatever the reason, it creates a problem for gift-giving. Since I’m still warming-up my skills after years of disuse, I generally stick to giving simple hats and scarves; they require very little resources and, more importantly, tend to actually go into use. I say this with very, very great displeasure: No one has ever used any of the potholders I’ve crocheted for holding a hot item. So, if I don’t want to give what’s tantamount to wall art, I turn to cozies.

Of course not all cozies are created equal; they range from the truly utilitarian to the truly ludicrous/endearing. For my purposes, I think a cell phone cover strikes a nice balance.

CellPhoneCover-withphone

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Finishing Tips for Fair Isle

You might have seen my post last week where I admitted that I have a horrible time starting the final finishing touches on almost any project I do. Yes, I know it isn’t hard and it really doesn’t take too long. I can’t explain it but once I bind off, my mind just classifies the project as done. Which is why I was thrilled when Kerin showed me a clever way of finishing yarn ends for fair isle projects!

This method is so simple, it makes me wonder why I hadn’t stumbled upon it before. Instead of painstakingly weaving in each yarn end from all of the color changes, simply make sure to leave a good length yarn for your ends and you will be able to braid them together! After you get to the end of your yarn strands, all you have to do is finish
it off by tying all the strands together in a knot and trim the ends. Brilliant! Kerin also mentioned that by braiding all of the longer yarn ends together, you can use those ends to easily mend any small holes or loose stitches that might occur throughout the life of your sweater.

So, for any knitters out there working on any fair isle gift knitting – check out our video on how to braid yarn ends to save yourself a bit of time (and sanity, in my case!).

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Birch Bay

Birch Bay is a very, very bright Layered Spinning Batt from Hanks in the Hood. I usually gravitate towards those cool, milky blues or soft, grassy greens like Hoquiam or Mercer Island. Not this time. Birch Bay
was calling to me like a hot coal, fresh from the fireplace. Really, in
the end I was mostly curious about how the colors would transition and
how that fiery red would look plied with the icy blue further inside the
batt.

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It’s a great time to give back.

Because I was raised with two skis practically attached to my feet,
winter is my absolute favorite time of year.  Any opportunity that I
have to play in the snow, I take it!  One unfortunate side-effect of me
being around snow is that the cheesy grin you see below is pretty well
perma-glued on my face the whole time.  There are worse things, I
suppose. 

Sadly for me, Portland’s winters are generally pretty chilly and
wet, but not the kind of wet that I like; the kind that comes down in
raindrops. We don’t get a ton of snow (except for that one year when we
did) but the air at night is absolutely bone chilling.  While not ideal
for a skier, the lack of snow is actually a really great thing. 
Portland, Oregon is home to approximately 20,000 homeless men, women and
children; approximately 13,000 of which do not have any place to go for
shelter at night. Obviously, homelessness is not just a concern in
Oregon.  A study done in 2009 reported that one in every 66 people
living in major US cities used a residential homeless program in the
subject year.

Before she retired two years ago…

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