Aloft! Oh, just wait until you see what I have in mind!
by on February 23, 2011

I love the Belinda Shawl from Kay Gardiner & Ann Shayne’s second book, Mason-Dixon Knitting Ourtside the Lines.  It is incredibly simple in design but the result will be so elegant.

When we received our samples of Aloft, we all started thinking about what we would like to knit with the gossamer soft strands of super kid mohair and silk. Watching the two open-work layers of the Belinda shawl move past each other would be mesmorizing but add in the glint of silk and the warm softness of the mohair and I think this will be a delight to knit and wear.

Look at the colors I’ve chosen.

Tarragon was a no brainer since it is the sort of warm green I enjoy wearing. I put several second color options next to it but it wasn’t until I held up the Eggplant that I knew I had found my combination. All I need to do is grab a pair of Harmony needle tips and a 32″ cable. The sharp point will make it easy to work with the fine yarn.

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Tags: Fun, Inspiration, Yarn


Entrelac: The Essential Guide to Interlace Knitting Giveaway!
by on February 23, 2011

This contest is now closed.  Thank you so much to everyone who participated!  To find out who won, click here.

 

That’s right, folks…we have another book contest! And if you have never done entrelac knitting, you should really
give it a try! It can look intimidating at first, but you will be a pro in no
time with Rosemary Drysdale’s book, Entrelac: The Essential Guide to Interlace
Knittng. It can be a fun and rewarding technique that not only looks
complicated and fancy, but is so versatile at the same time.

The book begins with Rosemary leading you through
every step
of the way in understanding the concepts and techniques used for
entrelac knitting. Using modular triangles and squares, you can create
really stunning
and interesting pieces using cables, lace or colorwork. One of my
favorite things about this book is the entrelac
stitch dictionary that highlights over 60 different stitch patterns!
Once you understand the concepts behind entrelac knitting, this stitch
dictionary makes a wonderful resource that allows you to create your
very own
designs with confidence.

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Tags: Books, Contest, Fun, News


The Chroma love affair continues
by on February 21, 2011

With a second ball of Chroma in my stash, I went exploring for a nice pattern that could take advantage of the generous yardage of Chroma Fingering weight.

This Gentle Reversible Shawl by Diana Troldahl has a lovely surprise in the instructions. Diana explains how to determine the equal division of whatever yarn you want to use. Then she also tells you how to adapt that knowledge to knitting her shawl. Absolutely brilliant!

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Tags: Inspiration, News, Yarn


Have you seen Aloft?!?!
by on February 21, 2011

Let me show it to you…

Can you believe how beautiful it is?  Aloft
is a blend of 75% mohair and 25% silk and it will leave you wanting to
knit with it over and over again.  The silk adds a radiant core that
shimmers and shines through the soft halo of mohair, all the while
adding a beautiful drape and texture to any project. Our team fell
head-over-heals in love with the line the moment we first saw the
sample.  The Knit Picks Director – Alison – couldn’t keep us out of her
office because we all wanted to keep touching it! It’s just so yummy!

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Tags: New Products, News, Yarn


Winners of the Knit. Sock. Love. Contest!
by on February 21, 2011

Thank you to everyone who participated in this giveaway!  We had some
really fun comments and everyone seemed really inspired by all of the sock love thanks to Cookie A’s wonderful designs. 
Unfortunately, we were only able to pick three winners.  To select our
winners, we used a random number generator that chose our winners based on the number of their comment. 
Our winners!
#22 – Julie H.
I would love this book!

#566 – Debby
I think her socks are amazing and I would love to win this book! Thanks for the opportunity to try to win.

#1306 – Nicole I.
I LOVE Cookie’s socks, the patterns are written so well that it feels
almost like I am getting a lesson on sock knitting! I chose one of her
patterns for my first socks actually, and saw it through to completion
with total success. This book features a drop dead beautiful collection
and it would find a loving home …

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Tags: Contest, Fun, News


Knit. Sock. Love. Giveaway!
by on February 21, 2011

This contest is now closed.  Thank you so much to everyone who participated!  To find out who won, click here.

Socks are wonderful for so many reasons. They are small and portable,
they are an excuse to try out new techniques and you get to use crazy
colors that you wouldn’t normally pick out for your knitting! If you are
a sock knitter, I am sure you are well aware of sock designer
extraordinaire Cookie A. In honor of our love for socks and Valentine’s
Day, we are giving away 3 copies of Knit. Sock. Love. 

Cookie A. has once again filled another sock book to the brim with
interesting textures, shapes and designs – all of which are set against
gorgeous photography that is bright, playful and just plain fun.

Right
away, my eye was drawn to the section of the book devoted to the
diagonals. I just love how these lines seemingly go against and cut
right through the vertical sensibility of socks. At first glance, the
diagonal bands that meander over and across the socks may leave you with
a feeling of “how’d they do that?” but these are the kinds of questions
and design elements that are explored in Knit. Sock. Love.

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Podcast Episode 153: Entrelac-tastic!
by on February 17, 2011

Alison interviews Rosemary Drysdale, author of Entrelac: The Essential Guide to Interlace Knitting. Hear Alison and Kerin chat about designing with entrelac, how to use this technique as well as handy tips and tricks. Stacey interviews IDP designer Michele Bernstein about how she got her start designing and the inspiration behind her Lacy Entrelac Infinity Scarf.
Books Reviewed
Alison reviews the book Entrée to Entrelac by Gwen Bortner.
 
3 easy ways to listen…
Subscribe in iTunes Episode 153: Entrelac-tastic! RSS feed
 
 

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Tags: Podcast


Bathroom makeover – crochet bathmat
by on February 16, 2011

My husband Dan and I bought our first house last year at the end of February, and the upcoming anniversary of our move has prompted a rash of home improvement fixes of the “What do you mean, you never finished the (insert project name here)?” type.

Our bathroom needed major work when we moved in: new flooring, new
shower surround tile, new drywall, new paint, new cupboards. We’ve been
working on it in fits and starts, but in the last two or three months
we’ve finally gotten to the point where we could start thinking of
comfort or style instead of just function. I found a cotton voile print that I really liked and put it up over the existing linen curtain as a temporary fix, but ended up liking it so much that I wanted to pull the colors into the rest of the room.

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Tags: crochet, Finished Objects


Sockhead Hat
by on February 15, 2011

I’ve been trying to actually use my handspun instead of, well, hoarding it in bins. I tend to treat my handspun as a finished project instead of like yarn to be knit (or crocheted, or woven), and it’s starting to overtake my craft room.

This yarn was one of my very first handspun skeins. I had some undyed superwash merino roving that I had gotten from a friend, and I tried dyeing it using the instructions I found on the Yarn Harlot’s blog. I was nervous about the roving floating apart and the colors mixing into a muddle, so I chose these instructions because they involved stuffing the roving into pantyhose in order to keep it from moving around in the pot. I used squeeze bottles filled with Jacquard dye solution to paint the roving (right through the old pantyhose), wrapped the weird sausages in plastic wrap, then steamed them over boiling water.

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Tags: Finished Objects, spinning


Yarn in progress
by on February 11, 2011

I’ve been dyeing a ton of fiber lately! I think it’s because the weather has been so cold, dyeing just seems like a way to make Crafty Soup. 🙂

I’m a big fan of our Bare Wool of the Andes fiber for a couple of reasons. First, it’s really easy to spin because the Peruvian wool is a little grippy and lets you control it easily. Next, it comes in 100g bundles which are the perfect size for the bobbins on my Kromski Polonaise – I know that one bundle will fill one bobbin perfectly. Finally, it’s really inexpensive so I can mess around in the dye pot and try strange and/or challenging blends of colors without worrying about being out a pile of cash.

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Tags: spinning


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