Nina already blogged about our Little Bubbles Baby Set, but I thought I would share my experience photographing it on my 3 month old yesterday because it is so entertaining. We needed a modeled picture of the pinks set for banner ads, and the sample was knit in the 0-6 month size, so it was Alice’s big break into modeling. The sweater and hat fit her perfectly (the booties were a tad too small for her long feet), so I figured that the photos would be a piece of cake, assuming she didn’t spit up on the sweater. Wrong!
For every photo I took like this…

…I took nine like this…

…or this…

…or this:

Of course, from a parental perspective all of these are adorable, but the majority of …

Holly Lorenz! Congratulations Holly.
Holly is the winner of our “Give One Away” contest, where we asked people to tell their best story of giving away their finished knitted projects. All of the stories were posted in the “Give One Away” Knit along. We’ll contact Holly directly, get her mailing address, and send her a great gift basket filled with organic goodies, plus needles and yarn from Knit Picks.
Over 100 people voted, and Holly was the clear winner. There were six choices and Holly received over 50% of the votes.
Here is Holly’s story
6. Forty years ago I started an intricate aran pullover for my boyfriend. Relationship ended and when I finished the sweater I gave it to my father (despite the fact that the boyfriend was over 6 ft and my dad is barely 5 ‘7″.) This year he turned 90, and he has faithfully worn that same sweater to every …

Since we had such an amazing response to our first speed knitting contest, we’re cooking up another one. Lots of you also requested that we host one over a weekend when you have more time to knit, and we’re more than happy to oblige. Mark your calendars, ladies and gents, our next speed knitting contest will begin at 4pm Pacific time on June 12th, just in time for Knit In Public Day!!
I can’t tell you what we’re going to be knitting, but I can say that if you don’t have at least 10 balls of worsted weight cotton or cotton blend yarn in your stash, you might want to place an order now! Comfy Worsted, Shine Worsted,, and Simply Cotton Worsted are all good choices.
We will be knitting in the round, so make sure you’ve got your favorite DPNs or circulars ready to go.
If you’ve never knit in the round …

We had lovely sunny days over the long weekend but the evening were cool enough for me to enjoy my hot water bottle. I will have the pattern up in the next day or two. It knit up so quickly with City Tweed Heavy Worsted. I used Jacquard. <

What’s your wackiest “re-use?”
We all do it, right? We all have things around the house that we use in a creative way–a way that they weren’t meant to be used for. We may not have even thought about the fact that those “re-uses” are each a tiny step towards helping to keep the planet green.
I mean, is there a more creative group than knitters? We take yarn and turn it into everything from sweaters to dish cloths to baby toys. And knitting a reusable grocery tote just takes it to the next level of green-ness, reusable-ness and cool-ness.
To enter this contest we’re looking for your wackiest, most creative re-use. Post your contest entry in the Give One Away Knit Along. The winner will receive one of our quickly-becoming-famous organic gift baskets including chocolate, a candle, and of course Knit Picks yarn and needles.
We have a feeling that we’re all going …

I’ve just finished the decreasing and increasing of the waist shaping on my cardigan. I love being able to try on my sweater as I knit. I wanted to be sure that I accurately placed my knitting on my waist so I ran a strand of contrasting worsted weight yarn at the actual “waist”.

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Okay, I know a lot of you have probably knit dozens and dozens of sleeves in your time, so the fact that I finished one measly sleeve might not seem very newsworthy. But this is my first sweater! And I’ve finished my first sleeve! This feels like a major accomplishment. I’m one step closer to a whole sweater. Of course at the rate I’m going, I’ll be lucky to finish it by fall when the weather gets chilly again, but that’s okay.
Actually, it turned out knitting a sleeve wasn’t all that different from knitting my legwarmers (except that I’m double stranding Gloss Lace and adding in stripes of Bayou Shimmer instead of just using one strand of worsted weight yarn).
Legwarmer:

Sleeve!:

I’ve been getting lots of moral support from the Classic Lines Cardigan …

Now that the Gurumi Family kit has launched, we’ve added a video tutorial on how to work basic embroidery stitches (back stitch, satin stitch, and French knots) on your knitted fabric. You can use these stitches for much more than just the faces on amigurumi characters, though. For example, I recently finished knitting a sweater vest in WotA Persimmon Heather and I’m using scraps of WotA Kettle Dyed in Timber to add embroidery details around the neckline and at the back shoulder. <

Woke up this morning in one of my hibernating moods. I just want to stay home and knit all day long! I’ve turned the heel on my second Lindsay sock and am moving along nicely down the foot.
I need to put my Classic Lines Cardigan back on the needles. On Friday I had put it on a scrap piece of yarn to check the fit. Back on the needles and I will have a few inches of simple stockinette knitting.That’s it! Nothing too exciting but I love both of those projects!
I did have time for knitting this weekend. I worked on my sock while wandering around the Vancouver Farmer’s Market with Xena’s breeder. And, while I was knitting at home I listened to a collection of African music on my iTouch. Then I had a scathingly brilliant idea! (From one of my favorite movies – The Trouble With Angels) Whenever …

Yahoo! Finally finished with my modified version of the Lady’s Circular Cape from Victorian Lace Today, knit in Shadow lace yarn in the Spring Green Heather color. It was a little boring to knit, which is why it took me so long – I was always finding more interesting things to knit, but now that it’s done I love it! Shadow is really warm, with a nice weight and drape without being too heavy. I really like the shape too (the photo makes it look like a semi-circle, but it’s really more like 2/3 of a circle) – the ends are just long enough to wrap around me and to stay on my shoulders without constant adjustment. To get this shape, I knit 9 of the 12 repeats that the pattern called for. I also made the shawl a bit deeper (higher – more rows) than the …