How to make a center pull ball by hand

Good tutorial showing how to make a center pull ball by hand.  I also like that it uses the ball band for the beginning.  That way you still have your information on the yarn.

http://knitting.about.com/od/yarn/ss/ball-byhand.htm

Baby's first sled ride

Time for a "Isn't he cute?" picture of my grandson, Desmond.

His mom said he enjoyed his first sled ride.

New Website

Many years ago, well, about five years ago, I put up a website for the shoppe.  It was great and I liked it.  But as time went on, I wanted one that I could have input in, make the changes myself. And as luck would have it, my cousin, Lisa, went into the website business.  We worked together and today we are publishing the new site.


What do you think?

Warm cap for the winter

Cold weather means knitting a hat for the new grandchild.

 
 Using Tonic, I knitted the Norski Cap by Cottage Creations.

This is a size one cap on a baby that is 6 months old.

Desmond should get a lot of wear out this cap.

Baking bread and a rainy day

Last weekend I started to bake bread again.  

It looks great from the outside, but after several slices it starts to become ooey gooey on the inside.  Dense.  Raw.  Not at all what a good piece of bread should be.  I threw the rest away.

Not sure what I am doing wrong.  I have added more flour.  Let it sit for 1.5 hours.  Checked the oven temperature.  I am kinda out of ideas of what else to do.

On the other hand, it is a wonderful rainy day. 

Molly and I are in the front room, watching the rain blow down and the cars drive by.

My husband was born in Scotland and spent his early years there.  He tells me that they have various words for rain and that their rainy weather is what makes them a dour people.

Happy holidays and knit on.

Finally Cowl

 About a year ago, while playing around on Ravelry, I discovered a baby cardigan designed by Asa Tricosa.  Because I liked that pattern, I continued on and looked at her other patterns.  This brought me to the Finally Cowl.

 

A sample was knit for the shoppe and here it is.  We used a US 9 needle,  four skeins of Lamb's Pride bulky in Prairie Fire and one skein of Lamb's Pride worsted in Sunburst Gold.  It is knitted in the round, from the bottom up and we made the large size.

It is an easy knit and cosy.

Greater Traverse Yarn Shop Hop

Join Northern Michigan knitters in a special weekend event: the first-ever Greater Traverse Yarn Shop Hop 2012 on Friday, October 19^th and Saturday, October 20^th.

Take an entire weekend to enjoy the experience of shopping six different yarn shops around the Grand Traverse Area, where each shop will highlight unique yarns and patterns, offer refreshments and ideas for handmade holiday gifts.  Purchasing a $5.00 passport will gain you access to the shop hop.  With a $15 purchase at each store, your passport is stamped and eligible to be entered into a drawing for that shop’s prize basket.  Stamp your passport at all six shops and you’ll be eligible to win the Grand Prize Basket drawing, which includes a $50 gift certificate to each shop.

The participating yarn shops are The Yarn Market of Beulah, Thistledown Shoppe of Suttons Bay, Wool & Honey of Cedar, The Warm Fuzzy of Alden and Yarn Quest and Lost Art, both of Traverse City.  Each shop will be open from 12-8 p.m. on Friday, October 19^th and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 20^th.  Join in the spirit of community by visiting all of these specialty shops.  Who knows what you’ll find—or win! 

For directions and more information, please contact Michelle at (877) 880-4511.

T Shirt Yarn

Hmmm, do I ignore that I have not blogged in over 2 months?   Especially since several of you have pointed it out?   My excuse is that it has been a busy summer - thanks, folks, for making this the best summer ever  Okay, that is out of the way.

One of the good ideas I have picked up this summer is making yarn out of t-shirts.  Here is one link to check out.



So, if you do not want to keep  your t-shirts, send them my way.  I am thinking bibs, rugs, and baskets.

Here is my new grandson and only grandchild, Desmond Leslie Dawkins.  He was born on 6-29-12, 7 lbs. 2.5 oz., 21".

Isn't he a cutie?

Twirl your yarn

 Yarn Susans

Two basic styles
 

















 Lots of different woods, such as pau santo, cherry, Brazilian satin, purple heart, blood wood, birds eye, tiger wood, curly maple, and walnut.

Lovely.

I love to frog

Remember this cardigan?  Well, the last time I saw my version of the Puerperium Cardigan I was halfway down the body.  I  ended up frogging it as I did not like my button bands.

So, I started the Coffee Bean Cardigan, using Liberty Wool.  Much happier this time, except

I did not understand the directions and I knit 3.5 inches further and made more increases than I should.  The needle is marking the spot where I should have stopped to put the sleeve stitches on scrap yarn.  Now I get to pull this out. 

And I wanted to have this done by Sunday for the baby shower for my first grandchild, a boy.

Get Ready!

Fiona is busy dyeing away for the shoppe.

Here is a picture of what she has been doing.

( And I am working on getting her to spend a Saturday with us.)

Slow Knitter

 During the last two months I have been knitting the following items:











 The Eco Vest, made from Cascade Eco.  I had hoped to finish it to wear this winter/spring, but it is not going to happen.  The pattern is in the Knitting Green: Conversations and Planet Friendly Projects or you can go to Knitting Daily and get it for free.  I purchased a charting software from Intwined and it made my knitting go easier.  I kept losing my spot with the written rows and found that having a chart to refer to allowed me to see what I was doing.  Check back next fall for me to wear this.


 












This is the Baby Onesie from ShiBui Knits.  I am using Claudia Handpainted sock yarn and it is lovely.  The pattern was taken from an outfit worn back in the 1940's and it is still appropriate for today's little ones.   I am close to the end, but have stalled in the collar section.  Time to consult my experts.




 This is the Chevron Baby Blanket.














 An easy pattern using seven different worsted weight yarns, doubled.  I am knitting Madelinetosh Vintage - it has a wonderful feel and is machine washable.



















 My colors are chartreuse, butter, fawn, antler, silver fox, denim, and graphite.  I am presently on the denim and hope soon to finish up with graphite.






















This is the Puerperium Cardigan (have to go to Ravelry for this pattern).


 The Yarn Harlot made it famous a while ago and I picked it as it required a DK yarn, which is Ultra Pima by Cascade.








And for the last one, I am knitting leg warmers out of Liberty Wool print.


All of the above baby related knitting is a result of my new grandson that is due on June 26th.  His baby shower is May 20th, so I need to finish these within the next month.

Baby, it's cold outside

I picked out two skeins of Misti Alpaca Chunky and knit up a quickie neck warmer, infinity scarf.

Cast on 200 stitches with a size  needle and knit until you run out.  Garter stitch and the baby alpaca make a great combination.

Changing yarn

We have a sample in the shoppe knit from  Austermann Step.

Cynthia knitted that item out of Misti Alpaca sock.

Isn't it amazing that changing the yarn makes such a difference in the item?

Bringing in the new

Several weeks ago I bought a new washer and dryer.  I had had my others for about 25 years.  When I was looking at the washers I knew that I did not want a front loader as I wanted to have the ability to open the door during the wash cycle.  I ended up with a Maytag washing machine and yesterday used the hand wash cycle with crossed fingers on several of my husband's wool sweaters.  Have to admit that I was pleased they came out clean and not felted.  Previously I washed our wool sweaters in the machine by filling up the machine, letting the items soak, and then set the machine on spin.  This time, I put the items in, added my wool wash, set the machine to hand wash and started it.  Absolutely amazing!

I also finished up the Windschief and


Bandana Cowl and ran them through the washing machine. How nice not to worry.

Whining time

Not fair.  I have to sit at the shoppe and wait on the lucky customers who come in, buy yarn and patterns and then get to knit.  While I get to do my paperwork (gag) and drool over what others make.

Like Carrine who made this cowl

 
Or a customer who came in today and bought yarn to make two pairs of this, Knotty Gloves.

I am still working on the Takoma and have started the Bandana Cowl.  The cowl was suppose to be a quickie knit, except I did not understand knitting and purling the wraps.  I ended up  decreasing instead of knitting and purling wraps and it wasn't until I called Michele at Yarn Market that I figured out what I was doing wrong and now I am moving along on the cowl.

Okay, back to the paperwork.  And you knit along.......

Patterned socks

Jill knitted up socks for us from the book, Sensational Knitted Socks.

Ribbed Lace, eight stitch,  Crazyfoot by Mountain Colors

Yarn Over Cable, eight stitch, Opal

Chevron pattern for self-striping yarn,  Fortissima Color


















Four stitch ribbing, Blue Heron Sock Plus

The book is written by Charlene Schurch.  She starts out with an explanation of an anatomy of a sock along with other sock basics such an explanation of gauge and foot measurements and sizes.  It is a great basic book that includes patterns such as different lace, cables, and ribbing.

Takomaing

I know, I have said it before.  I am going to knit this or that and I never do.  Well, this time, I really do plan on knitting the Takoma.

Takoma picture from Knitty

I have picked out my colors

and I have kinda swatched

when I started to knit a turtleknit pullover out of the Eco.  But it never felt right and I frogged it.  Then the Takoma came along and I was intrigued.  Jill pushed me and I joined the Takoma Kal.

I am going to steek it as I really do not enjoy purling and this sweater would be almost half purling if you did not steek it.  Susan says that she thinks adding nine stitches should work for the steeking, so that is what I plan on doing.  Another knitter mentioned Eunny's article on steeking, so I will need to reread that.  It has been a while since she first put it out on the internet.

Joining a KAL makes it less lonely, and you get to read about others making mistakes and that always makes me feel better, 'cause I tend to make mistakes when I knit.  So learning about others' mistakes will hopefully make me less likely to make mistakes, or at least I am counting that it will make it less likely. 

I will be using cascade Eco in the colors of red 8450, evergreen 8462, creme 8010, and periwinkle 6902.  The pattern only calls for three colors but I am throwing the periwinkle in there in the spirit of this sweater.

If you want to join us, let me know.

Ready for a quickie?

Trendsetters has a new yarn out called Bodega.  It is knit into a tube and you work with the tube to make a ruffled scarf.

I learned how to use it by watching this.   

I suggest using the crochet hook as it holds onto the stitches.  I used one half of the skein and a size F crochet hook.  It took me about one half hour and the next time should be about 20 minutes to make the scarf. 

This is the 417 Fall Leaves colorway.

At present we have 418 Amazon Jungle, 415 Lipstick Kiss, and 413 Lilac Meadows in stock.  All of the other colors are on backorder.  I will warn you that if you think you are interested, you should get down here.  Two weeks ago we sold all of this yarn in a day and a half.

If you want to make a scarf, but do not have a lot of time - this is the answer.  You can also make one scarf for $13.50.  Not bad for a quickie.