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Friday, October 31, 2014

Yarn Harlot

 I totally had a moment this morning. If you are not aware of , aka, the Yarn Harlot, do yourself a big favour and check out her blog

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/

And read any or all of her books.



The Amazing Thing About the Way It Goes: Stories of Tidiness, Self-Esteem and Other Things I gave Up On
All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin
Free-Range Knitter: The Yarn Harlot Writes Again
Things I Learned From Knitting Whether I Wanted To or Not
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting
Knitting Rules! The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks
Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter
At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much
Knitlit Too edited by Linda Roghaar and Molly Wolf
 
I have read all her books, some multiple times but her first,  Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter,
holds a special pace in my heart. Stephanie is laugh-out-loud funny.
 
 
 
I have been home sick for several days. Do yourself a favour, if you have not yet had your flu shot, get one. This morning I was working on a pair of socks. I knit on Addi 12" circulars, switching to dp's for the heel and toe. I had reached the heel and set aside a couple of dp's to knit the heel flap. I had knit the requisite number of stitches of onto a dp and put them aside to get a cup of tea. When I came back, my second dp was no where to be found. Although the remaining 3 of the set   of 5 were sitting on the coffee table, I became obsessed with finding the missing dp I just set aside. I moved couch pillows. I looked under the couch. I emptied the knitting bag that was on the floor by the couch where I had been knitting. I went back to the kitchen to see if it was over by the teapot. I even eyed the cats suspiciously. They steal yarn, measuring tapes, stitch holders and constantly re-arrange my patterns and magazines, maybe needle thieving had just been added to the list. I finally gave up. It would turn up eventually, hopefully before I needed it for the toe. By this time, I had wasted so much energy and time looking for the missing needle I had run out of time. I needed to get showered and dressed. My son was driving me to pick up my car at the garage. Getting ready to hit the shower, I pulled my hair back into a  ponytail to get my shower cap on - Missing dp stuck behind my right ear.
 
Happy Knitting
Beth
 

Friday, October 24, 2014

New magazines

Some great new magazines have just arrived

 
 
Knit Simple Magazine
 


 
I had a quick look through the Vogue Holiday issue and came across something very interesting.
 
Knitting in Alaska
 
Here is the link for details. I am not familiar with all the instructors but I love Cat Bordhi 
 
 
I am very tempted. Anyone else interested??
 
Happy Knitting
 
Beth

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

OPAL YARNS SWEET & SPICY 2


Opal Sweet and Spicy 2 - 1 x 8 100g Balls



Just arrived, the new

OPAL SOCK YARN COLLECTION - SWEET & SPICY 2

We could not decide which ones we liked the best, so we ordered them all.



Opal Sweet and Spicy 2- shade 8610 Watermelon
Watermelon

Opal Sweet and Spicy 2- shade 8611 Peppercorns
Peppercorns

Opal Sweet and Spicy 2- shade 8612 Honey
Honey

Opal Sweet and Spicy 2 shade 8613 Sprinkles
Sprinkles

Opal Sweet and Spicy 2 shade 8614 Grapes
Grapes

Opal Sweet and Spicy 2 shade 8615 Red Cabbage
Red Cabbage

Opal Sweet and Spicy 2 shade 8616 Chilli
Chili

Opal Sweet and Spicy 2 shade 8617 Lolly Pops
Lollipops

Sock knitting does not get much better.

Happy knitting
Beth


Sunday, October 19, 2014

Marian Cowl - Quick, Inexpensive & Really Nice

Cowls continue to be an extremely popular accessory.  Ravelry has a little over 17,000 cowl designs. While searching for  a cowl to knit a store sample in Big Softie, I found Marian. It is shorter/narrower, I'm not sure which descriptive is correct, of the very popular Gap-tastic. The original Marion by Jane Richmond is knit in a super bulky yarn (knit at around  6 sts over 4 inches) on a 15mm circular. Link Below.
 
 
  
 
Marian in the original super bulky from Ravelry.
 
With a bit of simple math, I adjusted the pattern to use Big Softie (9sts over 4 inches) on a 10mm. Lots of Ravelers have done the same thing. We currently have 6 colours of Big Softie, 3 solid and 3 of their new tweed look. Big Softie is well named. It is a deliciously soft wool/acrylic blend- machine washable but dry flat.



 
 On a 10mm needle with an adjusted cast on increase to 55 sts, the resulting cowl has a 23 inches circumference for a comfortable single wrap style of wear.

 
 
 
I couldn't resist the feline model post below. I love Ravelers who use their pets as models.


 
 
Marian is a simple, reversible seed stitch design easily accomplishable by even a beginner. The pattern has an interesting option to purposely place a twist in your cast on round. Yes, purposely put in that twist all circular knits warn you to avoid. I have always wondered about this technique and decided to try it. I like it. Works very well with this simple design.
 
My store sample was finished in a couple of hours (and I am a slow knitter) and used 2 balls of Big Softie. At $5.50 a ball, total cost $12.43 with taxes, it makes a very quick, inexpensive project - perfect for yourself or gift knitting. Christmas is just a little over two months away!!!
 
Happy Knitting
Beth


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Zauberball

 


 


If you have not experienced the beauty of Zauberball self-striping yarn, you really need to treat yourself to a ball.
 
 
A large back-order of Zauberball arrived yesterday. Zauberball comes from Germany. Our wonderful Canadian distributor, Dennis from Wool & Wicker. tries very hard to keep us in good supply but Zauberball has become increasingly popular and is often sold out. We carry three varieties of Zauberball -

the original Zauberball sock yarn

a few colours below

zauberball1564.jpg zauberball1508.jpg

Zauberball is a self-striping yarn with very long, gradual colour transitions. It started out as a sock yarn which is great fun to use to knit just a basic vanilla sock.



Designers very quickly discovered it's versatility and you will find hundreds of gorgeous designs posted on Ravelry. One of my favs is WINDWARD
 
 
Windward has multiple changes  in  knitting direction and Zauberball  highlights it beautifully.





zauberball2203.jpg
zauberball2079.jpg
zauberball2244.jpg
Zauberball Crazy
 
also a sock yarn, self striping with a marled effect
 
zauberballcrazy2136.jpg
crazy1564.jpg
 
Stash Buster Baby Hat - pattern Fee with yarn purchase at the store, fits a new born and knit with just a few grams, left over from a pair of socks.
 
zauberballcrazy2170.jpg

 
Whats Your Point Scarf
Pattern FREE on Skacel Website - link below
 
I could not resist sharing this post of Hitchhiker knit in Zauberball.
I love Ravellers who use their pets for post models.
 
 
 
 
Zauberball Starke 6
 
also a sock yarn but a heavier DK weight
 
starke6-2248.jpg
starke6-1537.jpg
 
 
One of our favourite projects for Starke 6 is the fabulous
FIDDLE HEAD MITTENS
 
Pattern for purchase on Ravelry
If you dislike ordering on line, Serenity Knits has been approved as a retailer for Ravelry patterns so you can now purchase through us
 
Karen starts a class on these beautiful mitts this Saturday and there are still a couple of spaces.
Class
Fiddlehead Mittens (Fair Isle Knitting)   (Karen) Three 2 hr classes
$55.00 + supplies
Date & Time
Saturday afternoons, October 18, 25, November 1,
1:00 P.M. – 3:30 P.M
Description
Fair Isle knitting provides a colourful, warm, double thick layer
of knitted fabric. Combined with the popular Fiddlehead mitten
pattern, you have the perfect winter mittens to keep your hands
cozy. As you perfect your Fair Isle knitting skills, you will also
  learn new skills such as the I-cord cast on, mitten construction
and knitting an attached lining. You may even want to begin
knitting pairs for a start on this year’s Christmas gift list.
Prerequisites
Experience with circular knitting (see “An Overview of Circular Knitting” on September 27th if you need to learn this technique)
and basic Fair Isle knitting (see the” Introduction to Stranded
Fair Isle Knitting” workshop on October 4th if you need to learn
 this technique)
 
 
We love Zauberball at Serenity Knits, so we have quite a large selection of samples knit in these three yarns.
 
Beth
Happy Knitting
 

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Churchmouse Yarns and Teas









     


One of our favourite pattern sources is
CHURCHMOUSE YARNS AND TEAS
Today they release their newest collection and we are thrilled to have had the chance to preview and pre-order the collection. We loved all of their seven new designs, so we ordered them all, and they are here. We also restocked many of their older favs.
Here are the seven new designs

WALKING RIB COWL AND MUFFLER

Walking Rib Cowl & Muffler Pattern
Walking Rib Cowl & Muffler Pattern 


TWO-TONE TWILL SCARF

Two-Tone Twill Scarf Pattern


ACCELERATING STRIPES FINGERLESS GLOVES AND COWL

Accelerating Stripes Fingerless Gloves & Cowl Pattern



CROCHETED LINEN STITCH SCARF AND LOOP

Crocheted 'Linen-Stitch' Scarf & Loop Pattern


MODERN WRAPPER FINE

Modern Wrapper Fine PatternModern Wrapper Fine Pattern 


GO-TO CARDIGAN

Go-To Cardigan Pattern



BETTER THAN BASIC PULLOVER


Better-Than-Basic Pullover Pattern

Go to Churchmouse at
http://www.churchmouseyarns.com/
to see all their wonderful patterns.

Churchmouse often re-works a pattern to a slightly different style or using a different yarn. One of their popular patterns, The Before & After Scarf has been reworked a couple of times.

Bias 'Before & After' Scarf Pattern

Original Before and After Scarf above

Ombré Infinity Scarf Project

Re-worked as a Cowl: Ombre InfinityLoop

Tahiti Bias 'Before & After' Scarf

Tahiti Bias 'Before & After' Scarf


Re-Yarned in Tahiti in which we currently have the following shades

riviera    bermuda 
            Riviera                                            Bermuda
 
jungle    malaga
               Jungle                                              Malaga 
 
 
When they re-work a pattern, they offer FREE ADDENDUM on their website. So if you have purchased the original, you have a FREE variation to that pattern. ADDENDUM will not make any sense to you unless you have the original.
 
They also offer FREE stand alone patterns which are complete instructions. A recent addition to the FREE patterns is the Trellis Lace Scarf below.  It has been knit in Rowan Fine Art Sock yarn. 
 

Trellis Lace Scarf Project - Rowan Fine Art Version 
Fine Art
 
 
 We have several shades of Fine Art, a luxurious blend of Wool (45%), Mohair (20%), Silk (10%) and Polyamide (25%)

Happy Knitting (and these patterns can sure help accomplish that)
Beth