Yarn Harlot

 I totally had a Stephanie Pearl-McPhee moment this morning. If you are not aware of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee , 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

 

New magazines

Some great new magazines have just arrived

 

 

 

 

I had a quick look through the Vogue Holiday issue and came across something very interesting.

 

 

Here is the link for details. I am not familiar with all the instructors but I love Cat Bordhi 

 

http://travelingtogether.net/knitting.htm

 

I am very tempted. Anyone else interested??

 

Happy Knitting

 

Beth

OPAL YARNS SWEET & SPICY 2

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.




Watermelon


Peppercorns


Honey


Sprinkles


Grapes


Red Cabbage


Chili


Lollipops

Sock knitting does not get much better.

Happy knitting
Beth

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.

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/marian-2

 

  

 

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

Zauberball

 

 

If you have not experienced the beauty of Zauberball self-striping yarn, you really need to treat yourself to a ball.

 

http://www.skacelknitting.com/

 

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

 

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

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/windward-2

 

Windward has multiple changes  in  knitting direction and Zauberball  highlights it beautifully.

Zauberball Crazy

 

also a sock yarn, self striping with a marled effect

 

 

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.

 

 

Whats Your Point Scarf

Pattern FREE on Skacel Website - link below

http://www.skacelknitting.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.46871/.f

 

I could not resist sharing this post of Hitchhiker knit in Zauberball.

I love Ravellers who use their pets for post models.

 Hitchhiker by Martina Behm   http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hitchhiker

        Zauberball Starke 6   also a sock yarn but a heavier DK weight       One of our favourite projects for Starke 6 is the fabulous FIDDLE HEAD MITTENS  

Pattern for purchase on Ravelry

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fiddlehead-mittens

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

 

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

 


TWO-TONE TWILL SCARF




ACCELERATING STRIPES FINGERLESS GLOVES AND COWL



CROCHETED LINEN STITCH SCARF AND LOOP




MODERN WRAPPER FINE

 


GO-TO CARDIGAN





BETTER THAN BASIC PULLOVER

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.



Original Before and After Scarf above



Re-worked as a Cowl: Ombre InfinityLoop






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

     

            Riviera                                            Bermuda

 

   

               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. 

 



 

 

 

 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