Archives for January 2016

During the blizzard last weekend I cast on something to brighten things up:

The pattern is Auburn Wave and the yarn is Silky 350 by Violet Lynx Dyeworks.

I have three skeins of the lovely rainbow gradient, so I started the first skein at red and knit through violet, the other end of the skein. So I started the second skein at the violet end and will work through to the red end, and will then start the third skein with red. I’m making my shawl larger than the pattern directs because I have plenty of yarn. Other mods — I am slipping the first stitch, purlwise, on each row, and instead of working k2tog where directed, I am working k2tog tbl. Just because.

Loki thinks the best way he can help is to nap!

We survived the first snow of the year, and it was quite a storm. I believe in my area we got about two feet of snow. The city has doen a great job of snow clearance, though. Here is what my street looks like, late Sunday afternoon.

I don’t think I can go to work tomorrow because the subway system will only offer limited service, and that service does not extend to me. And according to the news, people are still being urged to stay off the streets. So I think I have another day at home ahead of me.

Before the storm hit last week, I finished my Emiliana Shawl.

This is made from Madelinetosh Pashmina, in the Dusk and Magnolia Leaf colorways.

After that, I knit a stealth project, and then I made this:

This is Collina, a pattern available on Ravelry. I knit mine from Violet Lynx Dyeworks Merino/cashmere 150, an aran weight merino/cashmere blend. I love this colorway — it looks like a Tequila Sunrise. And the yarn is soft and warm. A perfect blizzard hat!

Sanquhar!

I’ve extended the discount in celebration of the online exhibition Sanquhar Gloves: A Living Scottish Tradition another week: you can purchase my Sanquhar Cowl pattern on Ravelry for half-price ($2.50) using the code:

EXHIBITION

The special price will be good for the rest of this week, through Saturday night until midnight, Eastern time, January 30, 2016.

Book Giveaway

The winner of my review copy of Susan B. Anderson’s Kids’ Knitting Workshop: The Easiest and Most Effective Way to Learn to Knit! by Susan B. Anderson is Mariaeb, who has been emailed.

Loki

Loki has been enjoying a lot of extra snuggles during the storm!

If so, check this out:

Sanquhar Gloves: A Living Scottish Tradition

This is an online exhibition, presented by the Center for Knit and Crochet. (I just became a member of the Center for Knit and Crochet, by the way. Check out their vision statement!)

The online Sanquhar Glove Exhibition is fantastic — pretty much everything there is about this wonderful and unique knitting style.

I would like to point out the section called “Beyond the Glove.” Why? Because my Sanquhar Cowl is featured there! Slide #3. 🙂

A big thank-you to the creators of this fabulous resource for including me! In celebration, you can purchase my Sanquhar Cowl pattern on Ravelry for half-price ($2.50) using the code:

EXHIBITION

The special price will be good for the rest of this week, through Saturday night until midnight, Eastern time, January 23, 2016.

Loki sez:

Such a deal!

Check this out:

This is Susan B. Anderson’s Kids’ Knitting Workshop: The Easiest and Most Effective Way to Learn to Knit! by Susan B. Anderson. As I’m sure you can guess from the title, this is a book for teaching kids how to knit.

If you’ve been knitting for any time at all, you likely recognize Susan’s name. She is a well-known knitting teacher and prolific designer, known for her patterns for adorable toys, shawls, hats, and other accessories. I met her a few years ago at the Loopy Ewe Spring Fling and can attest to the fact that she is utterly charming in person. Everyone I talked to who took a class from her there raved about how wonderful it was. Sadly, I was unable to take her class as I was teaching too.

Anyway.

Susan has come out with this great book for teaching kids how to knit. First thing I noticed is that it is spiral-bound, which is a plus. It is very difficult to learn from a book if you can’t keep the book open and flat.

The book is recommended for ages 8 — 12. It contains step-by-step illustrated tutorials for all the basics, starting with a discussion of materials you need and explanations for how to read a pattern. Then it moves into the basics of knitting: casting on, working in the round, knitting, decreasing, binding off, etc. Included in the chapter on basics are several easy patterns, including this wee hat that Susan recommends as a good first project:

It is worked in the round in bulky yarn, so it is a quick immediate gratification project.

The next chapter addresses intermediate skills, including the purl stitch and carrying colors for stripes. and there are several stripey projects in the chapter, including this Tablet/Journal Pocket:

It incorporates both stripes and purl stitches, so new skills can be practiced.

The “advanced” chapter teaches skills including increasing, cabling, and yarnovers. My favorite project from tis chapter is this:

Puppy & Bunny Hand Puppets. How cute are those?

The last chapter is all about fixing your mistakes — crucial to keep kids frustration levels low and keep them moving forward.

The book is written in an easy accessible style, and there are lots of illustrations and photos. And of course, the projects are adorable. You can see all the projects here on Ravelry.

Do you have a child or children you want to teach to knit? Want to win my review copy of this great book?

To be entered in the drawing for my review copy of Kids’ Knitting Workshop: The Easiest and Most Effective Way to Learn to Knit! by Susan B. Anderson, please leave a comment on this blog post telling me how old you were when you learned to knit (if you were an adult, you don’t have to divulge your age, just say adult! 🙂 ) and who taught you, by 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, Sunday, January 24, 2016. The random number generator will select a winner at that time.

Meanwhile, I am happily knitting along on my Emiliana shawl.

And Loki is still floofy.

I’ve completed a couple more projects this past week.

First, my  Risalire hat, a design by Woolly Wormhead.

Not a great photo, but the hat is a perfect fit and came out looking exactly as I hoped it would. This took 2 skeins of Koigu KPPPM, in colorway 315P.

And I completed a second Pinglewin:

You can never have too many penguins, don’t you think?

Now, I am working on this:

This is Emiliana, a shawl designed by Lisa Hannes. It is a two-color shawl. Here are my two colors:

I am using Madelinetosh Pashmina, which is a bit heavier than the fingering weight called for, so I will get a nice large shawl out of this. My colors are Dusk and Magnolia Leaf.

I like the bit of texture in the solid color section:

I also like Loki’s “Squidgy Face.”