Creating Your Own Designs

Here are Sam's.... gorgoeus Bodacious iphone Mittens.   She used Online Linie 3 Supersocke Silk in purple purchased at the shop.

Here's what she says on Ravelry to describe them...

My daughter was complaining that she has to remove her mittens to use her iphone so I am making fingerless gloves with a mitten flap for her. I used the cuff and directions for the cuff from the Mini-mochi Ringed Cuff mitten, found directions for fingerless gloves and picked up stitches around the back, did a cable cast on for the stitches across the palm. They came out great and she was very happy with them.

There is a group on Ravelry called Designers that encourages experienced designers, new designers and wannabe designers.  Check it out for encouragement, ideas and a peek inside the process.

Look at The Craft Yarn Council for a chart on standard abbreviations on Knit Chart Symbols.  


We will be featuring designs created by our designers as well as customer creations.  Stay tuned....

Scarves, Hats & Mittens Oh My!

Christmas has past...however, the projects keep flowing off the needles.  Here are a few of the projects we've enjoyed seeing at the shop.

Norma knit this scarf called The Japanese Mystery Scarf.  The yarn used was one of Shaeffer's beautiful laceweight yarns. The pattern is available at the shop. She looks beautiful in it!

Isabel knit this Not So Lacey Lace Scarf and Ann Norling 54 Spiral Rib Hat. Both were knit out of Cascade 220 washable wool.

Isabel also knit these mittens from an old pattern that she has, called The Classic Mittens & Gloves For The Entire Family.  The yarn used for these mittens was Cascade 220 washable wool.

Kathy knit this baby sweater Mock Cable & Basket Weave Sweaters #23.  The yarn used was Cascade 220 superwash wool.

Sue Polomski knit this gorgeous

Short Row Multi-Directional Scarf by Ann Norling.

The yarn used is Zauberball.  Both the pattern and yarn are available at the shop.  Other colors also available.

The Knit Kit is a fun new knitting tool available at the shop.  Perfect for travel...keeping all your knitting notions in one unit.  It's approved for airline travel!

The shop will be open New Year's Eve day our regular hours 11-5pm...we will be closing for New Year's Eve for our open knit night. We will also be closed for New Years Day.  Open again on Saturday January 2.

Look for our Yarns With A Twist Newsletter coming soon...

Happy New Year To All!

Mini Mochi Yarn

Mini Mochi is a machine washable merino wool/20% nylon.  This yarn comes in beautiful vibrant colors.  Many projects can be made with mini mochi...socks, hats, mittens and scarves.  You can see the colors on Crystal Palace.  Mini Mochi Spring Mittens is a pattern that knitters have enjoyed creating at the shop recently.

Here is a lovely pair knitted up by Christiane Burkhard one of our teachers at the shop.

We want to wish you Happy Holidays and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!

The shop is open 'til 2pm on Christmas Eve and we are open again on Saturday 11-5pm.  

Mitten Beauty

Mitten Inspiration

all photos from Flickr

Snow Sonnets in New England

Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets

A basket full of Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets is on sale at the shop!  Different yarn types and colors to entice you for your next project.  Perfect for small projects.

The Felted Clog is Complete!

We had our felted clog class today and 5 knitters joined us to begin work on this project.  While there is some concentration involved and of course the beloved short rowing that we all love...it is a fun project and a beautiful gift to make. These clogs were made from Brown Sheep in Cafe Au Lait.

The Einstein Jacket

                                                                  

This gorgeous jacket was knit by Faith Kenton from Brown Sheep Yarn. She is donating it to the auction at The Snowball as part of their fundraising for the Windham Textile Museum. The Einstein Jacket is found in Sally Melville's book Book 1:The Knit Stitch and we carry it in the shop or you can order it from us.

A winter storm is about to blanket us here in New England with snow.  We hope you find some quiet moments to knit...despite the fact that perhaps you are frantically finishing up projects for your gift list.  Drink a cup of tea and have a wonderful snowday with your friends and family....or a moment of solitude for yourself.

We are having some glitches with our photos on the blog...we're trying to work this out...thanks for being patient.

Yarn In The Tree

A Yarn Ornament from GardenMama

Felted Clog Video

Sandee introducing the felted clog project....

Class Saturday 11-1pm

Project Updates

Shannon...a new knitter at the shop, just finished her first hat...The Snowboarder Hat from, Need A Hat? by Cabin Fever.  She did a beautiful job and looks fabulous in it!  She used 100% Baby Llama from the Mirasol Collection.

Silly Kid!

I'm getting ready for my next hat!

I'm getting ready for my next hat!

Nimbus

Sandee knit this sweater for her daughter for Christmas....Shhh, it's a surprise! It was knit out of Peruvia Quick in the color Boyensberry.  Thanks for modelling it Shannon.

Isabelle, our resident sock guru finished this gorgeous Argosy scarf from Knitty.

Great American Aran Afghan Knit-Along

The Great American Aran Afghan

We are knitting The Great American Aran Afghan together.  This beautiful afghan consists of 24 squares featured by 24 knitters.  Combine 20 squares of your choice for the throw and pair 4 additional squares for accent pillows.  A few of us have decided to take up the challenge of knitting this project together.  Sandee will be hosting a class once-a-month to work on the different squares.  The yarn that we have choosen to use is Cascade 220  We would love for you to join us!  Contact the shop for more information or stop by to see the squares in progress....The More The Merrier!

Great American Aran Afghan Along on Ravelry has a great group with lots of support while knitting this project.

This is one of my favorite squares....by Susan Rainey pg. 50

Nimbus

The Nimbus is a cozy cropped cardigan that is being knit by customers in the shop after taking a class a week ago now.  The finished products are taking shape and we will share some of them with you as we get photos of them.  For those of you that haven't knit this up yet...here is the free pattern from Berroco.

Some Peruvia Quick color examples

aquamarina

bing cherry

sea turtle

Projects Are Being Completed.. 

The holiday projects are being completed fast and furious by all of you.  We've seen scarves, mittens, socks, sweaters, vests and hats...even a hippopotamus...all being gifted to your friends and family.  We know how much work you've put into each project!  It has been such fun to see you pick out your patterns, yarns and do the enjoyable work of knitting & crocheting up these fantastic creations.  Please bring your projects by so that we can photograph them and share them on our shop blog with everyone.  We want you to participate in our blog as much as you'd like to. This is our way of sharing our shop community with all of you!  Also, if you have suggestions of things you'd like to see here please let us know.  Hope to see you at the Holiday Party this week!

               

Holiday Party

     We Are Having a Holiday Party!

All Welcome

 Bring A Dish To Share

        December 16th & 17th 7:00-9:00pm

   (Call With Any Questions)

Happy Holidays!

A special holiday gift idea!

The addi Click system provides 10 different sizes of addi Turbo tips (3.5mm, 3.75mm, 4.0mm, 4.5mm, 5.0mm, 5.5mm, 6.0mm, 8.0mm, 9.0mm, and 10.0mm), three different lengths of our new, extremely pliable blue cord (24", 32", and 40"), and one connector piece which helps to either store stitches or combine your cords. The Click tips require no tools to change; simply insert the cord deep into the tip, twist and release. The tips will remain secure until you change them, thanks to the Click's revolutionary locking mechanism. Directions for how they work can be found at the Skacel site. We have a couple of sets in stock.

In case you need to be convinced that these needles will transform your knitting life....

We have international visitors stopping by! Steve...born in London, now living in Australia and working as a marine archeaologist, visited the shop while on semester break to learn how to knit. He created his first project as a Christmas gift for his father...

Hats, Hats, Hats!

Winter has arrived and it's a perfect time to knit a beautiful hat for yourself or someone you love as a gift for the holidays....there's still time! If a hat isn't what you're looking for, we have ideas for last minute gifts for everyone on your list. Come by the shop to look for beautiful yarn

Need A Hat? by Cabin Fever

The weather has turned frigid this week and we are knitting hats! This fabulous book allows you to knit hats for all ages, all sizes, all gauges (tension), all weights of yarn...yes! Fourteen styles of hat includes toques, caps, flap caps and pillboxes. Plain, textured, fair isle and cables too.  Beginner to intermediate levels. Something for every man, woman, child, infant, grandparent and friend that you have. You can knit some from the bottom up and some are knit from the top down. Even one with a cable knit sideways. All hats in the book can be knit in any size and in any gauge. Come by and pick up a copy of the booklet or wait for a new copy to arrive shortly.

Sandee was inspired to knit an ear flap hat for her grandson by a new customer that came intothe shop to knit her very first hat...an ear flap hat! The hat was knit out of Louet Gems.

Fiber Trend Felted Clogs

Upcoming Class

Fiber Trends Felted Clogs

This is a quick and fun pattern using a short row technique and double strand worsted weight yarn.

When: Saturday December 19th

Time: 11am-1pm

Teacher: Sandee

Skill Level: Intermediate

Come by and pick out some yarn before the class if you can.

Update:

Our blog is back up and in full swing! We are hoping to keep you updated frequently with the latest happenings at the shop. This will include new yarn arrivals, new tools, accessories, books, patterns, photos of customer projects and of course all of our classes. Check back often to see what we're up to. We hope you can come by soon.

Sandee's Birthday

Another year has gone by and it's Sandee's birthday again.

This means.......yes, a sale.

20% off all yarn

The sale starts March 1st through March 14th.

All yarn sold during this sale will be final....no refunds.

Yarn marked at 50% off is not included in this sale.

I finally did it. This is my first blog and I look forward to keeping you posted on what's happening in the shop. We now know that the ground hogs have seen their shadow so we have 6 more weeks of winter. That means knit, knit, knit. I'll keep you posted on sale yarns, new arrivals and classes.

Ta Ta for now,
Sandee