Tuesday Knitters Will Try Lace Knitting

We're going to give lace knitting a try at our Tuesday Night Knitter's group. I've worked up a handout using a chart to knit the cat's paw pattern. Beginning knitters will find charts to be a fairly easy way of figuring out what stitch goes where. Lace really isn't hard once you get the idea of it. For every hole that you add (usually a yarn over) you have to take away a stitch (usually done by a decrease).

Our Sensibility Shawl is knit on US#10 needles using worsted weight yarn and a lace pattern. This is a good pattern for knitters who have some experience and want to try knitting lace.

Cool Knits from the Tuesday Night Knitters

Oh so cool! Here are some of the projects that Tuesday Night Knitters have made for their family and friends.

Colleen Forman's First Scarf is modeled here by her daughter. So fashionista, Colleen! Congratulations on a wonderfully warm Christmas gift for your daughter. I know that Colleen has finished a second scarf and may be well on the way into another scarf by now. I believe that this scarf is knit of Brown Sheep Lanaloft Handpaint in the color "Autumn Run." Very nice!

Then we have Kathy Kent's perky peeky hat which she gifted to her little friend Willow. Willow obviously is pleased with her hat. Congratulations, Kathy, on a knitting job well done! Looks like Kathy used the same yarn as Colleen did -- the Handpaint from Brown Sheep. I think that this color is "Salt Water Taffy."

Here's a link to that yarn on our website:http://www.graywooddesigns.com/product.php?id=13

Notice from Willow's hat that this yarn knits up with a chunky look. It is listed as a worsted weight yarn but can be knit at a looser gauge for the "big yarn" look.

Another Little Boy's Hat

I'm in the second week of a two week vacation and I'm knitting on several projects. Socks: almost finished with first sock of a pair that were started around Christmas time. Scarf: working on a hexagon project that hasn't "settled down" yet. I'm not liking the way that the hexagons join, so it is still an experiment. Child's Hat: Ah, this one is finished and you can see the photo with this post. Afghan squares: This one will be a charmer! I'm playing with Lamb's Pride worsted -- all those luscious colors -- and the Log Cabin Afghan pattern by Carol Anderson. This project will be in the Studio Store by mid-February so watch for it soon!

About the Little Boy's Hat in the photo: I used a DK weight yarn with US #4 circular needle. The pattern is an interrupted rib (k3,p1) that's set off by rounds of garter stitch ridges. Don't you love the funky earflaps! I added them so that the hat didn't have to pull down over the little boy's eyes. The earflaps are bordered with 3 garter stitches on each side and end I-cord knots that should be shoulder danglers. The tot who wears this hat can easily remove it by grabbing a knot and flinging the hat off. Good for car seat kids, don't you think?

By the way, the circular needle that I used (a Clover 16" bamboo) survived being chewed on by Mr. Griffin Henry Clark, my number two grandson. Over Christmas holidays, Finny walked into the kitchen with this needle in his mouth. "Oh no, Finny! Not my knitting needles! Don't bite," I exclaimed as I rescued the wet needle from the toddler mouth. The needle survived unscathed and Finny got a hug for his curiosity and understanding. That bamboo is really quite hard!

The recipient of this hat will be Action Jackson who turned one in late January. Action Jackson is my granddaughter Hannah's cousin. The yarn in this blue hat is the same as in Hannah's Sunshine Sweater and Hat set, only a different color. So the cousins will have hats from the same yarn, just of a different design. Such fun! Knitting for the little ones!

Tuesday Night Knitters, I will miss being with you this week. Danielle will send you an email so be watching for her knitterly words of wisdom. My emails to you will resume next week and sometime during this week I will update the blog with photos of the projects that you have been knitting. Thank you all again for agreeing to have your photos placed on the GW Blog! See you soon.

Keep knitting,

Wanda

Tuesday Night Knitters -- January 12

Several of you have wanted to learn how to pick up stitches and knit a fringe onto the ends of a scarf. I will demonstrate this technique on Tuesday. If you want knit along with me have this swatch ready to go:

Using worsted weight yarn and straight needles in US # 7 or 8 or 9, cast on 20 stitches. Knit for about 2 or 3 inches and stop. Bring this swatch with you. For fun you can bring another color of similar weight yarn and we'll put one color of fringe on one end and the second color on the second end.

The fringe technique is easy to do. It's a variation of the rosette on The Zelda Hat and uses cable cast on (our favorite!) and bind off.

See you on Tuesday. . .tomato bisque soup is on the menu. Mmmm!

Tuesday Night Knitters on January 6

Ah, the push of wrapping presents and preparing meals and entertaining is lessening. Now there is a little time here and there for a “knit-sit.” I hope that you are able to fix a cup of coffee or tea and get some time, even fifteen minutes, to knit.

UPDATES from the Studio Store: The holidays took over and I haven’t done any more tweaking on the website. That will be January work, so do be patient. There are more yarns and needles coming from Skacel in Seattle. Danielle and I will be busy beavers in early January as we update the website and add these items to the Studio Store. Remember, for those of you in the Thumb Area, that we resume regular hours on Wednesday, Jan. 7th.

Tuesday Night Knitters: We will meet at the Studio Store on Tuesday, Jan. 6th from 5pm to 7pm. There will be something hot to eat and something sweet for a finish. Anybody want to bring fruit or veggies? Let me know. Bring your projects. Also, we will be doing burn tests on different kinds of yarn to determine the fiber content. This is a really cool science type experiment that will give you some basic idea of how to identify the odd yarns that you might have in your collection. Bring along a snippet (4-6 inches) of something that you can’t identify and we’ll do the burn test with it.

Photos: Did you take any photos of projects that you finished? Kathy Kent sent me a great photo of a kid’s hat that she did. Let’s talk about permission for posting those photos on the GW blog. I have several ways that I can do that. We can do it for a limited time, too. We’ll talk about that, okay?

What I’m knitting: I’m working on another scarf design. This one uses fine yarn with larger needles and has an open work stitch pattern. I’m using Trekkiing Tweed in a rich red and brown and am knitting on US Size 5 bamboo needles. I’m also finishing the Top Knot Hat (working title) in a larger gauge. This one is knit on US Size 6 needles using the Addi Turbo 16” circular and Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece yarn in a soft pink. Very nice! Also have one sock on two circular needles going. That’s right – one sock on two 16” circulars. Just wanted to try this method.

Two Socks on One Needle Roundup: For those of you who want to learn how to knit two socks on one long circular needle, the date for this technique class will be Wednesday, January 13th from 4 pm to 8 pm. Give us a call at 989-453-2311 to sign up for this class. Class fee is $15 and includes supper.

Happy New Year!