Yarn Gallery Blog

We got socked, didn’t we?  It was really just lovely to wake up to a world in white and know that I didn’t have to go anywhere.  I hope all of you who have to get to work, no matter what, made it safely, and thanks for being there for all of us.  The only thing I did all day was shovel, nap, and knit.  It was very nice.  My sister lives in Baltimore and sent me updates from time to time on Saturday.  At 1 pm we were clear but it was still coming down at her place:

That little gate you see is taller than my head.  I bet her dogs are still peeing on the deck!

The second wave that we’re supposed to get this week may not seem just so very special!  I have yet to dig out my driveway, because I can walk to work, but I think I’d better make the effort today and run all those errands that I’m tempted to put off. But first! Here are some fabu projects to inspire your snow-day knitting:

Loretta Hollenbach made it to class on Sunday all the way from the wilds of Womelsdorf and modeled her beautiful gansey:

and Sarabel Conn also sent a photo of herself in her completed gansey:

I should have a page just for these wonderful sweaters – they have all turned out so well, thanks to some very good knitting, persistence, and Donna’s Guthrie’s inspirational and supportive class.

Nancy Rambo had a back operation and came in beforehand to make sure she had some knitting to do while she was recuperating.  These two pretty baby blankets are the results, and I hope everything else went as well as her knitting.

Nancy used JelliBeenz for the top blanket and Encore for the lower. Both are from Plymouth’s 8-Hour Baby Blankets booklet, our most popular booklet, and you can see why it’s so popular.

Karen Shearer used a self-striping Encore for the child’s sweater above.  It’s from a pattern by Cabin Fever and we were all enchanted by the way the stripes worked out.  The pattern is fun to make – garter stitch, all one piece, no sewing to do!  There’s an adult version that I would love to make – it’s on my list for fall.

Debbie Andrews made our Scribble Lace Scarf and had enough yarn left over to make this adorable tam to match.  She looks great in the set and finished them just in time for all this wintery weather.

Some additions to our class schedule:  Donna Guthrie is starting a new group for the Great North American Afghan soon – if you’re interested, email me or call me at the shop 610-373-1622.  Janet will be doing a second session of the February Lady Sweater and the Beginner Cabled Scarf.  Again get in touch if you’re interested.  You can check out the projects on our Classes Page on the website.

Well, I probably won’t see you Wednesday but I hope to see you soon!!

Trish

I love the change of seasons for many reasons and one of them is that it brings new fashions and colors to our notice.  I don’t rush out and buy stuff, of course, but I do love to see what the designers have thought up and see what the trends are.  As far as I can tell, the trends this season are for muted ombre colors and bright tone-on-tone prints, lots of ruffles and gathers and ties and other embellishments, loose plain jackets, and the safari look, which raises its pocket-y, lapel-y, belt-y head every few years. ( I ignore it because I look like Elmer Fudd on his wabbit-hunting trek. Don’t need all those extra things hanging on my clothes.)

I have to say, Berroco is right on top of these trends.  They’ve added an ombre line to their wonderful yarn Seduce and Norah Gaughan’s new collection is full of pleats, gathers, ruffles, and embellishments.  I can’t decide which to do for the shop, but I loved this the minute I saw it:

Lots of knitting but I think it may be worth it.

Karen Wenrich is knitting this gorgeous tank for the shop in black Bonsai:

This is the subtle pleat at the center of the eyelet detail.  Love it!

Bonsai and Seduce colors as well as the new Norah collection are at the shop already.  This was one thing I couldn’t wait for!

More about new yarns as time goes on.  Meanwhile, many of you are finishing up wonderful winter projects as you can see below.

Jettie Hunt and Kim Walker both finished their ganseys from the class that ended just before Christmas.  Jettie’s husband Michael is modeling his:

The sweater is not hot pink, it’s a gorgeous rich burgundy but I couldn’t get the photo to look like that.  So, I’m sorry, Michael, you’re not only headless but also extremely colorful!

Kim Walker knit her gansey in a beautiful dark green tweed, which  looks gray but gorgeous nonetheless in this photo.  It’s absolutely lovely.

The gansey was quite a project, with a huge commitment of time involved.  Congratulations to all who have finished theirs, and for those who are still working on it, keep going.  It’s definitely worth it!

Last week I showed you the Abstract Leaves Vest that Karen Walter is making and teaching.  It had three steeks (extra stitches added that allow you to continue to work Fair Isle in the round even after the garment has reached the armhole and neck openings).  This picture shows the neck finished and one armhole being worked on, while the third steek is still intact.

And here is the finished vest!

It really is a beautiful piece, and the yarn (Nature Spun Sport) makes a crisp design with a very soft hand.  Wonderful!

Lynne Nagle brought in this fabulous wrap that she crocheted.  It’s done in a self-striping yarn, with a beautiful swirling motif.

The pattern is called the Infinity Wrap and is available for download from Interweave Press’s store.  I hate to promote expensive downloaded patterns on this blog, but if the magazine is unavailable, at least it’s a good thing if the pattern can be still be purchased.

Jennifer Gensemer brought in this pretty cabled “snood” (which is not a snood but a neck wrap that can also be worn over the head as a hood.  A snood is an old fashioned hair net popular with Victorians.)  (Okay, I’ll try to quit the quibbling.) Jennifer did a beautiful job on it, working it in black Baby Alpaca Grande.  Margie Jozwiak was in the store and volunteered to model it for us.  Aren’t they both gorgeous?

Jennifer bought the pattern on the internet (Ravelry, I believe).  You can find it by googling “Snooty Snood.”

And here is this week’s Belle of the Blog.  Annie Harlin is a well-known artist and has worked in many media.  She’s retired, she says, but how do you retire from art?  By pleasing yourself and not potential customers, I guess, and look at the wonderful hooded cape she made from – oh, my gosh, I can’t even estimate the number of different yarns she used!  The braided fringing alone must have taken hours.  How wonderful to have this kind of vision, yes?

That’s it!  See you soon…

Trish

Even though it’s totally frigid today, I’ve got the spring-cleaning bug.  You all have got the spring-knitting bug, because we’ve been getting a lot of questions about spring yarns.  These two inspirations have combined into my wanting a permanent place for our lighter weight fibers in the shop.  Currently we put all the cottons and blends away for the winter, and then have to root through the piles of bags, interrupting classes and so on, when someone wants to look at “summer” yarns.  So, I’m going to replace the novelties, which are in the upstairs front room, with the cottons.  That part is fairly easy.  Finding a place for novelties won’t be so easy and they won’t be available until we do.  Most of you won’t miss them!  Anyway, that will all be happening this week because most of my spring yarns will be shipping in the next two weeks and, as usual, I have no room for them.  And as usual, I just can’t wait for the new stuff to get here.

Here’s one new model that’s finished.  It’s from the current Debbie Bliss Magazine, and was quite fun to do. You start by making the back and both fronts to the armholes, then cast on for the sleeves, combine everything on one needle and finish in one piece.  I knitted it from Wendy Supreme Luxury Cotton, because I wanted a really bright color. I didn’t change anything except to add a border of single-crochet to the front edges to reduce curl. (With forethought you could just add 2 or 3 extra stitches and work them in garter.)  You can use any DK weight yarn.  I didn’t buy Prima, which is what all these designs in DB#2 are purportedly knitted from.  I didn’t like it, it’s slinky yet hairy and I can’t imagine it being comfortable to wear in any season.  And very few of these designs were originally knitted in it – most were in Cathay which has been discontinued.  In other words, don’t be afraid to substitute yarns!  If you’re not sure, do a swatch or get some advice.

The shop has been full of people working on projects and I have lots of wonderful pictures to show you this week, so let’s get going:

Mary Ann Posey brought in this delight:

It’s a beautiful lace scarf knit from qiviut, a rare and precious fiber from the muskox.  It’s lighter than a feather, softer than cashmere, and warmer than down.  Mary Ann’s daughter bought the yarn in Alaska and knit the scarf as a present for her father.

Margie Leisawitz knit this sweater using intarsia to add color to the cable panel that runs up the front and down the back.  A perfect skating sweater!

Donna Howard is taking the Great American Aran Afghan classes and brought in her partially-done afghan.  It was the first time I’d seen any of the blocks put together and just had to have a photo even though it isn’t finished yet.  She has, I think, 8 more blocks to go; every single one is a work of art.

And she also brought in a version of the Lady Eleanor Entrelac scarf, done in a bright colorway of Ty-Dy Sock: Can’t wait to get in the new colors of it, and the new colors of regular cotton worsted-weight Ty-Dy.  Speaking of which, check out David Ritz’s latest posting below this one – he’s knitting like a fanatic, as usual, and I really like the design, don’t you?  Looks like it would be fun.

It was tough getting a photo of this cute baby sweater that Sandy Albert just finished (her 6th version of this design!)  You can see how crowded the table was that day  – so many people trying to finish up their projects, we had overflow into the back room.  I love it when the shop is buzzing like that!

I finished a baby sweater too. This is from a Cabin Fever design, very clever one-piece construction that just flowed from the needles.  I did it in Hopscotch, a thick and thin superwash wool, soft and practical too. And Susie Crump finished her Sitka sweater and I had to show you how very special it is.  Now, if I had to bet, I would bet that this little grandson of hers is going to have this sweater for the rest of his life.  Where else is he ever going to find something with his name on it, and that displays the tree he was named for? 

And Lynne Nagle and I sat down to talk about crochet classes and she’s got some good ideas about projects for beginning classes.  We don’t have a schedule yet but we’re getting there.  She brought in this beautiful lace collar that she made from Frog Tree alpaca:

Isn’t it gorgeous?  That lace!  But don’t be intimidated – I made this pretty scarf from Ruca (hand-dyed sugar cane fiber!) and it’s soft and silky and I’m extremely proud of it, even though it was a simple 2-row pattern done on a pretty big hook.

Great yarn, a little (very little, in my case) skill and some patience, you got yourself a real purty scarf!

Okay, that’s it for this week.  I’m yearning to re-do my 80-year-old bathroom and went looking at fixtures and so on today.  I’m still in sticker shock and need to go lie down.

See you soon.

Trish

It’s been a great two days off, despite the fact that Geordie had an operation Monday a.m. He has a shaven hind end and a little soreness, but as long as he’s with his pack (Jackson, me, and you all), he’s good! I was pretty confined to the house once he was home, so I’ve spent a lot of time on the computer – it’s too hot to clean, right? Please validate my laziness! – and have been roaming around fashion sites, looking at what’s coming for fall.

You would never know it to look at the way I dress, but I love fashion and love reading about trends. In a small way, knitters are designers. Even when we’re beginners and feel we must follow a pattern religiously, we choose different colors, substitute yarns, add or subtract an inch or so from sleeves. And when we’re more accomplished, we casually change rolled edges to ribbing and back again, add a little waist shaping, raise or lower a neckline, so yes, this is design! And you can design exactly what you want to wear once you:

1) Get the concept of gauge

2) Learn the basics of shaping

3) Realize that you are creating fabric in the shape of a finished garment (instead of cutting a garment out of a rectangular piece of cloth), and

4) Come to terms with your true body measurements.

So, as designers, we want to know what’s going on in the world of fashion. Looking around today, I saw lots of huge pieces covered in cables, often worn with (sob) leggings or very skinny pants – sometimes in plaid – wow! There are also some very tailored small-scale jackets worn with wide-legged pants, a silhouette that comes very naturally to my own pear shape. I saw many, many, many belted sweaters. The belts are wide and contrasting and should be forbidden to anyone who is 5 feet tall, but you tall folks will love the look. Except this one, from this fall’s Knitscene.

This skinny little model looks like a hoss in it, doesn’t she?

But I love this look from the Knitscene cover – a wide and fluffy scarf piled around neck and shoulders.

I’m making it in a new yarn from the Fibre Company called Canopy: Baby alpaca, merino wool and bamboo. It’s just lovely and luxe. I’m cutting the width of the scarf by a full third and it will still be quite a scarf:

This look was on the runway and you’ll also see it in the fall Vogue Knitting. I think big gorgeous scarves are going to be a real statement item this fall and winter.

I’m making progress on the brother-in-law socks, mostly because I know there is some wonderful sock yarn coming in shortly and I want to have my needles free to start something at once! Gosh, I went through the list of new yarns coming in during the next three months, (have to make price signs and updat the lists, etc.) and I got all excited all over again. I’m making no progress on the Till Tomas shawl because I got enthralled with the Canopy scarf. And I’m burnt out on sweaters and need to just do faster things for a week or two. So, no project pictures. But I still have something wonderful to show you:

This is beautiful Alise Katharine Nierle at just a few days old. Look at that direct gaze – I didn’t think babies could even focus at that age, but I would swear she’s saying, “Look at how cute I am in this outfit, people!” The hat and sweater were of course made by mom Trish, and thanks so much to Trish and John for sending me pictures in the middle of getting Alise settled at home. I’ll meet her in a day or two, I hope, and maybe she’ll make a visit to the yarn shop in the near future.

So, speaking of the shop, we’re re-organizing the patterns, which has totally dominoed into reorganizing the whole front room, so excuse us while we get our act together. And we’ll be meeting soon to get the fall class schedule started. I want to do a series on Fair Isle, now that we’ve got some wonderful Shetland yarn coming in. And I want to do a series on mitered knitting, with at least two fun projects already in mind – oh and that reminds me, don’t forget our Mitered Market Bag class – there are still spaces available. It starts August 2, and it’s just a terrific and beautiful bag.

Aren’t you starting to want a really cool market bag to carry into stores when you’re just getting a couple things? I’m to the point of feeling stupid for not having one, but not yet to the point of remembering to carry one with me! I’ll get there, though.

So, those are some of my ideas, but I really want to hear yours. Send your comments, please – what do you want to learn, what would you love to make???

See you soon…

Trish

Two announcements before I get going on the topic (it’s funny having to think up a title for each post – the first thing I think of is always Yada, yada, yada):

First, for those of you who have been in classes and knitalongs with Trish Nierle, I’m sure you’d like to know that she and John are now proud parents of Alise Katharine, born on July 11, 8 lb, 11 oz. Grandma Patsy Gibney brought in pictures. Alise is beautiful, and I hope that they’ll post a photo to our gallery when they get a minute. I know she has some beautiful handknits to wear!

AND there is a mistake on the class schedule from long ago (I know there will always be a mistake, but sometimes it takes a while to surface.) The Seams Sew Easy class on Thursday, July 31 is at 6 – 7:30 pm, NOT 10 – 11:30 am. Were you wondering why we scheduled it for such a dopey time? If the schedule was keeping you from signing up, I hope you’ll be able to make the evening class. Sheesh. There is also a space or two left in our Omega Wrap class that starts this Thursday.

Now on to the topic:

A little story on NPR caught my attention a day or so ago. The subject was something called the Maker Movement, and it concentrated on people who were using old MP3 devices together with new software to make something useful out of something obsolete. At the very end, though, the story tied this rather techie angle together with the resurgence in crafts of all kinds, including knitting, sewing, cooking, and other things we are all doing to take matters into our own hands. It seems that there is a growing realization that we’ve given over control of many aspects of our lives to great big far-away corporate entities that really do not care whether we’re healthy, happy, or financially secure as long as we’re spending our (or anyone’s) money on their products. It’s been an easy, lazy way to live, but we’re getting the message in so many ways that we really must watch out for our own interests and the interests of our communities, and that the choices we make in how and where to live and shop can have a profound effect on our own health and the health of our neighborhoods. So, how can knitting be relevant in our daily lives, besides being a pleasant, wardrobe-enhancing, stress-relieving pasttime? Here’s one idea:

There’s a lot of worry out there about the price of heating our homes this winter and all the winters to come. Many of us will be lowering our thermostats, and handknits can make a big difference in how comfortable we’ll be in our colder homes. Think: afghans for cozying up with a good book, watching TV or doing homework, lovely warm handknit socks to insulate our feet from our hardwood floors, a light but warm ruana to throw on while we’re working around the house, and those wonderful warm sweaters we love to get into on cold mornings. Leg warmers, neck gaiters, and fingerless mitts are also good inside pieces when the house is chilly. All these things are non-binding and lightweight if made in natural fibers and therefore don’t need to be bulky, heavy, and uncomfortable to keep someone warm. And the best thing about handknits (at least the best thing for non-knitters – we all know that the best thing is the actual knitting) is that, properly cared-for, they will last a lifetime. A gallon of heating oil is gone in a few minutes – a good wool sweater will warm you for many, many winters.

I know you really don’t want to hear about this when it’s 85 degrees, sunny and beautiful outside, but let’s face it – handknits take time. Think about your own wardrobe, think about your kids, grandkids, even your parents and what they could use this winter and start planning. I just made Jackson and Geordie’s next grooming appointment – it’s in September, just 7 weeks away!!

I’m trying to think ahead. I’ve started a pair of socks for my brother-in-law although very little progress is being made, I’m afraid. I’m making pretty pink cashmere mitten liners for my niece, the Manhattanite. I made her a pair of sturdy black (of course) wool Subway mittens (with a pocket for her subway card so she can just wave it at the gate) and now I’m doing liners for those extra-cold New York days, and since they won’t show, they can be in a fun and girly color. One is done:

The shawl I mentioned last week blocked out beautifully – here is Karen modeling it. It’s the “Highland Triangle Shawl” from Folk Shawls in a Cascade yarn called Venezia Worsted, a lovely smooth silk and wool blend.

And I told you about the Tilli Tomas yarn I ordered to start the Heartstrings shawl. It arrived and I chose the red colorway to make the model in (there is an off-white and a platinum set of yarns, too – both very pretty). This is how far I’ve gotten on the border, which in this design is made first, then the body of the shawl is joined to it as you knit from the point up. The yarn is a lovely silk, with a strand of tiny beads plied with it. Not fast knitting, for sure, but fun and interesting.

Okay, enough about me! Here are a couple of great projects completed beautifully.

First, Rochelle Mann designed and knit this pretty summer cardigan. The yarn was tiny, slippery, and splitty, but the color was so pretty and just what she wanted, so she struggled through, ripping when necessary (and it’s always necessary when you’re designing on the fly.) The lace and cable design, the open neckline, close fit and bracelet-length sleeve were all part of her plan. She’s delighted with the result and agreed to model it for us even though she wasn’t dressed for it:

Sheila Yarus knit this beautiful sweater for her lucky husband. The design is a classic from an old Rowan collection; the yarn is Claudia Handpaint’s Sportweight Merino.

(Yoke detail)

Lovely! Now, don’t forget you can post your own pictures to our customer gallery just like Joy Janotti did. You’re allowed to show off a little – we all enjoy seeing what others are knitting.

Okay, I think that’s it for this week. See you soon!

Trish