6 degrees outside + 47 degrees inside =

....broken furnace! How nice to wake up to a nice chilly house. Paul was the lucky one that "got" to stay at the frigid house and wait for the fixer. I, of course, had to get to the nice warm shop to open on time. He tried valiantly to fix it himself and almost did, but we had to give in and make the call. It turned out that Paul had almost fixed it --- if he had just had one extra little vacuum attachment to get the soot from blocking the doohickey.

My "A Noble Cowl" is done!

Love it. Love the yarn (cashmere). It is soooooooo soft and wonderful.

Here is a cute cartoon Trudi shared with me:

Think of Leonard when you are feeling inadequate with your knitting...

Customer Show and Tell:

Jan made ankle warmers (from Robin's pattern that was on the blog the other day: http://yarnshopthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/01/mmmmmm-malabrigo.html ) to go with her Fetching Fingerless gloves!

As a reminder (I forgot to put it in the last email....), we have another Fetching fingerless gloves class scheduled for Saturday, Feb 6, 1-3pm (just to avoid confusion, there is the Wintergreen fingerless glove class - stranded- in the morning.... this is another one!). Let me know if you'd like to sign up.

Ginormous!

At the knit-in last night, Lisa was working on a felted clog for her friend. As many of you know, when you are going to felt something, first you knit it into something huge, so it will shrink down into a "normal" size. Well, Lisa had to make this clog for a size 16 (wide, to boot) foot.....

Look at that! GINORMOUS!

19 1/2" long prior to felting! Discussion ensued about how long the clog should be after felting. The jury is still out on that one. Good luck Lisa!

Toward the end of the knit-in, it got very quiet and I noticed this group clustered around Robin, intently watching what she was doing....

She was helping Sally with the unraveling of the fringe on her Nancy's Scarf. This tends to be a scary part for many when knitting this pattern, but it's really very easy! Robin will be teaching this class on Saturday, March 13, 9:30-11:30. Call me if you'd like to sign up.

And here is a picture of me wearing my Ishbel lace shawlette:

I love how it turned out and it is nice and soft on my neck. If you are interested in making this, the class will be Thursdays, March 18 & 25, 6-8pm. Great for taking the next step with lace!

And I wanted to share with you some pictures of the Needle Felted Flower class we had last weekend. So much fun!

Such beautiful results! It was such a success, we'll be scheduling another in the upcoming class session. Stay tuned.

Customer Show and Tell:

Cheri's Lucy Bag:

So wonderfully colorful!

Pat's braided scarf that she made with super bulky yarn and a pattern she got when visiting her daughter in California:

It's very soft and squooshy.

Nancy's final pair of socks in the group of many many pairs she was knitting for others over the holidays:

She finished binding off just minutes after this picture.

Courtney's thumbless thrummed mitts made for her daughter, who won't yet agree to wear them!:

Mary Kay's wrap vest and leg warmers made from the Crofter DK:

Very cute!

Jan's Fetching fingerless gloves made with Cashmerino Aran:

A quick knit! (Another session of this class is scheduled for Saturday, Feb 6, 1-3pm)

Mary Jane's first socks! Made for her granddaughter Natalie:

Kathy's most recent knitting projects:

Thrummed Mittens, Mini Mochi socks, Baby booties and hand warmers. She is so busy!

Sandy's felted clogs:

Cozy! (made for a size smaller than size 16...) Also, she shared that she made the sole and the cuff with one strand of Lamb's Pride Bulky (rather than the usual two strands of worsted) and it worked out well.

Very soon, info about the Knitting Olympics......

Just some knitting

Here are some things I've been working on...
I finished the Ishbel Lace Shawl~


(I have GOT to get on the ball to create a photo box so I can have nice pictures to show you...this just doesn't show the beautiful colors in the yarn very well.... put it on the to-do list)

It's actually the shawlette version and is like a non-circular cowl (size-wise). If Paul were here, I'd have him take a picture of me with it on, but he's not so that will have to wait for another post. I enjoyed this pattern - not too difficult as far as lace goes and the shawlette version didn't seem as overwhelming as the shawl version might (to me anyway, Ms. Impatience). The yarn is wonderfully soft and much more so after it was blocked.

And I'm working on my Sniffle Mitts:

One mitten done (sans tissue pocket). I'm starting the other today. Then I'll do both pockets at the end. Have I mentioned that I'm using Malabrigo for these? And that it's wonderful? And that I have some coming? (in several weeks).....

Finally, I couldn't help but start this cowl with some of the yarn I bought on our Maine trip:



This is A Noble Cowl from Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/a-noble-cowl
So far, a nice, easy pattern that is going quickly. The yarn is Rowan Pure Cashmere DK --- cashmere, so you can imagine how nice it is (it is.) It was a little vacation indulgence!

That's it for today. No show and tell since the camera with customer pictures on it is at the shop and I'm at home!

P.S. Thinking about the Knitting Olympics.... I might be doing a WIP finishing project... finish my Bird In Hand mittens, finish my thrummed mittens, finish my hand dyed socks, finish my Heather Hoodie, finish my Swirl Scarf. Stay tuned.

Mmmmmm.... Malabrigo

I've been waiting a long time to get Malabrigo yarn into the shop. It is in sight!... sort of. I ordered some worsted and silky merino yesterday. Today, I got an email saying it would take several weeks to ship. :( That's ok. It's coming, that's the important part. In the meantime, I'm using the sample of Malabrigo worsted they sent me to start these Sniffle Mitts (www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sniffle-mitts ), which is a pattern from Purl Diva, the yarn shop I visited in Maine. An adorable mitten pattern with a pocket on the hands to accomodate tissues!

What a wonderful merino yarn. So nice to knit with. This pattern is for sale on Ravelry and if you buy it by the end of today, the proceeds will go to assist the victims of the earthquake in Haiti! Go! Buy it!

And here is another pattern for you....

Robin made these nice cozy ankle warmers....
Size 6, 16" circular needle
Worsted weight yarn
Cast on 60 stitches.
Alternate 2x2 rib and seed stitch every 8 rows.

Show and Tell:
Stevie's cozy neck warmer she made with Baby Alpaca Grande using a pattern from the Pints & Purls book:

It's going to her grandmother for her birthday!

Linda's felted clogs:

She modified the pattern to make it a mule (no back!).


Jean's hat and scarf made from Mushishi:

These are the patterns that come with the yarn - beautiful colors!

A little getaway

Paul and I had a nice little trip to Maine the past few days! We left on Sunday (thanks to Jana for covering the shop) and when we got there is was snowing. It snowed most of the day Monday, too...
We took a nice pretty drive in the snow...

To Bath:

Where they have this huge shipyard, Bath Iron Works:

Although, my dad informed me that this is actually a very small shipyard, 1/10 the size of the one in Groton, CT and 1/100 the size of the one in Newport News, VA. A wealth of information, he is! (looked pretty darn big to us, though).

Then, we went to try and find some beach/ocean, which was hard to do since the roads were not great. We found this:



And, of course, what would one of our trips be without finding some yarn shops? Here is my loot:

We stopped in at Purl Diva in Bruswick (www.purldiva.com ):


A very nice shop and the owner, Ellen, was also very nice! Referring to the picture of the loot, I got the roving on the left from Loose Ends Fiber (a local roving from Brunswick), Trail Socks from Fleece artist (the blue/green yarn in the middle, from Nova Scotia), Shibuiknits sock yarn (pink/orange yarn on the right), and Madelinetosh worsted (plum yarn toward the top). She also has an adorable shop dog, whom I didn't get a picture of, sorry to say.

Next it was on to The Knitting Experience Cafe (www.theknittingexperience.com ):


The women at this shop were also very nice. Here are a couple of cutomers on the big red couch:

The sock yarn I bought here was dyed for the shop by Unwind Yarn Company and named "Big Red Couch"! (the red-but-sort-of-looks-pink-in-the-picture yarn next to the roving)

Finally, we went to Grace Robinson and Comany in Freeport(www.yarnandneedlepoint.com ). I forgot to take a picture of this shop! A rather larger shop than the other two with some nice, elegant pieces in the windows. I splurged on some Rowan Classic Pure Cashmere DK (dusty blue yarn on the top in the above picture) and Colinette Iona in colorway "monet" (blue multi on the bottom).

Our main incentive for choosing Maine was the gift card Paul got to LLBean for Christmas. So, off we went:



Paul was looking for moose all weekend, but the only ones we saw were in the windows at LLBean.

Freeport is a quaint little town with lots of shops:


Talk about keeping an historic, small town feel....Check out the McDonald's!

And the Friendly's:

(sorry about the blur)


And, did I knit, you ask?

Made lots of progress on my Ishbel Lace Shawlette! This new laceweight from Holiday Yarns is just wonderful (silk and wool).

Customer Show and Tell:
Iryth's wonderful double knit hat:


Love the circles!


Ariele's first knitting project:

She is 9 and is well on her way to becoming a wonderful knitter!

Sally's Toasty Neckwarmer (a Spinning Room pattern!) made with Akapana:

Love the red!