LOTS to show

So much to show you! Lots of customers stopped in to show their finished projects, and we also had the Knitting Olympics show-and-tell at the knit in last week. (Knitting Olympics projects will be abbreviated to "KO project" below.)


But first, look a this cutie who came to visit with his mom, Meagan:

This is Thomas and he is five months old. He was doing lots of smiling until I took out the camera!

And Nancy M. brought in these sweaters to show me. They were made by her grandmother when she was living in Poland and they were made with all different kinds of yarn in her own, made up pattern.

It's hard to tell in these pictures but the sweaters have all different textures because of the different scraps of yarn she was using (which she had to do since there wasn't enough money to buy yarn for a whole sweater).

On to show-and-tell:

Susan with her lace shawl made with an alpaca yarn:

Beautiful, and very soft too!


Lisa's hat made, with Noro Kureyon, that will be felted. Pre-felting, it measured 17 inches long!




Barb's beautiful ribbed scarf:

Tina's kimono made with Encore Tweed:

So cozy -- and the tweedy yarn is perfect for this pattern!



Linda's felted bowl:

...embellished with pretty wooden beads.

Amy's comfy Wonderful Wallaby made for her son:

....and her KO project -- a pair of socks!

I love the colors!

Lisa's baby sweater made with Encore Colorspun:

By the way, Lisa donated one of the Knitting Olympics prizes, a handmade wooden nostepinne (won by Diane G).

Ok, good segue.... the other prizes were:

A skein of Periwinkle Sheep sock yarn. (won by Mary Kate)

A skein of Silky Wool, with the nostespinne

Ravelry mugs (won by Nancy E and Joan T)

Ravelry Tote Bag (won by Elizabeth)

Ravelry glasses (won by Linda)

Nancy C's mobius cowl made in the class here at the shop with two colors of Silky Wool:

Ruth's Constant Companion felted bag:

Her first big project after learning how to knit!

Barbara's socks! (can't remember the yarn!)

Karen's mobius cowl made in the class here at the shop, with Dream in Color chunky yarn (I think!)

And her second one! ...made with the now-discontinued Nature Wool Multy :(

Lea's Nancy's Scarf made with mostly Baby Alpaca DK:

She made the scarf wider than the pattern called for - beautiful!

Darla's KO project - handspun yarn! so pretty....

Jackie's recent projects:

A baby blanket made with Encore, a hat and several skeins of yarn dyed with Kool-Aid!

Mary Kate's Fetching Fingerless Gloves made with Super Aussie:

Kathy's Celtic Cable Scarf made in the class here at the shop with Rialto DK:

Wonderful!

Deirdre's Thrummed Mittens made in the class here at the shop with her own mohair roving from her goats!:

Mary Jean's cute little baby hat (with a pom pom!) made with Dreambaby DK:

Elizabeth's KO project, a Baby Surprise Jacket made with Jeannee:

So cute! (sorry for the blurry picture....)

Trudi's KO project, a cardigan (can't remember the yarn!) embellished with buttons that she made herself! :

Lisa KO project, Brambleberry Vest:

Beautiful!

Deirder's KO project, a pair of socks:

Cheryl's very cute felted hat:

Sue's KO project, a felted bag:

Karyn's KO project, a beautiful Ishbel Shawl (love the color!):

And her OTHER KO project, her Pirates hat:

AND she had another project, the Traveling Woman Shawl, which was also very pretty but I didn't get a picture.

(Sorry some of these pictures are so dark - guess i was having some trouble with the camera!)

Kathy's Blooming Cotton Scarf made with Cotton Rich DK and Pima Tencel:

Gorgeous!

Pat's KO project, her very first pair of socks!

Barb's KO project, a cabled cowl made with Encore Chunky:

her first time with cables!

Kathy's KO project, her very first pair of gloves, made with Baby Alpaca DK:

So many beautiful finished projects! Keep them coming!

Spinning (and a SALE!)

On my days off, I did a little practicing with my spinning... finally! It's been hard to find the time, with so many other things to do (knit).

So, remember this?

On the right is some Fleece Artist (from Nova Scotia) Blue Face Leicester Sliver hand dyed roving (50 grams) that I got at Adirondak Yarns in Lake Placid LAST February when Paul and I took a day trip. (refresh your memory here: http://yarnshopthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/02/day-off-at-lake-placid.html )


Yesterday I spun it:


And today I plied it:

And hopefully someday soon I'll wash it and then knit with it!

I also finished my crocheted hot pad/pot holder for an upcoming class:

Made with Rialto DK. This picture does not show the purple very well (on the outside of the light blue). This was fun to make and didn't take very long. I particularly love the light blue part - so pretty! It always amazes me how someone figured out how to get these designs out of using some yarn and a hook. And who can't use a pot holder, right???


AND I finished my Easy Bulky Sweater for the Family (Child's version), also for an upcoming class:

Knit with Kids Rock, a new acrylic chunky yarn with colorful flecks in it. GREAT for kids. The pattern is for babies to adults, so using Encore Chunky, Lamb's Pride Bulky or Cascade Ecological Wool are great choices too. A truly easy pattern.


That's what I've been doing --

Don't forget..... I'm having a SALE this week! March 10-March 14 . 20% (or more) off all yarn!

Crazy Snow

Seriously, what WAS that??? FOUR DAYS of snow. Up on the hill where we live was much worse than down in town, in Guilderland and in Albany.
Our road, with snow banks up to the bottom of the stop sign...





Our backyard, with Mandy's dog house completely covered:




One of the days, we looked out, saw the road was completely covered and not plowed well and I told Paul he better drive me to the bank and then to work (since my car needs snow tires and is horrible in the snow). So, off we went. We turned out of our road onto 156, drove about 100 yards and then the road was just wet and mostly clear. As we got further into Guilderland, the roads were completely clear and dry. It was a completely different world than up on the hill. I felt silly having asked Paul to drive me!


And on Wednesday of the snow-week, I got to the shop and the snow banks were so high on the sidewalks with no entrance to the sidewalk from the street! The sidewalks weren't even cleared - just a one-shovel-wide path from the back of my building to the fron. Hence, didn't open until 2pm, and even then, the sidewalks didn't get plowed by the town until 4pm. Too bad I didn't think to take pictures....


This week, though, and today in particular, has been so nice. The sun is shining and it's not too cold. I'm telling you, I was SO tired of the snow. I'm hoping these are the signs of spring and there won't be any more snow.


Ooh, and I've been meaning to share with you some knitting podcasts I've been listening to. They are a lot of fun and you can pick up some knitting tips while listening to the adventures of fellow knitters. Here are some of the ones I've been listening to:


The Knitmore Girls http://knitmoregirls.blogspot.com/



Sticks and String http://sticksandstring.wordpress.com/



Manic Purl http://manicpurl.blogspot.com/



Belle of the Ball http://belleoftheballpodcast.blogspot.com/



I also love Love LOVE the This American Life podcast (usually on NPR) http://www.thisamericanlife.org/podcast Not knitting, but great stories about life.




Customer Show and Tell
Mary Kate's Lucy Bag made with Ella Rae Classic:

Love the pin!


Stevie's adorable butterfly cocoons:

That turn inside out into butterflies!!:

Jan's very pretty Drop Stitch Scarf made with Ester Bitran Linares in a class here at the shop:

Knitting Olympics and other show and Tell

I'm way behind so this is just a show and tell post!

Nancy E's Bella Mittens, finished for her Olympics Project:


Lisa's Felted Clogs finished for part of her Knitting Olympics project:

She didn't get to finish her vest, though :(

My Bird in Hand Mittens - one of my WIP's for the Knitting Olympics:

The left one ended up a little bigger than the right one, but I haven't blocked it yet....


Laura's Saroyan Shawl, finished for the Knitting Olympics!:


Laura's other recent finished projects....

Love those Bird in Hand Mittens!

Mary Kate's sock finished for her Knitting Olympics project:

AND she got part of the second one done!




Nancy G's Noro Leaf Hat, finished for the Knitting Olympics:

Diane's Nimbus made with Katia Peru, finished for the Knitting Olympics:

Barbara's socks made with Crofter DK, finished for the Knitting Olympics:

Sue's felted bag, made with a recylced sweater:

Nancy C's first (!) hat made with Taos,:

Mary Janes adorable hat and Pebble Yoke Sweater made for Natalie:

Jan's "A Noble Cowl" made with Willow Tweed, finished for the Knitting Olympics:

Erica's Wintergreen Mitt, made as a full mitten instead of fingerless:

Karen's Expression vest:

A new runner carpet for the shop:

Ha! Snuck that one in there!


Cheri's Lucy Bag, embellished with her needle felted flower, both made in classes here at the shop:

My Swirl Scarf, another WIP finished for the Knitting Olympics:

Darla's Einstein Coat made with Cascade Eco Wool:

Darla's needle felted snowman and flower, and her woven scarf:

I'm doing all my ooh-ing and aah-ing here at the end .... they are gorgeous and beautiful and congratulations to those of you who were able to finish your Olympics Projects!

Remembering

We lost a friend and fellow knitter, Nancy Van Hof, yesterday. Many of you knew her but many did not, so I'm going to tell you a little about her and what I will remember.


Nancy was a wonderful person and had an amazing attitude toward life. She was so positive about many things, especially knitting, and would often be heard encouraging someone who felt they weren't experienced enough to knit something. When someone would ask her if she thought they could tackle a particular knitting pattern, she always said yes, feeling that it was just a matter of learning some new skills. During the knit-ins many people often looked to her for advice about their knitting.

That's her in the upper left in the pink shirt. She had a wealth of knowledge about knitting and loved it so much. She was always quick to tell people that if nowhere else, they could come to the shop to show off a project and someone would "give them glory" for it. (sometimes non-knitters just don't understand how great it feels to finish a project, and they don't want to ooh and aah over it as much as you/knitters do!). Nancy was always at the knit-in's and usually stopped in Saturdays and Sundays to visit and knit for a while. She lived just a few doors down from the shop - many considered her lucky in that respect!

One of the things she loved to knit was socks and when I first met her in 2008 I learned that this was a fairly recent "obsession" for her. Several months before I took over the shop, she made her first pair. She had been resistant to it, not really seeing what the big deal was. After she knit her first pair she couldn't stop! Many people knew her as "the Nancy that knits all the socks."

This picture is small but this is Nancy displaying all of her socks at our Fashion Show right after I took over the shop in April 2008. She had knit something like 17 pairs from November 2007 to April 2008. More recently, during the holidays, she was knitting 13 pairs of socks for her co-workers at MicroKnowledge, all in about 5 weeks time. We all watched her progress (and cheered her on) to see if she was going to get them all done in time for the holiday party ( she got almost all of them done and finished the rest up soon after!).

She also liked experimenting with dyeing yarn and roving, and here she is with a pair of socks she knit from a scarf blank she dyed:

They happened to match the beaded bracelet Joan made for her!

Nancy was also a designer and her patterns are very popular at the shop. Here she is with her double basketweave scarf:

(She was always willing to humor me when I wanted to take a picture of her with her finished projects).

Nancy was also a talented spinner. She dyed roving, spun it into a plied laceweight yarn (do you know how thin you have to spin roving in order to ply it into a laceweight??????), and made this gorgeous seed stitch shawl:

It took her a really long time and we all ooh'd and aah'd over the beautiful colors that looked like fall. We also asked many times "Are you really going to do that whole thing in seed stitch???". But when it was done, it was absolutely wonderful. She said she thought it was her best work.

A couple of other things I knew about Nancy:

In order of preference, her sandwich of choice at Hungerford was egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad. And she liked Birch Beer.

She had a tiny crush on Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer. (We all had a big conversation about him and his show at the shop one day.)

Nancy had a great sense of humor and we had many laughs together. We also had some serious talks about her health -- she was pretty private about what was going on but now and then when we were alone in the shop she would say, "Ok, I have some news" and she'd give me a little update. She even tested out some of her dark humor on me. I think sometimes she made these jokes just to see the shocked look on my face so we could then laugh together about it. I guess it made things a little easier for us both and I thank her for that. She really was very courageous.

Several people have told me that Nancy loved coming to the shop and I'm happy about that. She was here a lot so I know she felt comfortable here. She was a big part of the shop - so enthusiastic and so very supportive of me when I took over, for which I am very grateful. The shop won't be the same without her - she will be dearly missed. We do have great memories of her, though, that will help us through.

Knitting Olympics Progress

I finished my Heather Hoodie Vest today! I love it. I'm going to wear it all the time until it is 90 degrees out.

Ok, yes, you may notice that the buttons are not on there yet. I still have to pick them out and then spend the next year procrastinating before I put them on. I'm still considering it done.

How is your knitting olympics progress going?