Abigail Attacked by Pointy Sticks!

Miss Abigail graced us with her magnificent presence at Social Knitting last Friday . She pretty much looked like this all evening. Susan stuck some needles between her belly and left hind leg, (which she had tucked up under her chin) and we all had a good laugh because it looked like the needles were sticking out of her body!


Later Margret laid her beautiful Swallowtail Scarf made of Qiviut across Miss Abigail for a glamour shot.


She's a very loving and calm cat (necessary in a yarn shop) who likes to be petted and to lay on every one's knitting bag. The fact that she laid on that chair and slept while we knitters were laughing and talking is a testament to her easy-going personality.

Disclaimer: No cats were harmed in the making of this blog post. Annoyed maybe, but not harmed.

Friday Night Social Knitting at Y2Knit

Social Knitting was in full swing when I arrived an hour late. They had saved me a place though so I settled in and got busy.

To my left were Marge and Janice (left), both accomplished knitters who were working on exciting projects. Beside Janice was Frankie (below, in red), a talented silversmith, knitter, crocheter and cro-hooker (sounds interesting doesn't it?).



Across from me was Margret (left), also an accomplished stitcher who has been visiting us while her mother recouperates from surgery. We'll be very sorry to see her go and hope she comes back often to visit.

Next is Susan (right), shop owner extrodinaire, who hosts these get-togethers and offers liberal amounts of help, advice and encouragement. She taught me to knit and is my mentor in all things knitty.


Last but certainly not least is Kathy (below), who was busy making hats. She's also a great knitter and friend and I really look forward to seeing her at these events. She seems to be as enthusiastic about yarn and knitting as I am and I'm looking forward to going to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival with her this year. I'm a festival virgin and she's offered to show me around.

If you're ever in the Hagerstown, Maryland area on the second or fourth Friday of the month at 7pm be sure to stop by and see us. We'd sure love to meet you.

SWTC Tofutsies Yarn Review - It doesn't smell like Old Bay

I'm knitting socks with a new yarn (new for me al least) from SWTC called Tofutsies (toe-foot-sies). Isn't the colorway fantastic?
I'm using Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Pattern (my favorite) with 64 stitches on size US#0/2mm metal needles. This is now my standard pattern because it fits me so well. But the Tofutsies yarn is very thin and after working with Cherry Tree Hill, Fleece Artist and Claudia Hand Paints I can really notice a big difference. I'm getting 10 stitches and 14 rows to the inch as opposed to my usual 8 and 12 and the sock is knitting up narrow. It does, however, still fit my foot so I think I will soldier on to the heel and do a fitting before deciding whether it's ok or whether I need to frog it and go up to 68 stitches.


It's 50% superwash wool, 25% soysilk fibers, 22.5% cotton, and 2.5% chitin. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Chesapeake Bay area, Old Bay Seasoning is used on shrimp, crabs, and all kinds of foods around here. When I picked this yarn up at Y2Knit and Susan told me what was in it, I really expected it to smell like Old Bay. Perhaps the color has something to do with it since it is such a pretty shrimpy color.

Home again and "spring cleaning"

Because winter is here and I want it to be spring, I decided to do some spring cleaning in the shop. Things were a bit fusty and I needed to make some changes. Getting back from TNNA seemed like the ideal time as I had to rehang the samples and having been away for a few days, I was able to look with a fresh eye. The results are fabulous, the energy is renewed and I'm getting great feedback from customers. Thanks to Sandy Linthicum, who came in to help fold patterns and ended up spending the day helping me with my cleaning/rearranging.

Above - novelties moved to the corner, and the space previously occupied by novelties is now handpaints, my favorites. Garments hang in the stairway where the handpants previously hung.

I love this view of the baskets of yarn by the window. I can see it from the front counter. It's satisfying and peaceful.

Novelties are now concentrated in the corner. All the little girls love this corner and beg their moms/grandmoms for sequin yarns.

Lacy Cabled Scoop

I'm excited about this knitalong because I plan to make this sweater. Designed by Chrissy Gardner to be a loose fitting sweater worn over a camisole or other shirt, this sweater is flatterning for many figures and sized generously so many knitters can enjoy it.

When Jill and I were in Vermont this fall for our Y2Knit2Gether Event, I discovered that I had not brought enough shirts for our 5 days. Fortunately, we always bring samples of our designs, so there's often something that will fit me. Jill pulled the Lacy Cabled Scoop out of her bag and suggested I try it on. The medium sized sample was not a loose fit, but the body skimming fit looked good! I wore it one day and was pleased that the wool was not scratchy at all. I wore it over a nude colored camisole (I wear a camisole whenever the temperature is below 60, being a wimp about the cold).

TNNA

Jill and I were at TNNA (The National NeedleArts Association) trade show last week in San Diego. The Y2Knit booth was a busy place and we took lots of orders. We only wished the weather had been nicer! I expect San Diego to be warmer than 40 degrees this time of year! As luck would have it, back home in Funkstown it was in the 60s.

We like going to TNNA as it's a great place to network with others in the industry. We see many of our favorite people, like Donna McGranaghan, the Skacel rep who also reps our patterns. She introduced us to Sherry, another Skacel rep, who is eager to knit up our new Four Directions pattern in Trekking sock yarn.

For this trade show, we joined the "Red Carpet Collaborative", a group of 7 companies that bought extra booth space where we set up a "beach", with chairs and water. Jill and I decorated. I loved the barbecue grill (at left) with yarn kabobs from Universal Yarn. We made "drinks" with yarn in Starbucks cups with needles sticking through the hole.

Someone brought a "palm tree" and I had fabric birds we hung from the tree, along with Jill's fabulous Valentine thong. There were a few bikinis about too - little stuff knitting that Jill loves to do. The beach turned out to be a nice place for people to sit and rest or knit. The market area is huge and there's lots of walking and standing.

What did we buy?
More colors of sock/fingering yarn and boucle from Claudia Hand Painted Yarn. Her booth was right across the aisle from us, so we got to see lots of her and her beautiful yarn (she's beautiful too).

Skacel has new colors of Zitron yarns (Mr. Zitron is a color genius and he must like redheads) so we stocked up on Trekking for socks and Four Directions. We are totally excited about their new needle felting kits--stay tuned for more about that. Let me just say "make your own fabric". Jill has plans for a skirt! I'm thinking a bag and buttons. It's very cool and if we'd had the supplies in our hotel room, we would have been felting! The colorways are by Zitron--need I say more?

Kraemer Yarns has four new colors in Tatamy Tweed: turquoise, coral, avocado, and ginger. Yummy! They also are offering TT in worsted weight, so we are getting some of that.

We have new Denise needle sets in pink--$5 goes to breast cancer research.

Spring in January

We've had unseasonably warm temps this week - not exactly great weather for inspiring knitting, but the weather forecasters promise it will get cold yet. Abigail is chasing a fly in the house, I swatted at mosquitos last night and the stink bugs seem to be everywhere. Outside, bulbs are coming up and trees are budding. A customer told me she had been in Washington, DC and the cherry blossoms were out, along with daffodils. Someone else drove on Rt. 40 from Frederick and reports a bank of forsythia bushes in full bloom. The flowering quince (japonica) in my yard is budding.

My garden, one of my sources for inspiration (how I love to sit on the bench in the warm weather and knit!), is still alive. I walked through this morning and see I have broccoli to pick and lettuce is still growing. The spring weeds are doing well, as evidenced by the ground cover leafing out in my walkway. Perennials are sending up new shoots. I don't know how they will be affected if we do have cold weather and the ground freezes. The garden pests are probably flourishing too.

With spring in January, I was inspired to pick up some pastel pink yarn this morning.

Charity Knitting - January

Charity Knitting at the Y2Knit Shop occurs on the first Thursday. We meet from 10-12 and again in the evening 7-9, with different knitter/crocheters coming to each session. After creating over 900 caps for low birth weight infants for Caps to the Capital - we got lots of help from the community - we are now working on chemo caps for Breast Cancer Awareness of Cumberland Valley. Sadly, they continue to have a need for these, but it's our pleasure to create caps for women receiving chemo for breast cancer.

When I was collecting the caps, I filled two huge boxes and began to wonder how much it would cost to mail them. Jill suggested I put out a collection basket so people could donate towards the mailing costs. I collected $21 and expected Y2Knit it contribute to balance. When I went to UPS on Monday with the boxes, the clerk told me, "$20.98" and I responded, "You're kidding!". She was a bit taken aback by my response, but I was surprised (why? these things to work out) at the cost nearly matching my collection. I am going to tape the 2 pennies change up as a reminder that there is a wonderful balance in this universe.

Pat Riggle's Fabulous Vest

Pat is a fabulous knitter who likes to take on challenging projects. Her first steek project was this vest for her son. I'll get specifics regarding pattern, yarn, etc. and post that information.