Vancouver knitting workshop: Nov.11-13, 2011

Hello knitters,

Just want to let you know the West Coast Knitters Guild has organized a workshop [in Vancouver] with Donna Druchunas, a well known knitting instructor and writer. Various types of classes will be held over 3 days during the long weekend in November ~ Nov.11-13, 2011.

I was not able to attach the information document due to its size (it's only 5 pages, but it bounced the e-mail). I have a copy at my desk and will send it to anyone that's interested. You can also try to access it through the West Coast Knitters Guild website: http://westcoastknitters.org/

To find out more about Donna - here is a link to her website:
http://sheeptoshawl.com/about-donna/about-my-knitting/

There is an early bird registration discount until July 5th.

Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks, EM

Another knitted lace scarf success!

Winnie N. also completed her lace scarf. Beautiful!

This Angel Pearls Beaded Scarf "is worked from one end to the other without grafting or provisional cast on. Instructions are included for placing beads with a crochet hook and making bead or yarn tassels. Pattern contains 6 pages and is both written and charted. One ball of kid mohair/silk yarn is required for the scarf."

New group project idea

Hi,

I don't know how far we are with ideas but, just in case, I thought this mitered square quilt block looked like it had potential. The knitting is pretty basic but it's the colours and how they are organized that will make all the difference. Psychedelic Squares Afghan: Stocking St Version.

Cheers, Sharon

A knitted lace scarf success!

Check out the beautiful work from Laura. Congratulations!

This Angel Pearls Beaded Scarf "is worked from one end to the other without grafting or provisional cast on. Instructions are included for placing beads with a crochet hook and making bead or yarn tassels. Pattern contains 6 pages and is both written and charted. One ball of kid mohair/silk yarn is required for the scarf."

Silver's sock class

Hi,

This is probably the best sock tutorial out there, and if you follow it you'll end up with a sock for sure.

A big downfall of this tutorial is that the instructions are definitely for a woman's sock - casting on 64 stitches with fingering weight yarn will net you a typical ladies 7 -10 size sock. Most sock patterns for men usually have you casting on somewhere in the neighbourhood of 72 - 80 stitches depending on the yarn weight, the type of stitch you are doing and the size of your foot, but to really customize the sock you'd want to do a swatch with the yarn you intend to use, count how many stitches you get to the inch and then measure around the widest part of your foot in inches. Then cast on accordingly.

The other downfall is that Silver only gives you American needle sizes, not metric ones, and not all needles have both sizes stamped on them. That's a problem if you are buying needles from a no-service shop like Value village - so you might want to look the US sizes up on the internet first to figure out their metric equivalents..

By the way if you're are ever looking for good quality yet cheap sock yarn - check out Dressew downtown. They carry remaindered yarn for $2 a ball and every time I've been there they've had a great selection of top quality German sock yarns.

Anyway, if you are intrigued by what you see and/or need some help with something you know where I am. And don't forget about the expert knitter in your midst - Edita!

Cheers, Shawnna

Leftover yarn afghan idea ~ Noro Squared

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all well, and that the needles are still flying. I happened across this Noro Squared pattern - and I thought of our group: http://www.canknit.com/free/ns.html. I'm not sure how much Kureyon and/or Cascade the group might have laying around, but I think you could see how a nice blanket could come out of whatever you all might have left after two years of blanket knitting. Even if you had to buy more yarn - neither is very expensive and you could have a lot of fun putting the plain and the variegated yarn squares together ;-0

cheers, Shawnna

Cheryl Niamath's blog

Some of you may know Cheryl as partner of Paul L., but she is also an incredibly talented crafts woman, and author of Fetching Knits.

Welcome to the online home of Fetching Knits. Here you will find patterns, help with techniques, and occasional knitting news. This site is a work in progress; check back soon for new patterns & news.

Crocheting book wins odd title prize

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/03/27/odd-title-crochet.html

LONDON (AP) — A book charting the frontier between handicrafts and geometry on Friday won Britain’s quirkiest literary award, the Diagram Prize for year’s oddest book title.

Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes by mathematician Daina Taimina beat runners-up What Kind of Bean is This Chihuahua? and Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich.

Prize overseer Horace Bent said "the public proclivity towards non-Euclidian needlework" proved too strong for the competition.

"I’ve never won any prizes before. This is my first prize and it’s wonderful," said Taimina, an adjunct associate professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y..

The winning book’s title may be odd but the subject is serious. Taimina uses crochet to create hyperbolic planes, surfaces on which lines curve away from each other instead of running parallel, as on a flat plane, or converging, as on a sphere.

Previous champions include Bombproof Your Horse and Living With Crazy Buttocks.

Knitwits new project: Big Blanket

Hi all,

We have made a great start on our Big Blanket project!!

Edita bought 14 skeins of yarn yesterday, and today we wound it into balls. I have two balls not yet claimed - navy blue, and a purpley blue one. We are quite certain that each ball will make at least 2 squares. Leftovers from your first square will be used in solid coloured squares or mixed up for multi-coloured squares.

I have attached my list of the folks who are participating. Once I have confirmed the number of us participating, I'll ask you to reimburse Edita for a portion of the yarn expense (it's going to be less than $10).

To remind you of the inspiration for our Big Blanket, check out the photo on the blog shown below. This is not a pattern so we're on our own for figuring out squares. If you're unsure about a pattern - reply to the Knitwits and someone will be able to help you figure out a pattern.

Getting started:

We are going to aim for our squares to 10" by 10".

You'll need to do a swatch to check your tension and to try out your pattern. Do your swatch in stocking stitch (or the pattern that you intend to knit) at least 4" by 4". Use 4.5mm or 5mm needles. (Use 5mm if you are doing cables or twists.)

To determine how many stitches you'll need to make a 10" by 10" square, count how many stitches you have per inch on your swatch. Multiply that by 10 and you'll have the number of stitches to cast on. Based on Edita's sample you should have about 42 or 44 stitches. (If you knit tightly you'll more, if you knit loosely you'll need fewer).

Our wonderful collection of Cascade yarns


Tracking our colour choices


A getting started lesson


Turning skeins into balls using wheel


We used two wheels to get the job done

Scarf made using short row knitting

Remember knitting the Lizard Ridge squares, and how we called the bumps boobies?

Well, you gotta check out the scarf at the link below!

http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall04/knittyF04surp.pdf

A new link: Ravelry is a knit and crochet community

Hello all,

This is a link Sheryl pointed us to. Ravelry.

Ravelry is a free site. There are currently 543,850 registered users.

ORGANIZE - Organize your projects, stash, needles, and more.

SHARE - Show off your work. Share your ideas and techniques.

DISCOVER - Find new designs & yarns. Make friends. Try new things.

Cheers, Meg

Tunisian Crochet blanket

From Shawnna: Here's the Tunisian crochet blanket that I'm doing - the technique is available for free from Stitchdiva here. And also here. The Stitchdiva actually produces the pattern I used - I used super bulky yarn, 19 mm Tunisian crochet hook and cast on...95 stitches (heheh I only have 93 now). It's fairly narrow so if I was going to do it again I'd probably cast on about 113....

Lizard Ridge project being prepped for sewing

The Knitwits met today to organise and strategized how to put our afghan together. Lots of collaboration and a sewing lesson. Seven of us took 4 squares to sew together, and will meet again soon to sew the 7 rows together. Next step is to crochet a border. Getting exciting!
Photos: Our squares, #1 pattern, #2 pattern (selected for its wavy look), pinning coordinate labels, and our coordinate list.

Long tail cast-on technique

At Edita's Introduction to Knitting - Part 1 course we learned the long tail cast on technique. This technique is leaves a lovely finished & stretchable edge. Here are two videos to demonstrate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwCrIwSOqlQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f2LXGqLCPs

Crochet Class

Hi everyone,

Well, it seems like crochet embellishments are the hottest thing in knitting right now - our blanket is a good example....I don't know how to crochet at all and so I've just signed up for a crochet class that's starting up at the end of the month at Urban Yarns on 10th. If anyone else is interested, it's 4 Monday evenings: May 25; June 1,8 & 15, from 7 - 9pm, $95.

Link: http://www.urbanyarns.ca/index.php

Cheers,
Shawnna

New UBC Knitter's site

From Regina:

Also, just to let you know, there is a new UBC Knitter's site on Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/ubc-knitters

Hi everyone,

As promised, here's the pattern for the scarf I showed today: http://www.angelyarns.com/free-patterns/noro-scarf.php.

I used whatever size needle recommended on the yarn label - I think it's 5mm. I'm very sorry - I cannot remember how many rows I did to get the width of the scarf that I made. If anyone's interested I'd be happy to do a demo at next week's session.

Here also is the link to the Cascade yarn site, with all the colours available in the 220, 100% wool recommended for the seaming/crochet border of our quilt: http://www.cascadeyarns.com/cascade-220.asp

Let's start thinking about border colours!

Cheers,

Shawnna

Knitwits: Video clips, updated pattern chart, needle request, next meeting

Hello Knitwits,

We had an excellent meeting today in LPC. A lot of one-on-one lessons were given, and I believe the dim lights are beginning to get bright!

We shot the following two clips today to be helpful - Sara is teaching.

Wrap & Turn knit stitch from the purl side:



Picking up your Wraps from the purl side (re-loaded):




Additional clips found on YouTube:








Attached is Sara’s Lizard Ridge chart. Corrections have been made and saved in excel.


If anyone has an extra paid of 5mm needles, Sharon Yee needs a pair.

If anyone needs some easy practice yarn, please let me know.

Next meeting: KR 7 lunchroom 12 noon.

Lizard Ridge pattern has been nicknamed the Booby pattern. Check out the boobies below!

Cheers, Meg

hope this gives you a different way of doing things



Regina

Hi All,

Here is some more information from Shawnna about the Lizard Rdige project.

Lot's of inspiring pictures!! It looks as though too much blocking and pressing would flatten the bumpy bits. Might be a good idea to just block around the edges.

Anyway, we've got 7 knitters on board for this project so far. It's going to be so wonderful, and a great fund raising opportunity!!

Sara

Shawnna Parlongo wrote:

Hi Sara,

Yeah, I'd happily do a demo for people! I'll try to properly block my square tonight so we can work out just how hard that is. I also found some online help:

This great blog that has links to short-row knitting tutorials as well: http://lizardridgeknitalong.blogspot.com/

Flickr photos that show the progress of the project - and yes they all look totally warped before blocking! :