1162 Queen St. E. Toronto, ON. M4M 1L4
416 463 1162
Newsletter
September 2010
Welcome back to fall. Welcome back to thoughts of cooler weather and warmer knit wear. Welcome new falls lines arriving. Welcome to the renewed desire to tuck in with a good old comforting project. Now if only someone would turn down the humidity.
The Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair is just days away...
Come see us at the Fair... September 11th! Even though we will be off to the show the shop will be OPENon Saturday, September 11th thanks to a couple of really generous volunteers!
This will be our third year at this exhilarating show! As usual we will have our show specials... and we are launching a few new lines to the shop. Oh OK ...we'll tell in advance this time so you can make your lists! Stitchers.... start your dreaming up of ideas for:
As always our techniques and old favs are back on the roster.
We saw lots of enthusiastic beginners this summer...just a reminder that if you are itching to take it to the next level we have great 102 classes with Rosa coming up!
For all you spinners we are very pleased to be offering a special Intermediate - Spin for a project class. This 3 session class will run Thursdays, October 14, 21 & 28; 7:00-9:00pm. See the details here
Be sure to check out Photography for Knitters too. This is a great class to hone your Finished Object or WIP photos for posting on blogs, Ravelry or even just for your records. And we all know Amy Swenson has a knack for taking great shots..come learn her tricks!
We are very excited to have so many people joining us for the Featherweight Cardi KAL. last count had us over 50 participants! So many gorgeous skeins of Viola Fancy Lace arrived in mouthwatering colours just in time for our Sept 1 start date! So if you haven't picked up your pre-order....come and get it!
Due to overwhelming popularity, Emily has agreed to do another run of priority dying! If you thought you missed the deadline, never fear we will take another round of orders. Call, email, or pop in by September 15th to take advantage of the Featherweight Cardigan Pattern free with purchase of one skein of Viola Lace! We will have an October 1st delivery of round 2 of orders. We do have a few skeins at the shop if you are looking to come pick a colour off the shelves, but really only a few until late September.
We are planning to arrange a group photo of the myriad of (hopefully) finished Featherweight Wearers early in December. It was indicated that early November would be too soon....so early December. We will have exact date and location details in the November newsletter!
We are declaring Featherweight Fridays!
So if you are having issues and you need a bit of reassurance, help or just would like to come and get your teeny tiny knit on with us...come on in. It would be great to get some photos of colour revelations and progress as we go. Plus it is sometimes handy to have someone else available to help with size questions. And on the selfish front, we will need to make sure we allocate time away from book projects if we ever hope to finish!
as to deciding on size, especially if you want to deviate from the written instructions and do stuff like: reduce your needle size for a firmer fabric like the sample.
1st tidbit of guidance:
Don't panic. One of the really terrific things about top down sweater patterns is that you can make sizing decisions on the fly. For every size of this sweater you cast on 76 stitches and start your raglan increases right away ...knitting and knitting and knitting until you have worked the recommended number of increase rows ...OR ...until it fits around your arms and across your back without too much stretching out. Top down is great because you can try on your sweater at each stage to get a good fit.
Soooo... when you have a handful of increase rows left it may be time to check in and have a peek that you are on track for size. You are welcome to pop in, or if you have a friend handy you can place it over your shoulders, center the sleeve portion atop your shoulder and try to join the increases under your arm... is it too loose? You may need to rip back (this is why the recommendation to start checking fit before you get to the recommended number of increase rows...see???? smart!!!) Is it too tight? You will need to increase some more, so keep on trekking. Is it just right? Time to put the sleeves on holders and join up under the arms to knit down the body. Do you need reassurance or help measuring or just plain old moral support? Pop in!
2nd tidbit of guidance:
The Make-1-Right is Fiddly. But it is well worth the effort to do the directional increases, so power on dear knitters. It is helpful to be careful to work quite close to the tips of your needles to avoid overstretching your stitches. Be sure to pick up the bar between the stitches from back to front. To get that picked up bar to loosen up so you can knit into the front of it, try placing your left index finger on the bit of yarn that is that bar and rolling it forward on the needle to create a loose area in which to ease the tip of the right hand needle. And then knit it! It will get easier, but it is fiddly especially with such fine yarn. You might want to try it on a swatch of some thicker yarn to get the hang of it if it is your first go at the M1R increase.
And 3rd tidbit of guidance:
After you have knit about an inch or two of the body...we strongly recommend you then stop, pat your self on the back and move on to the arms and knit them both before adding more length. Why? Because while we are pretty confident with the yardage recommendations we have made, it would be pretty terrible to be on the second sleeve about an inch before finishing and run out of yarn. But if you are on the collar band, knitting those very long rows, and you are a few rows short, there are many more options for finishing. Dye lot issues would not be horrific if you needed more yarn Adding a little laceweight in a coordinating or contrast colour from your stash for 1/2 an inch of knitting could be a design feature, but not so much for an inch of one sleeve. Make sense?
The reason for the recommendation is that the consensus for this pattern is that it is a bit short, and many people intend to add length and do the modifications that Emily made in knitting up her sample. Personal gauge variations and personal length choices make definitive yardage estimates impossible on our end...so let's just do it the easy way!
Got any more burning questions ...bring 'em on... and we will pass on more guidance in October's newsletter too!
All the tips and tricks will remain posted on our Featherweight 2010 page.
Oh yeah... there has been a request for a special tag for Ravelry so we can see each other's progress very easily.
So let's tag our featherweights as:
PP-Featherweight2010
I know it is a long tag ...maybe cut and paste to avoid spelling errors?
Happy Stitching!
Miko's Challenge Update ...
Miko has on the needles:
Miko has finished:
1 - Cabled Swing Cardi
2 - Iris Side-to-side Sleeveless Top
3 - Endpapers Shawl
4 - Little Shells Socks
Miko has no new projects cast on...but she is chipping away at the ones on the needles... only 5 months left... and less than halfway?
Now who's great idea was it to distract us with a gorgeous and luxurious to the touch LACEWEIGHT SWEATER to add to our WIPs????
Holy Sheep.
1 - Diamonds and Pearls Shawl
2 - Chunky Winter Set Hat
3 - Chunky Winter Set Mittens
4 - Foolproof Baby Hat (plus booties)
5 - Princess Mitts
6 - Retro Cloche (hat)
7 - Wavy Socks
8 - Honeycomb Hat
9 - Cabled Headband
10 -
Scaruffle
11- Swirly O Socks
12 - XOX Vest
13 -
Baby Soft Cardigan
14 - Classic Washcloth
15 -Optic Waves Shawl
16 - Patchwork Carriage Blanket
17 - Scarelett the Goldfish
18 - Ollie the Octopus
18/39=46.153%
Jennifer has on the needles:
Jennifer has finished:
1 - Tibetan Clouds Stole
(Chart A done)
2 - Prairie Rose Shawl
3 - Windjammer Socks
4 - Papa Bear Sweater
5 - Leafy Glen Shell
one done, 2 more cast on,
a bit of progress on Prairie Rose
We have been seeing a bit more of the lovely and gorgeous Jeanie! Check out this photo of Jeanie passed out on the Baby Blanket made with lots of Purlie love in time for her arrival!
Keri is doing really well and sends her thanks to all of you!
Yarn, Yarn, Yarn...
We have a few new lines that have arrived into the shop this week!
100% Merino Wool, Sport Weight
20 - 24 sts on 3.25 - 3.75mm needles
100g : 225yds
Gems Merino Sport Weight wool yarn IS available in a wide variety of solid colors. This yarn has been custom spun with a tight twist to minimize pilling while maintaining a high elasticity. Machine Washable and Dryable!
OK... we just had to get in another picture of Jeanie in the yarn! Soooooo cute!
In The Community...
Yarnstorming at the Junction Arts Festival --
Sept 11 - 12
If for some reason you are not popping by to us at the K-W Fair this year you might want to swing by Wise Daughters during the fabulous Junction Arts Festival Sept 11 & 12 and help cover an entire car with a knitted cozy! Volunteers will be on hand to help, and to assemble the pieces contributed by the public. Once the car cozy is finished, and oodles of photos taken, it will be dismantled and turned into blankets for Streetknit.
It is a drop in all day rain or shine!
If you can't make it out to the event because you are visiting us at the K-W fair or some other reason (fiber related I am sure!) You are welcome to drop off 6" x 6" squares, or donations of yarn for Streeknits at the shop to be collected Thursday, September 9th and taken to be added to the car cozy! Apparently they are gonna need over 600 6x6 inch squares! Can't wait to see the pictures.
Tis a really busy September already and we are having a great time gearing up for the fall/winter season. It is hard to believe the the kids head back to school in just a few days! But the odd scent of cool in the air has us eager for sweater wearing!
Happy Stitching!
Jennifer & Miko
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Come see us at the Fair... September 11th! Even though we will be off to the show the shop will be OPEN on Saturday, September 11th thanks to a couple of really generous volunteers! 
100% Wool 
CEY - Woodland
