Double Knitting

 Peggy did a bit of show and tell this morning and stopped us all in mid purl.  

What you see above is two sides of the same blanket.  Besides being awe inspiring and mind boggling and impressive, it's amazingly squishy and cozy and when you touch it you want to surround yourself in it immediately.

 She said that she would love to teach a workshop on how to knit this.

I've been meaning to have a go at the Paul Klee scarf designed by Susan M. so I'm taking Peggy's blanket as a sign that I better get the scarf mastered so I can then do what must be a more complicated bit of double knitting for the blanket.

Thank YOU

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and the store will be closed for the day.  One of the traditions in our family is to go around the table and say what it is that we're thankful for.  It's not a terribly original one I know but it certainly is a good time to pause and take stock of all that we have and how lucky we are.

It's also a good time to think of others less fortunate and what we can do to help.

MaryAnne C. walked in the door recently with 36 hats to be distributed at St. Mary's Christmas dinner for the homeless. It's a pet project of the store's and we've been hoping to surpass our contribution from last year. Please help us help others. If you're looking for a pattern you can find a few here.

A very heartfelt thank you to all who have contributed so far! -Liz

Crocheting a Flower

Not too long ago Lucy, from England, blogged about a shawl someone else, from France, blogged about after following a Japanese designer's pattern.  For a very short period of time, the French blogger had posted the Japanese woman's pattern on-line in a language other than Japanese.  By the time I and most everyone else got a hold of the absolute need to make the beautiful flower shawl/scarf/coaster, the translated instructions had been taken down.  I looked at many different crochet flower patterns and I looked at Lucy's closeup photos of her finished product and I made up a few.  And then I went on to crocheting other things that I absolutely HAD to be crocheting.

Last Monday a woman walked into the shop and inquired if there was anyone who could write up a pattern for the very same flower.  I had never written down a pattern but I sat down with her and she wrote down a pattern as I talked her through the flower we looked at on Lucy's blog.  What was so enjoyable about meeting her was that she wanted to crochet this shawl with as much passion as I had when I was on the search.  

This is what mine looks like.  

I have some ideas about how to open it up a little more.

Meanwhile, I'm going to have someone translate the Japanese pattern for me. - Liz

New Noro On The Shelves

 There are many new Noro yarns in the shop.  Above is Noro Sock in some come knit me color combinations.  I'm having trouble deciding which one to put on my needles but as soon as I do, I'll report back here with photos!

 The Silk Garden shipment that was supposed to be here before the Mitered Crosses workshop got here the day after.  There are some truly beautiful color combinations here too.

Check back for photos of more Noro yarns!

Ombré

Jennifer was very excited when she saw the Kinnickinnic blanket at Stitches East last year.  She loved how the yarn knit up from light to dark creating a natural shading and then how the pattern created another rippling effect.

She promptly ordered everything needed to knit a few up. 

Come on in and see it for yourself!