We're Open

The store is open!

Come in and knit with us.

Store Closed, Power Out

The sun is out and so is the power.

Stay safe and warm.

Hope to see you soon.

Power's Out In The Store

Hope you are all staying warm and safe.

We'll have a  message on the phone Sunday to let you know if we're open.

I just started knitting another slouchy hat in Lorna's Laces.  What are you working on this weekend?

Write a comment and let us know.  - Liz

Every Day I'm Ripple'N

What's so addictive about crocheting or knitting a blanket that's more than one color is that at any moment you are going to get to the part where you change colors.  Where you get to see progress, the pattern, your idea become animate.  

I've been trying to ripple a little every day and I hope that you have too.  Please send some pictures along.  Don't let concern about the quality of the picture stop you.  Phones today allow for pretty good shots.  

For most of us who enter yarn stores it's not just about the main course, it's about the sides - the conversation, the opportunity to share ideas, consider options that would never have occurred to us,  Form friendships.  So it's not about perfection.  Imperfection is part of handmade.  Part of the beauty of us.

It's true that I've been mitering too.  

And knitting a slouch hat for a store kit pattern.  

It's exciting to be creating things.

Something Kay Gardiner said the other night made me want to shout out YES.  

She was talking about how much knitting (and blanket making) has allowed her to express her creative self.  How she has all sorts of responses to things that she cannot represent through any other medium.  Now those were not her exact words, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting the gist of what she was saying.

  She was saying that she's a person who has color and shape and texture in her soul and it needed an out.  That she looks at things and thinks about things and listens to things and wants to say something visual in response.  Something that involves colors and lines.  And knitting is how she gets to do it.  (I think there may be a little bit of staging/photography in there too when I think about that Mitered Crosses blanket on the dog in the park photo but that's just me.)

And here's the sky today in Westchester.  Have to go with the Tosh Light Antler and Silver Fox to express IT with yarn.  

Great day to get some knit'N done!

Kay Gardiner in the House

What a thrill to have the famous Mitered Crosses blanket in the shop.  And with it, Kay Gardiner, the woman who made it.  Peanut's pretty happy with it too.  He's making sure that Olive can't stop thinking of him.

It was a full house. All our tables in the main room.  Everything nice and cozy. A little wine.  But who has time to eat or drink.  Does it look like anyone?

Please send photos of your mitered crosses blankets in progress and once completed to info@katonahyarn.com.

"My Soul Is In The Sky"*

 The Madelinetosh shipment came in, and with it the two colors we were missing for our most popular Sky Scarf Kit.

I can't wait to get started on a new store sample!

 I couldn't choose one picture from the ones I took this morning on my way up to the shop.

I drove through backroads rather than getting directly on the highway, passing what is still a cattle grazing field.  I have found the sky something to privately exclaim over every time I drive which is often.

The clouds are fuller and more active than they were this summer.

*Shakespeare

The ripple is growing.  Felicia suggested adding some black to give it the Missoni look I was going for.  I think it was a good call.  Don't you?  Liz

Peanut's Tweed Coat

Here's Peanut in his new coat made from a pattern in Dogs in Knits by Judith L. Swartz.  

Jennifer used Debbie Bliss's Luxury Tweed.

Braided Cable Headband

Dani designed this headband for the Holiday Gift club using Artyarns Cashmere 5.  

Here's the pattern if you would like to knit one up for yourself or someone special.  

Try adding one of Artyarns glitter yarns for a little bit of sparkle.

Yarn: 1 skein of Artyarns Cashmere 5-ply (102 yds)
Gauge: 5sts/1” on a #7 needle, but, for once, itʼs not all that important

Abbreviations : C12F – slip 6sts onto cable needle, hold in front, k6, then knit the 6sts on cable needle C12B – slip 6sts onto cable needle, hold in back, k6, then knit the 6sts on cable needle Wyif – with yarn in front

3-Needle Bind Off – Place sts on two #7 needles. With right sides together and using a third #7 needle, knit the first two sts together (a st from the front needle and a st from the back needle). Repeat once more. Pass the first st over the second; continue in this manner until all sts are bound off.
Pattern: Using a provisional cast on (and waste yarn), cast on 22sts
Row 1 (RS): Using cashmere, knit to end
Row 2 (and all WS rows): Sl1 purlwise, k1, p to last 2 sts, k1, p1
Row 3: Sl1 knitwise, k to end
Row 5: Rep. row 3
Row 7: Sl1 knitwise wyif, k1, C12F, k to end
Row 9: Rep. row 3
Row 11: Rep. row 3
Row 13: Rep. row 3
Row 15: Rep. row 3
Row 17: Sl1 knitwise wyif, k7, C12B, k to end
Row 19: Rep. row 3
Row 21: Rep. row 3
Row 23: Rep. row 3
Row 25: Rep. row 3
Repeat rows 2-25 9x or until it reaches the desired length, but do not bind off OR break yarn!

Remove provisional cast-on, placing live sts on needle. Use Kitchener stitch to graft together... if terribly allergic to/fearful of Kitchener st, you can use the 3-needle bind-off method, but this will produce a ridge on the WS. For good instructions on how to do the Kitchener stitch, check out: http://www.knitty.com/ ISSUEsummer04/FEATtheresasum04.html

Present to someone special with pride!

 Here's the store's ripple.  

I did a row of white in slipstitch because I wanted just a hint of it.
Liz

Ripple Along With Us

How exciting to see shelves filled with Simplicity in the shop!  It's not often that you're going to hear exclamations about a blend, but this Merino, Acrylic, and yes Nylon, blend comes in a zillion shades of beautiful and knits up soft and extremely pleasing to the eye.

And then Lucy over at Attic24 presented all her readers with an invitation to crochet a ripple blanket with her.  Lucy doesn't charge for her patterns but it's always nice to make a donation on her site.  Just keep in mind that she usually writes her patterns using British crochet terms so you have to translate them to our crochet terms.  A treble crochet is a double, a double is a single...

Lucy talks about how she chooses her colors over on her blog.  I'm always attracted to all the bright and stand out stripes that she puts together, but found my eyes returning again and again to the top shelf's earthy palette.  I could imagine being blanketed by ripples of calm.

I'll be rippling by tonight and invite you to do the same.  We've got lots of great choices for a ripple blanket.  If you need help figuring out how much yarn you need or what size hook to use, just email me at liz@katonahyarn.com.

Look forward to hearing from you.  Liz.

Kay Gardiner Workshop

If you have ever read the blog masondixonknitting or the subsequent book series you know that Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne have managed to capture the intimacy of the knitting circle virtually.  You feel like you're part of a really close family. You are happy when they are happy and sad when they are sad.  And when they produce something breathtakingly beautiful like the Mitered Crosses Blanket above, you feel proud.  And you want to make one too.

So we are very excited that Kay is coming up county on October 25th (6-8 PM) to lead a workshop on the Mitered Crosses Blanket pattern. And if you are coming up from the city too, you're welcome to join Kay on the train. Just let us know and we'll give you the details.

You can expect to make new friends, have some good laughs, complete the first cross and begin the log cabin frame.

Materials needed: Yarn for the cross and frame and knitting needles. At the end of the workshop you'll get a coupon for 10% off your purchase of supplies for your Mitered Crosses Blanket.

The $40.00 fee includes a copy of the pattern as well as a copy of one of the Mason Dixon Knitting books.  Pre-registration is required for this workshop as space is limited. Please call the shop at 914-977-3145, email liz@katonahyarn.com or register right here.