Third Girasole...Completed!

So a few weeks ago, I finally, finally finished my third Girsaole, right on time.  This massive blanket is absolutely mesmerizing, from the sunflower center...

right down to the lace edging...

and its temporary home on my couch...

before being given to this adorable couple...

 

to celebrate their marriage.

Oh, and celebrate we did.  Not only did we all get to hang out at the summer camp they grew up at for the weekend, (where the wedding was also held), but a handful of us also got to cook all the food for them!

 

Yum!

 

 Chopping veggies for my cucumber dill salad

 

Stirring a big pot o' something.  Slow cooked black beans maybe?

Me and one of my oldest friends, Dory (also the creative force behind all of Yarnia's graphic design)

Rockin' out to something! (I'm thinking...Journey?) 

So here's to many happy years for Jamie & Elon!  May there be many Brooklyn park picnics and cozy movie nights spent with the Girasole.  
With love, from Lindsey & Yarnia.

The Black Hole Cowl

As you can probably tell from perusing any of our premade cones of yarn, I love bamboo.  I love the soft warmth it can provide when mixed with merino wool.  I love the drape it offers when combined with rayon.  I love the simple, light breathability of a bamboo-cotton blend.  But you know, I really rarely ever just mix bamboo with itself and call it a day.

But a few weeks ago I had a customer come in with a recently completed project, saying she wanted to make the exact same thing, but now in a different colorway.  It was the most beautiful, rich blend of colors -- blues and greens and even just a little bit of orange, but what made me fall in love with her creation was that it was a bulky weight yarn, comprised of six strands of bamboo, crocheted up quickly and simply with a large hook.  

Bamboo is a very heavy fiber, so six strands of it crocheted loosely together had created the most silky, squishy, drapey, heavy fabric.  It was truly luscious.

As soon as she left with her new yarn, I copied her idea immediately.  Except that, since it's June, I decided to do a simple cowl rather than a big bulky scarf. 

Be forewarned: this will be hanging right next to the bamboo shelf, beckoning you to pet and squeeze it, creating the irresistible temptation to replicate it as well.

 The Black Hole Cowl

100% bamboo :: 200 yards

Featured Yarn -- Astoria

Astoria

Shades of lavender bamboo and cotton are mixed with a light pink tweed merino wool to make this lovely and super soft sock yarn.  Try them in the Monkey Socks!

Also available in our online shop!
 

Working Backwards

So this weekend I drove up to Seattle for my 10-year high school reunion.  All the anxieties that come from the that statement aside, I was psyched to be sharing the trip with an eager driver, leaving me to work on my monstrous granny square project in the passenger seat.  

Of course, about 7 minutes into the drive I realized that even though I had brought all 6 cones of yarn that I'm using for this project, as well as my "map" of how all the squares go together, and even double-checked that I had my hook tucked into one of the cones of yarn, I had totally forgotten to bring the actual pattern.

I can't tell you how many times I have meticulously prepared my knitting project for some big trip, congratulating myself for thinking ahead to all the little stitch holders and row counters I'd need in the garment's later stages, and then totally forgotten the pattern.  I don't know why this happens, because a sheet of paper is the absolute easiest thing to slide inside of whatever cone I'm using...but it does.

But, as luck would have it, I had accidentally thrown one of the finished squares into the bag, too.  Now maybe expert crocheters can just look at a granny square and figure out what's happening row-by-row, but I can't -- especially when there's anything besides single and double crochet involved.

But, I knew that I'd be able to retrace my steps by unraveling.  I've probably frogged over 50 projects in my life, but I don't think I've ever done it as a research method.  So this square, I sacrificed in the name of recreating my pattern...backwards.

Pulling out each stitch, loop by loop, I managed to figure out how many double crochets, clusters, or whatever, was happening in each space of the previous row, right down to the center circle.

 

And it worked!  Once I got all the rows filled out, that was actually all I needed to squeeze 6 full squares out of that drive!

 

Best idea ever for using up old swatches

You know how we make little swatches for all of our pre-made cones, so you know how it's going to knit up?  Well as you might imagine, we accumulate a pretty hefty stock of these swatches over time, as their parent yarns are bought.

So last week, here's what I returned from my trip back east to find in our cozy little living room:

This was the idea of my fantastic employee, Sarah, who sadly is having her last day of work tomorrow before moving to Iowa City.
 
This is Amazing!  Swatching, whether it's before embarking on a project or just to show off a cool new yarn, is totally time-consuming.  What better way to put those swatches to use long after their original purpose has expired? 

I especially love that she was somehow able to make this pillow rectangular, even though every swatch is a different gauge and size!

So to be sure, we will miss you, Sarah (and for more than just the pillow!)  On the upside, though, we have a new yarn enthusiast joining our team, Melanie.  She'll be here on weekends starting tomorrow, so you'll all get a chance to meet her soon!

Featured Yarn -- Blainville

Blainville

This colorful blend mixes rich shades of red with a textured variegated cotton that morphs from brown to deep blue to eggplant purple, giving this yarn a wonderfully heathered effect.

Also available in our online shop!
 

Keeping It Simple

Solid colored yarn is an oft-forgotten phenomenon at Yarnia; when you can combine colors in so many thousands of permutations, it's easy to forget that you can keep it simple and create beautiful colorwork by incorporating stripes, fair isle, or alternating colors within the work itself.

How does this work?  Well, let's say you find that perfect shade of teal bamboo that you love, love, love.

We can just take that color and make it as thick as you'd like, by winding together multiple strands of the same yarn.  If you don't want your yarn to be 100% bamboo, but rather a nice bamboo/merino blend, chances are we can find a similar if not identical shade in the fiber you're looking for, to create an essentially solid color.

If the two fibers are slightly different shades, this can create a really cool effect of color depth, making the yarns look solid once they're knitted up, but with the shade variations reflecting the light at different levels to make the color look more vibrant than if all the strands were exactly the same.

I'm working on a project myself that's incorporating all of these guys, and can't wait until it's ready to share!

Surprise! It's a BSJ.

Who would have ever guessed that this would turn into this??

Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket

5 oz. bamboo/cotton blend

How cute is that!  No joke, you just keep on knitting, make buttonholes when EZ tells you to, even though you can't possibly imagine how what you're knitting could be the button band, bind off and fold it up, and...voila!

At first I tried to plan where the stripes would be, but wrapping my head around the fact that the back body is equivalent to the front right-angle panels was too much for me so I started going a little random with it, the only direction being I knew I wanted a sizable panel of navy on the front.


But if even this decision is too much for you, here's a handy random stripe generator, that lets you plug in your number of colors, min and max intervals, and it spits out some truly random stripes for you.

After I finished binding off, I picked up about 50 stitches around the collar to add a cute little hood, which is easier than it sounds.  Once you've picked up the stitches, you just increase on either side of the middle stitch, every other row, until you achieve the depth you want (this goes for adult hoods, too).  Then you just keep knitting straight, still in garter stitch, until you get to the right height.  

Then you just divide your work in half, and seam the two sides together -- my favorite way of doing this is knitting to the middle of the row, and then using a three-needle bind-off (with the seam on the inside) to seam the two sides together.  

Finally, I picked up stitches around the edge of the hood to add a contrasting border, and there you have it!

Featured Yarn -- Peony

Peony

This mostly cotton blend mixes shades of green and teal, with a very thin strand of grey for accent.  The minimal rayon content gives this yarn a beautiful sheen without making the fabric too drapey.  This yarn would make a fantastic summer wrap!

Also available in our online shop!
 

New Summer Classes!

Summer's just around the corner, and we know that means you may not be jumping at the opportunity to pick up your needles and start a new hat, scarf, or pair of gloves, with wintry weather seeming so far off.

That's why we've put together a bunch of new summer classes for you to choose from.  Now's the perfect time to start a simple, lightweight project in a cool cotton, like a hip market bag that you can sling over your shoulder while you're perusing at the fantastic farmers' markets.

Or a slinky, shimmery camisole to show off some bare shoulders and celebrate warm weather!  

Using natural, washable, and cool-against-the-skin fibers like cotton and bamboo are what we'll be focusing on with these classes, keeping you knitting happily even during the hottest months of the year.

Check out both of these new classes, as well as our full class listing, on our new classes website.  We hope you'll find it easier to use and navigate, and we'll be getting you started on some fun new projects soon!

The Easiest Shawl You'll Ever Make

This is one of those projects that is on about its fifth incarnation.  It's been a set of handwarmers, a short-sleeved pullover sweater, a cowl...given that it's primarily mohair, this yarn has been frogged and re-knit an astounding number of times.  

But I think this time it's gonna stick.  I'm heading to the east coast for a wedding this weekend, and even though it's probably about 90 billion degrees over there, with the weather we've been having this week I can't help but think, my shoulders are going to be cold!


A quick search on The Rav for a quick shawl pattern that would eat up very fine yarn on big needles, quickly and simply, turned up the Sunday Market shawl -- just what I was in the market for!  

Its brilliance is in the drop stitches -- similar to the Clapotis, but not as complicated or row-count demanding.  After making a series of yarn-overs in the first row, you just knit straight stockinette until the very end, which for me was until my yarn ran out!

It looks like you're just knitting a boring old scarf until that final row, when you pay homage to the little yarn-overs you made way back at the beginning and drop every third stitch as you knit this final row.

   

Dropping stitches on purpose is so thrilling!

Seriously, I think I made this in under 4 hours, on size 10.5 needles. 

 Sunday Market Shawl

mohair/wool/nylon :: 4 oz :: 240 yards

Try it -- you won't be disappointed!

Featured Yarn -- Tuberose

Tuberose

This yarn is super lustrous and soft, thanks to the acrylic chenille and bamboo in the mix!  A light creamy color is subtly accented with some yellow and just a hint of baby pink -- this would make a super cute Sprout Set!

Also available in our online shop!