Projects in the Works

Good grief! Why haven’t I finished the Einstein Sweater? Besides being restricted to the 24 hour day, yarn keeps pouring into the shop, and I have no resistance. At some point hugging and squeezing the yarn isn’t enough and you have to get some on needles. It’s aggravating when the yarn comes in without pattern support. Can’t just pick up a ball and run with it. Araucania Aysen yarn was calling to me after doing a little sample sock from Cat Borhdi’s book for SoXperience and realizing how incredibly soft the yarn is. With a blend of merino wool, alpaca and silk, that’s exactly what you would expect. What to do, what to do? Had in my mind’s eye a side to side vest. Tried out quite a few until I settled on one called Puget Sound in Nancie Wiseman’s Classic Knitted Vests. As you can see from this photo of the pattern, it uses the same colorway in two different yarns. I tried combining other yarns with the Aysen, but was never satisfied, so decided to use only the Aysen for the entire vest. Next came the gauge and many needle sizes later, settled on the size 10 for the vest. So, you can see how it’s coming along. I think the garter stitch rows will set off the yarn nicely. After all this work I called the publisher to order copies of the book to discover it’s out of print. Big tears! But all is not lost. After some negotiations, we were given permission to make copies of the pattern. So…smiles once again.

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KnitXperience, A Knitters Retreat

Our KnitXperience Retreat is fast approaching. We are looking forward to having Melissa Weaver Dunning perform her celtic music and conduct the workshops on Saturday.

We have had a recent addition to the weekend which knitters will definitely enjoy. Debbie Roberts, who is a certified massage therapist, will be offering chair massage to knitters after lunch on Saturday. After a grueling morning knitting (only kidding), a massage is just what we’ll need. More likely, we will need to take a jog around the lodge to get us going again after the lunch they serve. Hope you are as excited about the weekend as we are!

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Knitting Two Socks at One Time

You have gotten into the rhythm of knitting two socks at one time working across ½ of 1st sock, ½ of 2nd sock, turning work, working across other ½ of 2nd sock, last ½ of 1st sock.

Now, what to do about the heel??? Your stitches are divided, all the instep stitches are on one side and the all the heel stitches are on the other. And just like when you are knitting a single sock, you will ignore the instep stitches until you have completed the heel flap.

Work back and forth on the first sock to complete the heel flap and heel turn and pickup gusset stitches on one side before moving on to the other sock.

After completing the heel flap and picking up one side of the gusset stitches on the first sock, move to the 2nd sock and work the heel flap, heel turn and pick up gusset stitches on one side. Turn your work. Knit across the instep stitches of sock 2 and then sock 1. Turn your work again and pick up and knit the stitches for the other side of the gusset on the heel needle for sock 1. Knit across stitches on heel needle. Do the same for sock 2, picking up the gusset stitches and knitting across heel.

There will be a lot of stitches on the heel side but only for a short while. Work your heel as you would a single sock. After picking up all the gusset stitches, knit one round plain (heel and instep stitches) and then begin your gusset decreases as usual - you will do your gusset decreases on the heel needle (K2tog on one side, SSK on the other) until there are the same number of stitches as on the instep needle.

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With the completion of the back, the Einstein coat has transformed from a long strip of knitting to more of a sweater shape. Clack the cat is still bored with it all! Next comes the left front and then sleeves. The real question is…will it be ready for Sarah’s birthday in October. Nah…don’t think so. Don’t you love the striping of the Noro Kochoran yarn?

Have you tried the new Addi Turbo Lace Needles. Not being a lace knitter, I didn’t think I would have any interest in using them. But AHA! Had the opportunity to try them when knitting the Swirl Shawl with Melody yarn and found that I like the long points. Wonder how they would work for sock knitting…well they’re great for that too. That extra pointy tip is really good for the fingering weight yarn used in socks also. Picking up stitches along the gusset, not a snap, but a little easier.

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Knit Knight was a proud show and tell last night. Michelle and Ann both were wearing their socks they recently completed. Michelle had a pair of toe up socks, working two at a time, on her needles. She shared a tip with us that when knitting two socks at one time from one ball of yarn, she puts the ball of yarn in a ceramic bowl on the

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