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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Talk about random thoughts as you’re peeling, canning peaches. Deep in the second bushel, my mind must have been going a little haywire! Sorta like seeing the toad on the steps to our root cellar and thinking of Frog and Toad Together tales we read to our children. Boy, I do hope this freezing and canning is over with soon, so I can get back to knitting. But first things first! My sweaters, and knitting projects will not spoil whereas peaches will really fuzz but even though it’s longer, I don’t think you could spin that either. Now dog hair is another story. Susan at Knit Knight was saying how she spun some Samoyed dog hair to give to a Samoyed rescue project, but wasn’t pleased with her results. Knowing Susan, she was being a little hard on herself, and it is probably lovely.

I had been searching for the perfect pattern to use with one of our yarns, playing with different scenarios while peeling and canning, do I make it top down, vest, sweater, side to side. Finally settled on a vest pattern that is knit side to side and have one row cast on. Those peaches again. But this is the crochet cast on so you have to review it a little every time you use it. You use this particular cast on in this instance, so that both the cast on and bind off edges look the same. Sally Melville uses it in her Einstein coat. Will show the technique in a later post, if you’re interested.

What in the world does “three dog night” and Knit Knight have to do with each other? Not much that’s for sure, except we were talking about “the dog days of summer” the other evening at Knit Knight, while knitting socks and other goodies. No one knew where the phase had come from, so I had to look it up and of course three dog night came up too. “The dog days of summer” refers to the hottest, most sultry days of summer from mid August into September. Certainly true here in Virginia.

It originated with the Romans who were referring to Sirius, the Dog Star, so named because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (which is Latin for “Big Dog”). The hottest days of summer happened to coincide with the seasonal ascendancy of Sirius as the brightest star in the heavens, and the Romans believed that it was the added heat of the Dog Star which caused their hot and humid weather. Not to be confused with “three dog night” which came from the Australian Aboriginal custom of sleeping with a dog for warmth on a cold night - a three dog night would be very cold. So now you know. Probably TMI. But we happily knitted on, finishing socks this summer, some felted bags, a sweater, learning lots of new techniques and tips from each other. A fun time. Join us on Thursday evenings from 6-8.

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Carodan Farm Blog.

We have so much information to share on knitting tips, techniques, yarns, not to mention our sheep and farm, that we decided to start our very own blog. We plan to include all that, plus the projects we are working on - knitting projects from our daughters, Sarah and Melissa, and myself, Caroline, as well as from our knitting buddies Michelle, Debbie and Gerry. You’ll see them all here along with our comments, suggestions.

New yarns and books are arriving all the time, and you’ll get news of them here before they even hit the store. Featured products will make you aware of different aspects of our store. And of course there’ll be the special coupons just for our blog audience. And last but not least, your input will round it out to perfection. We learn from each other the best. So, here we go into this new phase of Carodan Farm knitting! Hope to see you here!