Just wanted to share photos from our last Knit Knight on the farm. Our daughter Sarah and her two children were there also.  Ann was kind enough to show Naaman how a spinning wheel works. Hope her wheel survived!  

Baby Caroline quickly found her favorite toy - the buttons!
YIKES! Maybe the cookie will distract her.

 Michelle’s beautiful shawl she finished and we loved it. Gorgeous from alpaca yarn if I remember right.

Gerry was finishing up a lovely summer sweater for herself (which really pleased her that it was for herself for a change

Knots which seemed hopeless when she arrived, disappeared with a little help from friends. Hey! Did you finish that sweater Susan? I want to see a photo of it please.

Knit Knight is a mini education for us.

The conversations fly at Knit Knight and if you have a question you toss it out. If someone doesn’t know, then probably the next week we’ll have the answer. I have a loom that I bought several years ago with great plans (don’t you have some great plans that are on the back burner) and Ann took it on as a project to get it up and running or weaving I mean. She got all the heddles and parts connected and wove this lovely sample. She tried to get me going on it and I did weave a little, but with the move looming, over me, I didn’t want to start a new project. It is just nice to have it in workable condition.

Someone asked about broomstick lace crochet and Michelle proceeded to show us how it is done. Her grandmother taught her. Aren’t grandmothers wonderful! Sorry I didn’t take any photos of the finished piece.

We hold Knit Knight at the shop every Thursday night from 6-8pm. Schedule over summer changes sometimes so please check the schedule on our web site for updates.

Knit Roving?

 You bet! Ann brought her BigKnit needles (these are size 50!) and roving from her own sheep. Just the size of the needles made it awkward at first but after finding the position that worked for holding them, we knit some rows. Of course everyone was yukking it up over my struggles and June delighted in fetching her camera to record the moment. Thanks June! Back to the technique which is definitely workable in spite of the humor the giant needles inspire - the BigKnit book by Becca of BagSmith suggests wrapping the roving with a another yarn before knitting and it was the concensus of the group that this would have made it easier and the resulting piece a smoother knit. But definitely a possibility  for using up roving which delighted Ann who has a mountain of roving from her sheep, maybe they are Leicester LongWool. Ann, please forgive me if that is not right and I will correct it. Ann sells her fleeces and roving by the way if anyone is interested.

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.

(more…)

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

(more…)

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.