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Archive for February, 2012

Kimberly’s latest venture

Posted in knitting on February 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Kimberly

Kimberly (of our Friday knitting workshop) is celebrating the beginning of new things…..to quote from her blog Craftini:………..:

“Some of you know that one of my new projects at K2Tog is to bring in new, young fiberistas to talk to our customers about what they do and how they do it. Our goal is to have one of these talks and shows each month, and we are kicking the whole project off this month, Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. with a dynamic duo, Lorajean Kelly of Knitted Wit and Michelle Miller of Fickle Knitter Designs. ”

She invites you to attend this event!

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The Top-Down Sweater for Kevin’s son

Posted in knitting, knitting techniques, tagged , , , on February 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

A proud giftee - Kevin's son!

Kevin has been knitting for years….he told me the other day that he was a young boy when his mother taught him what to do with those knitting sticks. He has knitted color work for years….he showed us the vest in process for his wife (photos to be shared in subsequent post)….and then he picked up his needles to start the top-down sweater for his son. His goal is now to learn more technique and improve existing technique. He produces lovely knitted fabric…his stitch construction is good…he simply wants to learn more.

On to the body!

The yarn of choice for this sweater is Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece. Kevin began at the neck edge, did the raglan shaping, placed the stitches for the sleeves on waste yarn “holders”, continued knitting in the round for the body of the sweater for an inch or so and then introduced his color design…the initials of his son.

The beginning of the color design!

The Sleeve Details

The stitches on the waste yarn holders were put back on the needles, and the sleeves were knit from the armhole down to the wrist. The fitting technique here is to determine how many stitches are needed for the wrist….how many stitches are on the needles…..how many stitches need to be decreased over how many rows to create desired length. The decreases for shaping create a seam line under the arm which is where the decreases should happen. The decrease “recipe” is K2tog, k1, SSK…..this will create a symmetrical “seam” line.

Almost done!

You can now see the body and one sleeve done. The best is yet to come….the finished sweater.

The finished top-down sweater

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A gift from Kevin

Posted in knitting on February 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Jasper Button crafted by Kevin

Recently some of you have heard me mention Kevin…..our paths crossed some 20 years ago when he was one of my first knitting students at Albany Adult School. He is the knitter who “taught” me how to help left-handed continental style knitters. He was able to mirror image…we struck a deal….I would knit the technique…he would mirror image and then I would help him problem solve. His first project was one on small needles – size 3 or so if I remember correctly. It was a sweater for himself and there was cable and color work involved. He still has that wonderfully crafted sweater.

Just recently I learned that he crafted buttons for his sweater with the wonderful combination of the colors that he used in the knitted garment….. he just gifted me with one of those buttons….I was more than a little touched. The details on this button are that it is Bloodstone Jasper. He purchased a rough hunk of it from Ed’s Gems in Oregon. You can also find Ed’s Gems on Facebook.)He slabbed it, marked it, cut out a circle, drilled it and polished it. A button was born! Whoops…crafted!

This last week he told me what sold him on being in my knitting classes. He was struggling over a technique and we talked back and forth a bit….he reminded me that I said, “Just do it!” He did it!

We have stayed in touch over the years…Kevin would pop into Skein Lane to “check in”…and now we “check in” through Facebook and Skein Lane knitting workshops/classes.  He’s just completed his first top-down sweater in the Skein Lane Studio workshop….and of course he put his unique sense of color design to work in the sweater for his young son. You’ll be seeing this work in the next post.

Thank you Kevin!

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Ever had one of the nights?

Posted in Japanese Inspired Knitting, knitting, tagged , , on February 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

…..knitting nights that is? The needles clicked….the stories rolled…..the blasphemies came forth.

“God damn it!” from Marsha. She was a stitch off and wasn’t having any of it!

“I should have gone to sleep after row 28 last night!” Tonight  Carol had unknit row 29 of a complicated pattern – the Japanese inspired bolero/shrug – more than once.

Mary shared the trials and tribulations that she had getting a hat underway. The hat is doing just fine …. actually so is Mary but she did have moments getting her project underway.

I counted the spacing for the buttonholes on my baby surprise sweater more than a couple of times. It was the longest damn row! …..I will be done in the next couple days! The baby has been born.

There was something not quite right in the knitting air….we clicked and clucked ….more to be said…and yet parted with the joy that knitting truly binds us together. One of the parting thoughts, “If we keep at this, Carolyn won’t know that we are rolling into midnight!” It wasn’t midnight but we all felt like it could head that way!

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