Woolbearers

I've been a big fan of "Breaking Bad" for quite a while. My son got me "hooked". In fact, I got him to help me dye yarn by saying "Hey, Jesse, want to cook?" So, I wanted to do something to honor Walt and the gang. What else can I do -- I dyed some of my Baby Llama Glow yarn and call the colorway "Crystal Blue". If you want to score some click here. I'll be dyeing up a batch in Sterling Sock yarn as well.

We were so lucky to have Melissa Wehrle come for a book signing last week. Her book, Metropolitan Knits is a collection of the most knittable sweaters I have ever seen in one book. Melissa was so generous with her time explaining how she became a designer what inspires her to do the wonderful designs she creates. Thanks, Melissa for coming to Woolbearers!

We are starting another KAL this week. Once again, we are knitting a Kate Davies design, called Braid Hill. It is really important to do a swatch for this sweater. I was sure I wanted to knit this up in Grignasco's Champagne yarn. It's a silk/wool blend -- my favorite blend to knit with and I thought it would show up the cables so nicely. Gauge for the sweater is 6 stitches to the inch. Perfect! The pattern says that row gauge is really important for button placement. I got stitch gauge with no problem, but couldn't get close to row gauge even with a larger needle. What to do? I just love my new hand dyed Sport Merino. I already knitted up a cute little sweater from Lori Versaci with it and had some leftover and did a swatch -- boy, what a difference. Not only did I get gauge, but the cables showed up so much better with this yarn. I decided to use the black colorway that I recently dyed. I know it's hard to see in this picture, but the cables really do pop nicely. Don't even mind knitting with black this time! I'll take more pictures next week to see the progress of everyone else's Braid Hill.

We did a KAL last winter using Kate Davies' Colours of Shetland book. Now, I still have mine on the needles, but a few of the gals finished their Scatness Tunics . Here's Kim's

and Karen's

Jessa is a fairly new knitter. After knitting a few of the squares from Barbara Walker's Learn to Knit Afghan book, Jessa decided to branch out and she did it in a big way. This is her first sweater and it is just perfect. The pattern is the "Tilted Duster" by Norah Gaughan from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. Jessa used Stonehedge Shepherd's Wool. Not only did it come out perfectly, but it is so soft!

Janet's Baby Surprise out of Cascade Heritage 150 -- goes perfectly with the blanket she made from Berroco Vintage.

Amy and Lisa are in my Tuesday afternoon knitting class and always pick projects that they can work on together. It's always a race to see who finishes first. Well, this time, Amy got her dress done just in time for her birthday. The pattern is a Lang pattern and the yarn is the Seta Tweed and she did a fantastic job.

I would never want anyone to have the impression that I don't finish knitting my projects. I know that I must have at least 18 on the needles, but I do intend to finish every one. Here are two that are recently completed.

We did a KAL from the Knit Swirl book. This one is called "Plum Perfect" and I used Woolbearers' Ringspun/Alpaca in 2 different colorways.