I think I will call this summer the "Summer of Shawls".  Lots of times when my yarn reps come in, they ask "What are people knitting?"  And I often reply -- everything, socks, sweaters, scarves, hats.  But lately, it seems that everyone has been knitting shawls.  Myself included.  Katie has been knitting like crazy and has made the most beautiful Seriously Simple Shawl out of Jojoland Melody.  She's working on another one and it's going to be made out of Zauberball Lace.  And she's making an Andrea Shawl in Claudia Handpaints Fingering 55.  Hope to have pix on that soon. Here's my finished Andrea out of Zealana Kiwi and Woolbearer's Woolie Bears sock yarn.

Gwen can't stop knitting shawls.  Every time I see her she has a new one.

Here is her Summer Flies, knit out of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.

And her Swallowtail knit out of St. Denis Nordique

And her Progressive Shawl knit out of Woolbearer's Hand Dyed Pima Cotton

I know she has more - can't wait to see them.

Linda has been busy knitting shawls as well.  She just started a Summer Flies shawl out of Manos Silk Blend which will be finished in no time.  Here is her finished Dane Shawl out of Punta Merisock.

I am almost finsihed with two shawls that I started. Would have had the Seriously Simple Shawl finsihed, but had to rip out about 50 rows -- Ouch!  Using Kauni in color EP.  Can't wait for the next color change.

My Summer Flies is on its bind off row -- love working with those Addi Lace needles for this project. The yarn is Lana Grossa's Biosoja and  it was  a pleasure to work with this yummy blend of organic cotton, soy and bamboo.  Very soft and drapey.

While we are knitting lots of shawls, there are other projects.  Here is Donna's Swirl Scarf out of K1C2 Ty Dy sock yarn.

Jill has been busy knitting the Lutz and Patmos Vest from Spring/Summer 2010 Vogue out of 3 yarns held together --  SWTC Therapi, Rowan Cotton Bamboo and Cherry Tree Hill Boucle

Kathy has been spinning away on Woolbearers' Hand Dyed Merino -- here is a skein of yarn in the blues colorways and a pair of hand spun socks.

Just finished another pattern from Churchmouse Yarns & Tea. This one is Barb's Koigu Ruffle Scarf. I did mine out of Claudia's Fingering Silk 55, using two colorways - one is a variegated, the other a matching semi-solid. Love this yarn! Who wouldn't like knitting with silk!  I was a little intimidated by having to cast on 648 stitches, but then you get to decrease a lot and it was done in no time.  I saw someone's project with the two different colored ruffles and really liked it done that way.

We were KIP'ing a few weeks ago.  It was hot outside, but that doesn't stop us from knitting in public.

Last blog post I showed pix of Natalie's Choice sweater made out of Berroco Seduce (from Norah Gaughan vol. 6)  in pieces. Well, Gary did a fabulous job of piecing the sweater pieces together. Natalie was originally making these sweaters for her daughters -- but she just may change her mind. Can't wait to see the finished one in black and white.

Fran decided to do pattern from Norah Gaughan's book as well.  She bought some yarn on sale and did it in two different yarns -- Plymouth Somerset and Lana Grossa New Cotton.  It came out smashing! The pattern is called Comment.

Lots of  new yarns are arriving every day!

Berroco has a new Vintage Chunky -- 3.5 stitches to the inch superwash wool/acrylic/nylon blend.

Berroco also has a new worsted weight cotton/acrylic/nylon/silk blend called Remix and a great pattern book for the yarn.

New alpaca yarn from Plymouth -- new colors in Baby Alpaca Grande and a new heavy worsted alpaca  called Ampato

New yarns from Skacel -- Cashmere Queen - a cashmere, merino, silk blend in a dk weight, Noblesse - a merino silk blend in subtle color variations, new sock yarn in  a sport weight  and finally -- darning thread for socks.

Here's more Claudia Fingering Silk 55 -- it just shimmers

SWTC has Dream Big -- a super bulky (2 stitches to the inch) superwash yarn.  Two skeins will make the vest pattern that comes with every skein.

Here is Temptation -- a bulky wool/alpaca mix that is on sale right now -- Buy 3, get one free!  It is great scarf/hat yarn.

New colors in Mountain Colors Weavers Wool

There's more new yarn coming every day!

Finished in no time! What a quick knit and a lovely beret it is.  This is the Koigu Beaded Beret pattern from Churchmouse Yarns & Teas. There's just the right amount of beads -- not overwhelming, but enough to make it interesting to knit. Can't wait to try the other patterns from Churchmouse.

I brought in S. Charles Collezione  Sahara for the spring --- a lovely bamboo, linen & viscose blend.  I knew that I had  to knit something with it but just couldn't find the right pattern.  So I made up a feather and fan scarf pattern using three of the colors.  Here is is:

                                         Sahara Feather and Fan Scarf



Materials: 1 skein each, S. Charles Collezione Sahara color 7, 8 and 9
Size 10.5 needles

Begin with color 7, Work first 6 rows of scarf and then change to color 8, work next 8 rows of pattern and then change to color 9. Keep changing colors every 8 rows or as desired.

Cast on 28 stitches. Always knit the first 3 stitches and the last 3 stitches.
Knit first 2 rows.

Begin pattern:


Row 1: Knit 3, * (K 2 tog) 2 times, (YO, K 1) 3 times, YO, (K 2 tog) 2 times, repeat from * 1 more time, Knit 3
Row 2 & 3 : Knit
Row 4: Knit 3, Purl 22, Knit 3

Repeat these 4 rows for pattern
Knit until yarn runs out or desired length.
End by knitting 6 rows of pattern in one color and then knit 2 rows in same color.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Natalie is a prolific knitter.  When she knits something that she likes, she may knit it more than once.  She saw this pattern from Norah Gaughan Vol. 6 (which happens to be one of Berroco's top ten) and knew she had to make it.  It's called "Choice".
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is the first one -- not put together yet, but you get the picture.  This one is knit in Berroco's, Bonsai and Seduce
 

And this is her second one, also out of Berroco Bonsai and Seduce -- she's making a third in black and white Seduce only

Hopefully, Gary will put these pieces together for Natalie soon (Gary is a fantastic finisher).

Here's a little piece he started to work on the other night. This is out of Noro Silk Garden -- working up his very own pattern.  We will be seeing more of his work soon.

Sometimes you just see a pattern and say -- that's what I want to knit. I saw a bunch of patterns from Churchmouse Yarns and Tea, a knitting store in Bainbridge Island, Washington and think that I want to knit them all.  So, I am starting out with knitting the Koigu Beaded Beret.  I just love Koigu.  It has a certain shine to it--whatever you are knitting is backlit.  I like to use the crochet hook method of getting the beads on the yarn. Here's a short summary of how it's done:

.

First you put a bead through a very small crochet hook. I used size 6 seed beads and a size 9 Steelite crochet hook

 Then you hook your next stitch onto the crochet hook

Next, with the stitch in the hook part of the crochet hook, slide the stitch through the bead

 

And put the stitch back on the left hand needle and knit the stitch as you normally would.

I put all of my beads in a small container and just "stab" each one as needed. It actually goes pretty fast as you get a rhythm going.   This particular pattern uses only 90 beads and has three rows of beading, so it's a great beginner beading project.  I'm almost finished and will post pix when I'm done.

Donna came in with her Summer Tank  -- in cotton worsted yarn dyed by Woolbearers.  Great job!

Laura came in with her finished sweater. The pattern is appropriately called "Laura"  and is from the "Illustrator" book from Mission Falls. Yarn is Mission Falls cotton.  It's really pretty.

We've had quite a few folks knit the Featherweight Cardigan and here are two gorgeous examples

Rachel's is done out of Malabrigo Lace in Purple Mystery.

Katie's is out of Blue Heron Rayon Metallic.  I didn't have enough of one colorway, so we mixed two colorways and got gorgeous results.

Alissa made this gorgeous feather and fan cardigan out of Berroco Pure Pima.  Love the color selection

Nancy is taking my Learning to Knit Afghan class and has completed many squares.  But she needed a baby blanket project, so we decided on a simple pattern -- basketweave -- and picked out some yummy soft, superwash yarn (Cascade Superwash 128) and she went to town.  Now, she's making another one.

The good news is that I own a yarn store and am surrounded by lots of beautiful yarn and can pick any project and any yarn I wish. The bad news is that I own a yarn store and am surrounded by lots of beautiful yarn and can pick any project and any yarn I wish. It's so hard to choose. But sometimes something really catches my eye. A few weeks ago, Sydney came in with a partially done Andrea Shawl and it was just gorgeous, even if it wasn't completed. She used K1C2's Crock a Dye sock yarn and Jojoland Melody Superwash for the striping. I fell in love and immediately faved it on Ravelry.  Then Gwen came in with one made out of Woolbearers' Hand Dyed Raw Silk.  She was just waiting for the right project for the her yarn. I had to agree it was a great choice.

 I was waiting for the right yarn to come along for my Andrea Shawl.  A few weeks ago, a customer who moved to Vermont called me and asked if I could get her some yarn.  No one else seemed to have it.  I didn't either, but that doesn't stop me.  I made a few phone calls and decided to order a few colorways of the yarn.  It's called Kiwi from Zealana yarns and it is comprised of Merino, cotton and possum (no, not roadkill!).  Anyway, it came last week and that was that.  I knew I had to knit my shawl with this yarn.  It's a fingering weight yarn that has a bit of loft to it, so it is nice and soft and a pleasure to knit with.  I decided to stripe mine with some Woolbearers' Hand dyed Woolie Bears sock yarn.  I think it was a good choice.  I'm having fun knitting this -- once you get past the endless border piece, it knits up quickly.  Only about 90 more rows to go!

I just had to take a picture of Jane's unfinished project.  She decided ot knit a simple pullover sweater from a pattern she has had for about 40 years.  We went over to the Vintage Wool and played with colors and I think we came up with a great color combo.

Just love Sabra's Gaia Shoulder Hug made out of Zauberball sock yarn

And here is the baby hat made with leftover Zauberball Starke 6 friom the BSJ

Here is the Zealana Kiwi Fingering weight yarn