Oh my, where has the time gone!  I just realized that we are past the end date I set for this KAL!  And I have yet to restart my shawl!  Yikes!  As Jeanne mentioned in her blog post this week, so much has been going on around here!  I've completely lost track of time!  Lots of fun things I can't yet disclose are coming and we're so excited about them!

We are seeing some completed Truckee Shawlettes and WOW are they beautiful!  I am in awe of the wondrous ways each handcrafter comes at a project and at the personal nuances each person adds!

Bold stripes, subtle stripes, no stripes, large needles, smaller needles, more blocking, less blocking, extra pattern motifs added... the list goes on and on!!!

How would you all feel about continuing this KAL awhile longer?  I don't want to miss any of the fantastic ideas you all have!  I'm thinking to maybe the end of March.


In the meantime here are a few photos that I've been able to snap here in the shop.  For more, check out the Truckee Shawlette thread in our Ravelry group!

Sharons Truckee Shawlette with Plymouth Finial Black Horn Shawl sticks

 
This one was made by our very own Sharon!


She knit it double stranded on a US 7 needle. She made the modification of crocheting a single crochet edge around her whole shawl with the remainder of her contrast color. If the edge was stretchy enough she simply crocheted each stitch, if she needed it stretchier she did a chain 1 between each single crochet.

I tried to take a close up of the crochet stitches below.















One of our local customers, Iris, knit this fresh, springy green and purple Truckee Shawlette which is modeled by our lovely Ashley.  Iris was too shy to model it herself. ;)










And sadly, this is the current state of my shawlette.  With any luck I can get restarted on it next week. 






If you have a photo of your completed shawl project and would like to have it immortalized, I would love to post it here on the blog. Please send photos to me at askTerry (at) jimmybeanswool dot com.

On other notes, the Downton Abbey MKAL project, Lady Violet's Dinner Gauntlets pattern is now up on our free pattern page.

Our March Class Calendar is also up on our class page.  Lots of fun new classes so please sign up as soon as possible.  If you have purchased a Schacht Cricket Loom and want to learn how to use it we have a class scheduled this Saturday at 1:30 pm. hurry and sign up!  This class will be taught by one of our very experienced local weavers, Sharon Campbell!

Until next week, Happy Knitting!

Terry

So are we ready?   Today is the day to start (or resume) knitting your Truckee Shawlette!!!  If you're not yet ready, no worries! I'm not quite ready to start today either!  I've gotten a little behind in my Downton MKAL knitting and haven't yet wound my yarn for my shawlette into balls.  That will be my homework for tonight!

In case you've missed the pertinent information, we will be starting this KAL today, February 1st and it will continue until March 8th, so you have plenty of time!  This a great project for working on when you need a break from your other projects because you can just cruise. If you aren't familiar with this pattern it is the Truckee Shawlette, our free pattern from December 2012 and it features Malabrigo Lace Superwash. We are the only ones selling this yarn and when it's gone we won't be getting more in the foreseeable future. We will operate this KAL in the same manner as the Downton Abbey MKAL, with all of the support and discussion in our Ravelry group.

It's not required to use the Malabrigo Lace Superwash, you may use any yarn you wish.  The shawlette can be knit as written with the lace held double for an approximate DK weight look. Alternatively, you can knit it as Rachel did and I plan to do; one strand of each color on smaller needles, US 4.  Do you like the look of the yarns held double but don't want to deal with two strands?  You can chose a DK weight yarn and knit with the US 7 needles instead.

You don't have to signup for this KAL either but it is nice to hear a chime in from those of you who are knitting along!  You can do so in the comments here or in the Ravelry Truckee Shawlette thread.

Do you know that today February 1st is National Wear Red Day to support women's heart disease awareness?  I thought that some of you may want to support the cause by knitting your Truckee Shawlette in red so I put together a few combinations of the Malabrigo Lace Superwash red family with some coordinating colors.

Going clockwise starting top left: Laguna Negra 861 & Stonechat 173, Pagoda 23 & Pearl 36, Sealing Wax 102 & Plomo 43, Amaroso 157 & English Rose 57, and Jupiter 49 and Damask Rose 130.

 Have fun, check out my last two Friday's blog posts for help with the M1R, M1L and using lifelines.  As always if you have questions I'll be happy to help.  Ask in the Ravelry group or send an email to askTerry (at) jimmybeanswool.com (be sure to remove the spaces, parenthesis and the word "at" and replace with @).

Happy Knitting!
Terry

In case you missed it last week, we will be starting a second KAL on February 1st and running until March 8th!  Due to popular demand it will be the Truckee Shawlette, our free pattern from December featuring Malabrigo Lace Superwash. We will be operating this KAL in the same manner as the Downton Abbey MKAL, with all of the support and discussion in our Ravelry group.

 Last week, in the Friday Jan. 18th blog, I showed you how to do the increases this pattern calls for, M1R and M1L.

As promised, this week I'll talk about lifelines. What are they and how do they work?

While this project is pretty simple, using lifelines will help you keep from losing any of your M1s should you need to rip back.

What is a lifeline?  A lifeline is a strand of yarn that you insert into your work at a point when you know everything that has been knit before that point, has been done correctly.  It's best to insert it into a plain knit or purl row when possible.  It's also best to use a smooth, slippery lifeline, like mercerized cotton or dental floss but any thing that's not grabby will work.

Once you've completed the row of knitting that you wish to use for your lifeline, thread your lifeline onto a darning needle and begin feeding it through your stitches on your needle.  DO NOT remove the stitches from your knitting needle!  Just run the lifeline through the row of stitches.  If you're using a circular needle, sliding the stitches onto the cord will make room to insert the darning needle.



Another way a lifeline can be inserted if you have interchangeable needles that use a tool to tighten the connection, thread your lifeline through the same little hole used for tightening tool and then just knit normally. Your lifeline will be threaded through the stitches as you knit your row. If you use Addi interchangeables, the Addi SOS cord is now available which has a little slit near the join that you can open up and insert your lifeline into so you can knit it into your knitting the same way.


That's all there is to inserting the lifeline!

When you knit your next row or round be sure to NOT knit the lifeline with your stitch or you will have to cut the lifeline into little pieces to get it out.  Otherwise, removing a lifeline is easy, just pull one of the ends and it should slid right out of your project.  I recommend leaving all of your lifelines in place until you finish your project, just in case.  But if they bother you, they can be removed when you're certain all is well.



 If you have further questions please let me know!  askTerry (at) jimmybeanswool.com (please remove the spaces and replace at with @ to send an email)

Happy Knitting!

 Terry