I am seriously questioning my sanity!  Since last fall I have been in none stop knitting... ok, not completely knitting, more like starting mode. Yes, I've had a bad case of startitus!  I think it all began with the Knit Red A-line hoodie KAL. Then it was holiday gifts, Downton Abby KAL, Truckee Shawlette KAL, some fun designing, working on customer repairs, knitting a dress from my granddaughter for her birthday, teaching top down sweaters, top down shawls, felted hats and beginning socks classes!

It's been a slippery, wooly slope, with few finished projects to show for all my industrious knitting.  Now, after a 48 hour marathon last weekend to finish that design I mentioned, I think I can say with my tired, aching hands, that I am experiencing a knitting hangover!


My hands would be very happy if I didn't pick up knitting needles at all this week but my mind is still racing with projects I would like to start. But NO!  I have decided to be firm and not allow myself to start anything new until I finish at least a couple of the WIPs that are piled around me in my squirrels nest of knitting at home. How bad is it? How many of you carry 4-5 projects around in your knitting bag every day, just in case you have time to work on something?

I have told my awesome co-workers and my SO at home that if they catch me starting anything new, before I finish something, that they are to initiate an intervention STAT!!!

Yes, even we Beans get burned out either physically or mentally from time to time.  It is definitely time for me to step back and take a break to recharge and rest.  Stretch the hands and arms, get some exercise and get out and enjoy the spring that is starting to bloom here in Reno.

Not to fear, after a little R & R I'll be good as new and ready to finish those outstanding projects and move on to some new and exciting projects for spring and summer!  Have you seen all the new yarns we've been getting!  I'm so excited to get some summer tops and shells knit!

Some of our KAL participants are finishing up their projects too.  (Hmmm, perhaps we should do a WIP KAL....!)  Diane, one of our Truckee Shawlette KAL participant has finished her shawl.  I love the colors she chose!  She used Rainwater & Parchment in MadelineTosh Merino Light and switched out the increases for kf&b instead of the M1R & M1L.
 

Check out more finished Truckee Shawlettes in our Ravelry group thread.

For those of you who have been waiting for the video on how to work the 3-Needle Crochet-Style Bind Off for Hexipuffs, it is now up on our instructional page. Please check it out!

If you are local or will be visiting Reno please check our class schedule.  The April schedule will be out soon.  We have some exciting new classes we're offering - Crochet Beaded Wire Necklaces, Crochet Felted Bags, How to weave on your Rigid Heddle Loom, learn how to choose the right yarn for you project, knit a fun skirt or learn to knit or crochet!

I think that's it for this week!  Please join us on Ravelry for the Game of Thrones MKAL!

Happy Knitting!
Terry

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

I apologize for being MIA last week.  Crazy, fun, exciting things are happening around the shop and there are so many things to attend to.  If you are local and have been in the store recently you have seen some of what is being worked on.  We can't wait for it to be finished so that we can show you!

Big Surprises!!!

  For those of you that are participating in the Truckee Shawlette KAL, how's it going?  I know many of you have yet to start.  As for me, I've decided to move up to a larger needle.  I started on a US 5 but I think I want more drape so will be starting over and moving up to probably a US6.

I've seen some beautiful shawls being worked on and some even finished!  I'll try to gather up some photos to show you next week.


One of the items that has kept me from working as diligently as I should on my Truckee Shawlette is the March calendar of classes we will hosting!  I'm so excited to share that we have three new instructors this month who are bringing some fresh, fun new class ideas to our regular line up of classes.  I hope over the next few blogs to introduce you to each of them.

Here is a list of the new classes we are offering this March:

Learn to Weave on your Schacht Cricket Loom taught by Sharon Campbell, an excellent local weaver. So if you've purchased a loom or received one as a gift, this is the class to learn how to use it.  You can join in with any rigid heddle loom but it will be focused on how to use the Cricket.

 
Crochet a Beaded Wire Necklace taught by Colleen Morgan a new comer to the Reno area and we're delighted that she wants to share her talent with us.




Crochet a Felted Square Bag designed and taught by Colleen Morgan











Knit a Peaks & Valley Skirt designed and taught by Maxene Harlow. Can be knit in 5 sizes and three lengths using worsted weight cotton or cotton blend yarns.


 And some new classes I'll be teaching this month:

Hand Spindling (aka Drop Spindling) - learn how to spin using a hand spindle
Knit and Felt a Brimmed Hat - Project based class for knitting and felting hats using either one of two Fiber Trends patterns.
Knitting Short Rows - I'll show you how to do wrap & turn short rows and why we use them plus I'll talk about other methods to work short rows.
Choosing the Right Yarn - an overview of yarn weights, gauge and fiber qualities to help you choose the right yarn for your project.

Please go to our Classes page to download the calendar and schedule for the complete listing of classes and descriptions.  Please be patient if the March class aren't up for a few days.  Our IT people have a lot on their plate and they do an awesome job of getting things done as quick as they can!  If you want the class list before it's up on the website please email me and I will email the pdf to you.

Please email questions, suggestions and comments to: askTerry at jimmybeanswool.com (remember to remove the spaces and replace the word at with @)

Happy Knitting!

Terry

PS. Those of you who entered the Tunisian Crochet book giveaway on Monday, the randomly selected winner is commenter #9 Karin Ishibashi who said...

"Thanks for an awesome giveaway. I just started learning how to Tunisian crochet (WIP), and am trying to finish PAX by Aoibhe Ni on Ravelry."

Karin, please e-mail your m,ailing address to me at: kristen(at)jimmybeanswool(dot)com to claim your prize! 

I hope you all are having a great week!  Sounds like some of you will have lots of time for knitting this weekend with more winter weather hitting parts of the country.  I'm so pleased so many of you have chosen to participate in the Truckee Shawlette KAL!  I've been helping many of you pick out colors this week.  I can't wait to see all the beautiful shawlettes!

Here's how you do it! These instructions are for flat knitting.

• Cast on and knit an even number of rows in your first color.
• Then join and work two rows of your contrasting color.
• To return to knitting with your first color, hold your work so that the right side of the work is facing you. Then pick up the working end of your first color by reaching underneath the second color and bring the yarn to the front and knit the first stitch.  Give a little tug to the fabric to lengthen the yarn carried up the side.
• Work normally for two rows.
• When you return to "home position" (Right side of your work facing your, working yarn on the right) do one of two things.  If you want to change colors repeat the instruction above.  If you want to continue knitting with the same color for two more rows, drop the yarn, reach under the idle color and draw the color you wish to work with under and back into knitting position.  You've just created a half wrap, that will carry the idle yarn up the side.
• Repeating this partial wrap every other row to lock the unused yarn in place

Note: Be sure to always stretch your fabric after the first stitch or two after a wrap to make sure you're leaving enough slack in the carried yarn so that it doesn't pull that edge tighter than the opposite edge.

For knitting in the round you will do the half wrap every round when you return to the beginning of each round.  Although you could choose to space the wraps farther apart but I don't think I would try more the say four rounds.

If you pull your carried yarns too tightly up the side they will pull that side up shorter and have less elasticity. As you can see in this photo, I pulled the last few rows too tightly and the edge is puckering.

See how short the carried strands are as you go up toward the needle?  Those strands should have looked more like the strands toward the left side of the photo.

Laura did a great video demonstrating How to Carry a Contrasting Color Up the Edge.


I hope this explains the process well.  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

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

Now that everyone is getting settled into the Downton Abbey Mystery KAL we thought this might be a good time to start planning the next knit-a-long.  We've had quite a few requests to do December's free pattern the Truckee Shawlette as a knit-a-long so that's what we're going to do!  I'm excited because not only is this a beautiful shawlette, the yarn it calls for is the machine washable, lace weight merino wool yarn Malabrigo Lace Superwash!  This is an exclusive yarn so it needs an extra special project to make from it and the Truckee Shawlette is just the thing!


We're setting a start date of February 1st and the KAL will go for six weeks ending on March 8th.  This is a fairly easy knit but will take some time because of the small yarn.  We do have some kits put together on our website for easy color choices or you can mix and match yarns for your own custom look.  I've already chosen my yarn as those of you who follow us on Facebook may have seen.

Tosh Prairie in Worn Denim and Malabrigo Lace Superwash in Volcan

Of course you can choose other yarns and we'll be happy to give you any advice you may need.

To help you along I've filmed a new instructional video on how to do a M1L (make one left) and M1R (make one right).  In it I show you how to do both M1 increases and I also show them done both English (throwing) style and Continental (picking) style. It will be edited and up on our website soon, but in the meantime, I've created some written descriptions for you complete with pictures!

Here is a description of each:


Make One Left (M1L) to do this increase you will need to have at least one stitch on your right hand needle.  Look at your knitting between the two needles.  See the little bar between the two stitches?  With your left needle pick up this bar going from front to back.  Now, knit the loop you now have on your left needle through the back loop just as you would a normal knit through the back loop.

By knitting through the back loop you are adding a left twist to the increase, making it invisible.  Without the twist you will get an eyelet much like a small yarnover instead of an invisible increase.

Make One Right (M1R) this is the same as a M1L except, with your left needle you will pick up the bar between the stitches from back to front and knit it through the front loop, adding a right twist.

Perhaps an easy way to remember this is:
M1L - pick up front to back, knit in the back - front, back, back
M1R - pick up back to front, knit in the front - back, front, front



Next time I'll take about lifelines, what are they and how do you use them.

Have fun and I hope you'll join us for the KAL!

Terry

Thank you to everyone who responded to my last blog questions! It seems that Knit/Crochet/other A-longs are a popular choice so we will begin planning more throughout the coming year. As we move forward into 2013 I will also be writing more instructional blogs and filming videos to go along with them.

So now that we've finished (or nearly finished in my case) our holiday gifts it's time for some selfish knitting/crocheting/sewing!  Do you have some things planned?

I'm still working on one Christmas gift, a couple of gifts for up coming birthdays, my Knit Red - A-line Hoodie and a very overdue pair of fingerless gloves for my younger son. Then I'll be all set to do my selfish knitting! (IF I don't get too side tracked with some sewing projects I'm working on and a couple of new ideas I have.) I'm wanting to knit more shawls/shawlettes for myself, I've been saying for the past year and a half that I need a blue shawl and a blue sweater, now I have both planned and the yarns purchased.

 For my blue shawl I've picked out these yarns for a single strand Truckee Shawlette.

Malabrigo Lace Superwash in Volcan and Tosh Prairie Short skein in Worn Denim

 I decided on these two different yarns because the colors work well together for me and the colors I wear.

 I've also purchased more Tosh for Romi Hill's Carson Shawl and I've started a Wingspan in Schoppel Wolle Crazy Zauberball that would be nice to finish. (I see now that there is a Lace Wingspan!  I may have to start over and do that one instead.) I also have several sweaters and Litchfield hat & mitts planned. Not to mention the Downton Abby KAL... Oh dear! There I go again getting way ahead of myself. I should never have written down what I want to start, I feel behind already! LOL!

How about a felted project? Who doesn't need another bag? There are some wonderful Bag and Tote patterns to choose from too. Ok, I need to STOP now before I plan myself too big of a hole to knit my way out of this year! How to decide what to do first? The yarns I've purchased are so pretty and I know the Downton Abby KAL won't take much time each week, so perhaps one of the shawls would be a good choice...

Then there are all thing things I want to learn this year, I haven't even really started that list yet!

Don't you just wish you could knit everything at once? How do you decide which project to make next?  Tell us about the projects you're planning! I've set up a Ravelry thread to plan and discuss your 2013 projects.

I'm looking forward to hearing about all of your upcoming projects!

Happy Knitting!
Terry