knitch
October 7, 2010
**Open Knitting Tonight**
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Shop Hours and Events

 


REGULAR HOURS


 M, Tu: 10-5 
W, Th: 10-6  
Fri, Sat: 10-5
Sun: 12-4

OPEN KNITTING:

Every Wed
1-3PM

1st and 3rd Thurs
6-9 PM

Socks on Sunday
1-3 PM

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Greetings!       

We received two lovely "thank you" notes this week
from people involved in truly BIG knitting projects--the kind that help make a positive difference in the world.

We'd like to pass the thanks along to all of you, too--each time you choose to shop with us, you are indirectly making a contribution to projects like these; many of you make direct contributions, too with your own donations of time and yarn.
Lap Blankets
Liz White sent us this photo of knitted and crocheted lap blankets made by the Queen of Apostles Prayer Shawl Ministry for patients at the Veteran's Hospital. She says, "Your donation of yarn keeps our fingers busy and produces beautiful items for so many in need of comfort."

We also heard from Ginny Gallauer, founder of a project to benefit Soldier's Angels. "Please thank the ladies of your knitting group for the plethora of wonderful, unique and beautiful dish rags! They are very generous..." Ginny's efforts have so far raised over $687.00. (knitch now offers the dish cloths for a minimum $3 donation--100% goes to the project)

From all of us at knitch:
It's our pleasure--you're welcome!



EVENTS:
Join us for evening Open Knitting Tonight, October 7, 6-9 pm.

NOW SHOWING: Check out the second Judy's Colors Christmas Stocking Trunk Show. This set of designs features subtle, wintry neutrals with intense color accents.

Knit your Christmas stockings at Socks on Sunday, every Sunday from 1-3pm in the shop.


Introducing square needles and other ways to take care of your hands

Square Needles? 

What you put INTO your hands when you are knitting can be as important as what you put ON your hands. Tools make a difference, and Kollage needles are specially designed to be easier on your hands than traditional needles. They are square in cross-section, rather than round.
 
Both Kathleen and Christi tested out the Kollage dpns on recent projects and now consider themselves converts. The needles definitely are comfortable to hold, lighter than regular metal needles, but not slippery at all. And as a bonus, they don't roll away when you drop them!

We now offer Kollage crochet hooks, dpns, 16" and 24" circulars in selected sizes. An expanded selection is on order, expected to arrive by the end of October, and will include single point needles and circulars with firmer cords.  
 
 
"Knitters Hands" all natural soaps and lotion bars, made BY knitters FOR knitters
You'll love the looks of these new hand-care products: they are appealingly packaged with colorful, fun images from vintage knitting publications--and the Knitted Heart Soap is a work of art in itself. (Check out the knitted texture--how did they do that?)

The lotions and soaps are made with hand-soothing cocoa butter, jojoba oil, calendula and other herbs, shea butter, aloe, vegetable glycerin, vitamin E, and beeswax. The colorants come from natural sources and the scents from pure essential oils. Fragrance-free lotions bars are also available.

The Christmas-themed Knitter's Gift Bag includes a lotion bar and soap.

More New Arrivals

 
A great new selection of handpainted merino rovings from  Fiber Art Cafe came in this week.

Dyed Merino Braids

These multi-colored braids are already a favorite with spinners and needle-felters,
and now creator/local artist Susan Forbes has inspired us with a new way to enjoy them: if you divide the strips of soft wool lengthwise into thinner strips, you can knit them just like yarn.

Roving HatsSee Susan's samples in the shop and pick up the free pattern for the hat shown on the left with your purchase of one of the braids.



Smaller single color braids are now available, too.

Sample Spotlight
Not as EZ as she thought?Ribwarmer revisited

For a travel-knitting project last month, Mary decided to revisit the Elizabeth Zimmermann Ribwarmer vest. Having worked the original 2-piece and collarless pattern before, she was curious to try a variation.

From the "Ribwarmer Revisited" pattern, she chose a design option that is worked in one piece and includes a collar.

She returned home from her trip with the vest nearly complete, but also with some doubts. The collar didn't look like the picture on the pattern. But the pattern has been around so long, surely there couldn't be any mistakes in it...Maybe it was a matter of interpreting something in the pattern not quite the way EZ intended.

Consulting Ravelry, she made the discovery that more than a few other knitters have interpreted the pattern the same way she did. "There are a lot of photos with collars that look just like mine," she said.

Mary deduced that she (and others) had misread an abbreviation in the pattern instructions and increased the collar too rapidly. Fortunately, the collar looks fine in its own right--call it yet another variation!

The vest turned out great in Lana Bambu from Cascade. The leftovers from the 3rd skein will be enough to make a pair of matching wristwarmers. "That's the plan, anyway," says Mary. It's in her knitting project queue.