Free Workshop: November 6

Our next free knitting workshop is scheduled for Saturday, November 6th!  We are happy to be offering several free workshops this fall.  Pre-registration will always be required for these special events, call soon to reserve your spot.



Our next workshop features the beautiful, simple Baktus scarf.  Special thanks to Strikkelise for letting us use her pattern!  We'll cast on & discuss alternative methods of increasing for shaping this garter stitch project. This is a simple pattern, suitable for beginners & intermediate knitters. 
 
We have another blog for our workshops & classes.  Check it out at www.lysclasses.blogspot.com.  We'll be listing additional workshops over the next few weeks.

*Thanks to tryphina on Ravelry for her great photos! 

Workshop Gallery

 

Maureen has been knitting for two--count 'em!--TWO weeks.  This is how far she's gotten in just 2 days!  Nice, even knitting & beautiful results using Maxima from Manos del Uruguay & hand spun Wool Classica for her main color.

 
Janet's hat is knit in peacock blue, heathered Lamb's Pride from Brown Sheep Company with LanaLoft for her handpainted contrast color.  She finished it up last night & it is beautiful.

Here's mine!  I'm using Maxima & Wool Classica on US #8 needles & I'm nearly done.  The Maxima is gorgeous to work with!






This one is Deb's & she did a great job pairing a brown heathered Lamb's Pride with LanaLoft.  Another great pairing in both color & texture. 

Free Workshop at LYS

Our first free knitting workshop is tomorrow!  We are happy to be offering several free workshops this fall.  Tomorrow's workshop is full, pre-registration will always be required for these special events.

This week, workshop knitters  will learn how to make Jared Flood's beautiful Turn A Square hat.  Knit in the round with two colors, we'll teach two techniques that help make this a great hat.  The jogless join is a great way to make color changes less obvious, & using a raglan decrease on the crown makes a distinctive shape. 

We have another blog for our workshops & classes.  Check it out at www.lysclasses.blogspot.com.  We'll be listing a weekend workshop and several additional weekday workshops over the next few weeks. 

LYS KAL! Free Pattern from LYS

in

Lancaster County Blend
a basic sock recipe
by Wendy Ellis

Materials
100 grams Alpaca Yarn Co. Paca Peds HT
1 set No. 1(2.5mm) or 2(3mm) needles or as needed for gauge

Gauge:  7 sts=1"; 11 rnds=1"

Instructions 
Cast on 64 sts.  Divide onto three needles as follows: Needle 1:  24 sts; Needle 2:  20 sts; Needle 3: 20 sts.  Join, being careful not to twist sts and work K1, P1 rib for 1 1/2". 

Establish pattern for leg:
Rnd. 1:  Knit.
Rnd. 2:  K2, P2 around.
Repeat these two rounds until leg measures 7" from start, ending with rnd. 2.  
Set up heel:  with Needle 3, K across first 14 sts of needle 1.  Turn and P across 30 sts for heel.  Slip remaining 34 sts onto two needles for instep.

Heel:  
Change to mini skein semi-solid color for heel.
Row 1:  *Sl 1, K1, repeat from * across.
Row 2:  Purl.
Repeat these two rows until heel measures 2 1/4", usually 32 rows, ending with a K row.
  
Turn Heel: 
Row 1:  P across 17 sts, P2 tog, P1, turn.
Row 2:  Sl 1, K5, sl 1, K1, psso, K1, turn.
Row 3:  Sl 1, P6, P2 tog, P1, turn.
Row 4:  Sl 1, K7, sl 1, K1, psso, K1, turn.
Row 5:  Sl 1, P8, P2 tog, P1, turn.  
Continue to decrease in this manner, having 1 more st between decs. each row until all sts are worked and 18 sts remain, ending on a K row.  Slip all Instep sts onto 1 needle.  Divide sts of heel onto 2 needles.  

Gusset & Shaping:
Change to MC.
Needle 1:  Pick up & K 16 sts along side of heel.  
Needle 2:  Work in pattern across Instep sts.
Needle 3:  Pick up & K 16 sts along other side of heel & K remaining 9 heel sts onto this needle.  
Rnd 1--Needle 1:  K to last 3 sts, K2 tog, K1.  Needle 2: Work in pattern.   Needle 3:  K1, sl 1, K1, psso, K to end.  
Rnd 2--Needles 1 and 3:  Knit.  Needle 2:  Work in pattern.
Repeat these two rounds until 15 sts remain on needles 1 & 3.  

Foot:  Work even on 64 sts, keeping pattern on needle 2 only until foot measures 1 3/4" less than desired finished length.  Arrange sts on needles as follows:  Needles 1 & 3:  16 sts.  Needle 2:  32 sts.  
Toe: 
Change to mini skein semi-solid color for toe.Rnd. 1:  Needle 1:  K to last 3 sts,  K2 tog, K1.  Needle 2:  K1, sl 1, K1, psso, K to last 3 sts, k2 tog, K1.  Needle 3:  K1, sl1, K1, psso, K to end.
Rnd. 2:  Knit around.
Repeat these 2 rnds until 24 sts remain.  With Needle 3 knit across needle 1.  Cut yarn leaving 20".
Finish with Kitchener stitch.

pattern copyright & all rights reserved Wendy Ellis, 2010
not to be sold, please share link freely








Repairs, Quick Fixes & Letting it Be



Mistakes can be hard to admit.  Not just in knitting, but everywhere.  I'm finding that readily admitting a mistake tends to soften the outcome.  So, why is it sometimes so hard to look at a mistake in our handwork & just deal with it?
Why is my sweater still lurking in the bottom of my knitting bag?  
One of our Knit Night regulars, Beth, is a very, very good knitter .  She regularly tackles projects that make me gawk.    One of Beth's strengths as a knitter is her willingness to ask for help.  If she is stuck, she asks for help.  If she wants to modify a pattern or use a different yarn, she asks for help.  When she makes a mistake, she asks for help--or, sometimes, she just RIPS.  And I do mean RIPS.  Just this week, Beth ripped out nearly the whole back of a vest because her yarn had a less than subtle dye change from skein to skein.  

I asked Beth, about her strategies for mistakes.  Here are her guidelines for knitting mistakes:

1.   If it is painfully obvious or will bug you every time you see the piece/project…then ya gotta fix it.

2.   If only you know it is there and it will not affect the pattern sequence in the next row or the overall outcome…keep going.

3.    Migrate toward patterns that have charts. That way you can see what should be happening in the row where the mistake is and maybe fix it on the next round by tinking back on only the stitches that are in error and fixing them from above.

Ripping, Frogging, Tinking--Oh My!

I let the sweater sink slowly to the bottom of my knitting bag.  After a couple of days, I lifted it out of the bag and neatened up the now tangled balls of yarn.  I resolutely started knitting again.  With my Mistake staring me down the whole time.  STOP. 
Let's step back and see what happened.  I had already calculated that one row of the sweater took about 20 minutes to knit.  I knit a row.  I knit 4 rows.  I had to tink back across one of them when I forgot to read my chart from left to right on the purl rows.  No problem, I had lots of time that day.  We were at an outdoors music festival, the sun was shining with that peculiar oblique golden light of early fall.  It was a Perfect Knitting Day. I got an astonishing 12 rows of fair-isle knitting done.  I was flying through the rows! 
So, what happened?  On the ride home, I put my reading glasses on to review the next pattern section.  I knit a few stitches.  I stopped and absently tried to smooth out the previous pattern section which was a little...bumpy.  I shook my head as if to  clear it & kept knitting.  About half way across the row I had to admit that it was really bumpy, puckered even.  Assuring myself that it would block out--or that maybe it was just compressed on the needle, I kept knitting. For a little while.  Like, for another row.
Shortly after that, the sweater started inching it's way towards the bottom of my knitting bag.  I had some other things to finish up & samples to knit, so it was easy to think I was just taking a little break.  I knit a shawl, a pair of socks, a pair of baby socks...& a hat.  I looked around and found another pair of socks that were nearly finished and I worked on them.
Fast forward to last week.  At knit night I tried to work on the sweater.  Then, I showed the sweater to a couple of other knitters.  There was consensus.  It has to be ripped out.  So, I put it back in my bag--and it's still there.  I think I'll make another hat.

Next time:  LYS talks to some other knitters about mistakes, knitting, mistakes, fixes, & abandoning projects.