Christy made this Blue Sky Alpacas vest pattern last spring, and it inspired me to knit a similar vest for Patrick for this Christmas. However, I wanted to do a vest in the Mercer “school colors,” and somehow, I couldn’t think that Black and Orange would look very good in stripes this wide. I was afraid he might resemble a bumblebee!

So, I used the same pattern, but my primary color became black Blue Sky Alpacas yarn, with orange thrown in only occasionally. I am pleased with the overall result, and now he can go to Mercer basketball games in a vest that speaks to his team loyalty.

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If you are lucky enough to live within driving distance of Macon, you owe it to yourself to come see our two new beautiful trunk shows. We have lots of garments from Never Not Knitting, and today we received three gorgeous knit items from Louet. One garment is a beautiful baby blanket, made from Louet’s sock yarn “Gems Pearl.” The other two are in Louet linen, a lacey sweater and a drapey stole.

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A picture may be worth a thousand words, but the photo of the completed “knit tits” which resulted from our “2011  Knit-A-Tit-A-Thon” weekend can never adequately represent the fun and camaraderie shared.   At one point, over 30 women–and our sole man, Leon– were knitting away, supporting a worthy cause and enjoying fellowship and food.   Door prizes were handed out frequently, and prizes were awarded for the “Most Creative,” “Perkiest” and “Greatest Qaun-TIT-y Knit.” We had knitters who stayed right up until 11 pm Friday night and were back bright and early Saturday morning to keep at it.

Heartfelt thanks go out from Creative Yarns to these knitters who gave so freely of their time and skills to make the weekend a huge success.   Some of them solicited door prizes AND also knit breast prostheses, and we had customers who knit at home as well as during the Friday and Saturday store sessions.   Creative Yarns customers are the best! However, we also give kudos to the Ravelry knitters who learned of our outreach and mailed us their own knit tits.   By the time the weekend had ended, we had 130 breast prostheses, and they are continuing to come in.

These knit breasts are donated to the Komen Foundation for distribution to the women who need them.  We have gotten feedback that they are more comfortable than most of the breast prostheses one can buy, as the knit tits are soft and lightweight. They are also washable and can be stuffed to the size one prefers. Perhaps best of all, they are absolutely cost free to the patients who need them.
Today, we’re all a little tired around here, but it’s a good kind of tired, because we know we’ve been a part of a worthy cause. By next October, we’ll be ready to do it all again and try to make the weekend even bigger and better.

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Headbands are big this year, and you won’t find a finer, softer headband than those we’ve made from Schulana’s yarn “Capo Nord.” This is a 100% extra fine merino with a chunky knit gauge of 2.5 stitches per inch. The headbands knit up FAST, and they are so much fun to do! School colors would be awesome for a gift, or perhaps you have a jacket you’d like to coordinate with.

This month, the usual price for this special yarn of $23.95 per skein is being discounted 25%. Two skeins of Capo Nord will make ALL FOUR of the headbands shown here, and of course the patterns are free when you purchase the yarn.

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Five intrepid knitters came to Creative Yarns Saturday morning, September 24th, for our techniques class in the art of entrelac. Below are four samples of their work. Aren’t they lovely?

The students were using Noro‘s yarns to achieve color changes in the scarf pattern, and it was interesting to watch and see how the colors looked different, even when the yarn was the exact same dye lot.

We have the pattern free with yarn purchase, so if you’d like to make your own Noro entrelac scarf, call or come by and let us show you the choices.

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Recently, I have been working on the sleeveless top called “Haven” which can be found in the Rowan pattern book titled Savannah Collection. This collection of easy knits has sold out twice, but we recently received an order of 10 more booklets, so if you haven’t already purchased a copy, don’t dispair: we have more!

I like Haven for its easy summer style and the fact that it knits up on large (US 11) needles. The knitting could not be more simple, and if you are looking for an easy sleeveless pattern, this is one you will definitely want to consider.

HOWEVER,  when it came time to work on the crocheted edging, I worked the specified dc’s and tr’s (double and treble crochets), only to have my edging look nothing like the edging in the photo. I started over, with a similar result. In despair, I turned to the back of the booklet to read their descriptions for how to work dc’s and tr’s.  There was my problem!

Rowan publishes in the UK and uses British terms. The US equivalent of the UK “double crochet” is a SINGLE CROCHET. And (you guessed it) the UK treble crochet is the US double crochet.

Now, my top is looking more like the photo! Come in and see for yourself, and while you are here, ask us to show you the Savannah Collection.

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One of our newest yarns is Madelinetosh, and we have some beautiful colors of her silk lace yarns as well as her sock yarns.

The name "Madeline Tosh" is not the actual name of the owner, however. That would be Amy Hendrix, whose great grandmother chose the moniker as a more sophisticated version of her own name, Lillian Madeleine Atkins.

Amy Hendrix was taught to knit as a child by her grandmother, and while she has a background in art history as well as the legal field, she returned to fiber arts upon the birth of her first child. "I saw a lot of primary-colored yarns, but not a lot of 'noncolors' like you see at J Crew. That's what I wanted to wear." So, with an adventurous spirit, Amy set out to dye her own yarns.

Through trial and error, Amy discovered how to layer color so that the yarns appear to shimmer. She offered her first  yarns on Etsy and was amazed at the reponse. Today, Madelinetosh yarns are sold at over 500 yarn shops across North America.

Creative Yarns is proud to carry this line of naturally dyed yarns. When you get a chance, come in and let us show you our selection.

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For a long time, I have wanted to knit this cardigan pattern “Slip Stitch Squares” by Vermont Fiber Designs.  Christy ordered a large batch of Cascade’s Sierra yarn, and we have over thirty colors. This inspired me to pick a pairing, and as you can see, I chose navy and lime green.

Sierra knits at 5 stitches per inch on a US size 7 needle, so the knitting is pretty quick. I am making the sleeves first, as a gauge check, and I am doing them two at a time on one circular needle. This way, I am sure that my sleeve lengths will match, and I’ll have the sleeves out of the way in no time.

Cascade Sierra is a lovely combination of 80% pima cotton and 20% wool. It can be machine washed and even tumble dried cool, so it is an easy care yarn. The wool gives the cotton some ‘memory,’ and the fact that the cotton is a pima cotton means it has a nice sheen to it.

When the sweater is completed, I’ll post a new photo!

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Many customers have come in and oohed and ahhed over our Euroflax linen sweater, “Reseda.” It is a marvel of bobbles and popcorn stitch, combined with ribbing and stockinette. It drapes beautifully, and the 100% linen content means that this sweater is the perfect summer cover up.

However, Reseda does have one immediately noticeable problem: the sleeves are VERY long. In fact, they are so long, that most customers will look at this pattern and determine that they will want to take some rows out of the sleeve. We have had the question: was this sweater washed and dried? Euroflax linen is both machine washable AND dryable, but it does change the gauge and feel of the yarn quite a bit to do so—-the yarn softens and drapes even more.

We did not knit the store sample—it was purchased from Euroflax. So, last week, Kathy took it home and did machine wash and dry it. The sleeves, which had been 22 inches long, grew another inch and a half to 23 1/2 inches.  The sweater did soften up some and become more ‘fluid.’ This implies that our sample had not been washed.

Reseda is worth knitting—-you can check what Ravelers have to say about it—-but it is important to keep in mind the following:

1- Washing and drying the gauge swatch will be crucial to determining the TRUE measurement of your final sweater—-don’t assume!

2- Keep in mind that while everyone’s gauge is different, these differences are even more profound in yarns with no elasticity, such as linen, cotton and hemp. With no ‘stretch’ to bring the stitches back to the needle, the ‘loop’ you create in knitting is the loop your finished project will reflect.

3-Knitting with plant fibers can be challenging, but the rewards are great, particularly with linen. Linen takes color beautifully (come see our selection) and it will wear forever. Machine washing and drying is the easy care solution to your summer wardrobe. Kathy and Susan are each knitting  this pattern (and both of us have actually ADDED stitches to the sleeves—-so again, gauge matters!). Come by and see Reseda for yourself.

This Reseda has looooong sleeves

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Westies and Yorkies are 'chillin' on the back deck

Of course, we are  always happy to see any of our customers at Creative Yarns, but these sweet Westies and Yorkies made our day when they showed up, driving in from Tennessee to the Georgia coast for Memorial Day weekend. Their proud mamas are knitters, and they had to stop for a ‘yarn fix’ before hitting the road again. And yes, they do plan to knit up some dogs from  Knit Your Own Dog.

If seeing this photo of Westies makes you want one, check out Westie Rescue of Tennessee. And if you would like to knit a very own dog of your own, we have the book and yarn here.

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