Happy Birthday, Knitting Nest!

The Knitting Nest turned 1 year old last Thursday! Yes, we had a party! With cake! Since it was our birthday, we also gave out gifts – Knitting Nest bags to all of our customers on our birthday and various items to winners of the drawings.

So, now what? We’re toddlers now! We’ve gotten up on our feet and are cruising the furniture and generally breaking up housekeeping! Don’t worry, though, we’ll clean up after ourselves.

We’ve got plenty of ideas for our second year of business. We want to expand some of our yarn lines and bring in some new companies. And, of course, teach classes (more on that in another post). Let’s not forget charity knitting and crochet. There are lots of needs in our community that we can meet through fiber arts.

Keep up with us through our website or Facebook so you can be part of our exciting second year as we become more a part of the community here in Weyauwega!

And, of course, let us know of any ideas you have on how we can make our community better through knitting and crochet!

A Few Of My Favorite Things–Lotus Yarn and Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders

I might have mentioned that I love silk. I mean, really LOVE silk! I love how it feels and how it looks. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when we were able to start carrying Interlacement Yarns Lotus 100% silk. It’s shimmery and shiny and oh, so smooth!

And, of course, I just HAD to knit with it. All for you, my dear customers. All for you. The sacrifices I make for this business. But, someone must do it . . .

What pattern, though? I found the perfect one in Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders: Blossom Silk SeaCell Shawl. Of course, I used Lotus instead of the SeaSilk, but it was a perfect substitution. Lotus is a super-fine weight yarn with over 450 yards per 100 grams. The pattern is easy to follow and is written in both words and a chart. It is a rather simple pattern with only one chart to follow and no special stitches.

I highly recommend the Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonder book. It has many projects that are quick to work up and that only take one skein or even part of a skein. They’re perfect for that leftover yarn that’s in your stash or when you need a quick knit when you’re on a trip. While they’re written for luxury yarns, you can almost always find another yarn to substitute that will also give very nice results. But, hey, there’s always silk . . .

Oh, you want to know how the Blossom Shawl turned out? Well, beautifully! Of course, when it was finished, it looked like a big mess of knotted silk. I used lace wires while blocking which helped ensure that the edges that were supposed to be straight actually turned out straight. And the final product is gorgeous!!

 

So, get thee to The Knitting Nest to buy some of this gorgeous Lotus yarn! And we’ll help you find the perfect pattern for your needs – maybe even from Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders!

 

Knittin’ Large!!

What’s the largest size set of knitting needles you’ve used? I’ve been rather adventurous and used some size 21s to knit strips of blue jeans into an area rug and some 19s to knit T-shirt strips into another area rug.

That is nothing compared to what Patrick has been knitting recently, though! He has been making a “flag” using PVC pipe and strips of felt.

Here’s how it happened:

We bought bolts of red, white, and blue felt, and Patrick cut it into strips and then rolled the strips into balls.

Patrick made a gauge swatch (of course)

He then knit the flag from the bottom to the top in garter stitch.

 

The phrase “turn your work” took on new significance when the work became 20+ pounds of felt!

When he reached the section where the blue started, he used intarsia technique.

When he needed to join more “yarn”, he used a high tech knitting device – aka, a stapler!

Each night, he would hang the “flag” in the window so people could see how much progress he had made.

 

Finally, it was finished and he could bind off!

And this is the final appearance of the display window!!

What is the biggest size needle or most unusual fiber with which you’ve knit? How did your project turn out?

Why We Knit

I’ve written before about how knitting and other needlearts are about so much more than the crafts themselves. Let me tell you another story today.

One of our customers came in a few weeks ago looking for yarn and a pattern to make a hat for a dear friend who was about to undergo chemotherapy and likely to lose her hair. She loved the Delilah hat and wanted to make it for her friend, but she wanted to make it more appropriate for wearing indoors and to personalize it.

This customer made the hat using the Delilah pattern using Luscious yarn, just like our shop model. However, she chose to make the brim much smaller, making it a hat that’s easier to wear indoors.

What I really love about this hat, though, is the buttons. They are white heart-shaped buttons on which our customer wrote the names of people praying for her friend. In fact, she had to write on the backs of some of the buttons because there are more people praying than she had room for buttons! The buttons were then sewn on the base of the brim of the hat.

Knitting and crochet are fun crafts, but they can be so much more. When we put them in service of love and friendship, they are powerful tools for human connection.