Knitters Mercantile Blog

Our first Sock Club 2012 Knit Along was a great success!

Our February sock yarn is the delectable Malabrigo Rios. Our sock pattern from Clara Parkes’ Knitters Book of Socks is Stepping Stones. Rios is a worsted weight yarn but is knit on size US 2 needles so it is super dense, cozy, and strong.

We have such a great group of knitters for our Sock Club!

Our fabulous Sock Club 2012 members learned a bit about yarn construction, spent some time doing some gauge swatching, and meeting other members.

Refreshments were enjoyed as well.

There was winding. Lots and lots of yarn winding. We were  more than happy to wind all that Rios so our Sock Club members could start right away on their socks. However…..Andrea and Amy encountered a problem skein. It was suggested at one point that Andrea may have been cursed by the Yarn Winding goddess on that evening. But I will refer to the ”problem skein” rather rather “problem winder” because, well, I have to work with Andrea and I don’t want her mad at me. Hi Andrea!

I will only point out the growing pile of yarn (in the the foreground in the picture above) that I wound while Amy and Andrea were still trying to sort out that one problem skein (with some help at one point from Gail, who is hiding in the picture below).

I am happy to let you all know that the skein was happily sorted out and wound into a lovely cake in the end.

Thank you for coming to our first KAL, Sock Club 2012 members! We will see you again on April 6 for the next installment!

This week’s Free Pattern Friday has a bit of a twist to it. Instead of just providing a free pattern, I am providing a free pattern with a cause.

I am very excited to announce that Knitters Mercantile is now a drop off point for Operation Toasty Toes!

What is Operation Toasty Toes, you ask? It is a great volunteer organization that promotes, collects, and sends handknit and crocheted items to our Armed Forces stationed overseas. The organization started by making slippers to warm the feet of our servicemen and women.

From the Operation Toasty Toes website:

Besides warming the service persons feet, they send a message of support. That a stranger would take the time to make a pair slippers. This shows that we at home do care. It enables many in our local community to participate.

There are 2 free patterns this week - Slipper with Knit Cuff and Crocheted Slipper. You can find them here on the Operation Toasty Toes website.

We are looking for 300 pairs of slippers to be made by April 15. We know you can help us make it happen.

We are also dedicating our Knitters’ Night Out on February 15 from 6 - 8 p.m. to Operation Toasty Toes. Judy, who brought this wonderful group to our attention and who will be organizing the collection and shipping of the slippers, will be here to provide information about Operation Toasty Toes and the patterns for the slippers.

So, come to Knitters Night Out on February 15. Or download the patterns, knit or crochet some slippers, and drop them off in the shop before April 15. Please help us support this wonderful cause!

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You can also find the patterns for the slippers on the free pattern page on our website.

It’s show and tell time!

We just finished up a couple of January sock classes. We are so proud of what our students have done and we want to share it with you.

Kathryn taught Basic Socks. This class teaches first time sock knitters to do top down socks on double points. Students work a baby sock in class before working on their full sized adult socks. The baby socks have the exact same construction as the adult sock and are a great way to learn all the techniques needed to make full sized socks.

Look at how cute their baby socks are!

Ruth taught “Oh So Fine” 2 Socks at Once on 2 Circular Needles. The beautiful socks you see are Ruth’s design. Students worked from Ruth’s pattern to knit 2 toe up socks at the same time on 2 circs. Not easy! But look at the beautiful work below.

Here is a picture of everyone taking a picture of their assembled socks.

You too could knit these socks. Ruth will be teaching her “Oh So Fine” 2 Socks on 2 Circs class again in the future but we have not yet decided on dates. We have another Basic Socks class beginning this Friday, February 3 from 12 - 2 p.m. Give us a call at the shop at (614) 888 - 8551 to sign up!

There has been a large change with Knitters Connection and I want to let you all know what is going on. Unfortunately due to personal issues, Fran, who organized and executed the logistical side, is unable to continue with Knitters Connection and has just withdrawn. We wish her all the best.

What this means going forward is that Knitters Connection is now organized and executed solely by Knitters Mercantile.

I know many of you are frustrated that the 2012 class schedule is not up on the website and registration is not open. We are working very hard right now to assess the situation, get organized, and move forward with Knitters Connection 2012. I assure you that communication is a top priority. You can post in the Knitters Connection Ravelry forum and Kathryn, or another Knitters Mercantile person, will respond. You can also email info@knittersmercantile.com with questions or concerns. You can call us at the shop at (614) 888 - 8551 as well.

We may not have all the answers right away but I promise we will work hard to to help as best we can.

Are you in Pittsburgh or will you be in Pittsburgh on February 10, 11, and 12? Come visit our booth at the 8th Annual Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival!

We will be in booth 52 (which is in the sponsor area).

We will be featuring Artyarns in our booth. We have Supermerino, Cashmere Glitter, Cashmere 5, Rhapsody Glitter, Ensemble and more!

Iris Schreier of Artyarns will be teaching several classes at the festival, including the beautiful Diamond Lace Wrap from her new book One + One: Scarves/Shawls/Wraps.

This shawl has a completely unique construction and uses short rows to give you the ability to work with 2 or more colors in a seamless manner. The wrap would be stunning in Artyarns Ensemble, Silk Rhapsody, or Silk Rhapsody Light.

So if you are in Pittsburgh next weekend stop by and see us!

This just in - the new Addi Lace Click set! This snazzy new set was all the rage at Vogue Knitting Live and TNNA.

The original Lace set featured short needles, which is cool because with the shorter tips you had the option to make a 16″ needle. That’s a real bonus with an interchangeable set.

However, a lot of people who love the Addi Lace tips wanted longer tips in an interchangeable set. And ta dah! Skacel produced it. 

But wait, there’s more! A brand new feature to this set is the Addi Lifeline Cords. Here is how Addi describes them.

The addi-Lifeline Cords were created to allow knitters to work a lifeline in to their projects, quickly and easily. Each cord features two threadable eyelets on each end, near the tip connections, through which a waste yarn can be run. When not in use, the eyelets remain closed so as not to interfere with one’s knitting.

Last but not least, the case is a positively delightful color of pink. It would look lovely in a knitting bag.

Stop by the shop to check out the new sets! Or you can also check them out here on our website.

This week’s free pattern is an oldie but a goody.

Saartje’s Bootees are the sweetest booties that I have come across. Simple garter stitch and mary jane styling - does it get any better? I think not.

The pattern calls for a fingering weight yarn, so something like Cascade Heritage would work very well. Janet made a pair in Mirasol Hacho (which is DK weight) and they are THE sweetest things you ever did see. Stop by the shop and take a look at the Hacho shelf to see one of the booties in person.

Get the Saartje’s Bootees pattern here.

Happy Friday and happy knitting!

Despite grey skies above, Spring is on its way. And to brighten us up even further, Pantone’s Spring 2012 colors are here!

Pretty vibrant palatte, dont’ you think? Pastels are IN. There are some alluring neutrals but the color of the year (as designated by Pantone) is Tangerine Tango.

Tangerine Tango is described on the Pantone website as “an enticing, juicy orange, a vivacious and appealing refresher to enliven anyone’s outlook this Spring.”

I don’t know about you but when I read that description all I can think of is Diana Rigg’s voice moderating the fashion show in The Great Muppet Caper. (Holy wow! I didn’t realize it until I found the clip - I think Diana Rigg is actually wearing Tangerine Tango in that scene!)

I think my favorite color of the season is Driftwood. What’s yours?

Now that we are back and fully recovered from the trip, it is time to share some more pictures with you.

Day 2

There are not a lot of pictures from Day 2.  The reason is that for much of the day our booth looked like this.

As a result, at the end of the day I felt like this.

Day 3

Both Saturday and Sunday had great fashion shows taking place at the runway next to our booth. Here is one of the garments featured in the Vogue Knitting show.

There were also some really great other events on the stage, including a fabulous panel discussion on Sunday afternoon about turning knitting into a career featuring among others Norah Gaughan, Melanie Falick, and my personal hero Debbie Stoller. I learned to knit from Debbie’s Stitch ‘N Bitch books so to get to hear her speak about turning knitting into a career was an amazing treat for me.

We had some great people hanging out in our booth with us on Sunday. Iris from ArtYarns stopped by to sign her new book One + One: Scarves, Shawls, & Shrugs.

Pam from Louet hung out in our both so that she could share two of her beautiful yarns, Euroflax and KidLin, with our customers. Pam also had on this amazing skirt, Ashley, made with Euroflax. I am SO making this. Who is in with me?

And sadly, at the end of Sunday we had to pack everything up again so we could head home.

Thanks New York and Vogue Knitting Live for an amazing time!

Whew! We are having quite a time of it in New York. Here are some pictures from day 1.

I would like to begin by saying that I am by no means a decent photographer. I’m getting better all the time but a lot of what you’ll see here is me going “hey I should take a picture of that!” while hastily pulling out whatever photographic type device is most handy (sometimes its the camera and sometimes its my phone).

So, here is day 1 from start to finish.

The first picture is actually from last night but I found it odd enough to include here. Really? A “Fresh Remote?” Heavens forbid we get a stale one.

Here is a very blurry picture of the city skyline from our van before we got in the Lincoln Tunnel.

Yay a horse!

This is how our booth looked when we first got there.

Look how close we are to the stage!

Awesome Vogue Knitting Live sign.

Booth set up in progress.

Booth is done!

The marketplace was open from 5 - 8 p.m. I didn’t take any pictures, which is why you don’t see any pictures of that there.

After market, we went to dinner.

We ate at Bill’s Restaurant and Piano Bar and Janet’s awesome friend Carol joined us. We ate upstairs which wasn’t the piano bar area but it did have an extended Frank Sinatra playlist. We were pleased.

They had all kinds of really rad original turn of the 20th century boxer pictures. I joined in with fisticuffs.

After dinner it was absolutely required that we go get the best cupcakes in the world. We went to Magnolia Bakery. I believe we succeeded in our quest.

More tomorrow!