08.26.08
Posted in Sock Club, Tuesday Tips at 10:09 pm by Sue
Tuesday Tips - knitting tips you can use!
What on earth is this? Can you guess? It’s one of my favorite knitting tools. I made it myself, and you can too.
I call this my 1-2 marker, and I originally got the idea from a sock knitting book, but I can’t recall which one.
So what is this and how do you use it? It’s designed to keep track of something that alternates, like an increase row and a non-increase row, where you increase in one round but not the next, over and over again. A good example is when you’re knitting the gusset area of a sock. One row has increases (or decreases, depending on whether you’re knitting toe up or toe down), and the next has none.
To keep track of this, I would place one of this marker’s rings as a stitch marker on a non-increase row. The rest of the marker just hangs straight down. Then when I get back around to the marker, I’m on an increase row, so I slip the second ring right next to the first one, using the two rings together as a stitch marker. Now I’ve got two rings on the needle, where I had only one before, and the marker hangs in a loop with both rings on the needle.
When knitting, you “read” the marker by counting rings. One ring = no increase. Two rings is MORE than one ring, so that signifies an INCREASE row. How simple is that? You could define your own method for using this, just decide that one ring means one thing, and two rings means something else. If you’re alternating between two kinds of rows, this is a very simple tracking method.
I have never seen a marker like this in shops, so I made my own with a few silver beads, two jump rings, and some monofilament line. Took all of about 5 minutes to make, and I totally love it. Hope you love it too - email me photos of yours when you make one!!
And in SOCK CLUB news - Sock Club Sign-ups begin TOMORROW!!! I can’t wait!!
Working hard to get everything ready for the onslaught when sign-ups begin tomorrow,
Sue
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08.07.08
Posted in What's New at 2:22 pm by Sue
I am SOOO excited, I can barely sit down long enough to type a blog post! Interweave Knits has long been one of my favorite knitting magazines, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to receive my subscription copy yesterday, open up the magazine, and yep, it’s there! Great Yarn Company’s first national ad!!
This issue’s chock full of inspiration - and lots of great sweaters and projects - my fingers are itching already! If you’re an IK subscriber, you should be receiving your issue any day now, and it will be arriving at bookstores and newstands in the next few days, for everyone else.
I especially like the Afterthought Darts Cardigan, a very intriguing design, which is shown in Louet Kidlin Lace. This sweater features darts added after you have knitted the sweater, for a made-to-measure, personalized fit - and the Kidlin Lace give the sweater a fluid, weightless appearance. Lovely!
Denise Interchangeable Needles have been one of our most popular products, and with good reason. You have every size needle right there when you need it - what a relief! They’re great for travel, as they don’t show up in x-rays at security points - no more arguing with security agents in airports! And now, they’re are available in Denise Singles - individual needles in single sizes!
And the Denise folks have introduced another new product, Denise Organizers, which are featured in this IK issue’s spotlight feature. These versatile organizers can hold your Denise kit or all the parts without the kit case, plus all the other goodies you usually tuck into your knitting bag. How clever is that?!
Still knitting away on my Wrap Me Up Shawl, no new progress photos, but it’s coming along. I’ll have updated pics for you in a few days, when there’s more to show for my efforts.
Trying to knit and admire our new IK ad at the same time,
Sue
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07.26.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:31 pm by Sue
I’ve been quietly working on my Wrap Me Up Shawl, and I’ve made enough progress to share some photos! This is such a great pattern. It’s a modular shawl pattern knitted in self-striping yarn, so each section looks totally different - think of a sampler done in related colors.
I’m using Noro Silk Garden in color 241 - nice mix of purples, greens, magenta, and a bit of rust (looks much better than that sounds!). The second photo is much closer to the actual yarn colors. I’ve just finished the first beaded section - the beads I chose are a bit iridescent, so they catch the light very nicely. I’m very pleased with the effect!
This modular knitting is very addictive!
Take care,
Sue
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07.15.08
Posted in Tuesday Tips, What's New at 2:40 pm by Sue
I recently finished the Branching Out scarf, from Knitty, in Silky Wool from Elsebeth Lavold, the yarn the pattern called for. It’s a gorgeous scarf, and I am totally in love with Silky Wool - I love the soft/crisp feel on the needles, and I especially love how it softens up as you handle it. My scarf’s color is Verdigris, which we’ll have in stock very soon!
Here’s my Silky Wool scarf, still awaiting blocking (What can I say? I love knitting very much, but I love blocking somewhat less…) Do you ever get stuck at this point? You knit it, you love it, but you can’t quite work up the energy to block it?
What do you do? Just wear it as is? That’s my favorite “solution”, and that works beautifully with socks, which don’t really need blocking to look good. But maybe I could be a wee bit more disciplined about blocking things like scarves, don’t ya think? How do you motivate yourself to block your finished items?
We’ve also added Hempathy, another Elsebeth Lavold yarn. It’s a summery blend of hemp (no, not THAT kind of hemp), cotton, and Modal - and it’s available in a pretty range of summer colors.
And ON SALE now: Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome and Lily Chin Chelsea yarns - check them out!
Tuesday Tips — knitting tips you can USE!
Tired of chasing yarn balls across the floor? I love this tip! Use a clean plastic container, maybe an empty food storage container or plastic box, large enough to hold one (or several) balls of yarn, several inches tall, with a fairly wide mouth, so it’s easy to reach your hand inside, and large enough to not tip over easily.
Drop in your ball of yarn, set it on the floor at your feet, and you can knit without worrying about the yarn running away. The yarn stays put and stays clean. Here are two of my containers - nothing fancy, but they work.
If you’re feeling ambitious, you could cut a small hole in the lid, feed your working yarn up thru the hole, and put the lid back on the container to restrain that wayward ball even more, but I’ve never needed to use the lid, the open containers work fine for me.
Trying not to think about how many finished projects still need blocking…
Sue
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07.06.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:33 pm by Sue
It’s well after 11 PM, and I still can’t drag myself away from Ravelry! Are you on Ravelry yet? If you’re not, go here to sign up, and if you are, come join our new Great Yarn Company Ravelry group!
And while reading other people’s blogs (I know, it’s an addition… but at least it’s not as bad as my yarn addition), I came across a cool website that creates a painting just for you. Here’s mine - what’s really amazing is that it looks like it’s got a yarn ball in it, yet nothing in the questions I answered to create the painting had anything to do with hobbies!
Click here to create your own painting.
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07.05.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:04 am by Sue
Just a quick post to let you know who our contest winners are! The winner of the random drawing from all who commented is Kimberly S., whose blog is bruisinraincloud.wordpress.com..
And the winner of the most mentions in comments is Darcy W., who blogs at darcyknottyknitter.blogspot.com. It was hard-fought, and there were several tough competitors :-), but Darcy won out, with 17 mentions!
Congratulations to both winners! I’ve emailed both to let them know how to collect their riches!
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07.01.08
Posted in Sock Club, Tuesday Tips at 3:21 pm by Sue
Wow, you guys really like contests! Competition’s hot and heavy to be mentioned in the most comments and win a $15 store credit at Great Yarn Company! Don’t forget - everyone who comments by midnight on July 4th will be entered in the random drawing for a second $15 store credit!
Looks like most of you are sock-knitters (YEA for socks!!) - me too! And guess what’s coming soon? The very first GYC Sock Club. It’ll be a quarterly club - four sock kits per year, in seasonal colors. Once every three months, you’ll receive a new sock kit. We’re matching up the patterns and yarns, so all you gotta do is knit ‘em! And we’ll tuck some fun goodies into every package. More details and registration coming soon!
Tuesday Tip: How to prevent scissors from poking holes in your knitting bag. 
This one’s so simple! I use a needle point protector as my “scissors-point protector.” Since I usually knit on circulars, I don’t get much use out of my rubbery point protectors, which keep stitches from slipping off the ends of straight needles. So I “re-purposed” one of them, and it now lives on the end of my little knitting/embroidery scissors in my knitting bag.
With visions of sock yarns in my head,
Sue
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06.27.08
Posted in What's New at 11:21 pm by Sue
Well, you should! (Sorry, couldn’t resist - I’m a sucker for bad puns!) I’ve been so busy getting our latest shipment of Flat Feet sock yarn photographed and up on the website, and I just finished. No small feat - we photograph every single Flat Feet yarn and list them individually. You told me you really don’t want to hear “let us choose one for you”. So we don’t do it that way. We take lots of photos so you can see exactly what you’re getting - and we’ll send you the very same yarn you see in the photo! Just don’t wait too long to check them out - our last shipment of Flat Feet sold out in just a day and a half!
Don’t know what Flat Feet is? (Flat Feet are? Are these things singular or plural??) It’s the newest innovation in sock knitting - the yarn comes in two connected “flats” or panels of stockinette stitch, hand-dyed in color combinations ranging from tame to wild! And here’s the cool part: you UNRAVEL it to knit! You know how you frog back or unravel your knitting when you need to go back a few rows? (Going back a few rows is something I am quite familiar with, unfortunately.) Well, this is similar, except the flat knitted piece you’re unravelling is actually your “ball” of yarn - you knit directly from it! And it folds flat in your knitting bag. Neat, huh?
Did you notice that the paragraph above is not showing up next to the Flat Feet photo? Can any of you who blog in Wordpress email me to tell me how to get the text to appear next to photos? I’m new to Wordpress, and I’m having some adjustment issues…
You’ve been asking for a sale - okay, here ya go! Take 25% off of Lily Chin Chelsea yarn - regularly $6.00, on sale for $4.50, now thru July 4th. Chelsea’s a great year-round yarn for warmer climates, and a super summer yarn for the rest of you. It’s a wool/cotton/acrylic blend in sport weight - great for socks, summer tops and cardigans, and baby items too.
And a contest too? I must be punchy from taking all those Flat Feet photos - okay, we’ll do a blog contest. Just post a comment about your favorite thing to knit (socks? baby items? fairisle sweaters?), and ask your friends to post too. Make sure your friends mention YOU in their posts. If at least 15 people comment by midnight on July 4th, I’ll give away two $15 store credits toward your next Great Yarn Company order - the first will go to the winner of a random drawing that includes everyone who commented, and the second will go to the person mentioned in the most comments! (Go on, bribe your friends - who’ll know??!)
Counting blog comments (and sheep - it’s LATE!),
Sue
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06.17.08
Posted in Tuesday Tips at 9:20 pm by Sue
Well, did you do it? Did you get out there and KIP (Knit in Public) for International Knit in Public Day on Saturday? I did! I met a whole lot of knitters at the mall, and boy, did we ever knit! There sure are a lot of knitters in Houston… Everyone had a good time, lots of stitches were accomplished (and a few were dropped… ask me how I know). I had a great time handing out our new Great Yarn Company gauge rulers. If you don’t have one yet, don’t panic! We’re tucking them into every outgoing order (while they last), so if you didn’t get one yet, look for it in your next package from GYC!
I hope you got to spend some quality time with your family on Father’s Day. We stayed in, and I made a special dinner for my dear hubby. We’re not originally Texans, but we’re getting the hang of it - he requested chicken-fried steak - something this New Orleans girl had never cooked before, but I rose to the occasion, and ya know, it was pretty darned good. (Note that I didn’t say healthy… because you can’t say healthy and chicken-fried steak in the same sentence!) We ended with Boston Cream Pie, another of his favorites. I wasn’t quick enough to photograph the chicken-fried steak, but I did get a quick pic of the dessert, just before it disappeared.
Tuesday Tip:
Now and then, but always on a Tuesday, I’ll share some of my favorite knitting tips. I’ve been doing this one for a long time, and it saves me a lot of headaches. I usually knit 2 socks on 2 circulars, with two balls of yarn in action at once, so tangles are a frequent problem. The tangles are caused by turning the work the same way over and over again, which wraps the working yarns around each other. The solution is to attach a split-ring stitch marker, safety pin, or bit of waste yarn to the outer edge of one sock. I usually put it on the edge where my round starts. When you turn the work, turn it so that the marker always passes either on the edge of the work closest to you, or farthest from you (doesn’t matter which, as long as you do it the same way every time). So now you’ll turn your work clockwise one time, and counter-clockwise the next. No more tangles!
Happy Knitting,
Sue
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Tuesday Tips - knitting tips you can use!
