June Camp has yielded wonderful finished projects. I have some early FO pictures to share. But first, a brief shout out to the newest yarn to make our “Can’t Knit Without It” list…

…Perennnial from Kelbourne Woolens! Brigid made her spectacular Roxborough Dolman*, designed by Courtney Kelly, in Perennial. The soft hand! The crisp stitch definition! Those colors! With 497 yards per skein, she barely needed 3 skeins. Perennial is a light fingering weight yarn, able to easily transition from lace to sport to DK weight gauges.

The color range…

For another fun Perennial project, flip back to the last post for Rebecca’s crocheted hat. (Be prepared to be wowed.) And now, some completed, Frequent Buyer Point-winning, amazing camp projects:

Paula N. made her Butterfly/Papillon* in one month! This boggles my mind. She, quite literally, made quick work of Marin Melchior’s labyrinthine pattern. Her yarn is Urth Uneek Fingering. Congatulations, Paula!

Tina used Ewe So Sporty in Sky Blue for her Little Aiden* from Dawn Catanzaro. Tina commented in her Ravelry project notes, Ewe So Sporty yarn has great stitch definition for the Gansey style knitting and is superwash for ease [of] the parents. Don’t you love the little underarm gussets?

Above, Gina’s vibrant Napi shawl in Fibre Company Arranmore Light. Gina used Grace Akhrem’s pattern more as a helpful guide as she knit, adding sections of seed stitch, 1×1 rib, and garter to the original pattern’s mesh lace stitch.

Several projects that crossed the finish line have yet to visit the shop. I hope the next post will include Sharon’s Mimosa* and Stephanie’s Margarita*. Ann’s Windom Wrap* can be seen on our camp discussion thread on Ravelry. I’m looking forward to seeing Kelly’s post to our GYI Facebook page of her 3 Color Cashmere Cowl*.

Here’s a non-Camp FO of Gina’s, a beautiful Iba* cardigan from Bonne Marie Burns. The yarn is Crestone, now discontinued. Sometimes a yarn needs to hibernate in your stash awhile until the perfect pattern comes along, which is exactly what happened here!

I’ll close with a splash of color, Bonnie’s children’s socks, made using her own pattern and Regia yarn.

Note: All patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

Camp gates are now open for a seventh season! So far – no surprise – most of our Camp GYI campers have chosen “relax” projects, but we have happy campers in the “renew” and “reward” bunks, too. Everyone has chosen amazing projects! All you need to know about Camp GYI is here. Please join us at summer camp to stitch and save for one, two, or all three months. Stay tuned for news of our “virtual campfire” get-togethers.

While we await the arrival of June’s Dream in Color pop-up yarn, enjoy this Smooshy with Cashmere May shade, inspired by the hot pinks of the desert beardtongue (Penstemon pseudospectabilis, in case you were wondering) that grows in Arizona, home of Dream in Color yarn…

Pinks are definitely having a moment at GYI; our latest shop samples all came up rosy. First, The Shift* cowl by Andrea Mowry. Catherine created our version in Ewe So Sporty from Ewe Ewe Yarns. As with her “faded” family of patterns, Mowry is building on the phenomenal success of The Shift with a hat*, a sweater*, and a shawl* with the same color-shifting mosaic knitting.

Then there’s Grace Akhrem’s Napi shawl in Lana Grossa 365 Cashmere. Do not let the cashmere in the name fool you – this isn’t a winter-only yarn. There is a luxurious dollop of 15% cashmere in the fiber blend, but it’s basically the softest, smoothest, lightest cotton you can imagine, making it a superb year-round worsted weight. It’s also machine washable, a plus for baby knits.

I had a request to show a picture of Jill’s 3 Color Cashmere Cowl* laid flat, since our version in Dream in Color BFL Silk DK is an adaptation of Joji Locatelli’s design in fingering weight. Our pattern notes explain how to do it and are free with pattern purchase.

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Our BFL Silk DK color combos were chosen for us by Dream in Color’s designer Veronica Van. We also have lovely 3-skein kits made up of fingering if you’d like to make the original 3 Color Cashmere Cowl. Either version would make a great camp project. Just sayin’.

And although not finished yet, you can picture what my Incise Hat* will look like. This pattern from Hunter Hammersen is so, so, so much fun to work! I’m using Maxima from Manos del Uruguay in Prince and Speeding Ticket.

Customer FO time: Rebecca’s clever original hat pattern was made using the overlay crochet technique. Her yarn, Perennial from Kelbourne Woolens; her colors, pretty electric!

And here is Steven’s Begonia Swirl, a free pattern on Ravelry from designer Carfield Ma. This incredibly beautiful piece was worked in Gleem Lace from Fyberspates.

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

Camp GYI returns (for a 7th year!) in June. Once again, camp will be an opportunity to save big on yarn at our Camp Store, then have the satisfaction of both starting and finishing a project in one or more of the summer months. Bonus: you’ll earn lots of Frequent Buyer Points! Mark Tuesday, May 21 on your calendar: it’s the first day for Camp registration, and the Camp Store opens. We hope you’ll stitch with us around the virtual campfire all summer long.

Pick a theme for each monthly project; use one, two, or all three in any order:

RELAX – Choose a simple, “mindless” pattern that will be easy to pick up anyplace, anytime.

RENEW – Pick a project that will pique your interest with a new technique or will be an exciting challenge.

REWARD – Make something for yourself.

The discussion thread in our GYI Group on Ravelry is here. You’ll be able to post your questions, chat, and WiP/FO pictures there. The fine print is all here. Choose your own patterns for June, July, and August or let our newest shop samples, below, inspire you. Since the GYI staff has made (or is currently making) all of these patterns, we’re happy to help you choose yarns and answer questions.

I’ll also be running an informal Christmas Ornament KAL throughout the summer in our Ravelry Group just for fun. It would be nice (but not necessary) to have a copy of 55 Christmas Balls to Knit by Arne & Carlos. A free pattern for similar “Julekuler” is available from the designer known as General Hogbuffer, Balls Up!, above. There are also plenty of other great patterns available on Ravelry – search for “ornament” and stand back.

Wondering what to take to Camp? Here are some recent and upcoming shop samples:

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We haven’t cast on for Holey Square yet. What do you think – should we use Kelbourne Woolens Perennial or Remix Light? Jill has Napi on her needles now in Lana Grossa 365 Cashmere, and it’s luscious!

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Our Shift* is coming soon in Ewe So Sporty from Ewe Ewe Yarns, and we’ve chosen Pima 100 from Berroco for our Sideways Tee*.

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Who doesn’t like to add a few hats to their FO pile over the summer? Incise* offers 3 separate designs using Manos del Uruguay Maxima or similar worsted weight yarn with fascinating slipped-, twisted- and mosaic stitch patterns. Cinca* was worked in Linen Stonewash from Berroco, a perfect light layer for summertime breezes.

Stay tuned for announcements of future Camp GYI happenings, pop-up classes, and gatherings. Although this is virtual camp, and attendance at shop events is not required, we want to see lots of new and returning campers this summer!

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) available at GYI.

I’m delighted to be back in the gallery business with recently finished projects to share. First up, a new shop sample, fresh from Jill’s needles, to show how beautifully Dream in Color’s BFL Silk DK works up: Joji Locatelli’s 3 Color Cashmere Cowl*. Veronica Van, the creative force behind Dream in Color, picked trios of her colorways just for us. The original directions are written for fingering weight, but we’re happy to share Jill’s adaptation for DK yarn with your pattern and/or yarn purchase. (It knits up so much more quickly.)

Here’s the picture of the cowl you may have seen on Ravelry with the designer inside:

Next, another new sample, Jill’s Derecho* from designer Alison Green. The yarn is Berroco Remix Light, a summery French non-wool blend of nylon/cotton/acrylic/silk/linen flax. Jill called this top “a fun knit that went really fast.” High praise indeed. Its seamless top-down construction helps make it a speedy knit – you could have yours done before the Fourth of July!

Stephanie’s bright cereza red sweater is also top-down and uses a mock set-in sleeve shoulder construction – “mock” because there are actually no seams to sew at all. The pattern is called Throwback Thursday (Worsted)* and the designer is Mary Annarella. Stephanie’s yarn is Malabrigo Rios. Note the lovely lace and cable design on the side seams.

Joanne started out with Berroco Vintage in this cheerful green and an “old magazine pattern” for a V-neck pullover. After wrestling with confusing instructions, she decided to do what a knitter can always do when directions do more harm than good – she figured out a better way to knit it herself – making this stand-up collar design a Joanne original!

For these afterthought heel Simple Toe-Up Socks* from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas, Joanne used Alegria from Manos del Uruguay in a shade called Fuega and some solid Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock for heels and toes. This easy pattern is now Joanne’s default sock pattern.

Sharon created this comfy, cozy shawl with Malabrigo Chunky and the pattern The Big Chunky One* from Boo Knits, a designer best known for her incredibly delicate lace work. With this design she shows she knows her way around size 8mm/US 11 needles, too!

Sharon says it’s the perfect chill chaser.

Another big needle beauty – Gina’s Range* from Andrea Mowry, knit with a chunky yarn. The interplay of the different stitch textures, including repeating bands of brioche, may be even more eye-catching here than with worsted weight, as per the pattern.

I’ll close with one last sweater, another Gina creation, Dutchess from Cheryl Burke, originally published in the book, The Rhinebeck Sweater.

I love, love, love how Gina used a variegated Malabrigo Rios for the body and a solid Rios shade for the colorwork yoke. Always something new to try!

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

Pardon us while we toot our own horn: this Saturday is Local Yarn Store Day – a day to celebrate brick-and-mortar yarn shops! We’re partnering with many wonderful yarn companies and designers in this second annual event to offer you unique, limited edition products that you’ll only find at your LYS on LYS Day!

It’s also a day to celebrate and thank YOU for the support that keeps locally-owned businesses like GYI an integral part of the community of yarn lovers. Your patronage has kept our doors open and our shelves filled with yarn since 2010, and we are so very grateful.

So what does LYS Day hold in store?

• 15% savings on the purchase 3 or more skeins of ANY of our fingering weight yarns (including our very newest, Perennial)
• exclusive free-with-purchase patterns
• limited edition yarn sets from Dream in Color and Kelbourne Woolens, plus our own in-house GYI kits
• Drawing for a Hiya Hiya Deluxe Interchangeable Needle Set ($5 chances for a great set valued at $166)
• Berroco pattern booklets
• a few surprises, of course!

Speaking of Perennial, you know we only bring in yarns we absolutely love (looking at you, Berroco Remix Light and Lana Grossa Cashmere 365) but Perennial, Kelbourne Woolens’ newest, really has us swooning. This merino/alpaca/nylon mix has the soft “hand” of a luxury yarn, but at 497 yards per 100g skein, it actually costs less than most other fingering weights. And it comes in KW’s signature drop-dead-gorgeous color palette!

Just for LYS Day, the KW team has put together adorable kits to make Courtney Kelley’s shawl A Bow in the Sky.

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Below are the color choices for the Bow in the Sky kits. Each kit contains a full 100g skein plus 20g of each of five colors, 994 yards total! That’s plenty for many other mini-skein-friendly patterns, too. Ask us for options.

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Veronica Van, the color visionary behind Dream in Color yarns, has created an LYS Day limited edition color of Smooshy with Cashmere to honor the Grand Canyon Centennial. If you’ve ever visited the Grand Canyon, you will have seen every one of these gorgeous colors…

Veronica hand-picked 10 coordinating colors to combine with the Grand Canyon Centennial shade to make designer Jessica Correa’s Riotous Shawl. The pattern is included with her Smooshy with Cashmere LYS Day kits. Come early for best selection; only 5 different color kits are available.

Casapinka created a “pullover shawl” for LYS Day and named it Magical Thinking. The pattern is free with any yarn purchase. She worked with Veronica Van to use the same DIC colors as for Riotous Shawl, so the Smooshy kits are perfect for both. We’ve made up a dozen or so different in-house kits for you to choose from. (The nice thing about kits is if you dread picking colors, the hard part’s already been done for you.) Whichever yarns you pick, you’ll save 15%!

Shannon Squire is on board LYS Day with her Squishiest Ever Hat & Cowl. It’s free with the purchase of any of our worsted weight yarns. Malabrigo Rios would be perfect. Just sayin’.

Heather Walpole of Ewe Ewe Yarns is giving away her Something About Phoenix shawl pattern with the purchase of four skeins of her lovely Ewe So Sporty. You’ll need two skeins of a main color + one skein each of two contrast colors. So pretty, just easy garter stitch, and very wearable.

Finally, Pom Pom Magazine will have a great deal: buy a print copy from GYI, receive a Ravelry download code for any back issue. All this and more (I did promise surprises) but only on Saturday, April 27th!

The last post was all about new yarns for Spring, so that means it’s time for a shelf-clearing sale on winter yarns. Save 25% on our Winter 2018 yarns:

• Lana Grossa Bingo Funky Print
• Berroco Brielle
• Berroco Millefiore
• Trendsetter Icon
• Lana Grossa Gomitolo Versione & Gomitolo Merino

Above, Deb’s two happy hats in Bingo Funky Print using the Simple Slouch Hat pattern, free on Ravelry from designer Robyn Devine. Below, her elegant Rikke hat in our Classic Alpaca, luxurious 100% alpaca. Sarah Young’s Rikke is another freebie pattern.

Bonnie used Brielle for her original design-as-you-go cowl that combines stripes with stranded knitting. I think the pattern needs to be written up and shared!

Also from Bonnie, this cute cardigan in Gomitolo Merino. Those ladybug buttons! The pattern is 2502 Contiguous Baby Cardigan* from Vanessa Ewing. The construction includes a clever topdown, seamless shoulder shaping called the “contiguous method.” If that’s a new knitting term for you (it was for me a few months back) check out its own Ravelry Group, here.

Another project from Bonnie’s needles, Winter Sunset* from Gabrielle Danskknit in beatiful Blue Jeans Rios – and, again, those pink star buttons are a perfect finishing touch.

Berroco Vintage and Sugar Bush Drizzle, held together, was Bonnie’s genius combination for her cozy Basic Hooded Cowl, from Halliday Nelson. It’s another Ravelry free pattern.

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Jill & Brigid collaborated on our shop sample of Cinca* by Amy Christoffers. Four balls of Berroco Linen Stonewash created this beauty. This yarn is going fast! It’s a DK weight chain ply, 100% linen, a big sister to the now-discontinued Shibui Linen we all loved so much a few years back.

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Can you spot the little boxes? The clever stitch pattern of this Piece of Home* blanket from Fifty Four Ten Studio loves hand-dyed yarn, like this madelinetosh Vintage Jill chose. A good substitute would be Malabrigo Rios, but even a solid shade – Berroco’s Vintage or our new Pima 100 for a summery version? – would become a treasured favorite.

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Ann W. made Heidi Kirrmaier’s Mountain High* in Ultra Alpaca Natural for her niece. That’s what I call a perfect fit. Thanks, Ann, for sharing this pretty picture.

Gina’s 21 Color Mitts* are a great way to close this gallery of your finished projects. They were made using Blue Sky Fibers’ kit of Woolstok mini skeins, but what a great idea for any leftover worsted weight yarns! The pattern was written by Virginia Sattler-Reimer.

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

A new season calls for new yarn – even if it’s a yarn we’ve loved for years. When we had the opportunity to bring back a limited collection of every color of HiKoo Simplinatural, we said, yes, please!

A luxurious blend of 40% wool / 40% alpaca / 20% silk, Simplinatural is a beautifully rounded 6-ply strand that gives a cushy softness with excellent stitch definition. Above, projects made in Simplinatural – the Kenzie Shawl* (mine and Joan’s) from Stephen West, Charlie’s Zig Zag Loop*, a free pattern from Chuck Wilmesher, Lacy Boot Cuffs*, also free, from Betsey Reed, and Amherst Pullover* from Amanda Scheuzger. Another good choice would be this winter’s must-have hat, Emily Ingrid’s Copy.Cat c.c. beanie. So if you want a new hat of your own while we wait for spring to show up on the thermometer, or maybe get a headstart on your gift knitting, choose Simplinatural for a special treat.

Dream in Color’s March Pop-up Club colorway in Smooshy with Cashmere is still the prettiest spring green you could imagine. March may be over, but this color is timeless. April’s limited edition colorway will be a special offering for LYS Day, April 27. (More about Local Yarn Shop Day soon!)

Opal lovers, celebrate ten years of Schafpate collections with the 8 new bright and cheery colorways of Die Geburtstagsparty – the birthday party.

Welcome, 365 Cashmere from Lana Grossa. This delicious light worsted weight chain ply yarn is a blend of 77% cotton / 15% cashmere / 8% polyamide. Reach for it for when you want a machine washable non-wool that’s buttery soft. Perfect for next-to-skin baby garments, shawls, summer weight afghans, as well as comfy adult sweaters.

We’re adding Berroco Pima 100 to our stable of “workhorse” yarns. Four plies of pure, long-staple Peruvian cotton are tightly spun together for a durable yet soft worsted weight yarn. Pima 100 is as wonderful for warm weather wear as baby blankets and everyone’s favorite, washcloths. Our shop sample is going to be the Cosette* tee from Amy Christoffers. The Cunningham* afghan from the Berroco Design Team shows off Pima 100 nicely, too.

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The remaining two yarns in our lineup for Summer 2019 are Linen Stonewash and Remix Light, both from Berroco, both wool-free and ready to lighten up your stitching.

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Our latest shop sample features Linen Stonewash: the Cinca* capelet from Amy Christoffers. We love this 100% linen chainette for its airy fabric with smooth, crisp stitch definition. It will make sensational breezy tops, light cardigans, and beach-worthy wraps.

Remix Light, a DK weight version of the worsted Remix we offered last year, is a super soft tweedy blend of 100% recycled fibers, with no wool in sight. Remix Light is comfortable all year long, on its own as a light layer for summer or an easy layering piece. This yarn looks lovely both at its usual gauge of 5.5 sts/5 sc=1″ and at looser gauges on larger needles and hooks. Below, Derecho*, designed by Alison Green, another shop sample currently in the works.

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

Our classes return in March, with Spring in their step, after hibernating through holidays and (we hope) the yuckiest of Northeast Pennsylvania’s weather. Intarsia? Check. Cables? Check. Also brioche knitting, and socks, and short rows, and two classes for sweaters!

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Above, two children’s patterns featured in upcoming classes that are great practice for making garments you will love to wear. That’s right, wear out in public. Sweaters that will generate ooh’s, aah’s and “you made that?” compliments. Kristen Rettig’s Gingersnap*, a pieced and seamed cardigan, and Jennifer Steingass’ Adventures With Rainbows*, a seamless top-down round neck pullover, will have you as giddy over making sweaters as Jill, Catherine, Brigid, and I are!

Each of us has completed at least one sweater apiece in the last couple of weeks. Some have appeared in posts before, but now it’s time for a “team photo”…

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Above, Catherine’s Heavenly* by ANKESTRiCK and Jill’s Mountain High* by Heidi Kirrmaier. Below, hot off the needles, Brigid’s Cromwell Pullover* by Bobbi Intveld and moi in my sleeveless Weekender* by Andrea Mowry.

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All four designs would look great on you! Our yarn choices were New York from Trendsetter, Ultra Alpaca Natural from Berroco…

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…Woolstok from Blue Sky Fibers and Luma from The Fibre Company.

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Look for even more sweaters on the way – not only have we just restocked our shelves with Berroco Ultra Wool, Berroco Vintage, and Malabrigo Rios (below, beautiful Diana in Rios) but new spring/summer yarns will be here before you know it!

We’re particularly excited about Berroco’s new Indio, a 100% linen chainette DK weight. It’s going to fill a huge hole in our hearts and stashes left when Shibui discontinued their Linen yarn a few years ago.

Spoiler Alert: another new yarn coming soon…

If you aren’t feeling your sweater mojo yet, check out our other offerings on our Classes page. Perhaps a new technique, such as Intarsia or the brioche stitch of Andrea Mowry’s Harlow* might be just the thing?

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There’s a theme to our FO gallery: gradient yarns. Below, Gina’s asymmetric Over the Sea to Skye* by designer Kalurah Hudson. It used two-thirds of her ball of Gomitolo 200 from Lana Grossa. Knit sampler-style in bands of garter, lace mesh, and eyelet lace, this easy pattern would look just as nice in a solid yarn.

Brigid made her show-stopping Eidolon* from Schoppel-Wolle Zauber Flower. Pattern is from Lisa Mutch.

If you love the classic Zauberball, Zauber Flower is the same yarn with double the gradient length – !

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Here’s another beautiful FO from Brigid in another of our gradient yarns, Urth Uneek Worsted. The Stocking Cap with Long Tail from Nathalie Godbout is a free pattern on Ravelry. The ribbed cuff and tassel of Brigid’s hat are solid color Woolstok; the rest of the hat is just the Uneek, doing its self-striping thing.

I’ll close with Jill’s pompom’ed Conversationalist hat from Plucky Knitter Design, another Ravelry free pattern. Her yarns are Maxima from Manos del Uruguay and Berroco Ultra Wool. While we wait for Spring and spring yarns to arrive, a shipment of pompoms is on its way, since there’s plenty of winter left for enjoying cozy hats like this one!

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) available at GYI.

Saturday Night Live’s now-classic “Sweater Weather” video clip, starring Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph, makes its annual appearance on social media around Labor Day, but it takes a bit longer for actual sweaters to make it here to our gallery of finished projects – but we’ve got ’em now!

The last post featured Barbara’s chic cabled cardigan from Bergère de France and Jill’s Mountain High. Now, I’d like to present Jill’s Crosscountry* in madelinetosh Tosh Chunky, designed by Alicia Plummer.

Pretty gorgeous, right? And I finally crossed the finish line with my sleeveless Weekender*.

Designer Andrea Mowry suggests making her pattern a pullover vest by simply leaving off the sleeves, but I wasn’t keen on the idea of having the reverse stockinette curling at the edges of unfinished armholes, so…

…I worked a slipped stitch on the edge and introduced columns of 1×1 ribbing, adding another column every 6th row, until my ribbing merged with the original neckline of the pattern. I am pretty chuffed with the results. Not so with my centered column of slipped stitches, however. If you make your own Weekender (and I hope you will; it’s one of the easiest sweaters to make and wear) learn from my mistake and give your yarn a tiny tug when you pass it behind the center stitch when slipped. I didn’t for the first few inches and got a wobbly column of stitches and sloppy reverse stockinette on either side of the column (left). When I wised up, things got much tidier (right).

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More sweaters? Yes, please! Joan shared her fantastic Chadwick with us. Her yarn is Woolstok from Blue Sky Fibers in Midnight Sea. I could live in this cardigan for the entire month of January.

Give designer Sarah Solomon five stars for such intriguing stitch patterns and Woolstok the same for great stitch definition.

Another way to stay cozy from Joan: Leah McGlone’s Beech Hill*, sized to be more ruana than poncho, in silky Acadia from The Fibre Company.

She made it her own by adding an elegant silk/mohair edging to discourage the fabric from rolling.

Oh, Acadia. You make such beautiful fabric…

And finally, knowing you can’t go wrong with Madelinetosh Pashmina, Joan chose it for her Tracie* shawl by Joji Locatelli.

Pashmina’s blend of merino/silk/cashmere makes a perfect Tracie.

Tina says she has been on a “brioche binge” lately. As you can see from her Checkerboard Keyhole Scarf from Nancy Marchant, she has progressed well beyond the basic two-color brioche stitch. She used Berroco Ultra Wool for this snug neckwarmer.

Stephanie cast on for Laura Aylor’s recent mystery KAL with some Ultra Alpaca from her stash, and the result is this stunning Winter Orchard* cowl.

Naming her project “Drive the Cold Winter Away,” Stephanie included lyrics from the Elizabethan carol on her project page:

Good fortune attend each merry man’s friend, 
That doth but the best that he may; 
Forgetting old wrongs, with carols and songs, 
To drive the cold winter away.

Carols and songs may work fine for some, but in the bleak midwinter, I’ll take Berroco Ultra Alpaca every time.

I had toasty toes on my mind when I made these baby booties for Granddaughter #2. They are based on Veronica Van’s Dreamy Baby Booties, a free pattern on Ravelry. My only change was to continue the 1×1 ribbing down the instep, rather than switch to garter stitch. It’s a well-written pattern, but I’m still on a quest for an even more adorable bootie. I’m attempting to create a seamless version of these cuties right now and should have them ready to share in the next post.

Even pups need to stay warm! Sharon made this custom Darling Darby Sweater for her new best friend Lola, adding a darling panel of cables down the back. There’s even a notch in the ribbed edging for a wagging tail. I’ve never seen a dog so happy to be wearing a sweater as Lola!

One of the joys in working at GYI is teaching Knitting 101. Last Saturday, I had the great pleasure of introducing 12-year old Rachael and her friend Gabriella to knitting. Rachael’s mother took this photo as we worked together. These bright, enthusiastic young ladies mastered the basics in record time, and I expect to see wonderful things fly from their needles. If you have room for one more New Year’s resolution, why not teach someone to knit in 2019? You’ll both benefit!

The GYI staff is putting together a lookbook of pattern suggestions for new knitters. (All-garter stitch scarves can sour you on knitting pretty quickly.) Catherine just finished this shop sample of the Quality Time* scarf from Fifty Four Ten Studio, one of our finds: a simple scarf with an easy-to-memorize stitch pattern that will hold a new knitter’s interest. Do you have a favorite “first” pattern? Please share it with us!

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!

The last batch of 2018’s customer FOs and shop projects are ready to share. Be ready to get some ideas for 2019!

We begin on a high note: Jill’s fantastic Mountain High* from Heidi Kirrmaier. Her yarn is Berroco’s new Ultra Alpaca Natural. I hope you’ll be seeing Jill wearing this perfectly-fitting pullover in the shop soon.

Don’t you love the way the increase and decrease stitches create detailing on the front, and the garter stitch band runs alongside the raglan shoulder shaping and down the sides to create faux seams?

While Ultra Alpaca has been a much-loved staple yarn for years and years in dyed shades, Natural is – you guessed it – a blend of the natural colors of alpaca with undyed wool fibers.

I used it for a pair of Rathtrevor fingerless gloves from designer Jane Richmond. OK, I went a little off-pattern, adding rib to the thumb and hand and using the tubular cast on and bind off. But isn’t that the fun of making our own?

Below is a shot I took right before Christmas of several of our not-quite-white yarns. Ultra Alpaca Natural is in the front row, alongside Trendsetter Icon, with its glittering micro sequins. (Topas, Llamor, Woolstok, Ultra Wool, Drizzle, Classic Alpaca, and Maxima round out the group.)

I realized after taking this photo that I’d never posted pictures here of our Icon shop sample, the Hasukai Cowl* by Hiroko Fukatsu.

For this version of Hasukai, I again went off-pattern: I used 3 skeins, approximately 475 yards, of chunky weight Icon on US 10.75/7mm needles for a pattern that calls for 900 yards of lace weight yarn on US 7/4.50mm needles. Making the switch was easy: a quick, small swatch gave me my stitches per inch, then I only had to change the number of stitches to be cast on. It was a quick knit, finished in about four days.

Hasukai is knit in the round. It’s just a big tube; imagine the same shape as penne pasta, but with a ruffle at each edge. I can highly recommend the pattern, whether you go chunky as I did or stick with the original lace weight. Notes on my adaptation to the original directions are available when you purchase either your yarn or pattern at the shop.

Its unique shape allows it to be worn as an oversize cowl when folded in half, above, or as a ruffly scarf, below.

It can even be pinned as a shawl.

From the designer’s Ravelry project page, here is Hasukai done in Malabrigo Lace…

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Here’s one more FO from Jill, a sporty Twisted Trails* from Lisa K. Ross, made for a lucky grandson. Machine washable, 100% wool Berroco Ultra Wool gave her great stitch definition in these intricate cables.

And, finally, Barbara’s pièce de résistance: a drop dead gorgeous cardigan in, once again, Ultra Wool. The pattern comes from the French yarn company Bergère de France. Like many European knitting designs, it has plenty of what we Americans would call “couture construction techniques.” (That’s code for many hours spent puzzling over vague directions and ambiguous schematics.) Nevertheless, Barbara persisted. She knit, un-knit, and re-knit until she was 100% satisfied. After finding some buttons at GYI that she adored, she even re-designed the button band so they would be front and center, rather than hidden behind a covered placket, as in the original. Her investment of industry and ingenuity paid off with this beautiful masterwork.

I can’t wait to see 2019’s first FOs. How about you? Want to know whenever we post the newest gallery of customer FOs? We can now send you an email notice every time a new post is published to this blog! It’s not the same as our general email list; it’s just to get an alert for this page. Just sign up to “stay in touch”!  (This feature may not appear in Mobile View.)

Note: Patterns marked with an asterisk (*) are available at Gosh Yarn It!