Oh, look, another grey day. What’s a good cure for the overcast blahs? Color! Here are Wanda’s Kite and Zanette Shawl to cheer us up.

Kite* comes from designer Ann Klimpert. Wanda used La Jolla from Baah! Yarn and Alegria from Manos del Uruguay.

The Zanette Shawl* was designed by Katy H. Carroll, a.k.a. Katinka Designs. Wanda’s yarns here are Shalimar Paulie and, again, Alegria from Manos.

Now, a word about the colors: the light pink of the garter section and dark pink of the lace edging weren’t Wanda’s idea. The latter bled onto the former, despite her using the (usually foolproof) trick of soaking a project worked in both very light and very dark colors in icy water liberally doused with white vinegar. The Alegria was originally white with speckles of pinks, reds, and blues. Alas, sometimes bad things do happen to good knitters. But if I hadn’t spilled the beans, would you have ever guessed it wasn’t exactly what she’d planned all along?

Now, some beautiful cable work. Suzanne made her Two Roads shawl from Melanie Berg in Berroco Vintage DK. She has it pinned at the shoulder poncho-style. Lovely.

I’ll end with a plug for another of our yarns, fingering weight Coexist from Urth Yarns. It’s an 80% silk/20% Extrafine Merino blend. Brigid created our shop sample scarf in the classic seafoam stitch.

Full disclosure: perhaps not the best choice for beginner knitters, since silk is famously slippery and inelastic.

But, that said, wow! Doesn’t it make a super wearable scarf? It will definitely attract both compliments and that comment we all love to hear, “You made that yourself?”

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

You don’t need to be a technique geek (like me) to want to learn a new knitting trick now and then. This fall’s classes are filled with tweaks and tips to make your knitting more enjoyable. Here’s what’s on the schedule so far (all dates are Saturdays):

Beginner Cables: Ballydesmond Fingerless Gloves with Ann Ross; November 3
So You Want to Knit a Sweater with Stephanie Hogan; November 10
Reading Your Knitting with Ann Ross; December 1
Be the Boss of Your Yarn with Ann Ross; December 8
A Knitter’s Bag of Tricks with Ann Ross; December 8

For full details, see our Classes page. Please check back often, as more classes may be added to the schedule. Individual instruction is always an option, and we’ve created a menu of the most frequently requested knitting techniques. Also ask about designing your own private lessons. We’re happy to customize a class to meet your specific need.

• Cable Knitting
• Cast-ons and Bind-offs
• Double Knitting
• Fixing Mistakes
• Horizontal and Vertical Seaming
• Increases and Decreases
• Intarsia
• Kitchener Stitch Grafting
• Knitting in the Round – Circular Needles, DPNs and Magic Loop
• Knitting from Charts
• Log Cabin Knitting
• Math for Knitters: How to Get (or forget about) Gauge
• Provisional Cast-on: Making It and Making It Disappear
• Short Rows
• Toe-up Practice Socks – 2 sessions
• Top-down Practice Socks – 2 sessions
• 2-Color Brioche Knitting (Flat or In-the-Round)
• 2-Handed Stranded Colorwork

Our last post featured one of our new yarns, Trendsetter Pure Collection New York. We now have two trunk show samples of New York on loan from the yarn company; here is the Get to the Point Pullover*.

This stylish intarsia sweater was designed by Barry Klein of Trendsetter Yarns. We love this versatile DK weight 100% organic wool. It’s also beautifully represented in the new Fall/Winter 2018 issue of knit.wear magazine with Norah Gaughan’s Sloane Dress.

Another of our new favorites is bulky Topas from the German yarn maker GGH (another Trendsetter import). For a chunky that’s happy on US 10-11 needles, it’s airy and light because it’s a hollow-cored chainette and soft because it’s a wool/alpaca/acrylic blend.

 

If you receive our emails, then this picture could be familiar:

It’s a collage of 9 of our 10 newest yarns, which all seemed to arrive at once!

The shop was a beehive of activity for a couple of days as yarn was unpacked, tagged, and put out on display. Although the best way to get to know a yarn is to hold it in your hand (and then swatch it, of course!), here is a brief introduction, left to right, top to bottom:

• Lana Grossa Bingo Funky Print / Bulky, 88 yds/50g
• Schoppel-Wolle Zauber Flower / Fingering, 656 yds/150g
• Madelinetosh Twist Light / Fingering, 420 yds
• Trendsetter Icon / Aran, 165 yds/50g
• GGH Topas / Bulky, 125 yds/50g
• HiKoo Llamor / DK, 109 yds/50g
• Urth Yarns Coexist / Fingering, 400 yds/100g
• Lana Grossa Gomitolo Merino / Aran, 120 yds/50 g
• Lana Grossa Gomitolo Versione / Worsted, 770 yds/200g

It’s easy to say, “something for everyone,” but our Fall 2018 selection of yarn is all that and more. (Especially when you count in Berroco Brielle and Millefiore, plus re-stocks of Berroco Ultra Wool, Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok, Isager Alpaca 2, and Ewe Ewe’s Ewe So Sporty.)

And where’s the tenth new yarn? Here it is, Trendsetter New York (DK, 190 yds/50g)…

…the star of Catherine’s Heavenly* sweater. As mentioned in the last post, she is the first on the GYI staff to finish her “Fall for Sweaters” project. Congratulations, Catherine!

This stylishly simple pattern comes from German designer Ankestrick. Woolen-spun New York makes a perfect between-seasons sweater with light warmth without weight. Love that intense sapphire blue. Catherine chose another can’t-miss blue for her elegant Horai Scarf by Hiroko Fukatsu.

Her yarn is Sugar Bush Drizzle silk/mohair.

“Horai” is a paradise in Japanese mythology. Easy to imagine, wrapped in this lovely stole!

Stephanie is also under blue’s spell; her toe-up socks are knit in Urth Uneek Sock, and, yes, they’re a perfectly matched pair.

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

 

 

It’s sweater weather at Gosh Yarn It! This is a first: all four members of the GYI staff are working on the same kind of project at the same time: SWEATERS.

And, yes, well, to be honest, Catherine has already finished. Jill’s as far as separating stitches for her sleeves. Brigid is ahead of me with casting on and will probably be done before I’m halfway through, but I found my tubular cast on mojo over the weekend and am happily knitting the ribbed hem. Four knitters, four patterns, four yarns. We can’t wait to share our sweater stories with you, from swatch to success. If we can do it, you can, too!

Jill

Pattern: Mountain High by Heidi Kirrmaier
Yarn: Ultra Alpaca Natural from Berroco (50% Super Fine Alpaca, 50% Peruvian Wool; 215 yds/100g; worsted weight)

Catherine

Pattern: Heavenly by Ankestrick
Yarn: New York from Trendsetter (100% Organic Merino Wool; 180 yds/50g; DK weight)

Brigid

Pattern: Cromwell Pullover by Bobbi Intveld
Yarn: Woolstok from Blue Sky Fibers (100% Fine Peruvian Highland Wool; 123 yds/50g; worsted weight)

Ann

Pattern: Weekender by Andrea Mowry
Yarn: Luma from The Fibre Company (50% Merino Wool, 25% Organic Cotton, 15% Linen, 10% Silk; 137 yds/50g; DK weight)

All yarns are either currently in stock or will be arriving shortly. All patterns are available at GYI.

Now that September is back-to-wool time (not back-to school), it could be one of my favorite months. New fall yarns are filling up our shelves (see below), and projects worked on over the summer are arriving in the shop to have their pictures taken to be shared here with you.

Because it really is still summer, if you’re looking for one last project for linen or cotton yarn, make it the Windom Silk Wrap*. Brigid had the brilliant idea to make this pattern from designer Virginia Sattler-Reimer out of our Solo Lino linen yarn, then a second in Modern Cotton from Berroco. All knitting, no purling, and it is self-fringing – what could be better. First, Brigid’s in Solo Lino…

And her Modern Cotton version…

Really any yarn would love to be an elegant Windom Silk Wrap. It would be a great way to blend yarns with different textures, use up scraps, and play with alternate stripe patterns.

I also had a case of the stripes myself this August. I needed less than a week to make a Honey Cowl in Urth Uneek Worsted, color 4007. I used helical stripes, following Jen Arnall-Culliford’s clever instructions. We have a free shop handout on “helicalising” if you’d like more details on the technique. Uneek, both fingering and worsted weights, is a pleasure to work with.

Did I mention new yarns for fall? Just arrived, Millefiori, a wool/acrylic worsted weight from Berroco that makes soft fabric splashed with random bands of bright, happy colors. Got hats and cowls and scarves on your to-gift list?

Above, Millefiori color #7885.

Below, Berroco’s Brielle in color #6506. I made the swatch in the suggested needle sizes, US 7 and 8. I LOVE this Italian import. It’s fuzzy, it’s shiny, it’s cozy and comfy. Five different fibers make Brielle so yummy: cotton, polyester, acrylic, wool, and alpaca. (Those Italian spinning mills really know their stuff.)

And, of course, new Opal sock yarn is here. All 8 colors of the latest Rainforest collection (#14) are in.

Those summer projects? Here we go:

Joan’s gorgeous Hipster Shawl* from Joji Locatelli in mYak Baby Yak Medium will be a wardrobe staple, as soon as the thermometer notices the calendar, that is…

Stripes strike again! Brigid’s Split Personality, knit from her beloved Manos del Uruguay Maxima scraps.

Super simple, knit in the round (so no purling), starts and ends with 2×2 ribbing. Endless ways to stripe and wear.

 

And, finally, to match the Gooseberry Hat I made with helical stripes, a pair of Lovebug Booties*. This is now my default bootie recipe. Carrie Bostick Hogue’s pattern is easy, quick, and fun.

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

Our knit-along (KAL) for Marin Melchior’s Butterfly/Papillon shawl began yesterday and runs through the end of October. Catch up with our technique/pattern tips anytime by checking in with the KAL conversation in our Ravelry group, here. Please join us and post your comments and questions!

Our sample (below) uses 2 skeins of Urth Uneek Fingering and one skein of solid color Urth Harvest. You can use self-striping yarns such as Uneek, gradients, or make it all in solids. Either way, the project takes approximately 420 yards of a contrast color (usually a solid) and a total 770 yards of main color(s).

Recently, my Instagram post of Jill’s completed Danzig* shawl was in the spotlight when it was reposted (with permission, of course) by a certain yarn store based in Reno, NV. We enjoyed our 5 minutes of fame! Justyna Lorkowska’s design was chosen to be our latest sample to show how beautiful Uneek Fingering can be even when it isn’t knit into a Butterfly.

The solid background is Wonderland Yarns Mary Ann in White Rabbit. You’ll need one skein.

The Uneek shade is #3004. You’ll need two skeins.

Oh, those colors!

And is it soft. Ellen chose Harvest, the naturally-dyed solid version of Uneek, for a woven scarf. How absolutely lovely is this?

Larissa Brown’s On Off Shawl* is one of my favorite patterns. It can be made with just about any weight yarn, to any size you want. It sits securely on your shoulders without pinning or tying, so it’s very easy to wear. Laurie wanted to make hers for cool summer-into-fall evenings and chose non-wool Berroco Remix. She made it gloriously all her own by choosing a lace pattern from a stitch dictionary and adding it to the hem of the shawl in a contrast color.

For my On Off Shawl in Lana Grossa Solo Lino, I made single row stripes with my three colors: a right side row in A (drop A), add B and work the next wrong side row in B (drop B), add C and knit the right side in C (drop C), pick up A to knit the wrong side, then B again for the right side, and on and on.

I am crazy about Solo Lino’s stitch definition. (More Solo Lino goodness coming in the next post – Brigid’s just-finished Windom Silk Wrap*.)

Last FO comes from Rebecca, her delightful Sailor’s Delight socks from Melissa Morgan-Oakes’ book 2 at-a-time Socks. Her yarn is Frolicking Feet by Done Roving Yarns. Talk about flashy!

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

 

We have a cast-on start date for our Butterfly/Papillon shawl knit-along: Tuesday, August 21. That’s one month to pick your colors, pick up the pattern at the shop (saving $3), and get wound up and ready to go.  You’ll find lots of color inspiration among the 594 projects for Butterfly. We already have a knit-along (KAL) discussion thread in our Ravelry group.

If you’re unfamiliar with knit-alongs, they are an opportunity for knitters to work on the same pattern at the same time. Starting with yarn and color choices, it’s a chance to share your progress with each other, as well as your questions, observations, and suggestions. Most importantly, you can get and give plenty of support and encouragement along the way, with a prize for one lucky finisher.

In the last post, there were pictures of a Butterfly in a blue/purple colorway. Of course, all skeins sold out immediately, so we’ve ordered more! Here is another combination of Urth Yarns Harvest (solid) and Uneek (self-striping) that’s just as stunning…

Below, a vibrant color of Uneek and several of the naturally-dyed Harvest shades. (Which solid would you choose to go with that Uneek?)

 

Our final shipment is in from indie dyer Knitted Wit. Grab these round and bouncy skeins of Big Sky Worsted while you can. They’re spun from 100% Targhee wool, ideal for hat and mitten patterns calling for worsted to aran weight. The yarn is both hearty and soft and 100% made in the U.S.A.

Maybe you’ve noticed this summer we’ve re-ordered quite a few old favorites in new shades. First, there were the new 2018 colors of  Fibre Company Luma…

…and now Solo Lino from Lana Grossa yarns. Linen? Yes. Starchy and stiff? No way!

A slinky, silky sport weight, Solo Lino is 80% linen viscose/20% linen flax. The happy little group of yarns shown above is one of several colorways we’ve created for a pattern Brigid found for Solo Lino, Windom Silk Wrap* by Virginia Sattler-Reimer.

 

This is such a genius yarn/pattern pairing! I can’t wait to post pictures of Brigid’s project, which is being made in this cool, blue palette:

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Now for your FOs.

Ann sent along this photo of her daughter wearing the June’s Favorite Cardigan she made for her. Pattern is from Hannah Fettig. She used Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok in the color Driftwood. She says it “was a dream with which to work.” She mentioned that she substituted stockinette stitch for the original diamond pattern alongside the cable.

Stephanie made her graceful Greenwich Dunes Wrap from Raven Knits Design with Knitted Wit Single Fingering in Great Smoky Mountains.

A second FO from Stephanie, here is Martina Behm’s classic Hitchhiker* done in Dream in Color Smooshy. Wait for it… the color is Burr.

Don’t you love the way the colors fall into different patterns, depending on the length of the rows?

And I’ll close with more pretty Smooshy colors chasing each other, this time ’round and ’round Rebecca’s Beaded Koigu Beret*, made without beads and without Koigu. The shade is Morning Glory.

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

 

As promised in the last post, here are the instructions for our adaptation of the Graphic Design Scarf, a free pattern on Ravelry from user miinemost. The original is based on a traditional C8F/C8B cable pattern. Our version adds rolled reverse stockinette ends and is narrower. The original calls for the first stitch of each row to be “slipped,” presumably purlwise. Below are specific instructions for a slightly different technique for a slipped stitch edging.

Gosh Yarn It’s CABLED SCARF

Materials

200g Berroco Ultra Wool (100% super wash wool, 218 yds/100g) or approximately 400 yards similar worsted weight yarn

US 9 / 5.5mm needles

cable needle

Gauge/Finished Measurements (after blocking)

4.5 sts and 4.5 rows = 1″ / 7.5″ wide x 66″ long

Abbreviations

C8F = slip 4 sts to cable needle and hold in front, knit 4 sts, k 4 sts from cable needle

C8B = slip 4 sts to cable needle and hold in back, knit 4 sts, k 4 sts from cable needle

K = knit

P = purl

RS = right side

Slpyf = slip first st purlwise with yarn in front

Slkyb = slip first st knitwise with yarn in back

st/sts = stitch/stitches

WS = wrong side

Pattern Notes

RS rows are odd-numbered. WS rows are even-numbered.

Scarf begins and ends with an edging of 4 rows of reverse stockinette, with RS purl rows and WS knit rows. Body of scarf is stockinette with RS knit rows and WS purl rows.

Beginning with Row 6, the first stitch of every WS purl row should be slipped purlwise with yarn in front (Slpyf) for body of scarf.

Beginning with Row 7, the first stitch of every RS knit row should be slipped knit wise with yarn in back (Slkyb) for body of scarf.

Pattern

Using long-tail cast-on, cast on 42 sts.

Row 1 (RS): P to end of row.

Row 2 (WS): Slkyb, K to end of row.

Row 3: Slpyf, P to end of row.

Row 4: Slkyb, K to end of row. (End of reverse stockinette edging.)

Row 5: Slpyf, K to end of row.

Row 6: Slpyf, P to end of row.

Row 7: Slkyb, K to end of row.

Row 8: Slpyf, P to end of row.

Row 9: Slkyb, K to end of row.

Row 10: Slpyf, P to end of row.

Row 11 (RS): Slkyb, C8F, K8, C8F, K8, C8F, K1.

Rows 12-18: Work 7 rows in stockinette st, beginning and ending with a (WS) P row, slipping the first st of each row, as per Pattern Note.

Row 19 (RS): Slkyb, K8, C8B, K8, C8B, K9.

Rows 20-26: Work as for Rows 12-18.

Repeat Rows 11-26 to approximately 3” before desired length.

Repeat Rows 11-17 once more, ending after a (RS) K row.

Next Row (WS): Slpyf, K to end of row.

Next Row (RS): Slpyf, P to end of row.

Next Row: Slkyb, K to end of row.

Next Row: Slpyf, P to end of row.

Next Row: Bind off knitwise.

Finishing

Weave in all ends. Wash, roll in towels to blot up excess water, and lay flat to dry. Stretch scarf slightly as needed, length-wise and width-wise, to maintain both straight columns of cables, square ends, and scallop edges. Measure width at regular intervals along the entire length of the scarf, from top to bottom edge, to achieve a perfectly rectangular shape.

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Sample knit with 175 grams of Ultra Wool by a “tight” knitter. Because your gauge may vary, use whatever size needle makes a fabric to your liking, keeping in mind finished measurements may be affected.

If you find the slipped stitch edging for the body of the scarf confusing, just remember:

• If the last stitch of the previous row was knit, slip the first stitch of the next row purlwise with yarn in front.
• If the last stitch of the previous row was purled, slip the first stitch of the next row knitwise with yarn in back.

And if you find a mistake in my directions, please tell me about it with a smile!  Enjoy.

 

 

Sometimes a yarn company sales rep visits months before the yarn actually arrives. Only rarely can a rep leave us a sample, so I take pictures of the yarns we order. As we see one rep after another, the photos help us “curate” our collection for the upcoming season. Back in April, we saw Urth Yarns for the first time. I did take pictures, but it has been impossible get these amazing hand-dyed yarns out of our minds. We knew we had to bring in Urth first for Fall/Winter 2018.

Swatches showed us what the colorways of their self-striping 100% extrafine Merino Uneek Fingering would look like knit up.

A ring of mini skeins made it easy to pick shades of their Harvest Fingering, also 100% extrafine Merino, dyed with natural plant-derived dyes.

Then the sales rep showed us a knit sample of Uneek Fingering and Harvest Fingering used together: the Butterfly/Papillon* shawl by Marin Melchior.

Oh. My. Love at first sight. A closer look…

A show stopper, right? It has KAL written all over it, and I’m so excited to invite you to cast on for your very own Butterfly/Papillon next month with our KAL, which will be both in-store and online in our Ravelry Group. There will be lots of tips, explanations, and pictures. (Shawl shown was made with Uneek #3012 and Harvest in Indigo.)

And, drum roll, please… our Urth order has just arrived!

In addition to fingering weights of Uneek and Harvest, we brought in Uneek Worsted (imagine the hats and cowls!), a silk and Merino laceweight called Coexist, and the cutest Uneek Sock Kits (75% extrafine Merino/25% nylon), pre-wound cakes that make matching self-striping socks.

I will be taking more pictures as we unpack and put the Urth Yarns out on shelves, but I couldn’t wait to share the good news with you that they were here.

ALSO JUST ARRIVED: our favorite Paca Peds HT sock bundles from Alpaca Yarn Company. You get 100g of one shade of alpaca/wool/nylon blend sock yarn for the foot and 25g of a complementary color for the heel and toe – a whopping 550 yards total. These never last long, and no two are alike, so visit soon for the best color selection.

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Ready for some finished projects? The first two both use the same yarn, Wonderland Yarns Mary Ann. Gina took the Stripes and Swaths Shawl* by Stephanie Shiman and – no surprise! – gave it her very own fun and creative “twist.”

  

Suzanne’s color my stripes*, using Mary Ann for the background and mini skeins from a Sweet Georgia Party of Five set for the stripes, is stunning. We love this pattern from Lori Versaci and really love Suzanne’s colors!

If you read my recent post about wanting to finish up a few WIPs before settling in with Andrea Mowry’s The Weekender* and some Fibre Company Luma, here’s a gallery of what I’ve been able to (finally) get off my needles:

The sample for my class for the Log Cabin Mitts from Fringe Association could be finished once they were no longer needed to demo the anatomy of log cabin knitting. This is a great pattern for using up scraps of worsted weight. I used leftovers of two shades of Malabrigo Rios and a madelinetosh Tosh DK. The pattern is free on Ravelry.

I based the cabled scarf below on the free pattern Graphic Design Scarf by miinemost on Ravelry. I changed the width to use 2 balls of Berroco Ultra Wool and worked the cast-on/bind-off edges differently. My adaptations will be ready to share here on the blog on July 15.

Before washing and blocking, it looks nothing like what it will become.

Which is, I think, pretty awesome!

(And did I mention Ultra Wool is next-to-skin soft and machine washable?)

Then I cast off my Vertices Unite* from Stephen West. Ohmygosh, I loved making this! I will be teaching a class on it in the fall, and you can learn Mr. West’s special techniques for joining colors in the style of patchwork piecing.

Get comfy; I got a little carried away taking pictures of it. But I do think it’s helpful to see how the “pieces” fit together when it comes time to pick colors for this shawl. My yarn is Isager Alpaca 2, a 50% wool/50% alpaca blend made in heaven.

   

Now there are just two more WIPs between me and The Weekender: a second Gooseberry Hat from Suvi Simola and my Match & Move* from Martina Behm (pictured below) in madelinetosh Merino Light that I started last August. I am determined they WILL be finished before the end of the month, and then I can get going on my Andrea Mowry sweater.

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

July starts with a bang around here; it’s Clearance Sale time!

New Fall/Winter 2018 yarns will start to arrive before we know it, and we need to find homes for some great yarns to make room. Bargain hunt with us July 3-5-6-7 when everything in the shop will be on sale, including our newest sock yarn, Frolicking Feet from Done Roving Yarns – fireworks for your feet!

(Also available in some beautiful non-neon, more subtle colors, too.)

Congratulations to our customer S., whose Reyna shawl is the first project we’ve seen finished with our Camp GYI featured yarn for June, Knitted Wit Victory Sock.

 

If you look closely, the two pictures show the “right” and “wrong” sides. The maker prefers the “wrong” side, which makes sense – Knitted Wit yarn loves to sparkle and speckle.

July’s camp yarn is here now: Knitted Wit’s Single Fingering in more dynamic colorways inspired by our National Parks.

I finished my second Wee Liesl* from Ysolda Teague, again in Ewe So Sporty from Ewe Ewe Yarns. I love this pattern and yarn even more with each project. If I’m knitting for your blessed event, you now know what you’re getting!

There are a few more classes on the Summer schedule, Knitting 101 & 102, plus the Sallah Cowl and Top Knot Hat. Give us a call or visit for more information and to register.

 

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