Fox in the Morning and Holiday Hours

This morning Keith Kaiser from Fox in the Morning came down to the Knit Nook to knit, spin, talk, and torture--I mean play with Suzanne's angora rabbit, Cardigan. It was a fun time. Thanks to everybody who watched and a special thanks to T and Suzanne who braved a cold, very early morning to come down. If you missed us, click here to watch a clip.

I also want to remind everybody about our Holiday Hours.

We will be closed December 24, 25, and 26. Merry Christmas!

December 27- 30, we will be open 12- 5 pm. Happy Birthday to me!

We will be closed December 31 and January 1. Happy New Year!

Regular hours will resume Saturday, January 2. That includes Beginning Knitting and Crochet.

If you have any questions, please call us: 502-452-1919

And here's another little reminder: the Superbowl Sunday Sale is six weeks away!

Fox in the Morning

This Wednesday, December 16, we'll be on Fox in the Morning, 5 am - 9 am. So be sure to tune in, or stop by if you're up early enough.

This is a picture of Keith Kaiser and me two years ago during the Knit Nook's first Fox in the Morning appearance. That's right, this will be our third year!

Hat and Mitten Class

We've got our first Hat and Mitten Class of the season starting tomorrow night (that's Tuesday, December 1 for those of you still confused from Thanksgiving about what day it is). What surprises me is that only one person has signed up. Now, people, I know it hasn't been very cold outside and that you haven't needed a hat or mittens when venturing out of doors, but you will! In a few short weeks (or even days, according to some) the weather around here will get very chilly and you will wonder if your basic knitting skills could somehow convert a few skeins of yarn into precious items of winter warm clothing. And then you'll be sorry that you didn't take advantage of this special opportunity!

So, to review: Tuesday, December 1, 6 pm. The Knit Nook. Hat and Mittens Class. Sign up.

Yarn Amnesty Day

If you've been to the Knit Nook lately, you'll notice that there's a lot of yarn. I know that's kind of like saying, "Hey, look at this water. It's really wet!" (I mean, we are a yarn store: who else would have a lot of yarn?) But seriously. Even by our standards, there's a lot of yarn around.

Particularly in the office. Now whenever you, our loyal and lovely customer, comes into the shop and wonders if you need five skeins or six for the vest you are knitting, I will usually offer to put a skein in the back for you (because I am JUST that helpful!) So, in the back that skein goes. Now multiply that scenario by five hundred and you can see just how crowded the office is getting. Even I've thought about cleaning it (and if you ask Cindy, that means the situation is dire!)

To combat this problem, we've declared November 23 Yarn Amnesty Day. That's when all of the yarn imprisoned without charge or representation will be freed. So, if you have yarn in the back that you would like us to hold for you beyond November 23, please call and claim your skeins. Otherwise, back into the wide world it goes! (Or, back on the shelves in the tiny yarn store.)

Finished Object

Oh, this old thing? It was just something I whipped up when I didn't know what else to knit!

This is the Benbecula Sweater (which I always pronounce as "Bunnicula" in my head) from the newest Rowan Magazine (46), knit out of Rowan Felted Tweed Aran in color 729 (soot). I made a size medium, but I think I only needed 12 balls.

It's not blocked yet, so it's kind of wonky in the front (an aside: why do knitters always have to point out the flaws of their knitting?!), but I'm sure it will be beautiful when I finally get around to it! I know, it's been finished for a while, but in my defense, I knitted this sweater in less than a month, so I'm kind of owed some knitting time on the back end, and the 80 degree weather does not encourage sweater making!

I really recommend the Felted Tweed Aran. Although it's very different from the Scottish Tweed (and not really an appropriate substitute if you ask me), it's a softer tweed than most, but still sturdy enough to make a good solid sweater. And it has wonderful stitch definition as demonstrated by the thirty million cables on this sweater.

Holly by Hand

Collen (the blogless) mentioned today that she was having trouble getting to Holly's blog. I told her that Holly had changed her blog.

"But I click on Knit on my Cat from the Knit Nook blog," Colleen said.

I told her Knit on my Cat was no more, that Holly had a new blog.

"Yes, but I click on it from the Knit Nook blog and there's nothing there," Colleen insisted.

Oh. Yeah. I forgot to update the link. Thanks for the reminder, Colleen!

So now if you want to see what Holly is up to, she is now Holly by Hand. Enjoy!

(Are there enough hyperlinks?)

Just checking in...

Sorry! I've been so busy and then I blinked and it was November! Where did October go? Well, I promise pictures of some knitting and yarn next week. In the mean time, my laundry room--that began as a dream, then a promise, and most recently, a nag--might become an actuality this weekend! All these years of doing laundry in other places, and I've got more mismatched socks than pairs. But for some reason, I hate to just throw them away! Maybe I can make one of these:

I know those are gloves, but I don't have 1000 extra pairs of beautiful vintage gloves on hand. But torn up, mismatched socks with the elastic shot? I have a whole laundry basket! (And that's a rug I wouldn't mind walking on!)

Another use for yarn

You like to buy more yarn than you can knit? Here's a great solution from the blog Nienie Dialogues.

Knitting and World War II

Knitting was a way for the homefront to support the front lines. To help kick off the new exhibit World War II: 48 Local Stories that Changed the World at the Frazier International History Museum, we will be knitting authentic World War II socks (pattern courtesy from the American Red Cross) Saturday, October 10, 12-4 pm.

If you would like to come knit with us, please let us know. Or come down and visit. The exhibit looks very interesting!

Upcoming Classes

Now that your garden is dead (or if it isn't, don't you think it's time to give it up already?), and the weather is awful, it's time to pick up your knitting. Never mind that it's still eighty degrees with a thousand percent humidity. Things will get cold soon enough!

We've got some great classes starting soon!

Knitted Beret

$45 + materials

Sunday, September 27, October 4, and 11, 6-8 pm.

This isn't just a floppy hat. Cables, lace, buttons, or color work: choose from one of the gorgeous Ysolda Teague designs. You will also learn shaping techniques. And won't you look adorable just in time for the cold weather!

Here's Whitney modeling her Estella. And we've got an Ishbel in the shop.

Fair Isle

$45 + materials

Tuesday, September 29, October 6, and 13, 6-8 pm.

Put a little color in your knitting. Learn how to knit using two colors, hold the yarn with two hands, and read a color chart. Make the Blue Steel (a Whitney Boswell original) or the Endpaper Mitts, designed by Interweave Editor Eunny Jang [rav link].

Here's a close up of Blue Steel.

Six Week Sweater Class: Design Your Own Pattern

Wednesday, October 14, 21, 28, November 4, 11, and 18, 6-8 pm.

$75 + materials

If your perfect sweater doesn't exist, learn how to make it! You will learn all about gauge, shaping, pattern writing, and finishing techniques. Or, if you have a sweater pattern in mind and just want to learn how to alter it, this class is for you!

There's no picture. Just close your eyes and imagine your perfect sweater. Okay. That's the picture I'd put here.

Entrelac

$45 + materials

Entrelac is a knitting technique used to create a textured diamond pattern. Make a hat, a scarf, or a felted bag.

Here is Heather's Lady Eleanor. Thanks for letting me swipe the picture!

New, New, New!

Our new website is up! Check it out!

Our Fall class schedule is finally up, too. We've got a lot of classes starting up in the next couple of weeks, including Cables, Felted Bag, Basic Socks, and Amigurumi. Call or email us if you're interested.

Also, this Saturday only, we're having THE MAYOR'S 10% OFF NEW YARN! That includes all of the ROWAN, MOUNTAIN COLORS, NASHUA, and CLAUDIA HANDPAINTS we just got in. Ask us for more details. And remember, it's this Saturday, September 5 only! This is your last chance for a sale until Super Bowl!

And we're open on Labor Day regular hours. I'm on the diet from hell right now and need to stay away from all barbeques!

The Fair, Part 2: Not so fair after all...

(I totally stole the title from Kevin's Facebook post about our trip. And if you belong to Facebook and haven't become a fan of the Knit Nook...well, then you are mean. Or lazy. Go over and do it right now.)

So the main reason for our trip (besides eating junk food and petting animals) was to see how our entries did. Now, before I begin my rant about the messed up judging, I will admit that I won a ribbon--and since my decision to enter was totally last minute--I was pretty happy. I got Third Place for my Odessa Hat and Clapotis.

And Heather's Socktopus won an Honorable Mention. When we turned it in, the ladies at the check in table seriously couldn't contain their excitement. (Okay, I do have a little beef: why isn't there a knitted toy section? Does it make any sense that Heather's Socktopus and Mary Beth's Latvian Gloves compete against one another? That's like comparing apples and socktopuses.)

And speaking of which... Mary Beth's gloves got third. Seriously. All that Fair Isle. Those tiny needles. She knit fingers for crying out loud! On US 1 needles!

Cindy wasn't going to enter anything, so when she decided to enter a pair of lace socks, we were proud. And she won fourth. She was happy because her expectations were so low. But seriously, first place was a pair of stockinette socks knit out of self-striping yarn. I will admit that they were perfectly knit, but how hard is it to get nice and tight stitches when you are only knitting? And furthermore, I had the sneaking suspicion that the judge wasn't aware that the yarn was self-striping. Meanwhile, Cindy has those SAME EXACT SOCKS at home. We're talking same colorway and everything. And furthermore, there was a pair of fair isle socks--and I'm talking REAL fair isle, not the fake isle you so often see--and they didn't even place.

And the Mayor. That beautiful hand knitted, felted, and needle felted purse...got third place. Again, I don't think the judge had a clue about the technique. The Mayor explained the process when she turned in her item, and I think they didn't realize that she designed it all free hand. There weren't any kits or stencils. She used the felted bag as her canvas and painted with roving.

But at least the Mayor got a ribbon. Mary Beth's adorable bag didn't even place. And that's the way it was treated, shoved down in the bottom of the case.


Which is where my wrap sweater ended up too. Maybe if I'd bothered to block it, I would have had a shot. The sweater that won first place was a beautifully blocked lace cardigan.


Another disappointment--and I didn't know anybody who entered in this category--was the crocheted baby sweater. A beautifully executed baby sweater won third. First place? A shell stitch baby cardigan out of Wal-Mart acrylic yarn. A perfectly fine sweater, but it looked like the baby sweater every Mamaw has crocheted for their grandbaby since the dawn of time. I could have done it, and I don't even know how to crochet all that well.

I know we weren't the only ones upset by the judging, but because I'm not actually willing to become involved in the Kentucky State Fair textile judging, I hesitate to file a complaint. I also heard, in the judge's defense, that difficulty of pattern or quality of fiber is not a factor, but rather perfection of execution. I guess I always thought it was like the Olympics, how dives were rated by difficulty and perfection. So again, goes to show how much I know.

Oh well. We got our discounted tickets. We mooed at the cows, petted some rabbits, and ate some ice cream. Overall, we had a great time.

The Fair, Part 1: Ugly Lamp

Last Sunday, we went to the Kentucky State Fair. We took lots of pictures (and I will post them on our Facebook page--oh, yeah, did you all know we have a Facebook Page? Be our fan!).

So to milk this sucker for all it's worth, I'm going to break this up into a week's worth of posts. Plus, after seeing Irene's Ugly Lamp, I'm not sure you can handle anything else!

Irene always gets the leftovers. The scraps. The stash. Do you have a garbage bag of Fun Fur that you bought on sale when you first started knitting? Well, Irene's the girl to take it off your hands.

So when she was gifted a bunch of sparkly Fun Fur, Irene decided to make an ugly lamp. Or more specifically, an ugly lamp cozy.

Here it is, at Lynn's Paradise Cafe's Ugly Lamp display at the fair. She didn't win. Maybe this is because time and again, while Irene was knitting at the shop, ladies would come up and exclaim, "Oh, that's so pretty! What are you making?" And Irene would respond, without batting an eye, "An ugly lamp."

Password Protector

Mitzi emailed us these pictures. I never realized knitters were so concerned with privacy!

New Baby at Farmhouse Yarns

Farmhouse Yarns is a favorite around here (Andy's Merino, Lumpy Bumpy, Fannie's Fingering just to name a few). Beautifully hand dyed yarns, natural fibers from local American farmers--it's wonderful to imagine all those happy sheep while we're knitting or crocheting.

Carol, the owner of Farmhouse Yarns, sent an email announcing the surprise birth of one of her sheep. Since this blog has been dedicated to birth announcements of late, it seemed appropriate to share it with you.

The baby was 9-1/2 pounds and up and about. Both mother and baby are doing fine.

Makes you want to buy a sheep farm, doesn't it? Well, at the very least, think about this cutie the next time you're knitting Farmhouse Yarns.

The Knit Nook Beer Summit

To celebrate our soon to be post-racial society (or at the very least, good old fashioned conflict resolution over a couple of brewskies), we held our own Beer Summit at the Knit Nook last Thursday in honor of the brew-haha at the White House.

Ethel drank the Professor's beer of choice (though I heard later that he switched to Sam Adams), Ruth had a Blue Moon ala the Cop, and Colleen--the ever dedicated Democrat--drank a King of Beers for Obama. We might not have solved the world's problems, but we had a nice evening, and didn't get so sloshed that we couldn't pick up our dropped stitches.

Thanks, Ruth, for the picture. She has demanded that the Knit Nook blog could use more pictures, and I couldn't agree more. So if you've brought your camera to the shop and taken pictures, please email them to me!

Wind Powered Knitting Machine

Check out this Wind Powered Knitting Machine. (From what I can tell, it's a wind mill powering a vintage sock knitting machine.) Don't you wish we had one of those all hooked up last fall? We could have gotten a hundred socks, easy!

Thanks, Steven, for sending the link.

Baby Surprise Jacket

Last spring, Sally took our Baby Surprise Jacket class. And even though she sent me these pictures ages ago, I'm only now putting them up on the blog. But it was well worth the wait!

Sally says, "My granddaughter, Luci, is modeling the sweater. It was fun to make and I can't believe that blob turned into a sweater! What an interesting pattern!"

Thanks for sharing, Sally! Your granddaughter is adorable and that sweater ain't too shabby, either!

If you would like to make this sweater, we have a class coming up this November. And this time, it's not just for children! We've got the pattern sized for adults, too!

Our new schedule is not up on our website because we are in the process of redesigning it. If you would like a copy of our new class schedule, please email us (knitnook@knitnook.com) or stop by and pick up a hard copy.

Baby Ava is here!

It seems like I can only blog these days if there's a baby born...

On Thursday, July 23 Jessica gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Ava Jane is 8 pounds, 9 ounces (wowza!) and 20 inches. You can see pictures on Jessica's blog or on the Norton website.

Congratulations, Jessica and Chris! Your daughter is beautiful and we can't wait to meet her!

Summer Sale!

Our annual Summer Sale will be Saturday, July 11. Everything in the store will be 15% - 75% off.

Also, the Fall class schedule has been made, emailed, and printed. I will post it to the website as soon as I iron out some website issues (or rather, get somebody else to do it for me because I am clueless). If you would like me to email you a copy, just let me know. Otherwise, you can stop by and get a handout.

Oh, and we had a wonderful time at Jessica's baby shower.

Jessica's Baby Shower

Jessica's Baby Shower will be at the Knit Nook Saturday, June 27 at 2 pm.

(That is NEXT week--originally it was scheduled for this Saturday, but neither me, Tonya, or Jane could be there. And there is no way we can have a baby shower without the Mayor!)

So come and show Jessica and lil baby Ava Jane your love!

(I totally stole this pic of Jessica from her blog, but I figured that since this was to advertise her baby shower--where she and her baby will receive lots of gifts--that she wouldn't mind!)

Steven officates

He knits. He drinks coffee. He has a fancy phone. And now...Steven pronounces them man and wife.

Knit Nook shirts!

I have been totally lame recently. Okay, maybe not lame. Busy. All last week, I was at Spalding for my MFA program. This week, we've been busy planning my brother's wedding. (It happened last night and it was lovely.)

But lucky for us, Suzanne has been on the ball. She's been busy designing a new Knit Nook t-shirt. And now, we have our own Cafe Press shop. Isn't Suzanne amazing? Now you can order t-shirts from the comfort of your own home.

Clancy is here!

Bekah just called. After 25 hours of labor, last night she gave birth to a healthy baby boy (7 lbs 5 ounces). Everybody is tired, but doing well. We're promised pictures. I'll post them as soon as I get them.

So, she won't be making to Stitch N Bitch on Thursday. I guess her absence is excused.

Bekah's Baby shower

Okay, my blogging bragging rights have been revoked. I am now going to continue my installment of Bekah's Baby Shower. You remember. The one that happened TWO WEEKS AGO!

And looking back at my photo archives, there really aren't many pictures. (I can blame that on the fact that I was watching Leo and not taking pictures, but that isn't really a very good excuse.)

Anyway, there were a lot of handknits given and received. The dinosaur. And also some booties and some bibs. But I don't remember who or what and I definitely don't have pictures. So.

Here's an overview.
We were going to have Chicken McNuggets for food. Maybe we would have even arranged them in a cake formation just like that one commercial where a bride insists on having a Chicken McNugget cake at her wedding for some inexplicable reason. But Bekah wasn't feeling well and couldn't eat solid food, so we figured that the smell of Chicken McNuggets when one couldn't eat any was kind of cruel. So we ate non-smelly food.

We all got together and made Bekah this Griffyndor baby blanket. (Because Seth is most definitely going to be Griffyndor. Wouldn't that be terrible to make somebody's baby a Slytherin blanket? For those of you not in the know: Griffyndor is good, Slytherin is bad, and you are a Muggle.) It is made out of Cascade Sierra and Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. Let me tell ya, 1 x 1 rib for three feet is NOT FUN. But we had a lot of help and the outcome was most definitely worth it.

You want a better picture of the blanket? Oh, that's right. We forgot to take a real picture of this blanket. So that's all you get until Bekah has Seth and we get the picture of him sleeping under his blanket.

Monkey Business

Vi's granddaughter Carol had her first communion. So of course, to celebrate this momentous occasion, Vi had to knit a striped stuffed monkey wearing a crocheted bikini!

It is the Monkey pattern from this Reynolds Kids Book knit out of various scraps Vi had on hand.

Carol loved her monkey! She asked Vi if she had made it or bought it. When she found out that her grandmother had knitted it by hand, Carol said, "Oh good!"

She's named the monkey Suzanne. Huh. I don't know if Suzanne should be honored or not.

Bekah's Baby Shower: the dinosaur

Last week, we had a baby shower for Bekah at the Knit Nook. I've got a lot of pictures from the happy occasion, so I decided that rather than overwhelming you with one humongous blog post, I would spread it out over the next week or so. (In other words, I'm going to milk this for all it's worth!)

A lot of things were knit for the baby. Jessica knitted this adorable dinosaur.

The pattern is from Knitted Toys. The yarn, Cascade Cotton Club (60% cotton, 40% acrylic). The needles, I forgot to ask. Knitter beware: the pattern is British which means that you knit no less than a thousand little pieces and then stitch them all together.

As you can see, he isn't a very big dinosaur as far as dinosaurs go. Look, the mole is almost as big as he is. Evolution takes no prisoners.


But I'm sure Baby Posnansky will happily drool on him regardless.

February Girlie Part 2

What to do with your extra yarn? Make a matching headband!

Ellana used the Saving Grace pattern [rav link] and the same Sierra Quattro from the February Girlie sweater.

February Girlie

The February Lady is nothing short of a phenomenon. Everybody has made one it seems. (Heck, I've made three of them!) Based on the February Baby sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman, it seems like everybody gets to enjoy the February fabulousness.

And now that's absolutely true. Ellana has knit a February Lady for her daughter, Lily. And this February Girlie looks fabulous!

Ellana made the smallest size, used a smaller needle, and made the sweater shorter. It's knit out of Cascade Sierra Quattro, a wonderful cotton/wool blend.

Happy Spring!

I know the weather is chilly and rainy right now, but it is Spring! We've had a few days when it's been undeniable. We'll have a few more days this weekend.

If you've been around the Knit Nook lately, you are aware of the current season.

Take these birdies for instance. Becca made the blue bird (free pattern here) and the Mayor made the yellow duckie (which I can't find the pattern for on Ravelry--but have you ever done a search for "bird"? It's AMAZING!) Both projects were knit (yep! not all adorable animals are crocheted) out of washcloth cotton.

Our Mayor threw herself into Easter knitting. She also made a mama sheep (with removable coat) and baby sheep out of Plush. The pattern is called Sheep in Sheep's Clothing--how cute is that? [rav link] The Easter bunny was good to some grandchildren this year!

You just had to check out their little butts, too. Look at blue bird's tail feathers!

Wellspring Auction

For the last few years, we've donated a basket of yarn and a gift certificate for the Wellspring Silent Auction.

This year, we thought we would do a bit more.

We collected squares and then Jane (our Mayor) put them together. It's a beautiful blanket, with hundreds of dollars worth of yarn and hundreds of hours of time and care invested in it. We know it will get a lot of bids!

Thanks to everybody who helped with the blanket. If you would like to support Wellspring, the auction is April 21. Contact Wellspring for more information.

Jane, Me, and Keith were only some of the people who helped knit this blanket. But we were the only ones in the shop to pose with it! Lucky us!

The Bear turns into a Dog

First, Tonya made Otto. (Read her blog post about it here.) Then, we decided to schedule a class (Sunday, June 7, 14, and 21--read the description here.)

A friend of mine who moved away last year just had a baby. I decided to make an Otto.

But the more I knitted, the more I kept declaring that its cute little face "looked just like my dog, Harper."

So the bear became a dog.

For those of you unfamiliar with my dog, he only has three legs.

There he is, lifting his stump to pee on a fire hydrant--just like the real Harper. I always tell him that he's such a cliche when he does that.

Can I just say that when I was taking these pictures, there was a man picking his daughter up from the school across the street, and he started talking to me about the stuffed animal and I couldn't understand a single word he said. And that's when I realized he was speaking in German. What the...?

Lenpur Linen

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I love spring. Well, not the allergies and fluctuating weather (really? sunshine and 70 degrees and tomorrow it's going to snow?! that hardly seems fair.) but I love the yarn!

The favorite spring yarn around here seems to be Rowan Lenpur Linen.

First of all, the colors:

All those greens!

I know what you're thinking. Linen is stiff and hard to work with. And what the heck is "lenpur" anyway? But I'm here to calm your fears. Lenpur is cultivated wood fiber (yes, it's a link for lenpur.net) and this yarn is soft and wonderful, even before washing. And at a DK gauge, it's perfect for spring sweaters.

Like this one. (And that's Summer Tweed underneath--another perennial favorite!)

The book has a few beautiful sweaters in it. Including the one on the cover. Did I mention that the stitch definition is fantastic? We've even got a few people making the Yosemite sweater out of it!

Personally, I like this sweater. Although I realize that it probably has more to do with the big chunky necklace and the pool. (If she was holding a puppy, or standing on the beach, I would be done for!)