Irene's Bloody Knitting

Like many girls before her, Irene has developed a healthy appreciation of Johnny Depp. But instead of watching all of his movies and hoping that Winona Ryder would just go away as we used to do, Irene watches his movies over and over and appreciates his acting ability. And his collaborations with Tim Burton. And his charisma. And his timeless good looks--I mean, acting ability!

But Irene has taken her Depp obsession beyond the limits of normal teen awe. She's a knitter, after all. She's the one who did painstakingly knit his face into the side of a tote bag.

Irene, a huge fan of Sweeney Todd, has taken to knitting meat pies. Disgusting, grotesque, terrifying meat pies.

Can't believe a girl so innocent looking is capable? Here's a closer look.

Yep, that's a mouse. Standing on a pile of bloody gore oozing out of the meat pie. And yes, the mouse is chewing on a discolored finger, poking it's way out of the rotten meat pie. On the other side, you're missing a couple of cockroaches and another finger. Irene has even written the whole pattern down for us. I promise to have it up on the website in time for Halloween.

(Thanks, Ruth, for the pictures! Keep 'em coming, y'all!)

Margie's Hemlock

Somebody once said that they had quit reading knitting blogs. When asked why, the person said, "They just make me feel bad about myself." And everybody sitting and knitting around the table shrugged and nodded because we'd all been there. It's like flipping through a Martha Stewart magazine can make you feel bad about your garden. Except at least in the case of Martha, we can reassure ourselves that she has a staff of double digits or more helping her, so of course her roses look better.

But then you read Brooklyn Tweed and see that he's made a gorgeous vest in a weekend, and he doesn't have a staff helping him knit, and it's easy to look down at the sock you've been knitting and unknitting for a month and feel like quitting.

Margie felt like quitting. She started her Hemlock Ring Blanket in Debbie Bliss Stella (light blue, of course), and the triple and quadruple increases were a nightmare and the pattern was vague, and each row took an eternity. But she plugged away.

And here it is.

It's blocked and beautiful, worthy of the best knitting blog. So next time the internet makes you feel like throwing your needles away (or at least unplugging your computer), take the Hemlock. Not like Socrates, but like Margie.

(And thanks to Holly for the pictures! The blog looks great!)

Yoda the Baby Sweater

First of all, apologies to everyone for abandoning the blog. My home computer died, so I've been at a loss on how to get pictures from the camera to the blog. (And a blog post without a picture is no fun.) Thanks to Leslie (for knitting the sweater) and Ruth (for taking and sending me the picture) for getting me back on track!

So, what do you knit for the Star Wars-obsessed new parent? Why a Yoda hoodie of coarse! Check out the gray fun fur in the ears. A wrinkly little baby face can only add to the effect. Great idea, Leslie! And because I haven't really resolved the photo issue, please send me pictures of your knitting escapades. I'll post them on the blog!

July Events!

July is going to be busy around here!

First, we are having a Stitch N Pitch! On Wednesday, July 2 (yes, next week) at 7 pm, we'll be meeting at Slugger Field to watch the Bats, drink beer, eat junk food, and knit! It's Ladies Night, so tickets are $3.50 at the door. (And if you aren't a lady, don't worry. We'll subsidize your ticket price so you only have to pay $3.50.) Just ask to sit in section 124 with the Stitch N Pitch group. And then, stop by the Knit Nook during the next week with your ticket stub, and you'll get 10% off of a purchase! (This offer ends Wednesday, July 9 and for only one purchase.)

And then there's the SALE! Our third annual Summer Sale is Saturday, July 12. EVERYTHING in the store will be 15% - 75% off. Seriously, there are going to be some deals to be had! We'll be opening at 10 am for the sale, so come early! (And because we anticipate chaos, we won't be having our Beginning Classes that day.)

By the sale, I should have the fall and winter class schedule all set, so expect a copy in your inbox, or stop by the shop to get a hard copy. If you can't wait until September to take a class, check out the current schedule here.

Becca: Secretly Paid by Cascade 220?

"Why yes, this is my Central Park Hoodie. I knit it out of a very beautiful heathered shade of Cascade 220. Unlike my Harry Potter scarves, that were also knit out of the same affordable Peruvian yarn in 1X1 rib, I used a slightly larger needle. Doesn't the Cascade 220 have a lovely drape on size 8 needles?"

"Oh, my vest? Why I also knit it out of Cascade 220. I think the stripes along the bottom are a great detail. It only took 2 or 3 skeins. Isn't Cascade 22o such an amazing value?"

Yes, Becca. Cascade 220 is a great yarn. And you are a great saleswoma--I mean, knitter.

When Knitting is Work

We knit because we love it. Or because we are going to finish the thing if it freaking kills us.

Margie finally finished the flame socks. Almost a year in the making, but they're done and Joey wears them proudly. It's like the Christmas stocking I just finished. Usually I'm a process knitter. I look at a project and think about how much fun it will be. And afterwards, I could care less about it. Not this stocking. Intarsia, with all those bobbins and tangling strings, drives me up a wall. Give me a cable chart 200 lines long. I'll knit with the most slipperiest silk and make that lace work. But I did nothing but complain while making this stocking. But the fact is, I think it looks awesome, so I've cast on for another. I'll finish knitting it if it freaking kills me.

The Central Park Hoodie was actually fun to make. But there is something about heavy sweater knitting in the summer. It makes sense to knit with the next season in mind. I know, that's what Elizabeth Zimmerman always suggested. But as soon as it got warm, I got completely bogged down. (This may seem bizarre coming from the person who just finished a Christmas stocking in June.)

But I finished it.

Even if it almost killed me.

Two socks. Two needles. One victory.

I was doing so well, and then all of a sudden it's June 6 already? What? But Derby was last week, wasn't it? What the heck happened to May? Well, I vaguely recollect cool weather and a lot of gardening. But now that it's hot and humid (and didn't that happen almost immediately?) there's no better way to spend an afternoon than knitting inside with air conditioning blowing on my face, drinking an iced tea from Highland Coffee.

So even though this happened a few weeks ago, we need to celebrate Jan and her first pair of socks. So we had this sock class. And Jan--whose knitting skills have grown leaps and bounds in the last couple of months since she learned how to knit--decided to knit a pair of socks. Using size 2 needles and Kaffe Fasset's beautiful sock yarn (interjection: Kaffe has a new chunky weight wool coming out this fall called Colorscapes. We fondled it yesterday during our visit with the Rowan rep and it is *fantastic*). But that wasn't enough of a challenge. Jan decided to nip Second Sock Syndrome (SSS) in the bud by knitting two socks at the same time.

It was like the whole class was made up of lemmings and as they jumped off the cliff, I was the lemming sensible enough to say, "Don't you think jumping off the cliff isn't the best idea?" but I guess I wasn't convincing enough because nobody listened to me. So everybody in the class decided to make two socks at the same time. (Personally, I hate it. It just seems like twice as much work and I'm always getting twisted and tangled. It's like intarsia, which I also hate. More about that when I post about my argyle Christmas stocking.)

But Jan was the only one who finished her socks. You should have seen her, about half an hour after this picture was taken. She swung the freshly freed and finished socks around her head and screamed profanity out of sheer joy. It was really a sight to behold.

PS- Did you guys know that the whole lemmings jumping off of cliffs thing was a hoax perputrated by the Disney documentarians who reported it? I guess the lemmings weren't that interesting, so the producer chased them off the cliff so that the camera guy could film them from the bottom.

So maybe people who knit two socks at a time aren't so crazy after all.