Last Chance for August Classes!

If you haven't noticed (it is only 100 degrees with 1000% humidity out there) it's August! We have three classes coming up that need some students: Eyelet Cardigan, Fair Isle Hat (a Whitney original design), and Knucks. To entice you all to sign up, we will give you a $10 credit to apply to a future Knit Nook class fee and if you sign up with a friend you both also get 10% off of the class fee!

Call us (502) 452-1919 or email us knitnook@knitnook.com for more info! Class descriptions are below.

Intro to Lace: Eyelet Cardigan
Learn how to knit lace and make this Blue Sky Alpaca cardigan. Materials not included, but 10% off all materials while enrolled in the class), $65
Friday, August 10, 17, 24, and 31, 6-8 pm

Fair Isle Hat
Get comfortable with using two colors and reading a chart while making this beautiful hat with Debbie Bliss cashmerino. Materials included, $90
Tuesday, August 14, 21, and 28, 6-8 pm need to be filled!


(Whitney made these Knucks out of Vicki Howell's yarn Craft, a mix of Organic Cotton & Milk Fiber!)

Knucks
A Knitty favorite, these fingerless gloves make excellent gifts. While you will learn how to wield double pointed needles, knitting and purling skills are required. Materials included, $65
Sunday, August 26, September 2, and 9, 6-8 pm

Ruth's "Perfect" Baby Booties?

"Perfect" Baby Booties?

by Ruth Bennett

After looking for the "PERFECT" baby bootie pattern online, I found many that came close, but none seemed to be perfect for me...

So, I did what most knitters probably do & don't tell anyone: I took the best features from each pattern I found, tweaked the math to suit the way my brain works & wrote my own pattern.

I can only hope you will find this perfect for you.

Newborn to 3 months: 90 yards of sport or DK weight yarn on size 3 needles

3-6 months: 90 yards of worsted weight yarn on size 4 straight needles

Gauge: Worsted weight/stockinette/#4 needles: 5 sts/in

-Tapestry needles

-Scissors

-Two stitch markers (optional) #

Sole of Bootie:

Using Long Tail Cast On, CO 26 sts (or...you could use a provisional cast on & graft later...)

Row 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9: Sl 1 st knitwise, knit to end.

Row 2: Sl 1 st knitwise, k 1, m 1, k 11, (place marker)# m 1, k 1, m 1, k 1, m1, (place marker)#, k 11, m 1, k 1. (31 sts)

Row 4: Sl 1 st knitwise, k 2, m1, k 11, (move marker)# m 1, k 2, m 1, k 3, m 1, (move marker)#, k 11, m 1, k 2. (36sts)

Row 6: Sl 1 st knitwise, k 2, m1, k 11, (move marker) #, m 1, k 4, m1, k 4, m 1, (move marker) #, k 11, m 1, k 3. (41 sts)

Row 8: Sl 1 st knitwise, k 3, m1, k 11, (move marker)# m1, k 5, m 1, k6, m1, (move marker)#, k 11, m1 , k4. (46 sts)

Row 10: Sl 1 st knitwise, k 4, m 1, k 11, (move marker) #, m 1, k 7, m 1, k 7, m 1, (move marker) #, k 11, m 1, k 5. (51 sts)

Row 11: Sl 1 st knitwise, knit to end (remove markers)#.

Row 12, 14, 16, 18: Sl 1 st purlwise, purl to end of row.

Row 13, 15, 17: Sl 1 st knitwise, knit to end of row.

Shape Toe/Top of Foot: (Short Rows)

Row 19: Sl 1 st knitwise, k 28, ssk, turn.

Row 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34: Sl 1 st purlwise, p 7, p 2 tog, turn.

Row 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33: Sl 1 st knitwise, k 7, ssk, turn.

Row 35: Sl 1 st knitwise, k 4, m 1, knit to end of the row. (36 sts)

Row 36: Sl 1 st purlwise, purl to end of the row.

Row 37: Sl 1 st knitwise, (YO, k 2 tog, k 1)* to last 2 sts, YO, k 2. (37 sts)

(This makes 12 eyelets for a "shoestring!")

Row 38: Sl 1 st purlwise, purl to end of the row.

Cuff:

Row 39, 41, 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55: Sl 1 st knitwise, (K2, p 2 rib)* to end of row.

Row 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56: Sl 1 st knitwise, p 1, (K 2, p2 rib)* to last 5 sts, K 2, P3.

BO in pattern. Leave a 26 " tail.

Turn to WS. Use tail to sew up selvedge edge. Turn RS out & shape toe with fingers.

(I suggest you use Backstitch for Stockinette rows & CO, mattress stitch for garter stitch rows...)

Thread a ribbon or 3 s I-cord through your eyelets to make your "shoelace."

Variations:

-Instead of a ribbed cuff, feel free to tweak the math (to make an odd or even stitch count) and make a cuff with 18 rows of Garter Stitch, Seed Stitch, various other ribbings, simple cables, or whatever stitch pleases you.

-You can also change the look of the bootie using different materials as the "shoelace."

-You can also use bulky weight yarn, 100% wool yarn & size 10.5 needles...felt them down to size. Too cute!

Ruth: the most prolific of the pregnant knitters?

This past Sunday, we hosted a baby shower. Blogful Holly and Tonya were in attendance. Blogless Ruth used this opportunity to show off what she's knit for the little sprout so far. She brought a box. A full box.

A lot of the pieces Ruth made are of her own design. Like this adorable bunny hat.


Or these Booties in the Round, knit in the most stimulating colors for developing baby genius brains. (Ruth has given us this pattern and it will be posted free on this blog.)

Or in sold colors if outfit coordination trumps brain improvement.
Or Ruth adapted other people's patterns and made them her own, like this baby hoodie turned shearling chic (and modeled so nicely by Colleen).

But like I said, Ruth brought a box. So as she displayed her hand knits, the pile started to grow.

And grow...

Until it practically covered our entire table! Ruth says when the baby outgrows most of these items, she's donating them to the Center for Women and Families. Wow. Pregnancy is just the gift that keeps on giving! Way to go, Ruth!

Charity Knitting Alert

Irene needs Beta Club hours, so of course she is using her knitting skills for the greater good!

The Creative Stitch, a yarn shop in Boston, is collecting Duduza dolls for the Vermont-based organization CHABHA (Children Affected by HIV/AIDS). The dolls are used to pack medical supplies sent to Africa and are given to the village children. You can read more about this effort here.

We will be collecting Duduza dolls until the first week of September. These dolls are great stash busters, easy to knit, and are for a great cause! Click here for the pattern.

Christmas in July

Tonya and I have a healthy competitive knitting relationship. This is because whenever I want to knit something, and I've chosen the pattern and the yarn, I discover that Tonya has already started the same project. For instance, I fell in love with this sweater from Blue Sky
And I had enough Organic Cotton in this pretty brown color. Guess what Tonya made? (To be fair, a lot of people have made that sweater. Whitney is teaching a class on it this August.)

So when our competitive knitting got on the subject of Christmas stockings, a race was suggested. In the beginning, it was insanity. Knit three heirloom quality, intarsia-riddled Christmas stockings in the month of July. June 30th, get your patterns and materials together, on your mark, get set, and midnight morning of July 1st, go!

But it seemed selfish to keep the fun all to ourselves, so I posed the challenge to knitters at the store. Choose that elaborate handmade Christmas gift that will plague your holiday season (we all say we won't do it, but what knitter hasn't spent the already stress filled weeks of December knitting away on Grandma's Aran sweater only to wrap the damn thing up on the needles so that you can at the very least work on it in front of her and maybe just maybe get it done before she returns home to Ohio? Not me to be sure...) and anticipate your procrastination! Knit it during the month of July. Those who complete the task are rewarded with the chance to win a $100 gift certificate. Those who fail at least have half of the present already knitted.

So while I'm only a third of the way through my argyle Christmas stocking (but at least Tonya is too distracted by Leo's arrival to even try to compete with me), we already have some folks who have finished their Christmas in July projects! (Note: If you are related to Colleen, Mylea, or Ruth, please stop reading this post!)

Colleen was actually the first to finish her project, but I unfortunately didn't snap a picture of it. She made a beautiful eyelet shrug with a double strand of Mission Falls 1824 wool. I know the pattern is on the internet somewheres, but I forget what it's called and googling "free shrug pattern" is not helping narrow down the search.


After a few false starts on another sweater vest, Mylea finished this cabled vest (with yarn procured from our May yarn swap) in about a week. Way to go!

Ruth has made not one, not two, but a few felted bags. Check out the strawberry patch! This pattern is from the Spring 2007 issue of Knitscene. Holly served as the inspiration, having made this bag a while ago, but Ruth really took it to the next level by making FOUR bags so as nobody in her family feels left out. Furthermore, she put the left over Lamb's Pride to good use and made two Buttonhole Bags for good measure. I'm sure she'll be glad she did considering Baby Bennett is due in October and knitting felted purses will probably be down on the list of things to do.

Cindy's birthday is coming up and she declared that if she wasn't standing on the beach then life wasn't worth living. So off to the beach we go! The sale this past weekend was a wonderful success, so we can guiltlessly leave the store in Whitney's capable hands. Thanks to everyone who stopped by for the incredible deals.



'Nuff said!

Playing with Clip Art

As most of you know, our big summer sale is Saturday, July 14. This also happens to be Bastille Day, the French version of the Fourth of July. There are some really terrible French-related clip art images out there in the world. Check it out.

Anyway, the camera is no longer broken, just always misplaced when something blog worthy happens. And I don't know about you, but a picture-less blog is like a French fry without a beret or a glass of wine (if you followed the above link, you totally understand).

Summer Knitting (had me a blast)

Just because I haven't been blogging, doesn't mean we haven't been busy. There has been a lot of knitting and crocheting going on, and here's just a taste.


Everybody has been making the Mason Dixon Buttonhole Bags. They are very quick, easy, and are excellent stash busters. Every one of these bags has utilized previously purchased yarn.


My fair isle baby sweater has been steeked (although I did get my mommy to sew it up with the machine since it always takes me an hour to sew up anything, damned bobbin thread!) It's still a work in process, however. Now that the hard part is over and boring ol' button bands are left, I've moved on to more interesting things.


Tonya continues to knit for baby Leo. This is Bobbi Bear. You can see more details about Tonya's baby knitting on her blog.


But nobody has been more industrious than Irene. Now that summer is here, Irene isn't slowed down by such troublesome things as school, and her knitting is really benefiting. She's started on the Central Park Hoodie, probably finished twenty hats and mittens in the last two weeks (no joke!), but here she is making some fingerless gloves.


And what does she carry all of her notions in? Why, her new Commonwealth of Kentucky carrying case, complete with Johnny Depp collage.


But what about her stitch markers? Why, they are in a smaller case marked Jefferson County!

Don't you wish you had been as cool as Irene when you were twelve?