Challenging ourselves.

The Knitting Olympics are more than halfway over (can you feel the pressure mounting?), but we refuse to be overwhelmed... yet.  Lindsay and I are making merry progress (as you shall soon see) and, well, everyone else are being very nice by not mocking.  Sandy Kay is almost participating in that she's trying to knit up a Skif sweater in record time (don't ask) and has been going a little swatching crazy.

Now, normally, we wouldn't share swatches (who'd care, right?), but these are special little squares of handknit curiosity.  They're each an experiment in the field of yarn chemistry.  If you, like so many of us, have been intrigued by assemblage's beauteous Thursday vest and Paper Crane cardigan patterns, this next bit might just interest you. 

Skif Swatches All together	Punta Yarns Montoya Beach Held single, knit on 4mm/ US 6's
Habu XS-55 Linen & A-177 Merino One strand each, knit on 5mm/ US 8's	Habu XS-55 Linen & N-76 Tsumugi Silk One strand each, knit on 5mm/ US 8's
Habu XS-55 Linen (double) Knit on 5mm/ US 8's	Habu XS-55 Linen (single) Knit on 5mm/ US 8's

If you want to drop by the store and feel them, we'll have them (and many more Habu swatches) on hand for fondling.  Not in Portland?  Well, each photo has a mini review attached.  Just click on it for more information!

Next, on our list of staff doings, we have Eva's cashmere/ silk mitts:

(or, well, mitt)

Yarn?  The delicious and decadent Swiss Mountain Cashmere & Silk by Handmaiden, in the color "Ocean".  Eva is following the Ayanna Mitts pattern but (be warned) had to go down two needle sizes (to US 1's) to get gauge - this yarn has got bounce.  It'll be worth it, though, as the finished mitts are going to be gorgeous. 

Now, onto the Olympian knitting!  While Lindsay and I might be the only staffers crazy enough to attempt the Games, we're at least making progress.  Lindsay's Vintage Baby Cardigan is actually starting to look like a cardigan!

She's certain that she'll be able to finish be the Feb 28th deadline and still manage to make a set of matching booties (Ysolda's Tiny Shoes) as well.  It's gonna be awesome.

I, myself, am not quite so far ahead as Lindsay, but am dutifully trucking along.  My Gansey Vest (self-designed pattern, sorry) is coming along:

Though I am not to the half-way point as I would like.  Soon, though.  This might turn into a slightly different project to make my deadline.  It was going to have a hood, but that's looking less likely right now...

And while I am on the subject of my Knitting Olympics project, I simply must share with you the best cable needle EVAH:

Lantern Moon's rosewood (or ebony) cable needle set.  I, in all honesty, didn't did not like using cable needles and would just go needle-less - until I tried these.  They are just perfect.  Smooth but not slippery.  And, to hold your stitches in place, there are these clever little grooves in the middle that make sure the cable needle doesn't slip out, even if it's smaller than the working needle.  They are just AWESOME and easily win a 10 out of 10 from me.

I had to share that.  Surely there are many knitters out there who have suffered from escapee cable needles (shudder) or from ones that are too sticky and stretch out your knitting (grr) and are either: a) constantly trying new cable needles and being disappointed or, b) trying to go needle-less (which doesn't really work when you get to cabling more than 2 sts).  These Lantern Moon cable needles are the solution and everyone should try them.

In other Knitting Olympics, or would it be Olympic Knitting?, news - have you seen this?  The Peruvian Alpine Skiing uniform:

 

Which features traditional knitting motifs (including Llamas!) in honor of Peru's rich knitting tradition.  Read the article (and see the close-up!) here.

Lastly, we have some Store News to share...

• Wanted: Sample Knitters.  See here for details.
• Finishing 101 is tomorrow night.  Taught by me.  I'll be covering picking up stitches along a straight seem (along both garter stitch and stockinette edges) and a curved seam.  Swatches are required.  See the class description for details.  It's only $15 and you get to learn several new techniques!

 And that is everything.  Check back on Thursday for another fantabulous issue of Fashionknitsta!

the meltdown

The snow vanished, finally. Instead of a white apocalypse, we had this on Friday:

And, as of today, there is no snow on the ground downtown (thank goodness).

Other new bits and bobs:

• "An Evening with Jared Flood" tickets are officially available to registrants. Be sure to drop by the store and pick up your ticket(s) before the event!
• A super Top Secret update on the Japanese knitting books situation. We've heard back from Shufu no Tomo and our order of in-Japanese knitting books is due to ship on January 5th, after the Japanese New Year (Shogatsu). We're hoping to hear back from two other Nihongo publishers after the New Year, as well, so stay tuned for updates on those Japanese books we know you've been coveting.
• Last but not least, I have a reminder: the Gratis Knits deadline is THREE DAYS away. If you've been meaning to submit a cute hat or pair of wristlets, now's the time! Aside from eternal glory across the InterWebs, the winner will also receive a $50 gift card to the store. So, get typing!

And that's about everything that needed to be caught up. We should have Gina's socks and an Ana Bandana tomorrow, if nothing else.

in the spirit of giving

Knitters tend to be very generous creatures, in many ways. This knitterly attribute will definitely be a theme in today's post. Starting off, we have this year's Holiday Food Drive:


Not only are we, as knitters, giving food to the hungry; but, other knitters are offering prizes to give to food donors. It's such a win-win situation. We've got special skeins of yarn from Abstract Fiber (yes, yarn and not roving), adorable tchatchkes from Lantern Moon, Labels of Love from Soak, and a whole bunch of other goodies from businesses like ShibuiKnits and Bryson.

How does this work?, you ask. Well, it's simple. For every item of non-perishable food you bring in from now until December 18th, we'll give you a raffle ticket. On December 18th at 7pm(ish), we'll draw prizes for all our lovely donors.

Next, on the list of generous knitters: Liz. Who, crazily enough, knit these for a friend:


Wow. I'd want to frame them. Project specs?... here!

Yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock in "Ink" and "Wisteria"
Pattern: Cat Mittens by Jorid Linvik

And, finally, the sheer number of knitters who have come in with holiday presents on the needles says a lot about us as a group. Buying someone a gift card to an electronics store would certainly easier and a lot quicker than hand-knitting family and friends beautiful, one-of-a-kind presents, but knitters do it because we want to make something special for loved ones. And that's just awesome.

Of course, it's also a bit stressful when the deadline approaches and you're staring at 600 yards of stockinette. But, hey, think of the joy on the recipient's face.

And, if you're snapping at relatives and cursing your knitting needles, come and knit with us at our Last-minute Gifts Knit-a-thon this Saturday, Dec. 13th. Admission is only $5 and two items for the Food Drive, but gets you six blissful hours of uninterrupted knitting, with wine and aperitifs for fuel.

Or, if you still haven't started your holiday knitting, we have a collection of books and patterns on display (thank you, Sandy B for the poinsetta!) to help us late-starters actually get started:

Don't ask me how far I'm into my holiday knitting. We're just not discussing it.

Moving on, to more selfish projects... I started a Malabrigo Sock sock, with Indiecita and US 1 Lantern Moon DPNs:

It's amazing how much the "KnitPurlzi" has changed my expectations for traveling socks. Now I expect to arrive at Point B with unbroken needles, no tangles and perfectly un-dropped stitches. I really hope M.W. finishes the 5" prototype he promised me soon!

And, while we're talking about the "KnitPurlzi", remember to vote! for your favorite submission(s) to the Name That Gadget! Contest. (see the sidebar ---->)

Finally, we've started a Knit Purl PDX ravelry group to fill all your in-depth update needs. It's also a great place to request workshops, new yarn lines, whatever. We'll also use it to announce sales, new arrivals, or even arrivals of old favorites like Kauni and Malabrigo (which sell out fast).

Until Thursday (and the results of our Name That Gadget! Contest), happy stitching!

Rhapsody in ... Spruce?

We were visited by KnittingInMind from Seattle yesterday so she could show off her latest FO, a Rhapsody in Lace & Ruffles using ShibuiKnits Baby Alpaca DK:

Oh, yeah, feel the sweet alpaca bliss.

She decided that she wanted some more ShibuiKnits yarn for her next wicked WIP, which is when we (okay, 3M) managed to get an "action" shot, too:

(am I the only one reminded of Carmen?)

Anyway. We love to see beautiful (and even not-so-beautiful) WIPs, FOs, and crazy projects you might be planning. Bring 'em by the store and we just might post 'em all over the Interwebs.

Now, for those of you (unlike The Blogger, I think we have more than 2 subscribers*) who are more interested in crazy projects than beautiful FO's (I know you exist), here's some eye candy taken by The Blogger, who was a little trigger-happy yesterday and produced a collection d'art focused on our SKIF KAL progress:

Now, The Blogger's Zena makes me a little embarrassed because I didn't embrace the SKIF philosophy as much as my coworkers**. But, in my defense, at least I managed to get the organic feel of the pattern copacetic with my yarn choice.

The Blogger and I have been making steady progress, clearly, but one has to wonder: will we finish in time to walk down the Catwalk? Or, like so many knitters before us who didn't gauge their knitting time well, will we end up walking down that red carpet with half a sleeve un-knit, circular needles still hanging in distress, glaringly obvious?

Clearly I have no anxiety at all about finishing on time. Which explains perfectly why I bought enough yarn for another SKIF sweater yesterday***. As I have often said, denial was a necessary development in human evolution. Without it we'd never have left the caves, crossed any oceans, or CO that 13th pair of socks OTN just because.

And, anyway, that Tsumugi silk looks ever so nice in my stash right now.

*not many more than 2, admittedly.
**Yes, yes, I cheated. I admit it. Move on.
***Ha.

An Ice Cube Tray and Yarn

To start off our SKIF Knit-a-long out right, for those trapped underneath something heavy and can't make it in on Tuesday nights to hangout and get your SKIF knit on, I present to you today's topic:

Choosing yarn

I know it sounds absolutely thrilling. Right now one of you is thinking, "If I can pick out my own socks in the morning I can certainly manage choosing a yarn that I love."

Au contraire, mon frère (and mon soeur). Choosing yarn is sometimes as hard as finding that perfect bottle of soft drink to go with backyard barbecue. Would you pair Jolt cola with Brats? How about Chocolate Yoo Hoo with German style potato salad? I didn't think so.

So let us just consider for a moment the weighty (worsted-weighty) decision you are about to undertake and let's travel to the magical world of the Standard Yarn Weight System as brought to you by those wacky kids at the Craft Yarn Council of America (cue music).

The SKIF patterns are knit at gauges from 4 to 4½ stitches per inch on US needle sizes 8 or 9 (4.5 or 5 mm). If you were to create a garment from just one yarn for these patterns, you would choose a worsted (or Aran) weight yarn. In the land of yarn, this is medium weight.

However, you are no sissy. You are going to take on the full-throttle joy of knitting a SKIF International pattern for the full Monty effect so you choose multiple fine gauge yarns. (Deep in your psyche your alter ego sports a bicep tattoo that features yarn and needles with the old-time banner caption of "Balls of Silken Stainless Steel".)

Now here comes the perplexing part: how do you find fine gauge yarns to equal a worsted weight?

Think of the worsted weight in terms of its parts (I won't use the word fraction here because as I think about typing it I hear cogs grinding and springs sproinging in the collective minds of the math-phobic masses). Think of worsted weight yarn like an ice cube tray! As illustrated here:

Does your brain-machine feel better now?
Worsted weight yarn is composed of many skinny yarns called plies just like the tray is composed of several little ice cubbyholes (what else can you call the individual hole that makes ice other than a cubicle? I already lost half of our two readers with the math reference. I don't want to loose the other one with office-speak). Most worsted weight yarns are about 8-ply. About is a very important word. Sometime the crafty mill-mongrels will make really pretty worsted yarn that is single-ply, double-ply, and whatnot. But for illustration purposes we shall pretend all worsted weight yarn is the same and is made from 8 plies. As we have taken the trolley to the land of make believe, we shall also pretend lace weight yarns equal a single ply.

Worsted = 8 plies
Lace = 1 ply
Ergo 8 strands lace = 1 worsted yarn.

HURRAY! Whoopee! Yay we did it!

Not so fast my young Padawan. We used a word of infinite magical power. We used the word: about. The reality is yarn is made by madmen, purchased by the insane, beloved by the stark-raving mad, and coveted by the crazier-than-owning-three-vacuums (I fall into the last category... none of them work properly either but that's a story for another day). Due to this unhinged quality in the world of knitting, you might find that seven, six, or even five strands of lace can equal a worsted weight yarn. You may decide you aren't feeling the lace weight love and want to use sport or double knitting (DK) weight yarn. How do you manage that?

You let go of the control and dare to imagine:

Lace = 1-2 ply
Fingering = 2-3 plies
Sport = 3-4 plies
DK = 4-5 plies

Your head might be swimming at this point. Take the edge off with some fresh yarn stash enhancement. Don't worry we'll wait.

So now that you have some fresh stash, the next thing you do is prune some of your old stash-beast to go with it. Take those single skeins that you bought "just because" and those leftover skeins and sort them by color. Pick your favorite color(s) then sort that pile by animal/vegetable. Anything that is the hair from an animal goes into one pile and everything else (including silk) goes in the other. If you have a blend use the primary fiber as a guideline. Choose the yarns that seem to go best together, but make sure you choose a some of each: animal, vegetable, smooth, and textured yarns. The combination you choose will make your garment completely unique. If all this gives you a headache, don't fret. Tomorrow's post will show you examples of how to blend and mix your yarns together.

Until then lets see some examples from real live coworkers:

Fyberduck is using Joseph Galler's Inca Cotton in Ecru for "Neptune".

Inca Cotton=Worsted weight=8plies

Here is a great example of the use of the word about. Below is "Martha" in Tsumugi Silk Combo carried with doubled Sea Silk by SandyKay:

Tsumugi Silk Combo=Fingering Weight=3plies
Doubled Sea Silk= Doubled Lace Weight=2plies x 2

That's crazy! SandyKay is making her's with 7plies! Aaaaaaa!!!! Panic! Panic!

Feel better? Did you get it out of your system? There's no need to panic because she's getting gauge so there is no need to worry.

This one is a whole bucket of crazy... like owning-three-vacuums crazy:

I have taken my stash apart and grabbed all the silly little leftover balls of lace weight mohair and sock yarn and added some Tsumugi Silk and Bamboo from Habu, Flaxen, and Alpaca 1 for my Zena. Who knows, the urge to buy more yarn might come on me again and I might just add something else.

The patterns require anywhere from a pound to a pound and a half (.5 to .6 kilo) of blended yarn. In terms of yardage (or meter-age for the rest of the world) that is approximately 890-1350 yards (815-1230 meters).

The nice thing about the patterns are they emphasize and encourage knitters to just go with the flow and think of the experience like a Sous chef thinks of cooking: blend, mix, experiment. Some of the tips offered in the patterns are: "Be glad when the shop runs out of your dye lot" and "Keep switching yarns the whole way through".

Think of it as an opportunity for anarchy.

For those of you Anarchists out there who want to post pictures and progress on your own SKIF knit, write a blog post on this all inclusive blog: skifkal dot blogspot dot com!

The latest crazy plan.

As I'm sure you've noticed, The Blogger and I have a tendency to hatch weird and slightly insane schemes when we're left in an office alone together. The latest and greatest of our grand plans...

The Summer SKIF KAL (you may have read The Blogger's post...)

Which is why I can happily blame my latest yarn addiction, to Joseph Galler Inca Cotton, on The Blogger and be completely honest. It's proving to be a lot of fun to work with.

If you're concerned with tackling a SKIF pattern on your own, you may want to enroll in The Blogger's SKIF Knit-a-long Emergency Aid Class. Students will receive (aside from help knitting the sweater of your choice) a 10% discount on all yarn, needles, and goodies they buy to participate AND a free mini-workshop with Fearless Leader on sewing handknit garments with a sewing machine. If you don't want to enroll, that's totally cool. Join us anyway, and we'll all keep each other going.

Because, on July 31st (during our weekly SipNStitch), we'll be hosting the first ever

Knit Purl Catwalk Party

SKIF KAL participants will be invited* to walk down the red carpet (oh yeah, we got one) and show off their mad knitting skills to the world.

So, c'mon, join us. It'll be fun. Honestly.

*Don't put it past us to inebriate you to get you up there.