Just a little of what’s new at The Local Needle…

We have some very enticing colors of Shibui Knits Sock and Sock Fluids.

They seduce you into making things other than socks.  Something along these cute little lines:

Then we received in specifically for this Cabled Rib Wrap:

some Baby alpaca DK and some new colors of Silk Cloud – oh SO soft!

Just in the nick of time for our HatHeel Sock KAL this Saturday, we received in a brand new sock yarn from an indie dyer originating in the Oregon area, StitchJones.   Her yarns will literally rock your stash!  Introducing StitchJones Titanium Sock…

And, since I still carry the torch for knitted lace, we received in a tasting of her Nirvana Lace.  Oh, my!  This is 1300 yards of an alpaca/silk/cashmere blend for a very permissive price.

All of these can be found in the shop or online under New Arrivals.

I enjoyed making this.  It was enough to keep my mind occupied, yet relaxing enough to watch the World Series and my favorite… Masterpiece Theatre.

I found a few things to note since the last blog post.  First, if you do not have the exact stitch count when entering into the instructions for row 57, you may get confused.  So I have listed the stitch counts that you should have after completing row 56.  If you lay the shawl on a table and looked at the RS facing you, you should see the following stitch counts:

11 sts, c-8, 23 sts, c-8, 23 sts, c-8, 9 sts, MARKER, 8 sts, c-8, 8 sts, MARKER, 9 sts, c-8, 23 sts, c-8, 23 sts, c-8, 11 sts. (c-8 means it’s a cable and it has 8 sts).

And a reminder; Do not forget to do the increases that are “usually” only done to the center panel.  When you get to row 92, the increases should be done for each set of cable stitches, and the same goes for row 106 and 114.  Ask me how I know this!  I kept humming away and ended up having to frog a good 6″ because I didn’t have extra stitches when I needed them.

Here is our version of the magazine shoot!

I want to thank everyone that has participated in the KAL!  If you’re still working on it, don’t hesitate to drop me a line.

Joan, The Local Needle

Greetings from the land of cables! 

I hope everyone is moving right along and has now settled into the rhythm of this shawl.  I have found it to be a very relaxing knit, yet there’s enough cabling going on to keep the doldrums away. 

I just love this color of Highlander and I had forgotten what a pleasure it is to work with!

There are several things that must be worked every row and sometimes it is difficult to remember them all, so I thought it would be a good idea to display them in a chart.  It might help those that work better from a visual, versus written instructions. 

Since the chart does not display here in it’s entirety, I’ve provided a link to the same chart on Flickr.

 While working along, I found I wasn’t really paying attention to the number of stitches between cables.  For example, the reverse stockinette stitches on both sides of the cable on the right panel, should match up and have the same count as the reverse stockinette stitches on both sides of the cable that is on the left panel.  Should is the key word here. 

I highly recommend that you check this on occasion and most important, before you start the next set of written instructions that introduce the lower cables.  If you look really close at mine, you might find a couple of m1-p’s and k2tog to get the stitches back in sync.

My favorite teacher once told me…”it doesn’t have be perfect, it just needs to look perfect!”

Fall is in the air, even in NE Florida!

The  direction of the sun has changed and leaves are in fact… falling.  However,  the cool weather that most Northerners enjoy has still managed to elude us.

That absolutely does not stop us from our Fall knits!

We cast on in the shop today for the Shawl of Cables (Ravel It), pattern #5 in the Fall Vogue Knitting.  For anyone that might be joining us from the online community, we have some great tips that we’ll be sharing along the way.  

Requirements for joining our online KAL?  There are none…well except for one – you must have a copy of the Fall 2009 Vogue Knitting magazine.  I might add, that if you do not have the pattern in front of you, a lot of these notes may not make any sense.

Before we cast on, I want to share a few tips that might help you along the way:

1) Most everyone knows that when you change from a knit stitch to a purl stitch (or vice versa), that you move your yarn between the needles to position it for the next stitch.  For example, after a knit stich, yarn is positioned in the back.  Bring it between the needles to the front to prepare for a purl stitch.  Well, add a cable on top of it and you might find yourself concentrating on the cable and not the yarn position, end result is an unwanted yarnover.  It’s very easy to do, so watch for this.

2) If you have read over the pattern, you’ve realized that you are working 3 panels; right, center and left.  The right and left panels always have 2 increases on the RS rows.  A yarn over at the outside edges and a M1-P at the marker edge.  Keep on top of these by making sure the number of stitches are always the same when comparing the two panels, and that they are always an even number (for now anyway).

3) It might help for you to keep your place in the written instructions if you have a post-it note or some highlighter tape.  They are fairly wordy and you might find that you are spending more time trying to figure out where you are in the instructions, than you are knitting!

So…here’s the cast on, and without giving away details of the pattern, I’ll let the picture do the talking.

I found it necessary to do 13 rows of i-cord in order to pick up the required number of stitches. 

Heres how we picked up and knit the stitches

After you have worked a few rows…you will find that you have to do a double increase to one stitch, twice.  That doesn’t mean 4 increases to the same stitch, but 2 increases to one stitch and 2 to the next.  You end up with 6 sts where you used to have 2.

Here’s Mom showing us how to:

Knit into the front.

Knit into the back.

 Knit into the front again.

Moving right along…

                            If you look at the instructions just prior to the paragraph labled Beg long cables (pg 107).  It reads sm, p12, sm.  This is incorrect (ERRATA), it should read sm, k3, p6, k3, sm.  This has been confirmed with Mari.    Same page, instructions for Row 2, it says to work row 2 of chart, then row 1 of chart.  However, it should refer to Row 2 of chart throughout Row 2 instructions. 

After you complete row 4 (bottom of pg 107), you enter into a new stage.  Written instructions no longer exsist (not for a while anyway) and you have your chart and a few “regulations” (regulations are listed under the stitch key at the bottom of pg 108).

Here are the regulations in a nutshell:

                 On a RS row, do the following, always:   start the row with Sl 1, k1, yo; M1 p-st before the first marker and after the last marker; end with yo, k2. 

                 On a WS row, do the following always:  start the row with a Sl 1, k1, end the row with a K2

                 For the stitches between the charted cables and excluding the stitches mentioned just prior, work in reverse stockinette.  (That means to purl on the RS and knit on the WS.)

Here’s a sample of 2 rows to help you understand: 

                            Row 5 (RS): Sl 1, k1, yo, p3, work row 5 of chart, p7, M1 p-st, sm, p2, work row 5 of chart, p2, sm, M1 p-st, p3, work row 5 of chart,  p5, yo, k2–52 sts.  Row 6 (WS):  Sl 1, k7, p3, k2, p7, sm, k2, p3, k2, p3, k2, sm, k8, p3, k2, p3, k6.

Additional Tips -   Using the copier, we blew up anything we could (ok, so I’m middle-aged and can’t see).  We especially blew up the chart (first 56 rows).  We also marked on the chart, the notes from pg 107 ( labled Beg long cables).   For example, I hand wrote on Row 3 of my chart, RC to the right and LC to the left (to indicate that when on the right panel, preform RC, when on the middle and left panel, preform LC).  Row 12 reads (CENTER ONLY for M1). 

A few more pictures from the day:

Homework assignment!  Work thru row 56 of chart.    Join our KAL Ravelry group (linky), so we can communicate better and let me know how soon you want another installment. 

I love the yarn selection, Alpaca With A Twist Highlander is very warm and soft!  The pattern is unique in the way it begins as well in it’s style. 

Pictures can also be viewed from flickr.

Enjoy! 

 ~ Joan

We are just a few days away from casting on for this stunning shawl at The Local Needle! 

              Before we start, you’ll want to make sure you have all your ducks in a row…

Yarn — Vogue Knitting, Fall 2009 issue — Size 10 Circulars (or size to ga uge)  — A few markers — A gauge swatch!

Now, for a few notes regarding the above:

I’ll be using Alpaca With A Twist Highlander in color 3015 , Hebrides Rose.  A few nice ladies at the shop helped me choose it.  The original color used in the magazine is 5013, Fritillary.  It reminds me of a spiced pumpkin, where 3015 is more of a brick red. 

Other colors being used… 3016,  0299,  0096 (there may be others, these are just the ones I’m aware of).  All colors can be viewed here.

The pattern calls for four size 10 circular needles, however I’m quite sure that’s overkill!  Just a long size 10 circular is all you need.  You might want a shorter one to work the shawl when it’s not so big.

Make a guage swatch, stockinette is fine.   Adjust your needle size up or down as needed to get gauge.  

Here’s a cute little tip for knowing what needle size you used in your swatch.  When you start your swatch, note your needle size by incorporating the same amount of yarnovers as needle size.  For example, if I swatch using a size 10 needle, I would k1, (K2tog, yo) 10 times, k to end of row.  Then, work pattern needed to measure gauge .  If  I switch to a size 9 needle, I would then do one row of k1, (K2tog, yo) 9 times, k to end of row and work pattern for gauge.  You can now view your entire swatch and see exactly where you changed needles.

We are casting on in the shop this Saturday (9/19/09) and for those that are joining us online we will have a new post available by Sunday.  There’s still time to join us!

Shawl of Cables

The shawl calls for 8 skeins of Alpaca With A Twist Highlander and we have every color available on our shelf.  Also, you must have purchased a copy of Vogue Knitting, Fall 2009.  We might be blowing up some charts on the copier, but you’ll need proof of purchase before we share. 

This garment is perfect for the cooler Fall weather!  Hope you can join us!

These lovely pattern booklets finally made it into the shop and online!  Jared Flood has teamed with Classic Elite yarns and designed the patterns that make up the booklet.  The photographs are examples of his usual quality… makes the knits real yummy!

The Beaumont and Seneca are two of my personal favorites!

Local Shops in the Jacksonville, FL area teamed up with the Jacksonville Suns for the area’s first ever Stitch N’ Pitch!   

The Suns were matched up against the Carolina Mudcats and although the game was a loss, it was still a win for stitchers.  AND…we learned that a mudcat is a catfish that lives in muddy water (I’m not so sure I’d name a team after that tho).

 Like any good Stitch N’ Pitch, goody bags are a requirement! 

L to R: Sharon (Hanks Yarn & Fiber) April, Kaycee (fans of The Local Needle)

 Not only would we like to thank the Baker County Chamber of Commerce for letting us use their facilities,  we’d also like to thank the following businesses for contributing to our local Stitch N’ Pitch event:

It was a breezy, warm and rainy day at the park and it was all we could do to stay dry.  However, with the tarp in place and the game delayed, we were able to get in a little more knitting time!

1/2 the group

The NeedleArts Mentoring Program (NAMP) will be receiving upward of $150.00 from this event – well done everyone!

Our goal for next year is to have it earlier in the Season (hoping for April!), set back under cover a bit more (in case it’s another rainy day)  and to double the number that attend! 

Thanks to everyone that participated and attended!

Coming to The Local Needle soon!

Preorder HERE!

The Local Needle now presents…..

Ty-Dy Socks…from Knit One Crochet Too!

Ty-Dy Socks

ty-dy socks new