31 December 2016

Yarn choice for Anisos - guest blogger Andrea



Happy (almost) New Year!  I'm excited to be, once again, joining the New Year KAL.  I'm really looking forward to beginning.  The pattern is stunning and I've chosen a yarn that I have not previously knit with.  I love the color and can't wait to start casting on those 735 picots (I'm knitting the largest size).  See you in 2017!!

30 December 2016

ANISOS YARN - guest blogger Tracey



My yarn choice for the Anisos wasn't hard
to make. I have been saving two skeins of
The Fibre Company's Meadow in Gentian Violet
because I love this yarn and can't think of a better
person to use it for than my Mama.

I am going to knit the second largest size as I have
1090 yards and I want to use every last gram that
I can.

2016 was the year of socks for Christmas gifts
and I have decided 2017 will be the year of
the Shawl.

24 December 2016

My Choice Of Yarn Is... - posted by Kelli

                               


GISC K A L
Round Mountain Fibers~
I'll talk more about it soon!

9th Annual New Year Knitalong ~ posted by Melissa

It's here! Time to gather supplies and count the minutes...

Kelli and I were together when we chose our pick for this year's knitalong.  It was an instant 'this is the one!' from both of us when we saw Lily Go's design from Wool People 9.

Here is Anisos:
(photos used with permission from Brooklyn Tweed)



This is the perfect choice for a kal - there are five (5!!) different size options, from a small shawlette to a lovely piece large enough to wrap yourself up in.  It has an unusual shape as well, so it's going to be a learning experience for Kelli and I.  There's always something new to learn so that was definitely a selling point for me when deciding on this design.

The pattern is available on Ravelry and also directly from Brooklyn Tweed's website:


As far as the business end of the kal:

We cast on New Years Day (not a minute before) but other than that, there are no rules.  There is no deadline, we go at our own pace (this is supposed to be fun!), you may blog with us (details below) or just follow along in the comments section.  We encourage you to tackle new things and are here to help each other along the way if needed. 

I think that's everything.  If you would like to join us January 1st, send me a message on Ravelry (twoknitwit) with your email address and I'll add you to the blog as an author.  You'll have blogging privileges and will be able to post and share pictures as we go.

For newbies that want to blog with us, here is a link to a page that Kelly Lightbeam created for us with exactly what will happen when you send me your email address:


I hope we have a good turnout this year.  The blog has been fairly quiet for the last year but it's starting to come to life again and I'm excited to reconnect with some of our annual knitting friends...and maybe a few new ones!

Finally, just to get this party started - here is my yarn choice for my Anisos.  I'll be making the largest size because, yo that's how I roll ... heheheh : )


I hope everyone is as excited about this as Kelli and I are.

Happy Sunday, all!

~ Melissa


01 December 2016

Stonecrop (A 2016 New Year's KAL) by guest blogger Andrea

  Andrea here.  I have procrastinated long enough in presenting my Stonecrop, the 2016 KAL project.  It was so much fun to knit and I'd like to share to results with you.  I named my shawl Pearl without Purls.  It amazes me that you could create something so beautiful with nothing more than knit stitches and yarnovers.  It makes it completely reversible too.  


A Pearl Without Purls
       

Up close and personal
Matches the barberry
The repeating motif is so beautiful

My favorite table runner
Thank you to Melissa and Kelli for the  great KALs.  What's in store for 2017?  It's just around the corner.


IRELAND ~ By Kelli

The yarn shop in Dublin, you can tell from the knitted open signs, this is going to be good!
This Is Knit
YES! Lace shawls!
Melted me ~ capturing companion!  
after giving, he bent down and said something~   God Bless them both!
A field trip perhaps? Happy carefree girls! Lovely Irish young ladies! All small town
school kids we saw had uniforms.  This was Dublin, big city,
No uniforms.?
Christ Church, Dublin,
Around a thousand years old~
Welcome
Tiles!
Arches and such detail
Very active church!
peeking through
Lots of grey stone in Ireland, usually with a touch of green!
The fog, while riding the train!
SWEATERS!!! 
Christmas Market, Limerick, Ireland
Coal waiting to warm the pub for the day, and into the morning!
The coal stove to warm you...might need a cold beer
when you sit there!
OH MY PIE!!!
All Christmas outed, we where there Nov 13-22.
Made me grateful for Thanksgiving and how it
does slow Christmas down more then Ireland ~
Tea Shop, yummy!
On the rivers edge, swapping fishing stories with the locals~
Galway Bay, Ireland, stone walls every where!!!
The simple.
Happy welcoming kitty!
Loved the nature
The Cliffs Of Mohar!!!!!!
Ludlow is the perfect scarf to travel with, ask Will!
What's not to love!
King John's Castle wall! The English side of Limerick, Ireland




Hoping you all enjoyed~ trust me I have many more photos,you just never know when I'll post more :)

28 November 2016

Woolens far and wide ~ by guest blogger WillyG

Greetings! 

Warning: buckle in. This is a long post. Enjoy!

Jeff and I recently traveled to visit friends near the German border in Switzerland. Of course, I decided I would take along a couple KAL items for the long hours at the airports and in the plane. I'm happy to say that I completed my Ludlow somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean - with the caveat that I only worked it for two thirds of the length.  
One of the first things I did once I got settled in Switzerland was to take a photo of my new FO!
Having a couple biggish wrappy things, I wanted something I could wear more as a scarf with my recently completed Timberline sweater (also a BrooklynTweed design -- and probably my favorite). The full length just wouldn't work well with the generous collar on the sweater. Omitting the third pattern repeat gave me a length I liked and could work with.



I figured out a way to fold it in half lengthwise, wrap it once for delicious height to block out the chill, then open each end inside my sweater so that it added a layer of insulation in front and back. It's a bit tricky to get the back to lay flat, but it served me well in the cold spell they were experiencing.



Blocked Ludlow
I had knit the Timberline sweater once previously and had a little gauge problem that turned out to make an excellent gift. I don't regret that error one bit, as I absolutely love seeing such a gorgeous sweater on this handsome guy - he wears it so well!  But now I have my own - it just took bumping the needle size down. I actually really enjoyed returning to this pattern.


Wearing my Ludlow felt appropriate; I noticed a lot of Swiss people wearing voluminous scarves, such as the one my stylish friend is sporting in this picture. She loaned us her darling baby through the week, and he kept us grounded through a challenging election week. (Yes, we were biting our nails and watching things from afar.) There's nothing like a baby to give one a bit of perspective.


Everywhere we went was beautiful. One of the stops was Schloss Wildegg - a baroque castle that has a sort of nature preserve on its property. 











We went on a perfect day for wool lovers because it was the annual wool pool. Farmers brought in their newly shorn wool, laid it out in long piles, and drove over it with a baler to pack it up for industrial use.








It was pretty much just farmers there; I think they were wondering who the heck this weirdo was that was gawking at the wool...



"Inside is the new outside!"
Jeff and I got not a few curious looks when we knit in the train or cafes. Sadly, handknitting in Switzerland seems to have been largely replaced by the machine industry, and male knitters are not particularly prominent in the area we visited.  I did find this advertisement in Germany, however - trying to butch up knitting with the hipster lumberjack image.



Machine knitting may have taken over the industry, but they do know how to advertise wool sweaters...
More of the wool advertisements were for finished wool products, but at perhaps the most wonderful fall festival in the world (?), there were still a few fiber artists, including felt artists, Spycher handwerk (from whom we bought lovely felted slippers), and a couple silk dyers. Interestingly, the one corner of the handknitting market that seems to be profitable for hand dyers is in the realm of silk. The overall aesthetic in Switzerland seems to be for very soft yarns, not necessarily the rustic yarns I hoped I would find.


Felted gnomes at one of the many booths at the Basel Herbst-Messe. What a delightful fall festival!




Ooh, look! A perfect knitting nook on the Rhine!



Laufenburg, Switzerland as seen from Laufenburg, Germany


I discovered the Prisma app as I began the trip... I couldn't resist playing with these photos!



If you ever make it to northern Switzerland, the best yarn shop is Ain's Yarn Design -- which happened to be located within walking distance of our home base in Frick during our stay! I was pleasantly surprised -- or overwhemed -- by this shop.



In a country where knitting tastes resulted in shops filled with fashion yarns and soft but lackluster, mechanized merino yarns, here was a treasure trove of color, filled with beautiful handdyes and special yarn blends that I have come to love in the US. We are truly spoiled here! 




Baa ram ewe's breed-specific blends were a wonderful sight to behold





A Stephen West knitalong required some people to help each other with translating the instructions from English to German, then to Italian (because the Brazilian does not speak German)... I felt right at home with these lovely people! I rediscovered how much I love being exposed to different languages.


Handspinning still perhaps needs a revival in Switzerland, but Ain speaks that language as well, and makes sure there's a bit of something for everyone.


The thing to notice here is that you don't just have a few colors in any particular line of a beautiful yarn. Color is very special to Ain, and it shows. She seemed to only have room to display one or two skeins of any given colorway, because she stocks a full palette of colors. Even in America, this is not something I've seen too often.


with Ain and her charming son, just returned from a day's hard labor at school



Ain always invited us into the back room to share coffee and something sweet to nibble while we chatted and knitted. Yes. Because we visited three times in one week. And you should, too, if you possibly can. A conversation with her gives new meaning to the phrase "knitting therapy." I think I found a kindred spirit. 

Not pictured is the Stonecrop I brought on the plane and continue to work on between other projects. I really have taken the "no deadline" part of the KALs seriously, haha!  

May your holiday season be filled moments of love and warmth and colors that feed your soul...