Friday confessional

Ok, I'll fess up. I still haven't completed the finishing on the Vintage Copper Cowl Neck Sweater yet. I will set aside at least an hour to it today/tonight, promise. Just couldn't help myself. See the shipment of Maggi's yarns and books arrived and had to start one of the projects immediately.

The yarn is her Maggi's Linen which is a yummy light worsted weight 48% Linen 52% Cotton blend. The put up is a 126 yard ball and comes in neutrals and very nice colors of which I selected the Natural 01.

The picture below shows that instead of being a fully plied yarn it contains three separate plies wound together. You work with this as you work any project where you are carrying several yarns together. It really is nice to work with and has a very nice, light feel. Perfect for a Summer project.

Such as the cover project in book 15 The Gathered Look. This is the Alcala Shawl. It is a typical Maggi design with multi tiers and fringe. I love it and know it will be perfect for cool Summer evenings here in the Pacific North West.

Here it is on the needles. Colonial Rosewood US 9's to be specific which give the perfect amount of drag for this yarn. I, per usual, had to go up one full needle size to get gauge but I was excited that I got gauge, both stitch and row, with this size. Yep, a slightly tight knitter here.

I also decided it might be a really good idea to attach the fringe as I finish each section so I'm not left doing all of them at the end.

Don't forget I am offering Free Shipping as this weeks special. Good on orders $40.00 and over within the US. All orders are shipped USPS Priority Mail.

Speaking of shipping. I will be on holiday starting Monday March 2nd through Tuesday March 10th. All orders received during this time will be shipped on Wednesday March 11th.

Now back to finishing a project ;-)

What will you be working on this weekend?

The other side of the coin

Wanted to share a quick project update on the Vintage Copper Cowl Neck Sweater.
I finished knitting the 1x1 ribbed sash which completed the knitting portion of the project.
Next step is 'sewing' the pieces together. Notice the crochet hook. Yes, instead of using a traditional mattress or back stitch seam I am using a single crochet stitch to 'sew' all of the seams. This is my method of choice for a light weight yarn like this Habu Kasuki Zome Silk.
I love the surged looking seam it give and since you finish the project by doing a single crochet edging around the neck line and sleeve edges it works for me.


Above is a closeup of a shoulder seam. This baby will be finished tonight and ready to wash and block tomorrow.

I am hoping to finish up the seaming and edging early enough to start my next project and share it with you in the next day or 2.

Enjoy and Knit On!

Model Monday

It came!!! The dress model arrived today and couldn't wait to put it to work. Very easy to put together, adjust the height, and it is pinnable. Perfect for draping or putting up pieces before sewing together. Don't know why I didn't get one of these sooner. Hmmm, maybe a foot/leg for is needed for socks?

Looky what I found in my WIP bin. A Maggi Jackson project from Stitches West 07. Yes, 2 years ago. A friend introduced me to her designs and instantly fell in love with them. Then I was fortunate to have the opportunity to take a class at SW where she taught several of her techniques for combining her yarns in a signature MJ modular scarf. For whatever reason this made it's way to the bottom of the WIP queue. Well it's back out and in the current rotation of current projects. At the same time I knew I wanted to carry Maggi's yarns and books in the shop. I started to and even received a partial shipment of my first order from the distributor. Well I never received the remainder and other things happend and carrying her yarns also moved down the list. Well a few weeks ago I received a call from Maggi's husband letting me know that she is now distributing her yarns and books directly. I knew this was the perfect chance to make the move and bring Maggi's yarns back to The Knitting Hutch and I placed an order. You can find the yarns here and books here and I will be expanding the selection throughout the year.

Knit on!

Penny for your thoughts

... and appropriately Happy President's day.
I love this sweater's simple design and eyelet detailing which is continued on the sleves. I am using the recommended yarn which is unusual. Habu's Kasuki Zome silk in color 26 Suo which is dead on match to a new copper penny.




This and another couple sweaters attracted me to this newer book ~ A Stitch In Time. It is the 2nd rewrite of vintage English patterns from 1920 through 1949. It is a hefty book that includes the original pattern, brief fashion note of the time and the updated version of the pattern. This book can be purchased at
http://shop.knitonthenet.com/

This is a quick knit in stocking stitch and should finish the front tonight.


There is also a Ravelry group for this book that is very helpful.





The Magically Mobieus Cowl is finished and blocked. Yes, I blocked a mobieus? Well it wasn't easy but felt the lace needed to be pulled out so I blocked as much as I could and left the crossover area as it was. I am happy with the way it turned out. Perfect diameter but if I were to do it over I would have done at least 1 or 2 more repeats to increase the width allowing me to pull it over my head if needed. I think it was the perfect pattern for this skein of Schaefer Anne.

Seasons of Habu - Spring 09. Just received the last of the goodies for the kit over the weekend. Now I am putting the kits together.... very fun. I also finished editing the pattern, printing and stuffing them into page protectors. I am so excited about this kit and can't wait to send them out on March 2nd. There are 6 kits left in the shop.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day

Proof is in the vest

Ok, here's proof that I actually finished the Simply Van Gogh vest.I am not a vest person but this might change my mind about that. This project actually changed my mind on a few things.

Such as... Garter is beautiful and 3 needle bind of on the right side is cool.

Love it! It's already been worn to knitting night on Monday.

Worked on the Magically Lacy Wrap but will wait to post pics when it's done.

Twittering ~ I've joined the Twitter world. How fun is this. You not only put up quick posts (tweets) with what you're doing but you can follow your favorite people. I currently am following my fav political pundits, politicians as well as knitting friends. You can find me on twitter here.

Blondechick turned me on to fabric slipper patterns/tutorials at Sew,Mama,Sew's blog.

Aren't these the cutest flip flops/thongs? You can find a really good tutorial for these on LadyHarvatine's blog

Just wish that all my sewing stuff wasn't buried in the storage unit.

Might have to get some fat squares and go down to my sisters and have a sewing day.

For tonight there will be more knitting on the magically lacy wrap and some yummy pasta for dinner.

Knitting Time

Yes, there is still some knitting going on here.

First up - Iggy Pop Socks
Love this color way from The Woolen Rabbit.
and this merino/nylon blend is really nice to knit with.

Stats: Cross-stitch block by Charlene Schurch using US 1
2 circs at a time, cuff down. This is a different type of cable design which is fun but not too demanding since it only happens on every 14th round. Not working on these full time like I usually do but have these as my traveling project.

This is my primary project right now ....

Magically Lace Wrap. This is based on Cat Bordhi's Treasury of Magical Knitting (White Lace Shoulder Wrap). I've forgotten how addicting mobieus knitting can be. I am using a good sized skein of Schaefer Anne yarn which is typically used for socks. Looked a little fuzzy for my sock taste so I knew it would be a perfect cowl/scarf/wrap. Depending on how much is left after the pattern defined repeats I might add a lacy border on this. Oh, I'm using US 6 Denise Interchangeable needles with a really long cable.

I am also working on the pattern for the Summer Seasons of Habu but will wait to share that until I have it further along.

In the shop ...

Did some cosmetic type updates and pictures. Yesterday added the Habu shipment of Kusaki Zome silk, Kakisbui cotton and restock of the Stainless Steel Silk in Violet.

Busy Monday

Lookie what I ordered last Friday. A French, Pinnable Dress Form. This will be perfect for modeling items for the shop as well as my personal projects. Found this on ebay of course.

Can't wait for this to get here so I can take proper pictures of some projects.

Tomorrow I'll share some of my current projects.

New in the shop ...

Each week I will be featuring a collection from the shop and putting them 15% off. Weekly specials will run Sunday through Saturday. This weeks special is the Accessories collection. All accessories are 15% off this week (excludes knitting needles).

I will post every Friday or Saturday the upcoming special.

Finally got Habu Silk Stainless Steel in Violet. However, they are the 1/2 oz cones instead of the full 1 oz I usually carry. Oh well, all colors are in stock! Also in are more colors of the Kasuki Zome silk and Kakishbu Cotton. On the way are all colors of the Habu merino wool used for the Kusha Kusha Scarf and Shawl projects.

Simply Van Gogh

I am humming along on this project from Folk Shawls.
Amazing how the humble garter stitch can look so amazing.

Here's the details ~

Pattern: Simply Garter by Cheryl Oberle in Folk Vests
Yarn: Jojoland Rhythm (worsted weight) color m24 Sunflowers
Needles: US 8

The yarn is very nice to work with and a very good price point. It isn't a highly refined yarn but I love the more organic texture of this one. It is a variegated yarn but instead of being hand painted it is plyed with different colors and they melt together nicely. Not unlike Noro.

Yes, I am working on getting this yarn back in the shop along with the fingering weights from Jojoland.

Now back to finishing up the purchase order with Jojo and updating the website ...

oh and hope to finish this project tomorrow night. Just have a few more rows of the right front and finishing on the collar and armholes.

Head in the clouds

Ok, this is going to start out a little bit techy today but that's where my head is right now. So feel free to skip ahead if this isn't your cup of tea.

There is more and more talk about Cloud Computing lately and here's an interesting article on the Google/Apple Cloud convergence. I went searching for a high level overview of what this Cloud Computing is all about and found this article. Basically this is a way of serving software from a centralized, network server rather than installing it on the end users desktop or laptop;

ie. reading your Yahoo email through the Internet on Yahoo's website instead of MS Outlook running on your laptop. Love it when the computing industry comes up with these clever names for things that have been around for a while. This is really not much more than the basic 3-tier architecture software. For the past 10 years I've been administering and developing Remedy applications in this manner. Tier 1 is server side which 'serves' the application/database and so on, Tier 2 (middle tier) is the web interface allowing Tier 3 (End User) access to the files/data through the Internet. By doing this you reduce the footprint of the end user's desktop/laptop by offloading off of the user to the server. Ok, actually this is like going way back to the olden days when you just had a dumb terminal and keyboard connected to the mainframe. So, what's old is new again.

I've also been going through a PHP tutorial today which is fun. I've been stuck back in .asp too long. Next up, Web 2.0 and Jquery.

Now for the knitting content of my blog...

I am working on the Simple Garter vest from Folk Vests. This is another wonderful knitting book by Cheryl Oberle. I've named this one Simply Van Gogh since the way the variegated Jojoland Rhythm yarn is working up reminds me of a Van Gogh painting (see pic at the top of this post). This was a perfectly mindless knitting project for working on while watching the Super Bowl ads and half time show. As a side note here my 2 fave ads were the Fetching Bud Horse and the Love Sick Circus Bud Horse. I'll catch you up on my current sock in progress tomorrow.

News from The Knitting Hutch ...

Last week I received a very nice phone call from Mike at Maggi Knits. Maggi Jackson is an amazing knitwear designer from Ireland with a wonderful collection of yarns. Last year I attempted to carry her items in the shop but it was not an easy feat with the distributor at the time. Well I was very happy to hear that Maggi is distributing her yarns and books directly here in the US. So, I will be bringing these back in the shop very soon. In the meantime I do have some of her linen/cotton blend, mist slub and rag in stock so take a look.

Enjoy and knit on!