Lots of catching up here

Wow, it's been nearly a month since I posted! This leaves a lot to fill you in on here.

There has been a whole lot of knitting, filling the shop and of course job searching going on here.

Let's start with the knitting ...

Olympic knitting

I started the Seasons of Habu Winter 08 project during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics.
Good thing this is a fairly easy stitch patterned project as the ceremonies were incredible!
I wanted to do this project as soon as I received the supplies so I had a clear idea of the available yardage for this project and let me tell you there will be plenty of yardage on this one. Loved this and know those registering for this seasons club kit will too. You can find out more info and when sign-ups begin on the Seasons of Habu - Winter 2008 page.


Highland knitting - After blocking the above project I felt I needed to appease the WIP gods and finish up a project already started. I picked up the Highland Triangle Shawl (Scotland) from Folk Shawls and quickly finished this one up. Ok, so I just had to finish up the inner border and knitted on edging. In 3 nights I had this one done and blocking and was able to wear it to the county fair (more on that below). I love this book and have knit 5 of the 25 and know I will be doing more. Yes, I still need to finish the Kimono shawl still. Oh, and I used 5 balls of Frog Tree Alpaca fingering weight in color 007 soft brown with size US 5 needles. This will be one of my 'everyday' shawls.
Hav u Habu? - Next up was another Habu Linen and Silk Shoulder Bag. This one is in the Charcoal color using the A-60 Linen paper yarn combined with A-1 Tsumugi Silk (beautiful combo) with a US 4 needle to create a tight fabric. The 2 colors work so well together and the linen paper gives an iridescent blue black which is amazing. This morning I went to the fabric store and found a very nice Asian inspired cotton fabric to line this one. Oh, and yes there are some of these kits in the store.

FLS KAL Anyone? Ok, I succumbed to the February Lady Sweater Knit-along going on in my local knitting group and on Ravalry. I've been wanting to make this one since I saw it on Rav and queued it up immediately. Then Barb wore hers to the Fair on Friday and I had to get on this one. I had some JoJoland fingering weight wool in my stash that was used for the beginning of a shawl that I wasn't in love with and knew it would be perfect for this. The color here is a bit off as it is more of a rich burgundy red and less Coke can red. I cast this on using US8s on Monday with the yarn doubled to get just under worsted weight and am nearly 2/3 through the yoke. This will be a great sweater for Fall... now to find the perfect antique buttons for this.

Where's Sea Tangles? This one isn't dead, don't worry. I just had to put it on hold until I got in more Stainless Steel Silk from Habu for the shop. Well I did but it seems to be going out faster than I can get it in. I still have some left and have my next order ready to go next week. Please email me if you'd like to know what I have or reserve yours from the next order.

'Our County Fair is a Great County Fair..." oh well, you know what I mean.

I entered 6 projects in different categories in the fair this year. Well, this is the first time ever that I've entered anything into the fair, city girl here. This was really fun preparing the items and then seeing how they did. Last Friday I went to the fair on the 2nd day with my mom to check the fair and demonstrate lace knitting and of course see how my babies did. Well I am proud to say all 6 won 1st place blue ribbons and 3 also won class runner up ribbons. Here are a few pictures of the entries.

Are You Wired? Just in yesterday a restock of the Blockit from TIP. I swear I can't block a sweater or shawl without this and know you will love how it makes blocking so much easier. You can find it in our Accessories department.

Ode to the cable needle

Ok I really don't use cable needles very often but when you need them boy do you need them.
I know some are able to do cables without any type of holding device and I would agree that this is fine for wool, alpaca and other non slippery yarns but not for silk. When I started Sea Tangles I looked all over for my favorite cable needles but couldn't find them anywhere. Then I remembered I gave them to a friend who was a new knitter and working on her first cabled project. So off I went in search of a cable needle since I don't carry these in my online shop (yet).
First I went to Fred Myers to check their small yarn section, nothing. Then with 30 minutes to spare I went down to JoAnn's before they closed on Sunday. They had one but not my preferred style of cable needle. I was stuck so I took it anyways. I plodded through with this cable needle for over 50 rows of my project but still wasn't happy with it. So yesterday I while running some errands I found a hobby shop that looked like it would have a decent sized yarn section. Yep, it did stuck back in the furthest corner. (why do all hobby stores shove knitting to the back? Then I found it... my favorite type of cable needle!

There are 2 common types of cable needles. Fish hook (left) and straight with a bump (right).
The straight is ok in a pinch but I really am much happier with the fish hook style. For me it feels more secure holding the stitches in the crook nicely with the balance and gravity holding it from shifting around trying to lose your stitches.

The other really nice 'feature' of the fish hook style is hangs nicely on the side of your knitting basket while not in use. I've decided to order these for the shop and include one in each order of the Habu Stainless Silk order for those using it for Sea Tangles.

So what is your preferred style of cable needle? Fish hook or straight with bump?

Last Nights Knitting - Well as you can probably tell from this picture not much knitting last night. 6 rows to be exact. I was working on the website, answering emails and of course watching Project Runway. Well hopefully better progress will be made tonight.

As promised pictures of the completed Trekking King Charles Brocade socks.
I'm excited about entering these and a few other projects in the fair next month.
Anyone else planning on entering their projects in their county fair?

Oh, and a shipment from Habu arrived this morning! Already up on the site and going out the door so take a look > theknittinghutch.com There's another shipment on it's way and should be here next week but this is part of my order for the Winter Seasons of Habu Club. Very excited to get started on this one. You can also see more info on this in the shop.

Knit on people

Just a quick update

Thought I'd put an update to my last post.

Last Nights (and the night before) Knitting....
First I did share the love and finished the King Charles Brocade Sock before working on my Sea Tangles Monday night. The socks are washed and blocking now getting ready to be entered into the county fair. Pictures tomorrow. Last night I did work a dozen rows on Sea Tangles. This pattern really is so cool. You have a choice of knitting from the static .pdf files or the dynamic Excel spreadsheet. What makes the spreadsheets dynamic? Well, the designer uses some fairly complex formulas to create each rows directions and each time you close and reopen the spreadsheet the random placement and size of the cables change but keeps the number of stitches in the row and increases correct. Really fun to watch. This also confirms her note that no worries if you don't exactly place the cable 34 stitches in but 43 or if you invert the cable stitches... it's all random. Cool!

Habu Stainless Steel Silk for the Sea Tangles update
Wow, response for the Habu Stainless Steel Silk has been tremendous.
From the upcoming shipment here is currently what is available for reservation

• grey are all spoken for
• brown 3 available to be reserved
• white and black plenty available for you to reserve

You can email me if you want yours from this upcoming shipment but
Of course I will be reordering this again soon.

Habu is coming
I have a great shipment that is scheduled to be here tomorrow and it includes some favorites that haven't been in for awhile.

Plus I've been busy today working on a surprise for the shop... more on that later.

hmmm, guess this wasn't really that quick of an update.
Promise pictures to share tomorrow.

Ok, I know I really shouldn't have ...

I know, I know I have way too many in progress projects right now and several just need a bit of finishing to get them in 'completed' status. But you see knitty.com went and released the Summer 08 suprises and I couldn't help myself.


One of the patterns is Sea Tangles by Kie Zuraw.

This pattern is a unique design that showcases Habu Textile's Stainless Steel and Silk yarn perfectly. It is a frothy tunic that uses randomly placed and sized cables to mimic fishing nets or Japanese seaweed - amazing! I really did have intentions of finishing up my King Charles Brocade socks with just part of a repeat and toe left to do then this project called to me.

I just happened to have some of this yarn in my stash waiting for the perfect pattern. The color also happened to be the same as the one the designer used (03 - top grey). Soooo, I found an empty US 6 circ, opened the pattern and cast on for the left sleve. Ok, this yarn really is between cobweb and lace weight (read sewing thread), but once you get it going on the size 6 needles it really isn't bad at all. I would however recommend using needles with the pointiest tip you've got. You will also need a small cable needle to hold this slippery goodness of yarn when doing the cables. Oh, and please don't do what I did (see pic below) and wind this off of the cone into a ball... not a good idea. Just knit it directly off of the cone.
Several customers have already contacted me asking if I have this in stock. I am currently out but I've placed an order for a mess of these in the top 4 neutral colors. If you'd like to reserve some for a Sea Tangles for yourself just drop me an email and I'll set some aside. I am still trying to confirm the yardage on these but looks like it will only take 2 to 3 cones of this to do a sweater. Oh, and this pattern is sized from XS to a 3X!

Ok, I guess I'll have to get busy knitting now and share the love between this one and the socks that are sooo close to done.

They're Here!

I've finally recieved the new product for The Knitting Hutch that I've been working on for a while now.

Knitit Wickit
The perfect knitting drying towels

For some time now I have searched for the perfect towel to dry my freshly washed knitted items. Old bathtowels were fine but just never seemed to absorb enough. These chamois cloths do the job very well. Knitit Wickit is a German made Chamois towel designed to wick away water. Whether you are preparing to block your freshly washed knitting project or dry your cherished heirloom knitted item this will wick away water and cut your drying time in half.
This is a must have item for any knitter! The kits include: 2 XLarge 27” x 20” cloths plus care instructions for $9.95. You can only find them at The Knitting Hutch.

Ok, now back to my knitting updates...

Last Nights Knitting .... Nothing really exciting here. I finished the leg of the King Charles Brocade sock and started on the heel turn. I did go with the Eye of Partridge flap but with the variegation you really can't see much pattern. Oh well.

Job Search update.... I haven't heard anything yet from the company or recruiter on the job downtown I really, really want. Hopefully I'll hear something on Monday... like a call to come in for an inperson interview.

That's all for now so everyone back to your knitting, and have a wonderful weekend.

I promised pictures today

I thought I would share just a couple of birthday presents I received last week.

From my sister I got a couple cool craft/knitting related items.

Her friend made this cool craft/sewing pendant. I know I want to use some leftover tsumugi wrapped silk to hang it with but still not sure where exactly I want to showcase this.

Then she gave me this knitter's dream. A rolling knitting bag. Tons of room, tons of pockets and really great patterned fabric. But alas as noted on the tag 'Supplies Not Included'... bummer ;-)

A yarn only a mother could love .... and I use the term yarn very loosely (pun intended).

Actually it isn't too bad for my first attempt at this magic called spinning yarn. Hoping that I improve greatly with practice and glad I am using some inexpensive roving for this practice piece.

I do still envision a spinning wheel in my future.

Last Nights (and prior nights) Knitting... Here is proof that I am knitting a pair of socks right now. This is some Trekking XXL I purchased last May on the Sea Socks 07 Cruise in Victoria, BC. Love the muted, muddy colors and I selected the King Charles Brocade pattern for it from More Sensational Knitted Socks. The pattern does take a little extra attention and heavy reliance on knitting matras to get a rhythm. I am into the 4th repeat of the leg and this should be my preferred length and onto the heel. Gonna try the Eye of Partridge heel on this one for something different in a heel.

Ok now onto the job front.... I had the phone interview with the company I talked about yesterday and it went very well. The recruiter also heard from them that it went well. They are of course interviewing several people in the next day or two and will select a couple of us to come in for the in person round of interviewing before they make their choice. Hmmm, this isn't exactly they way the recruiter initially presented how this would go but oh well. I just hope I get this one as it sounds perfect for me and an exciting challenge.

Keep on Knittin'

Very good week

Job Search News .... and looks like it might end with me getting a job. As you probably know I've been looking for 5 months and on Monday alone I submitted 9 applications. On Tuesday I received a call from a 'recruiter' looking for a Remedy Administrator / Developer for a client of theirs. It appears this isn't even one I had applied for as it isn't posted anywhere (yet). This 1st screening phone call went very well so he set up a time for me to have another screening interview this morning at 11am. This also went very, very well and he then set up for a (hopefully) final phone interview with the Director of Software Engineering tomorrow at 11am. I was told right off that the company really liked my resume and it looked good for me to be selected for this job. This will start off as a 6 month contract which more than likely lead into a permanent position. I've already researched this company, and equally important their location here in Seattle. I will share more about who they are and what they do once I land the job... but let's just say it is located in the absolutely most perfect spot in Seattle. They are right on the waterfront, between Pike Place Market and Seattle Center/Space Needle/Sculpture Garden. Oh, and my new hair stylist and So Much Yarn is just a few blocks away. Now I ask you how perfect is all that. Ok, now back to my chances. Not only does the referring and hiring company like me, I am the only candidate they are presenting to the hiring company! Check back tomorrow for updates.

Now back to our regularly scheduled knitting content....

Last Night's Knitting... Last night I went to the Tuesday night knitting group here in Marysville, WA. We met at the park which was a very nice change of venue from a coffee shop. Not only did I do a little knitting on my current sock project (remind me to share later), Megan taught me to spin with a spindle. Can you believe it! It's been over a year that I've been talking about learning to spin and finally I've started. Like everyone says it's a little bit of magic. Well I'm so mentally distracted today that I haven't taken any pictures so those will come tomorrow as well.

at the shop ... I received part of what i need for the exciting, new product I have in the works and the main part of this should arrive tomorrow or Friday at the latest. Then a bit of work and it should be available end of next week..ish. Promise this will be well worth the wait and you'll wonder how you went this long without it.

sorry for the lack of photos but I'll make up for it tomorrow.

It's My Birthday!

Just thought I'd throw that out there ;-) Yep, 3 more years and I can join AARP... oh boy!

It really was just like any other day but still enjoyable. I did go over to the Seattle Premium Outlets to find an "Interview" outfit. Went to my 3 reliable shops and finally found something I really like. Navy, button fronted skirt, tailored white blouse and a necklace to bring them together. Very happy here... now for an interview or two, or three....

Anywho... onto Wednesday's Featured Project

Myrtle Leaf Shawl from Victorian Lace Today

This is the project for the Victorian Lace Today July 08 KAL. We were supposed to start this on Monday the 1st but .... I cast on for this one on Saturday evening under the premise that it was just a test to see if I liked the stitch definition and color placement. I liked so I kept it and put it aside until yesterday to play along with the non-rules of this KAL. I selected some Claudia Hand Painted Silk Lace in John B that I had in my stash that came from my shop. Using some vintage Susan Bates US5 circular needles that are pointy enough to make lace doable. I like this pattern even though it took a repeat for me to get into the rhythm of it and I can see how it might get a little monotonous.

Ok, That's it for today and knit on all.

2fer Tuesday

Well, looks like I didn't get to posting yesterday so I'll have to do 2 posts in one.

Monday's Musings - a day late. The last week was fairly uneventful. Still applying for positions and getting calls from recruiters (and nothing yet). I am currently working with one on a couple openings in the area that look very interesting and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one of them works out, but not holding my breath. Knitting projects are moving along with just needing to finish up the Sonnet and Gisela Sweaters with buttons on the Sonnet and left front band and final blocking for Gisela. Speaking of Gisela. If you are considering this project, which is a great one, be aware that it runs a little small so gauge is very, very, very important. I know I knit on the tight side but my gauge isn't that much smaller but the XLarge is closer to a Large. Next one I will be combining the Tsumugi silk with the Cotton Gima and stepping up the sizing a bit. There is a new project in progress - Myrtle Leaf Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I this one on a day or so early to check my gauge and really am liking this one. The KAL for this starts today and I am looking forward to seeing every ones projects. Last week I also place another order with Habu for even more lovely yarns and kits for the shop, and they should be in middle of next week. Then I also located a source for a very exciting new knitting tool that I know we'll all love and I already use regularly. Another project I've been working on is helping my mom redo her front yard. She has/had lawn with 2 trees and that's it.

We're pulling out all of the lawn in front, creating 2 tiers and turning into a English Country Cottage style garden. So far there

are 3 Mountain Ash bushes in different colors, coral bells in 2 different colors and a white variegated dogwood. It will be really nice when it's done and I'll post pictures of it's progress. And like an idiot I forgot to take pictures of the before with all of the lawn. Oh well.

Last night's knitting - Over the weekend I washed and did the pre-assembly blocking of Gisela and then assembled on Sunday. Then picked up and knit the collar and one of the front bands. It just needs the final front band and a final, very aggressive blocking. Note on the front bands. To widen the front sides I've opted to double the band from a 5 row garter to a 10 row garter. There was also the start of the Myrtle Leaf Shawl. I said this was the swatch but really I just went ahead and started the pattern and was pleased with the gauge and stitch definition and set it aside for tonight's knitting. No knitting was done Monday night. Spent all afternoon and well into the evening at Group Health evaluating my GERD and making sure it wasn't something more serious, which it isn't, so wasn't up to much of anything last night.

Check back tomorrow.... knit on.

Friday Fun

Here we are at the end of another week with the weekend ahead. Good time to make plans for finishing up projects and of course plan for (or start) a new one or two.


Last nights knitting ....
I did manage to finish up the left sleeve, but didn't get to starting the right sleeve. The reason was I was putting up a few items in the Dollar (and more) bin in the shop as well as compiling a knitting needle size conversion page which includes Japanese sizes. You can find this in the Helpful Stuff area of the shop. I know with patterns written in Japanese it is not easy to know what that size matches to in US/UK/Metric sizes so I thought I'd put it up for easy reference. Hope this is helpful... I know it will be for me.


Future plans ....

Finishing up - Tonight I will be casting on and knitting the right sleeve of Gisela. Should have this done tomorrow night and then all that is left will be sewing, collar, and bands for the front. I've changed my mind on blocking before assembly since there is still some knitting (collar and bands) after sewing together. So I hope to wash and block sometime on Sunday.



New project(s) - The new KAL for Victorian Lace Today will be starting on Tuesday, July 1st and the project will be the Myrtle Leaf Shawl. I've already picked out some yarn from my stash. Claudia's Hand Painted Silk in John B.

I do have a sock project planned and hope to have done in time for entering into the county fair but we'll see. Not like I don't already have at least 5 projects I plan on entering . This will be the first time I've entered anything at a fair and am looking forward to it. I'll share which projects will be entered towards the end of next week.

Future for The Knitting Hutch

• More pages in the Helpful Stuff related to Japanese and Lace knitting.
• Just placed an order with Habu and know people are looking forward to this one.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday's Thoughts

Okay, Let's jump right into it ...

Last Night's Knitting

More work on the Gisela Sweater with most of the left sleeve done and right one left to knit.
Wow, this is going to get really tedious. I do like the design of the sleve with a little slit of 3 to 3.5" at the lower outside edge. Rather than knitting the small 10 stitch section separate from the larger section and then join them when reaching the required length I knit them both at the same time and joined. This way I knew the row count and tension/gauge were exactly the same. Tonight I should finish up this sleeve and start on the right one.

Finishing thoughts ... I posted in the Cocoknits group on Ravelry asking if those who've done this one blocked and if so before or after sewing together. One response was that they blocked and before sewing and a lite block after assembly. My reason for asking is that the pattern, unlike most, makes no mention of blocking and when it should be done if at all. The other was that the shoulder 'seams' are live on holders and is unusual (for me) to have when blocking. In my opinion this one really does need a good and very agressive blocking session. So I'll go for it and use the stitches on the holders to help in the blocking, and maybe a light one after sewing as well.

Speaking of sewing this together I think I'll to a crochet seam on this one like I did for my Habu Shoulder bag. I love this method for this papery yarn and it gives a clean, serged like edge. Plus it's really easy and quick... just a series of single crochets joining each piece.

On the Job Front. Thought I'd let you all know how this is coming along, or not as the case may be. As you know in February of this year I was laid off from Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and moved to north of Seattle, WA on May 1st. Since the 2nd week of Feb I've been looking aggressively for a Reemdy Administration/Development and Oracle Development positino in CA or WA then in May narrowed my search to the Seattle area. I am registered on at least 6-8 job boards and can't tell you how many applications/resume submissions to job postings I've done to date. I have received numerous nibbles of interest and a handfull of phone/in-person interviews but no offers yet. (note optomisim in the "yet") Today alone I've submitted my resume for 6 jobs in the Seattle area. I also might hear next week if I will be asked back for another interview for a position with company in the insurance industry. Ok, so there's the latest and all positive job vibes welcome here.

Knit on ya'll

What's Happening

I am attempting to be more consistent in my blogging and my goal is to blog every weekday.
To help with this I am trying out a theme for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays entries.


Monday - General musings about knitting projects and life.
Wednesday - Featured Project (mine or Habu inspired).
Friday - Future Plans where I'll share projects I'll be starting as well as what is on the way to The Knitting Hutch.

I'm hoping that with a little structure it will help keep me blogging regularly.
I'll also be sharing what I worked on last night just about everyday as well.


Last Night's Knitting and Featured Project -
Gisela Sweater by Cocoknits using Habu Cotton Gima.
(see this at The Knitting Hutch)

Ok it is cheating a little since I already introduced this project before but I promise to be better prepared next week. Last night just about completed the back of this sweater and will easily finish the back tonight. Since I started by knitting the fronts this will leave the sleeves, sewing and blocking. This is a quick and enjoyable project and will be perfect for Summer evenings .

I planned for using 4 balls of the Habu Cotton Gima but looks like 3 should do it. I'll save the "What I've Learned" for the final post for this project.

Gisela on Ravelry

Check back with ya tomorrow

Happy Summer Solstice

Just popping in to wish everyone a Happy Summer Solstice...
and that your Summer is Peacefull, Plentiful and Productive.

I'll check back in on Sunday with a week in review.

Projects Finished and Projects Started

Thought I'd share with you a project completely finished and another started.

French Trellis Scarf - Finis
I cast this one on last Sept (07) and stalled when I came to the final knit on border.
While finishing the Spider's-Web Fichu I finally broke through the single knitted on border block and came back to this project while it was fresh in my mind. This was a fun project from Victorian Lace Today. Here's some stats.
Yarn: Habu Kusaki-Zome A-4 2/10 (3 balls)
Needles: US5
Blocked this yesterday afternoon and pulled up this morning... Love it!
The color in the center pic is a little closer to the actual color.

Gisela Sweater - Started

So with this done I just had to cast on a new project especially since my Habu order for the shop came in and this yummy cotton gima (fake linen) was waiting for the Gisela pattern that came last week..... how's that for a terribly long run on sentence.

I am using 4 balls of the Smoke (pink) color and am making the largest size using US8's since it seems to run quite small. Cast on last night and already finishing up the left front. Very quick knit.

New Arrivals at The Knitting Hutch

Speaking of new things in the shop. My order from Habu arrived first thing yesterday morning and I spent most of the day doing related tasks to receive it in and get it up on the website. In this shipment was...

• Bunches of the Cotton Gima in 5 (now 4) colors for the Gisela pattern
• More of the Tsumugi Silk
• Kusaki Zome Silk ... see above fini project... in several colors
• Restock of Silk Mohair
• Kusha Kusha and Shippo Tail scarf kits ... which won't last long.
• Along with a couple Habu Patterns (Feather & Fan Scarf and Cotton Gima Sweater)