knitwitzinc.com Blog

“Let the great world spin forever down the ringing grooves of change!”  D’ya think Tennyson knew about Spinning Saturdays?  Well, since he’s not a contemporary of ours, I doubt it.  And since he was talking about a utopia yet to come, he probably didn’t envision himself surrounded by spinning wheels, wool, and spindles.  But if he HAD been so surrounded as we were at KnitWitz today… well, that poem might’ve been a whole lot different.  There were a number of spinners in the shop for our Spinning Saturday - over 10 wheels in total and various and sundry spindling.  Naturally there was knitting as well, by both Those Who Will Not Spin and the spinners too.  We missed a couple of people (feel better!).  And made a lot of new friends – from as far away as Orlando!  Cute wheels, 4 Roses – which beats the previous record of Roses-in-one-place of 3, major fiber loveliness (thanks Chris!).  It started early, and ended late.  Thanks to those to hung in there for the ceremonial plying of the yarn.  And thanks to everyone who came and spun and had a lot of fun!  (Hey, I’m no Tennyson!)  Here’s a bit of what we got to see:

A lot of knitting… that’s a nearly finished baby sweater in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport with coordinating buttons.

Here is the Back to School U-Neck vest from Fitted Knits in Oldfield Creek Luxury, a silk merino blend that is just beautiful and perfect for this pattern… that’s almost gone (hint: Jim!).

Spinners in the morning, spinners in the afternoon, and spinners in the evening – from Jacksonville, and a lot of other places too!  Thanks to the marathoners for going the distance – we would love to see you again in May!

Twisting to Michigan (or, when bad things happen to good roving)…

Walking the twist back to Jacksonville!  Sometimes spinning takes two people.  Creatively Dyed grooviness from the lovely lady who taught me how to spindle ply from a bracelet.

You can’t tell it from this picture, but she can spin and knit at the same time… no, seriously.  I saw it myself.

The spinning hands of a first timer who did a fantastic – all the newbies did a great job!

And this is why we spin… because it goes from this, roving.

To this…a single.

A brief stop off in spaghetti world.

To two plied….

YARN.

Next Spinning Saturday will be in May!

[Ed. Note: MagKnits is no longer available as a source for free patterns as of the second week in April, 2008.  But the patterns that were featured at the site might be found on their designers' blogs.  Please join Ravelry to aid your search!] 

Did someone say free patterns?  And all I have to do is look at the ads?  Sign me up!  If you aren’t familiar with the several online knitting magazines out there – you should be.  Knitty is one, another is MagKnits, and there are patterns all over the internet on individual websites that are recognized by their name alone - see if any of them ring a bell…

Knitty comes out seasonally, with their suprise patterns following the big issue a few weeks later.  Knitty has a super index, letting you find back issues and patterns by type.  The Talia vest in the photo is something I just finished from their recent Spring issue.

One of the very nicest things about online knitting magazines – apart from the free patterns – is that so many people around the world will be working on the same thing you are.  If you run into problems, you aren’t alone!  And if you get slowed down, there is a ton of support as well. 

Some of the most popular patterns around the country have come from these online sources in recent years.  From Knitty, we’ve seen the Clapotis wrap (”clah-POH-tee” – although many simply shorten this to ”Clap”).  Other favorites include:  Mr. Greenjeans cardigan, Branching Out easy lace scarf, Calorimetry headband, Foliage lace beanie, Broadripple socks, Monkey socks, Pomatamus socks, Fetching fingerless gloves, and the Shedir hat – particularly lovely as a chemo cap to support cancer awareness.

MagKnits is a magazine that comes out bi-monthly, and has been around since 2003. It doesn’t have as many patterns as Knitty, but because MagKnits comes out more often it’s just as satisfying. MagKnits also has an index that will let you scroll through their patterns to find different items. The Katlyn Cardigan, shown in Noro Trasitions in the photo, is another one of my projects from their latest issue.  Some of the popular patterns from MagKnits include: Jaywalker socks, Sophie felted bag, Odessa beaded hat, and the Fake Isle hat.

There are other popular patterns that aren’t through the online magazines, such as the Irish Hiking Scarf, the Booga Bag, the Buttonhole Bag, and the Ball Band Dishcloth pattern – also available on the ball bands of the Peaches and Cream at the shop!

So next time you hear someone talking about dropping the stitches in their Clap, or swatching in the round for Pomatomus, or matching beads for Odessa – you’ll know what they’re about!

For entering the Stash Photo contest – and being the only person brave enough to enter.  You win the prize(s), and can claim them on your next visit.  Congratulations on the warm winter that’s made your fireplace unusuable for fires!

So anyway I haven’t been able to knit a lot lately, what with the three jobs… I thought I’d stay up late on Sunday to make some headway on a project.  Maybe seeing something come to life in my hands would get me back on track.  On the one hand, I don’t think the store has ever looked better (thank you, Tricia!).  But I needed to break the bad “knitting mojo” as so many of you say.  Well, I made great progress on the Airy Wrap-Around Lace Sweater from Fitted Knits.  And at a point where I was meant to count stitches, I realized that one had gone missing.  Somewhere today it must have happened, but my attention was God knows where.  It was a mistake – a drastic mistake.  And there was no way to correct it.  All that could be done was to un-do.

I frogged about 30 rows of heavy mohair.  I love Etoile, and think mohair is often misunderstood.  It’s not really a Florida yarn, and it’s slippery.  Actually, it’s prickly as yarns go.  It looks all nice and fluffy, very sweet and new, until you start to work with it – then it has a mind of its own.  I saw the missing stitch, that crazy loop that took a header and veered right off the needle and suddenly out of my control.  Too late, but there ya go.  At least knitting is a dress rehearsal – unlike life – and can easily be fixed. 

So today everyone got a look up the wizard’s robes, so to speak.  And the feedback has been on the whole overwhelmingly, “we understand” and “you need a vacation.”  But I’m giving myself a do-over and hope everyone else will, too.  It works that way in knitting, and I like to think that if more people knit the world would be a more peaceful and beautiful place.  Like mohair *before* you actually start to work with it.