Knitcircus

Sparkly Yarns Giveaway!

Putting together the Sparkly Yarns article for this week’s newsletter was so much fun, thought you might like to see some more shiny, shiny yarn photos!

Loop Hardcore Art Yarn

Berrocco Blackstone Tweed Metallic and KnitPicks Stroll Glimmer

Mocha's Fiber Designs at Tuckerwoods Farm Silver Optima

Squoosh Fiberarts Glint Lace

Check them out here:

Loop Art Yarn

Berrocco Blackstone Tweed

Squoosh Fiberarts

Knitpicks Stroll Glimmer

Mocha’s Fiber Designs

Giveaway

And now, you could be one of the lucky winners who gets to try one of these glittering yarns for yourself! One winner will receive both of the Blackstone Tweed Metallic skeins, and another will get to take home the Squoosh Fiberarts Glint Lace!

In the last contest, people said by more than 2:1 that they like reading techniques and tips articles; please tell me which techniques you’d most like to learn!  Colorwork, cast-on’s, lace, short rows, grafting…?

Leave a comment below making sure to let me know your Ravelry/Twitter handle or email; or mention/retweet on Twitter to be entered for a chance to win! US and Canada only, please. Winners will be chosen by Random Number Generator and notified Wednesday, February 23rd.

 

Knitting Sideways

Okay, this is something I've always wondered; it seems like there's got to be a way to get away with something by knitting something, say a scarf, horizontally rather than vertically. You're making so many fewer rows, and stitches are wider than they are tall, so it's got to be fewer stitches, right?

Let's take a test example: the It's So Fluffy scarf.

 I cast on 120 stitches, at 2.25 stitches/inch, and worked 20 rows, for a vertical rise of 5 inches. That means each row was .25 inches tall. Taking cast-on and bind-off into account, the scarf contains 22 rows. The horizontal version of the scarf then took a total of 2640 stitches. (Wow, that's a lot for such a quick-knit project! We really do make a lot of stitches, don't we?)

If the scarf had been worked vertically, it would need 22.5 stitches per row to be five inches wide. My inclination would be to round that up to 23, because that's what it would be in real life, but I don't want to be biased toward my desire for the horizontal to be less, so let's say for the sake of sceince that we have 22.5 stitches per row.

So with 22.5 stitches per row, and each row being .25 inches tall, we'd need 4 rows per inch, so 90 stitches total per inch of scarf.

The finished length is 53 inches, so 53x90=4770 stitches. 

Wow, that is a lot more, way more than I'd anticipated. I checked my math again, with the same result.

So it is less stitches to knit something horizontally?!?! Help me out here, because I'm just about to launch into trying to knit everything sideways. Were my calculations off, or is it really less stitches? Have any of you tried this experiment?

Aha, Brandi and Kitten with a Whiplash have checked my math, which was flawed (no huge surprise there):

Brandi says:

I think if I am understanding this correctly your 2.25 titches per inch is your stitch gauge and for 5 inches wide that would only be 11.25 stitches, your row gauge with a row being .25 per row meaning 4 rows = 1 in you would need 390 rows. 
2.25*5=11.25 stitches per row
.25*4*90=390 number of rows
11.25*390=4050 total stitches

So it still appears as if sideways is winning, but not by as much as I'd originally said. 

And now, revised from Kitten and Susan, it appears that my math was way off, so we end up with quite a different number and different verdict!

Actually, I think Kitten With a Whiplash is right: 2.25 st/in x 5 inch wide = 11.25 stitches per row 53in finished length x 4 rows/inch = 212 rows 11.25 st/row x 212 rows = 2358 total stitches which is actually a little bit less than the lengthwise-knitted version. That surprised me.

So, it looks like there's no big shortcut to be had in knitting, might as well plan on enjoying every stitch ;)

How about it, anyone else have a take on this?

 Yours knitting sideways (or not),

Jaala

Sandrilene Cardi Knitalong!

With its appealing, sleek shape and cabled edging and neckline, designer Jesh's Sandrilene cardigan is the most popular Winter Knitcircus design on Ravelry. Now that holiday knitting's safely over, join us in heaving a sigh or frelief and casting on a well-deserved sweater for yourself. The KAL starts now, and runs through February 6th.

This simple, yet fitted shape flatters lots of figure types.

Jesh will be popping in to the Knitcircus Ravelry group to answer your questions and help guide us along; everyone who finishes will get a prize!

I'm really excited to knit Sandrilene myself and one of my holiday presents was the yarn for this sweater; Malabrigo Rios in Damask.

Ooh, so happy! I've got it ready to wind into balls on my desk right now.

Please do stop by the Ravelry Group and join us in this fun sweater KAL! One of the first things we'll do is confab about worsted yarns which would make a good substitute for the unfortunately no longer available Kitchen Sink Dyeworks yarn used in the magazine.

 

 

Stash organized!

In between hosting family events, making batches of fudge and planning birthday parties, I actually managed to get my stash ready for the New Year! With the help of a bunch of new shelving (Target), I followed Melissa Leapman's advice in Stashbuster Knits and organized by weight.

Now, you may want to use some kind of eye protection to view this next picture. Remember, this is only the Before (shown in untidy basement lair). Disclaimer: it doesn't look like this all the time, Everyone Who Has Ever Sent Me Yarn. But I went through all the drawers, bags and baskets of my yarn squirrelled throughout the house, and assembled them here for the great organizing.

A few days, and a number of Phillips-top screws  later:

The sewing form is a new-to-me aquisition from my grandma. I think she needs a little cheering-up, maybe with mod podge...So that's the dk-to-chunky weight area. The lace and fingering get a little place of their own:

Sorry it's so dark, DH also did a computer upgrade and my photo software isn't re-installed yet. Imagine these are beautiful, rainbow colors.

Sweaters-worth of yarn got their own special containers, and open baskets for special leftovers:

(Malabrigo worsted)

It's such a relief to be able to see all of my beautiful stash yarns and know exactly where they are. Now I don't have to hide special ones around so that they don't get lost in the boxes I was using before. They were pretty hatboxes, but I couldn't see anything beyond the top layer. I know it's taking a bit of a risk courting moths, but I really like having my skeins visible, not encased in plastic bags any more. We won't have to buy ziplocs for a while, I can tell you!

A few loose organizing rules:

• First, I took everything out and sorted it into piles by weight, so I could scope out how much of everything there was.
• Everything had to pass the test of being a yarn I'd really like to knit with now, not something I bought on super-sale just because. Those went into the Charity giveaway basket.
• When sorting to their final destination, I tried to do them somewhat by color, but fell short of doing the whole thing in rainbow order (inner geek still not ruling it out)
• When I had a lot of one yarn, like Dale Freestyle,  Debbis Bliss Baby Cashmerino or Cascade 220, I put all of them together in one compartment, regardless of color. 
• My rule was that everything going into shelving had to be ready to knit. No falling-apart skeins, no dangling swatches...I first sat down with my realistic self and decided which projects were never going to get done, and put them aside to be taken apart.
• The bonus: In frogging and re-winding projects, I reclaimed a handful of needles and good amount of stitch markers given up for lost. :)

So now my stash is ready for the New year. Hope I am, too!

 

Knit in the New Year

What a year! Knitcircus published over 100 new patterns, five magazines, all bigger than they've ever been, launched our Podcast and You Tube channels.

Knitters had more yarns and books to choose from than ever, and made so many projects to inspire, warm and cheer.

Next year will bring big changes to Knitcircus, and I hope will bring new opportunities to all of you. Stay tuned for more!

Gifts Issue Last Hurrah

The Gifts 2011 issue will only stay one day of the new year!

 

It's your last chance to purchase Linda Browning's Poinsettia Doily

Susan B. Anderson's adorable Milk Cow

and Jane Prater's Shapely Shawl, as well as 10 more patterns in the Gift Collection for one affordable price.

 Happy 2012!

Jaala

 

 

Knitcircus Podcast #6

Another podcast so soon! Thanks so much to Webmistress Cindy for wrangling the audio and uploads for the podcast.

In this episode: Amy and I discuss all kinds of family holiday traditions, knitting, food and otherwise, and talk about which yarns we'd take to a desert island (especially if that island was, you know, in kind of a cold tropical area requiring knitwear).

Listen to Episode #6 on Libsyn or Itunes.

Mentioned this episode:

• Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi 
• Adorn collection, by Laura Nelkin of  Nelkin Designs 
• Wintertide cowl 
• Geodesic Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio 
• Textured Stitches by Connie Chang Chinchio 
• Knitted Dinosaurs by Tina Barrett 
• Mandie Harrington's Speshul Snowflake Yarn Club
• Interweave Knitting Lab
• Knitting with Two Colors by Meg Swansen and Amy Detjen 
• 200 Fair Isle Motifs by Mary Jane Mucklestone 
• Fair Isle Basics and Beyond by House of White Birches
• Feral Knitter 
• Cascade 220 
• Ella Rae Classic Wool 
• Jamison & Smith Shetland Jumper Weight
• Berroco Vintage 
• Berroco Ultra Alpaca 
• Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride 

 

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark (recipe on podcast)

Box of 40 mini candy canes

2 12-oz bags of dark chocolate chips (we use Ghirardelli)

1/2 t peppermint extract

Cover two cookie sheets (preferebly with side walls) with parchment paper or waxed paper.

Crushing the candy canes: kids are great for this!

• unwrap candy canes and place in double-bagged zip-top plastic bag.
• using a hammer, on a hard surface (I recommend the garage or basement floor) hit repeatedly until there is a mixture of powder and small chunks in the bag

Melt the chocolate:

• in medium or large thick-bottomed saucepan, on low heat, melt the chocolate chips, stirring constantly. When mostly melted, add the peppermint extract.
• holding a strainer over the pan, pour about 2/3 of the crushed candy canes out of the bag, allowing the poweder to fall into the pan. Stir well.
• when all of the chips have dissolved, remove from heat immediately.

Pour chocolate mixture into the two pans.
Sprinkle remaining candy powder and chunks over the top. and chill for about 20 minutes until hard.

Break by lifting the wholde thing above the pan and throwing it back down with some force. Use clean hands to break the big pieces into one-or-two-bite pieces.

Keep refrigerated; will last up to a week in a covered container.

Happy Holidays!

It's So Fluffy! Free Scarf Pattern

My mom has an eye for style, and this year, she requested a chunky scarf. Well, she exclaimed over things we saw in magazines that were knit with bulky yarn, which in my mind means asking for a handknit scarf. :)

This pattern is one of the easiest you'll ever find! Worked on US Size 13 needles, you can start this project the afternoon before the holiday, and still have it wrapped and ready the next morning without breaking a sweat. 

It's So Fluffy!

by Jaala Spiro

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky,50% Alpaca/50% Wool, 100g/45 yds, 3 skeins

Needles: Us 13/9mm, 24" or longer circular needle

Gauge: approximately 2.25 st/inch

Note: I knit loosely, so if you work tight, use a Size 15/10mm Needle.

Finished measurements: 53"x5"

Instructions:

CO 120 sts.

Do NOT join for working in the round.

Next 19 rows: knit all stitches.

Row 20: Bind off all stitches loosely.

Finishing:

Weave in all ends. Lightly steam block if desired.

Please note: for a little while, this post contained the directions to CO 150. The CO number has been corrected to 120.

 

 

Knitcircus Podcast #5

Delayed a bit by technical difficulties, but finally triumphant. Amy's adventures at Rhinebeck, her new book (above), and local knitters just can't stop making 55 Christmas balls!

Listen to Episode #5 on Libsyn or itunes.

Mentioned this podcast:

New York Sheep and Wool Festival (Rhinebeck)  

Stitches East 

Interweave Knitting Lab (San Mateo) 

Alice Starmore 

Cat Bordhi 

Susan B. Anderson 

200 Fair Isle Motifs, by Mary Jane Mucklestone

Knitting with Two Colors, by Meg Swansen and Amy Detjen

Knits to Give: 30 Knitted Gifts Made with Love, by Debbie Bliss

Best of Knitscene Magazine, by Interweave Press

55 Christmas Balls to Knit, by Arne and Carlos 

Handwerks 100% cashmere sock (whoops, sorry, that limited-edition is all gone). But check out the lovely colorways on the MCN sock here.

Sun Valley Fiber Farm single-ply 

 Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

 

Coastal Knits Blog Tour & Sweet 16 Winners!

Knitcircus is happy to be part of the Coastal Knits Blog Tour , with a review of Alana and Hannah's new book!

We here at Knitcircus have long been fans of Alana Dakos's Never Not Knitting Podcast, and featured an interview with her in Knitcircus #13 . She was gracious enough to share a design with us, too, the Roses Are Red Headband. Anyone familiar with Alana's work will recognize the appealing design and her photography style there. :)

While I had heard the fun name "Knitbot" around the blogosphere, Hannah's work was new to me when I received a copy of the book. Her modern take on sweaters complements Alana's style nicely, so this parternship project includes a very knittable collection of designs!

At first, I thought that the idea that two kntters are in different places (in this case, California, Alana, and Maine, Hannah) sounded like a thin reed for a book theme, but they really did it up right, not only naming designs after places they love, but taking see-able inspiration from the places, and writing mini-essays on the locations with photos that make you want to visit. This Wisconsin girl may have felt a tiny twinge of envy for these designers who both live near the ocean! 

The self-published, large-format volume contains five sweater patterns, five accessory patterns and lots of pretty graphics and photos. My faves were right in line with the thousands of people on Ravelry who want to knit Hannah's Rocky Coast Cardigan and Alana's Falling Leaves Beret. All in all, a pretty coffee-table book with appealing seaside looks to help while away the snowy months.

And I suppose you're wondering who wins all of those Sweet 16 prizes?! Well, have we got a crop of winners for you today!

Sweet 16 Winners

Malabrigo Worsted in Carnation: PeppermintMochaMama

Malabrigo Worsted in Glazed Carrot:@fancifulcraftin on Twitter

Malabrigo Worsted in Moss:@yarnsalad on Twitter

 Madelinetosh DK in Curiosity: goodstuff on Ravelry

Stitch London book and Velvet Hippo Stitch Markers: kittenwithawhiplash

Pollika Knitglobal Precious Sock yarn in Candies and Cranberries: mhchong on Ravelry

Pollika Knitglobal Precious Sock yarn in Dale and Carnival: Teabird on Ravelry

Light Brown Hare yarn and Blackwater Abbey Yarn Lover's Lotion:yarnbasket on Ravelry

Dream in Color Classy: momyerom on Ravelry

What Would Madame DeFarge Knit book and Comfy Stitch Markers: ikkinlala

Thanks so much to everyone who entered for your wonderful comments, and again to all of the companies who donated the mouthwatering prizes!

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet 16 Giveaway #5: Malabrigo Yarn

An exciting #5 (almost as good as five gooolden rings?!): thanks so much to Malabrigo for providing the yarns for this giveaway!

Prize #1: A skein of Malabrigo Worsted in the colorway Glazed Carrot; all winners will receive a Rocky Mountain Dyeworks favor bag.

Winner #2 will enjoy a skein of Malabrigo Worsted in the color Moss

And Winner #3 gets to cast on with Cactus Flower worsted, and of course, all winners get a needle inventory card courtesy of Green Mountain Spinnery.

To enter, please leave a comment telling us your favorite Malabrigo yarn and top three colors. Please make sure to let us know your Ravelry/Twitter and/or email so we can let you know if you win! Winners will be chosen and posted Wednesday, December 7th.