Featured Blog Posts – October 2008 Archive (27)

Happy Halloween!

To celebrate Halloween, Knit Picks (and our sister companies, Connecting Threads and Artists Club), hosted a staff Halloween costume contest. Even our warehouse in Ohio got in on the fun, we've been e-mailing photos back and forth all morning. Alison and I took tons of pictures and video of everyone who dressed up. We even had a little parade!

Of course Sheldon was all set, he had lots of costumes to choose from since we've knit all the shells in his… Continue

Added by Angela on October 31, 2008 at 1:30pm — No Comments

The many uses of Palette

Happy Halloween, everyone!

We had our first ever Halloween… Continue

Added by Melissa on October 31, 2008 at 12:13pm — No Comments

Scary Halloween Story!

I've been saving up this one until it was seasonally appropriate!

When the Spring 08 issue of Knitty came out, I got all excited about the Tempest sweater. I picked out my colors,… Continue

Added by Alison on October 31, 2008 at 9:46am — 15 Comments

Blocking Lace

A couple weeks ago, Kelley and I talked about the joy, the wonder, the magic of blocking lace (podcast 69), so I thought I'd share my finished lace project and… Continue

Added by Tina on October 28, 2008 at 9:30am — 3 Comments

Improvement on index card, lace knitting system

Sometimes I like to follow charts when I knit lace. But, when there are a lot of changes in the pattern, like what happens with circular shawls, I prefer to use my tried-and-true 3x5 index card system. Marianne Kinzel is a very considerate designer. She provides charts and written instructions. And, the instructions have a space between each round. That makes it easy to copy the… Continue

Added by Kelley Petkun on October 25, 2008 at 9:00am — 7 Comments

A surprising drop spindle

I've come to the realization that drop spindles are becoming my ideal chocolate truffles. No calories and the pleasure lasts MUCH longer! And, there is the challenge of finding the "perfect" spindle truffle. I have discovered some favorites that I will always enjoy but I do like the excitement of finding a new spindle artist.

Last week I could not focus on my To Do list so I went off to Etsy and typed in "drop spindle". Just like heading off to a Godiva Chocolate shop, Moonstruck… Continue

Added by Kelley Petkun on October 24, 2008 at 2:30pm — 2 Comments

Easy Lattice Shawl

My experience with my friend's Prayer Shawl seems to have started a shawl knitting frenzy. It was such an easy and quick knit that I couldn't resist using the same Lattice Pattern from The Prayer Shawl Companion to make the long-promised shawl for Xena's breeder.…

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Added by Kelley Petkun on October 24, 2008 at 10:57am — 4 Comments

Changing colors

The leaves are turning beautiful colors outside our office, and this week we got to look at beautiful colors inside too! Believe it or not, we just had our yarn color picking meeting for next fall. Yep, we pick colors that early. I can't give away what exactly we did, but I can tell you that we… Continue

Added by Melissa on October 23, 2008 at 3:44pm — No Comments

Aran cardigan all finished!

My apologies! I completely forgot to show you photos of the cardigan with my corrected neckline. I decided to skip the buttonholes and use a stick as a closure. I love this sweater!!…

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Added by Kelley Petkun on October 22, 2008 at 3:40pm — 6 Comments

Apples to Apples

Apples to Apples is my favorite game of all time. For the past three years, my friends have come over to my house to celebrate my birthday by drinking apple cider, eating apple pie, and playing Apples to Apples.

This year, I decided to knit a special Apples to Apples hat to wear to my third annual apple party. I found this pattern for the Apple of… Continue

Added by Angela on October 20, 2008 at 12:08pm — 3 Comments

New Scarf!

I'm the proud owner of a new, light and airy woven scarf, thanks to my lovely husband. He bought it from Etsy "Your place to buy and sell all things handmade."

I'm blogging about it because the talented… Continue

Added by Katie on October 16, 2008 at 5:12pm — 11 Comments

I've finished two bangles!!

Oh, the bangle inspiration from Vogue Knitting has taken over!! My bangles were actually more narrow than the ones used in the magazine. So, I choose two simple stitch patterns and cast on enough stitches to fit around the bangle. I knit a piece long enough to fit when stretched out a bit. I didn't want the fabric to be floppy on the bangle. I used a fishnet pattern for the larger bangle to allow the turqoise of the original surface to show… Continue

Added by Kelley Petkun on October 16, 2008 at 2:30pm — 2 Comments

Sheldon hits the open road

Lately, Sheldon's had plenty of opportunities to show off his new sense of style by tagging along with members of our staff when they travel. He's been to Alaska, California, and even as far as China and Japan! He's really… Continue

Added by Angela on October 15, 2008 at 2:23pm — 4 Comments

Baby Blanket Recipients

As you know, I've been knitting baby blankets like crazy in a vain attempt to keep up with new arrivals in the family. My two youngest nieces had their little girls within just a couple of weeks of each other. Seana flew up from San Francisco with Parker last week so she could meet her cousin, Delila. I love this photo of Seana at the airport.

And, remember, this was Parker's Moderne… Continue

Added by Kelley Petkun on October 14, 2008 at 2:37pm — 1 Comment

Toasty Warm!

Just in time for the cold weather...

I finished up my cardigan-length version of Norah Gaughan's Serpentine Coat from… Continue

Added by Alison on October 14, 2008 at 8:30am — 5 Comments

Sock yarn for a gorgeous scarf

I’m a fairly new knitter still, just hats and scarves so far, so I’m still learning a lot. My latest learning is the difference between self-striping yarn and variegated or hand painted yarn. I finished my scarf out of Felici Dakota and guess what…it's self stripes! I’ve had everyone from my Dad to the… Continue

Added by MarciH on October 10, 2008 at 12:35pm — 16 Comments

Knit covered bangles featured in Vogue Holiday Issue

What a fantastic idea!! The hard part actually turned out to be finding bangles. I went to several places like Target and Kohls but the bangles were about $15.00 each. More than I wanted to pay! I finally hit pay-dirt at Pier One. Back in a corner I found a large basket of bangles on sale!! $2.00 - $3.00 each! Much better! I bought a set for myself and for Marci, who wants to make some covers. The key is that the bangles are going to be covered so… Continue

Added by Kelley Petkun on October 10, 2008 at 9:51am — 1 Comment

Late gifts still count, right?

I finished my sister's birthday sweater vest!

(Shhh...just ignore the fact that her birthday was in August. She didn't need it until it got cold out anyway!)…

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Added by Alison on October 9, 2008 at 8:47am — 5 Comments

We hit 100K!

Have you seen our videos yet? If not, you should check them out here or on YouTube. There's even a video of me!

This week our… Continue

Added by Xena on October 9, 2008 at 8:00am — 1 Comment

The winner is the Balmoral Thistle Shawl!

Thank you all so much for helping me narrow down my lace shawl choice. It was a win/win situation for me since I want to knit all three. Now, rather than being bogged down by indecision, I will be able to immediately get started on the Balmoral Thistle Shawl from the Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting by Marianne Kinzel.

Even… Continue

Added by Kelley Petkun on October 8, 2008 at 1:39pm — 2 Comments