Big Sky Yarns & Crafts

Spring IS coming -- hooray!

How much do I love that knitting companies are always ahead of schedule? It is such optimism in the wake of snow and ice and gray which immediately lifts my spirits. The spring booklets at Berroco were just released and in a true fit of energy, I bought two from WEBS right away.

#306 Berroco Glint (link shows all patterns in this book at the Berroco website) is first up:

 

Glint is a new yarn for spring with, yes, just a bit of shimmer. I have not touched it yet, but it seems a pleasant mix of function and bling without too much shiny action. 80% cotton, 12% nylon, 8% metallic makes for a lovely breathing fabric. 5 stitches per inch make for some speedy knitting.

Two patterns coerced me into purchasing this booklet:

 

Uva is a stunning example of a classic sweater with just a bit of sassy perfection.  But this next one, this one was the clincher for me:

 

Eartha is IT in my book. No, I will not belt it. No, I am not a size 4 and no, I am not sitting on a random lonely chair in the middle of the room contemplating the fact there are no cars left in the parking lot behind me so I am stranded. But, people, it is green and it has vertical stripes in the wide band and the pattern stitch and I love it. Love. It. I even wanted it if it wasn't green. Truly.

#307 Linsey has more wonderful spring-y-ness to show and tell:

 

Linsey is also a new yarn for spring and I may have to splurge on some of this. Self-striping and solid colorways in a 64% cotton, 36% linen, also 5 stitches per inch and I bet that baby has some serious drape, don't you think?

I fell in love with so many patterns in this book, I was a goner from the beginning:

 

Bayarri is the front of the cover sweater (which is the back on the cover). Simple intarsia and self-striping makes this a great combo.

But then there is also Josu, a welcome update to the classic drop sleeve cardigan:

 

Of course I fell in love with the vest, Palau (Are we surprised? No.)

 

But then it gets better. Look at these sweaters:

 

A combination of the solid and self-striping versions of this yarn create Turia and, I must say, it has Kim written all over it.

Just when I couldn't love anything more, look at back cover sweater, Vives:

 

I agree, the yoke sweater and this one are for two different swanky occasions, so there is justification for both. Ahem. Plus, as a designer, I love to study all of Berroco's patterns. And if I get to have finished garments for myself in the process, even better.

If only the baby knitting would clip along faster...Good news there, however. I did finish all 4 sections of the baby loungers. I hope to get them blocking tonight. Whoo hoo! Just the I-cord drawstring remains in string form. A couple good no brainer shows tonight should do the trick.

Knit on.

 

Random Wednesday

After so many days of not blogging, you would think I would have something brilliant to show you. Alas, it is not true. I wish I could show you how functional my desk is now, or how Christmas got put away in a timely (finally) fashion this year or the other drawers I finally cleaned out and could not believe how much junk existed that did not benefit me in any way, shape or form. Before the major clean out I needed paper clips. Now that little magnet container is full.

Moving on in truly random fashion, I have to share a new trick with you. If you already knew this, good for you and please, please, please come tell me the next trick you figure out. Don't make me figure it out on my own because I am so behind on so many things.

We all love our beloved Ravelry. You know we have our Notebook and with that the huge drop down menu with million options including our Projects, Favorites, Friends, etc. Well, there is a My Library section as well. I never knew why this was there. Who cares that I log all of my knitting books, patterns, pamphlets and PDFs?

Now I know why.

I picked up a swatch of a random yarn I want to figure out what to do with.  I don't know why I figured this out or what possibly prompted me to play other than the fact I am always willing to ignore dishes and laundry, but I clicked on the Patterns link on Ravelry. Then in the top left area of the page is pattern browser & advanced search.  Then things get exciting.

Look down the left column. The third "bubble box" says "Availability" and the bottom option it says:

in my library

There it is. Three little words that changed my life.

Go further down the bubble box column and their you can check a specific weight of yarn.

Then it actually pulls everything you have in your libary to match that weight of yarn and shows you every single pattern.

Seriously.

No lie.

Read it again.

It should be in blinking lights but no capabilities of this magnitude do I have. If you don't want to read the rest of this entry because you need to enter all of your library to your Ravelry account, I so understand and know I will be here when you come back.

For those of you who are still with us, when I clicked "DK" and "In my libary" up came pages and pages and pages of patterns I could no more remember than the 80's tunes until I go into Applebees. Just two days ago Dan and I were there for lunch and it turns out those lyrics ARE stuck in my brain because before I knew it I was singing another Thompson Twins song. So were the very young hostesses who probably weren't even born when these songs came out, but I digress.

Back to Ravelry. Then I got to shop my very own library! Patterns I forgot I loved just popped right out of the abyss. Plus it is everything I already have. No more money flying out the window. I often wondered how I would remember I loved some particular pattern when you know the perfect yarn hadn't been purchased yet. Now we have the answer, my knitting friends!

Plus all those magazines have every single weight of yarn. I often thought -- sticky notes? Make copies of just the patterns I really love and make a file of each yarn weight? But what if I suddenly love every knitted fruit and vegetable and didn't mark it. You see my dilemma.

I may never design again because now I will finally be able to put the perfect yarn together with the perfect pattern and knit, knit, knit.

Here are some of my libary in the background as Kate wants to show you her new bean rattle (is this the correct word? It is a musical instrument, she has assured me) she made after school:

 

And the other side:

 

Decorate a paper plate, staple it shut except for the tiniest hole for dried beans (any she says will do). Put in approximately 1/3 cup of beans and then staple it shut within one inch of its life and you have an instant instrument.

I promise I have been knitting, though not much.  Remember those Studio Loungers?

 

I have knit one whole leg in two pieces, though without proper introduction they are just a pile of green that want to recoil like a fruit roll up:

 

Dan loves the color so much he wants a hat so I ordered more. Mind you I have boxes and boxes and boxes of yarn, but he wants this green. It is understandable because the squish factor of Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label Aran Weight is extremely high. It is even superwash.

Because of MLK day, the kids and Dan went skiing in Red Lodge. Here we are just out of the van:

Here they are armed and dangerous:

 

While we were waiting for our skiis and boots in the rental shop, I inadvertently saw the most die-hard Montanan's shoes. When you rent your ski boots, they take your shoes to mark the spot. Many boots I saw down the aisles (and the most incredible hats on people in front of me! I was inspired for sure) but this one I leave you with. Keep in mind it is cold, icy, snowy but you know you're in Montana when these are on the shelf:

 

At least they are knitted!

 
 

Happy 2011!

I remember as if it were yesterday ringing in the year 2000 and how the whole world would melt into a pile because of Y2K. My oldest (and only at the time) was a smidge over a year old and woke we up way too early, watching all the fireworks celebrations around the world being rebroadcast on television. Wasn't the Eiffel Tower cool? 

Fast forward eleven years later. And two more kids.

Wow is all I have to say. Time flies.

Hope you have had a wonderful holiday season, whatever that means to you. For us, we went to see the incredible new Narnia movie, 3D style:

 

On the knitting front, I finished the Windward Cowl (Ravelry link) by Miriam Felton (blog link). Here it is in it's preblocked state:

 

My cowl required 1.5 balls (2.5 ounces total) or approximately 230 yards with 10% extra thrown in. Preblocked, it measured 17" in circumference and then blocked out nicely to 21". I cast on 200 stitches and away I went. I worked chart 2 twice and it measures 9.5" tall.

Here it is blocked:

 
 

Don't you love the scalloped edges along the bottom? Approximately 3" of stitches are decreased from the scalloped edge to the main body of the cowl.

To review, I knit it in Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca & Silk in Slate (color 100). Because this yarn is 50% silk and 50% superfine alpaca, I was concerned it wouldn't have enough umph to stand up properly, but I was pleasantly suprised that the cowl was perfect. No kidding -- I love it. You can see the cables, yet still slouches properly.

 

Obligatory close up:

 

Very pleased with this one. I even learned another stretchy bind off method which is wonderful, though it nearly put me to sleep. All around a fabulous project.

Kate couldn't agree more:

 

Knit on.