Big Sky Yarns & Crafts

Muddy Lamb in Fishtail!

It is not every day one can say they have been to Fishtail, Montana, but yesterday was our lucky day:

Muddy Lamb has a truly exquisite combination of pottery, yarn and artisan gifts. My entire family (sans Paul) enjoyed the hour plus drive to this perfect, not so little shop.

Carol (owner), her daughter Tasha along with Holly (manager) have a knitting group that meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. I was fortunate to be a part of that group yesterday. Look how pretty this store is on the inside as well as outside. Here the ladies are trickling in:

We discussed different projects in my book, focusing primarily on the blue slouch and had a signing. 

Have you ever seen a finer group of knitters?

We even shared lunch after the class. Thank you, ladies, for an absolute perfect morning and lovely lunch! I hope to visit again soon.

After lunch we went for a hike at Woodbine since the day was gorgeous. Truly Big Sky Country:

Our hike to the waterfall:

I never tire of hearing or seeing the water:

"Mmmm, I wonder how far it is down there?"

Truly a perfect day! Knit on!

Clotheshorse Spring/Summer 2013: Bonnaroo

This quick, simple, seamless tee I designed has a breezy name, Bonnaroo:

This summer essential is in the Spring/Summer issue of the online magazine, Clotheshorse. This magazine is relatively new and packed with many fabulous designs. The patterns are available to purchase individually or in a collection. All are PDFs.

Knit from the bottom up, the tee begins with a provisional cast-on to make a wide knitted hem. Knitted hems are one of my favorite accents because it ads a flattering weight to the bottom of a piece that helps the shape considerably. There is easy waist shaping in this one, as it helps to fit and flatter, even if you don't have a waist, just a bit of tucking gives the perfect illusion of a waist. Whoo hoo!

Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima is a superior 100% pima cotton yarn that is a lovely summer choice -- there are so many colors to choose from. I used White and Lipstick Red. 6 sts and 7.5 rows per inch makes for quick knitting because of the stockinette stitch. Once you slog through the body, the sweater is divided at the armholes and then both front and back are worked flat separately. And that is where the fun really begins! By having the reverse stockinette stitch be the right side, two simple stripes per color make the yoke of the sweater have plenty of colorplay. Ribbing at the neck in the red also adds depth. 

As always, the shoulders are joined with a three needle bind off to keep this baby seamless and then just a bit of ribbing to finish the armholes. Voila!

The pattern is available here for $7 and comes in bust sizes 30 (32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44)".

This would be a perfect template pattern to add anything your knitterly heart desires: more stripes, intarsia or a solid color with color accents only with the ribbing. It can easily be dressed up or down and the pima cotton is so soft and easy to work with.

The tip I do have when working with all this fabulous color is to make sure your yarns are colorfast and, to be safe, include a "color catcher" sheet when washing.

Knit on!

 

Creative Knitting: Summer 2013

I am thrilled to show you my latest design in Creative Knitting:

This cute little hat is offically called the Stash-Buster Beanie:

The cotton is a super soft yarn from Be Sweet called Cotton Candy, a DK weight yarn in three yummy colors: Dark Purple #526, Lilac #586 and Natural #500. This is the perfect way to use up scraps of yarn for sure. How fun would a rainbow hat be?

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There are two sizes, 17.75" and 20.25" circumference. To make this intarsia pattern work with a hat, the band is worked flat and then seamed. To keep the best of both worlds and have it still worked in the round, after the band is seamed, the crown shaping is worked in the round like a typical hat. The ribbing is worked in the round after unzipping the provisional cast on.

Knit on!