New Local Yarn Shops

October 13, 2014| LindyBeir| 0 Comment | 2:00 pm

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I recently visited two new yarn shops that opened in my area. They are both lovely shops and filled with some lovely yarns – some of which aren’t carried by the local yarn shop that has been the only shop in the city for a number of years. Each shop offers a different variety of yarns than the other, so I am hoping that both of them can be successful. We certainly have a growing number of knitters in our community, so having new yarn shops is quite appealing.

ImagiKnit Yarn Shop is located in the Bel-Air Plaza at 120^th and West Center Road, Suite 602, Omaha, NE. This shop does not have a website, but does have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ImagiKnit-Yarn-Shop/263171999129. The owner of this shop moved her business to Omaha from Hastings, NE.

Wooly Mammoth Yarn Shop is located in Rockbrook Shopping Center at 108^th and West Center Rd, Omaha, NE. This shop also does not have a website, but does have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wooly-Mammoth-Yarn-Shop/150211221662670. The owners of this shop recently moved from Kearney, NE.

I’m sure the knitters in Hastings and Kearney miss having the shops in their towns, because they are both wonderful yarn shops and we are very lucky to have them here in Omaha.

Appealing, as well, are the yarns I purchased from both shops. (I couldn’t resist).

From Imagiknit, I purchased a skein of Smooshy fingering weight yarn from Dream in Color. The colorway is 2014 September and it just spoke to me of autumn. It has this delightful mix of fall colors: reds, purples, golds, greens in various shades. See the swatch below

I also bought a skein of Fabjous Fibers Cheshire Cat in the colorway Off with Her Red – which blends perfectly with the Smooshy colors. I am using these yarns to knit a shawl using the Merlot pattern, which I purchased at Ravelry. This will be the topic of another post.

From Wooly Mammouth, I purchased 4 skeins of Addiction yarn by Claudia Hand Painted Yarns – also fingering weight yarn. I bought 2 skeins in the colorway Teal and 2 skeins in the colorway Prussian Soldiers. I plan to knit another two color shawl using these yarns, but I haven’t decided on a pattern yet. I like the Merlot pattern, so I may choose to do that again – but there are so, so many lovely shawl patterns in my queue…

If you are in Omaha: check out our new local yarn shops. 🙂

Master Knitter Level I – Swatches #7, #8, & #9 – DecreasesMaster Knitter Level I – Swatches #7, #8, & #9 – Decreases

Swatches 7 through 9 are demonstrations of various decrease techniques.

Swatch #7

Swatch 7 demonstrates “Blended Decreases” using SSK (Slip, Slip, Knit) on the right edge and K2Tog (Knit 2 Together) on the left edge.

SSK is a left-slanting decrease and is made by slipping 1 stitch as if to knit, then slipping a second stitch as if to knit, then inserting the left needle into these two stitches and knitting them together.

K2Tog is a right-slanting decrease. K2Tog decreases are the basic decrease every knitter learns. You simply insert the right needle into two stitches on the left needle and knit them together.

I have had difficulty finding a reference that actually defines “Blended Decreases”. Through my research it appears that “Blended Decreases” are decreases that slant or slope in the direction of the desired shaping. In this swatch the left-slanting decrease on the right edge and the right-slanting decrease on the left edge slope in toward the center of the swatch.

Swatch #8

Swatch 8 demonstrates SKP (Slip, Knit, Pass Slipped Stitch Over) and KSP (Knit, Slip, Pass stitch over) decreases.

SKP decreases are also sometimes written as S1, K1 PSSO in patterns. This is a left-slanting decrease and is done on the right edge of the swatch. Any decrease that requires you to pass a stitch over another one results in a somewhat uneven stitch due to the stretching that occurs when you pass the stitch over.

The KSP decrease was a new method for me. It is a right-slanting decrease that mirrors the SKP decrease and was knit on the left edge of this swatch. KSP is done by knitting a stitch, then slipping the stitch back on the left needle and passing the stitch over the next stitch with the right needle, then slipping the stitch back from the left needle to the right needle.

Swatch #9

Swatch 9 uses the K2Tog and SSK decreases but is different from Swatch 7 in that the K2Tog is done on the right edge and the SSK is done on the left edge.

TKGA refers to this swatch as “Full Fashioned”. I have not found a specific definition for the term “Full Fashioned” in my references. However, two of my sources refer to full fashioned decreases as decreases that are done with 2 or more stitches on the edge, making the decreases more visible and part of the intended design of the knitted fabric. In this swatch, the K2Tog decrease on the right edge slants to the right and stands out against the slope of the fabric. Likewise the SSK decrease on the left edge slants to the left and stands out against the slope of the fabric on that side. These decreases are more visible than those in Swatch 7.

Update on Progress with SFS Team-Knit SocksUpdate on Progress with SFS Team-Knit Socks

SFS_TK_Heels1 I knitted the heel and had about half of the gussets done on these socks when I decided that I did NOT like the way the picked up stitches for the gussets looked. They weren’t tight enough and appeared to have small holes along the picked up edge. Frustrating, VERY frustrating – especially since these socks must be knit to very high standards. I don’t know if the problem is the way I picked up the stitches – or if I pulled the yarn too tight. I have found that the Regia Stretch yarn used for these socks can be overstretched – it is a very stretchy yarn.

I put the socks in “time out” over the Christmas holidays – just too stressful to deal with them given all the other demands of the season. Last week, I pulled them out, put in lifelines at the instep and the end of the heel turn and then frogged them back to the point where I need to pick up the gusset stitches. 🙁

I plan to tackle the picking up of the gusset stitches this week, paying special attention to how the stitches form as they are picked up…and trying to avoid overstretching the yarn…I will let you know how it goes.

And finally…The Third Hat: Beret in Bee StitchAnd finally…The Third Hat: Beret in Bee Stitch

As you know from my previous post, I have been side-tracked with switching to a new computer and then finding that my blog had been hacked. Well, I think I have recovered from the hack and I have all of my pictures and files transferred to my new computer — so, now to catch up and post about the third hat I started in January and finished in February.

My third hat is a beret knit in Bee Stitch.

This hat was also inspired by the thread about Hermione Granger’s hat in the Deathly Hallows, Part I, in the Harry Potter Lover’s group on Ravelry. Again, I think the beret is fairly close to the original hat.

Details: Hat was knit with Stitch Nation Full O’ Sheep (100% Peruvian Wool), using US Size 7 (4.5 mm) needles. This yarn is very soft, aran weight, though I did find it a bit splinty. The color is Passionfruit. Stitch Nation is manufactured by Red Heart (Coats & Clark).

When increasing for the beret, I basically doubled the number of stitches and it created a very slouchy beret, so if you’d like it a less slouchy, I’d only increase by 50%. I converted the Bee Stitch so I could knit it in the round and I wrote up the pattern to share with others, so here’s the link: Bee Stitch Beret.

To see my notes on Ravelry, use this link.