Close Knitters

Remember the blue sock started on the world’s cutest circular needle, the 9 inch Clover?

Finished in time to be a birthday gift.

Here they are, being worn by the recipient.

She said the same thing everybody does when they first see a Fixation sock- it looks too small! But then she put them on and realized how nice a job the elastic does of making the cotton comfortable. They pass the sneaker test, too.

Happy Birthday!

We love it when customers bring back their finished projects to share.

Look at what Judy Jacobs did with Berroco’s Ultra Alpaca.

Yes, there is sewing! Each square is knit separately, which is part of what Judy liked about it. They are 12 inches by 12, so each one is it’s own nice sized project. Big enough to sink your teeth into, but not overwhelming. She is quick to point out that the pattern had more squares, but she duplicated some and adapted some. It’s a gorgeous piece, and will look great wherever she displays it. The pattern is the Great American Afghan, the result of the “send in a square” contest put on by Knitters Magazine a few years ago.

Her next project? Undetermined. Judy spent a while looking at cabled sweaters, was tempted by a felted cable bag, and may start some socks.

There’s been a lot of modular knitting this summer.

The medallion shawl crew is still at it, and enjoying the weekly visits as they watch each others’ shawls grow. It’s been fun to watch the colors.

Modular knitting has hit the afghan knitters too. Both my daughter and I wanted to make blankets for new babies. The one I knit for is expected in August, and we know that it’s a boy. So I used Comfort Chunky, in what Kim calls “Hudson Bay Blanket Colors”.

Each square is knit separately. I started in the corner with blue. I cast on 25 stitches, then decrease in the middle of the row until only one is left. Pick up along the edge, cast on a few more, and keep going. Eventually it’s a blanket! I like the patchwork quilt effect of the design.

My daughter found a dishcloth pattern on Ravelry, and decided to turn it into a blanket. It’s entrelac, so the color variations of the Big Baby yarn create their own pattern. We don’t know if this baby is a boy or girl, but we do know that the mom likes blue, so shades of blue seemed like a good choice.

Non knitters often think that in something like this each square is knit separately and they are sewn together. But the “we don’t like to sew” knitters have figured out how to do modular patterns, so we keep picking up, but not sewing.

Wondering about those swirl scarves and shawls? They are still swirling-

The pink/coral/soft blue is well on the way to a shawl, the redder one is moving along very slowly, and will probably stop at a scarf. Kappy finished one, with three rows of swirls. She’s ready to start another one, and luckily stopped in when we opened a fresh shipment from Jojoland.

She chose the purple-with-a-little-green colorway, the rest of them are just as pretty.

We have more copies of the pattern, too.

Sometimes a new tool comes your way, and it looks so wonderful that you just have to play with it. At the moment the new toy is a 9 inch circular from Clover.

It does have tiny little tips, about an inch and a half long. It is possibly the cutest knitting needle ever. So of course, I need to start a new pair of socks.

Socks are one of summer’s finest knits. They don’t weigh a ton in your lap, they can be complex enough to require lots of concentration, or simple enough that you can watch the world go by at the beach and keep an eye on kids near the water. They live quite nicely in a zip loc baggie, protected from sand and eager attention from Golden Retrievers. And they can knit up fairly quickly, a good thing in this case, as my mother in law, a handknit sock fan, has a birthday later this month.

The beginnings of a pair of Fixation Footies, cotton with just enough elastic to give a comfortable fit. Just right for sneakers.

The pattern is in the store, the adorable needles are available in sizes 1 to 8.