knot another hat

My Top 5 Go-To Gift Patterns

Even selfish knitters like myself find a need for a knitted gift here and there. I pretty rarely knit for others, but sometimes it just feels right (I like to think us knitters have a certain intuition for knowing when a hand-knitted gift is just what the doctor ordered). 

I took a look through ALLLL my projects on Ravelry, specifically at those that were knit as gifts. I was looking for the common themes, or even for repeats (I don't often knit anything twice), and I found that I have some favorite gift projects that I want to share with you. 

#5 Socks

Whether lightweight, midweight, or boot weight, knitted socks are something I have gifted repeatedly (but only to the REALLY deserving!). I have made a total of 23 pairs of socks for others, ranging from kids socks to size 12 men's socks. That's 46 socks! (Remember that time I had to make the SAME pair twice?) I mostly just follow one of my plain vanilla sock patterns for socks on 2 circular needles, because I don't have to think about it. Socks are definitely a bigger time commitment - a pair can take anywhere from a week to a month, depending on the weight of your yarn and your speed. Here's a throwback to some matching socks I made for Jason and wee baby Campbell, about 13 years ago: 

#4 Seamless Baby Cardigan

This neck-down, seamless cardigan is so quick to knit, even if you put a giant skull and crossbones in the back. ;) I have made this several times for friends' wee ones, both plain and with pictures knit into the back. In worsted weight a 4.5 sts/inch, you can knit one of these up in under a week. I especially like adding little custom details like a few rows of contrast colored edging. Here is the Skully Girl sweater I knit for a new babe in the family a few years ago: 

#3 The Diamond Slouch Hat

This one is actually one of my own designs, and I've made it several times as gifts for friends with milestone birthdays. The pattern is easy yet has enough going on to be entertaining, and it's worked in light worsted weight, making it doable in a weekend. It's a flattering hat that doesn't crush hair, which is always important (to me, at least). Here's my original diamond slouch: 

#2 The Honey Cowl

This easy cowl makes such a great gift, and can be especially good for using that unique skein of hand-dyed yarn. The slip stitch pattern is easily memorized, and there are two size options: a shorter length, or a long length for doubling. This is great if you are short on time; the smaller version can be knit in a couple of days, and the longer version in about a week. I still wear my almost-black honey cowl daily during the winter, but my favorite might be this version I knit in Knitted Wit's Reforestation - the special colorway she dyed to support the re-building of the Gorge trails after the disastrous fire in 2017:

#1 The Wurm

Aside from plain socks, this might is my most repeated project, as to date I have made no fewer than 5 Wurms. To me this might just be the perfect hat - the slouchy fit means it never crushes your hair, and it works in a nice range of heavy sport to DK weight yarns. Start to finish the Wurm can be knitted in about 6 hours. Over the years I have made Wurms out of alpaca, wool, and silk/cashmere blends, and they've all turned out great. Here is the Wurm I made for my mom a couple years ago in Feederbrook Farms Entropy DK: 

There you have it! I'd love to hear in the comments what some of your favorite gift projects are! 

Calling all WIPs! My top 3 tips for Spring Project Cleaning.

It's time for some Spring Cleaning! 

I don't know about you, but I get a major bee in my bonnet to take stock of all of the projects on my needles this time of year. I think it might be because things are the teensiest bit slower in the shop, giving me more time and mental space to focus on these types of things. 

Two weeks ago during my kids' Spring Break, I took the week off of work and had me a little stay-cation. And it was awesome.

My stash is housed in our family room, which means every time I'm sitting in there watching a movie with the fam or chilling out to my latest TV obsession (hello Russian Doll!), the presence of my stash and pile of WIPs is looming just over my left shoulder. Whispering. Cajoling. Sometimes even name-calling. 

The first WIP to get my attention is a Scarfluffle that I started back in 2014 (gasp! that's five years ago if you need help with the math)!! This was started in some handspun - the fiber was gifted to me by dear friends Nichole and Julia, and I spun up a nice fingering that I thought would be great for this pattern. For some reason I knit it until I was just over halfway, then stopped. Entirely. So I picked this puppy back up and KNOCKED. IT. OUT. 

Next up - socks. I really do prefer wearing hand-knit socks over commercial socks¹, and 10 years ago I knit socks all the time and built up quite a sock supply. But as sweaters began to edge out socks in my list of THINGS SARAH LIKES TO KNIT, my sock supply slowly diminished. Don't get me wrong, I always have a sock on the needles in my purse, because you never know when you're going to get stuck on I84 in an ice storm², but I just don't make that much progress. Until now! I finished these beauties in Havirland Pax Sock (Self-Striping): 

 

Stay tuned - we're getting this yarn!

 

And I just finished these gorgeous Neapolitan socks in Knitted Wit Fingering, using Shannon Squire's Stumptown sock pattern:

With those two crossed off my list, I felt free to cast on some overdue socks for both Jason and Mallory. 

But folks, I didn't stop there. I was able to finish up our shop sample of the Parallelogram Scarf, from the Mason-Dixon Field Guide No. 5, and worked in Wonderland Yarns Blossoms (sooooo good, so, so, good). 

AND - I launched my new Spring/Summer scarf, Panorama, knit in Kelbourne Woolens Mojave (cotton/linen blend), kits coming soon! 

I even managed to make progress on a couple other WIPs that I will cover in a future post. 

If you would like to do a little Spring WIP cleaning yourself, here are my top 3 tips for getting the most out of your time: 

1. Don't Force It: like anything we do in life, if our heart isn't in it, we won't do it well. It's the same with busting out old projects - you have to be in the right frame of mind and spirit to pick up a five year old project and attack it like there's no tomorrow. If you aren't feeling it right now, come back when you are³. 
2. Break Up the Work: Pick manageable goals or milestones within the project - don't force yourself to work on it exclusively until it's done. You'll feel more free in your work and less burdened by the old project. Give yourself small rewards for reaching your goals (cup of coffee, piece of chocolate, or just moving on to a more enjoyable project for a while). 
3. Complete Them Completely: If you're going to tackle finishing up an old WIP, do it entirely. It will feel so satisfying to get that project checked off your list - to have it seamed, ends woven, and blocked. Off your needles and off your mind! 

There  you have it - think you're ready to tackle a few WIPs yourself? 

1: With the exception of Bombas wool socks, which I am now completely obsessed with thanks to my parents giving me some for Christmas.

2: I wasn't caught in that storm, thank Bob, but if I HAD been I would have knitted at least a pair of socks. 

3: And if you're really not feeling it - like deep-down-in-your-bones not feeling it, it might be time to pull out that needle and set 'er free (that's right - rip it out). Your time and your gorgeous yarn are too precious to waste in lackluster projects! 

Happy Hour Project Club has launched!

Our first month's installment of the Happy Hour Project Club launched on Wednesday - cheers! 

Sometimes after a night out, you might feel a little ... swirly. Sometimes, you feel a lotta swirly. Either side of this cute colorwork cowl will have you covered, no matter HOW you feel! 

Introducing Swirly:

Swirly is a stranded colorwork cowl, knit using Stonehedge Crazy (each skein is completely one of a kind!) and Berroco Ultra Wool DK. The cowl is two-sided and extra warm, with a large swirl motif on one side and a small swirl motif on the other. 

The rest of the Happy Hour package included a della Q project bag ("Work Less ... knit more!"), a custom made knitting themed stone coaster, and a recipe for one of my favorite cocktails, the Basil Gimlet. 

Cheers! 

It was an Olive kind of week ...

With fresh inspiration from the Olive Knits  book signing party, I immediately casted on the North Channel Collared Cardigan the next day. A week later (roughly 4.5 days of knitting time) - I bound off the last stitch! And can I tell you how much I LOVE this sweater? 

Marie gave me some important advice sometime last year ... she said we women often have the compulsion to knit something long enough to cover up our less favorite parts (for me - my derriere). While longer cardigans have their place (and are definitely some of my favorites to wear), sometimes it's better to go with a shorter piece that can be layered over a longer piece. I decided to take this advice and make this sweater the length intended and resist my usual urge to go longer. Her pattern notes also indicated that this design had more positive ease than most, so I took that into consideration and chose a size that would fit closely, as intended (a size that is for a finished bust that is actually smaller than mine). Ending result? Love love love. 

So of course, having knit one sweater in a few days convinced me that I should immediately cast on another. This time I'm going for the Shoreline Cardigan, and using The Fibre Co Luma in Sherry. This time I am knitting my normal bust-aligning size, due to more (brilliant) pattern notes that describe the fit and stitch of this particular piece. And I can tell I'm going to love this one as well. 

All this new thinking regarding sweater length nudged me to pull out an older Olive, the Stillwater cardigan. I don't tend to wear this one much because it is a shorter length, but I grabbed a swingy little black dress and paired the Stillwater over the top, and it was perfection, and a great ending to an all-around Olive-y week of knitting. 

Today in the shop we kicked off our three-day Cocoknits Sweater Method intensive. These knitters are rockstars! Everyone surpassed our expectations for Day 1 and is off and running on their sweaters. I can't wait to see what progress they have made by tomorrow's class! 

 

Our weekend with Olive Knits

Whew! Are we lucky or what? 

I had the good fortune to spend several days with Marie Greene of Olive Knits a week back, and boy do we have a good time! 

We kicked off Marie's visit with a book launch party celebrating her new book, Seamless Sweaters in 2 Weeks. Marie brought aaaallllllll the sweaters from the book for us to drool over. I immediately picked out three must-knits (and I mean, I'll start them now). (I actually mean I just finished one yesterday.)

Marie graciously spent the evening chatting it up with our great customers and signing their books. (Signed copies of Marie's book are available in-store or online at Waucoma Books.) I have to give a huge thank-you to Ingrid (#saturdayshopgirl), who snapped most of these pics! 

Sisters Sara and Amy (travelling from Boise and CA, respectively), showed up with the GENIUS idea of having their books spiral bound for easy pattern reading. 

After the book signing, we packed up and headed out to Dufur, OR for our annual Spring retreat, Knit Away From It All. We spend three days doing just about nothing, except knitting, snacking, and chatting. (We had a few adventurous knitters who got in some cross-country skiing.)

One of my favorite parts of the retreat is planning out the swag - I love giving my knitters gifts as much as Oprah loves giving her audience gifts. Swag this year included a mini-skein bundle from sew happy jane, a sheep enamel pin by gingiber, bath bombs, a hand-stamped bracelet by Lemon Kissed, chocolate by Mayana, and snacks by Siren Snacks. On top of this goodness we had swag from attendees, including hand-made bath salts from Melinda, a little llama and mini skein from Yvonne (LavenderSheep), champagne splits from Kate, lavender from Jill, a little tool set from Marie, a gorgeous hand-sewn tool caddies from Kara, and amazing hand-sewn zipper bags from Kathy (who ended up sick and couldn't come, WE MISSED YOU KATHY!).

While at the retreat, our knitters had exclusive access to a special pop-up shop of sew happy jane yarns and INK bags ... some of us may have found some new sweaters ... 

The entire weekend was magical, and the Dufur Valley did not disappoint on the beautiful, wintry, knitting weather (but with dry, safe roads - yay!). 

We even remembered to get a parting group shot to commemorate the weekend. :) 

Thanks to Marie and thanks to everyone who came to the book party and the retreat, from near and far! 

Oh - and those sweaters I want(ed) to start? Finished one yesterday, casting on another tomorrow. Stay tuned to Insta for the finished pictures of my North Channel Cardigan! 

 

New hat coming soon!

Our local teacher, Kirsten, is a tubular rockstar. She makes the tubular cast on and bind off look like magic. She's gearing up to teach her Tubular class this Spring, and she inspired me to get back on the tubular horse, so to speak. 

Earlier this Fall my youngest was given a great slouchy beanie. It's a commercial beanie, and very simple, but the look of the corrugated fabric (think a-la-Wurm) just begged to be turned into a handknit pattern. So when I decided I needed a medium to practice my tubular cast on, writing up a pattern for this beanie was the perfect solution! 

Et voila - the Carbon Copy, knit in Knitted Wit Big Sky Worsted, color First Frost. Currently being test knit and coming soon to a Ravelry download near you! 

 

 

TNNA recap

TNNA bound in PDX with my Atenti Overnighter

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the annual needlearts trade show, also known as TNNA. This is the conference where retailers like me can see what's new in our industry and order for the Fall/Winter season. Manufacturers from all over the world bring their wares, and I spend four and a half days walking around like a wide-eyed zombie trying to take it all in.

I arrived in Columbus, OH on Thursday evening, charged up and ready to go. Friday I had an all-day class with Gale Zucker and Beverly Army Williams - it was called "Hands-on Mobile Photography and Writing". This class was AMAZING. These ladies really know their stuff, and it truly was hands-on. 

Gale giving us tips on lighting and backgrounds

 

Beverly teaching us mind mapping techniques.

There are so many vendors, so much color, so many new things ... Every year I spend the first half day trying to soak it all in, and then I invariably need a nap back in my room to let it percolate a bit. 

!!!!!

 

Display at The Fibre Co. booth

Baaah! Adorable sheep at the Feederbrook Farm booth

Several years ago TNNA decided to allow "cash and carry" at the show - meaning retailers like me get to actually buy product on the show floor to bring home. I love this new policy - it always felt so weird in past years to browse thousands of new products and then come home to my customers and say, "Yeah - it looked amazing! But you don't get to see it until it all arrives in a few months." Now I can actually bring home goodies to share RIGHT NOW - and whet everyone's appetite for what's to come! 

My haul (I fit it in my suitcase!!!)

 The other handy thing about cash and carry is being able to pick up yarn/patterns for shop samples (like the gorgeous scarf in Manos Fino pictured below), so the knitting can begin and the sample can be ready by the time the yarn arrives! 

Scarf in Manos Fino

Here are a few pictures of things that you can look forward to seeing at Knot Another Hat in the near future! 

Backyard Fibers Sport

 

Cashmere lace kits from Lux Adorna

All in all - it was a great trip. I got to spend time with my good friend and fellow shopowner Janet Avila, connect with people I've met over the years, and eat a TON of Jeni's Ice Cream. The whole trip was a nice little reset button. But - when you see this as you start your descent into PDX - 

- you know you're almost home, and that's a good feeling. 

knit night de mayo and other weird (non)traditions

So, everyone knows by now that the Cinco de Mayo holiday isn't a real thing, right? No, it's not Mexican Independence Day (that is September 16). And it's not a holiday that has long been celebrated in Mexico. It's about as real as Cinco de Quatro (and if you don't know that one - it's time for some Arrested Development!). Consequently, I skip right over that date on the calendar, in favor of this one....

May 31st. This is the day of our annual Knit Night de Mayo - the knit night where I bring a Barrel O'Fun (it's a real thing) of Sangria and unlimited Juanita's chips, and you all bring your best salsa or guacamole (or both) and try to win our contest. This funky tradition started back in 2013, and we had so much fun that first year we've had to do it ever since. 

The winner in each category gets a $25 gift card to the store. So what we're talking about here is this, folks: 

knit night + sangria + juanita's + salsa + guac + gift cards = the perfect excuse to show up! See you Wednesday! 

what summer means to me

This weekend is the Memorial Day Weekend holiday - traditionally called the official kick-off to summer. To celebrate the impending season, we're going to have a SALE! But first - here are 10 things that mean summer to me:

1. the "chtch chtch chtch chtch" of the sprinklers in the orchards (I don't really get to hear this one anymore. Sad face.)
2. planting flowers in beds and pots and watching them grow
3. rising early and being able to sit outside in the sun with my coffee
4. jason's mojitos
5. cherries, cherries, cherries 
6. summer rain storms
7. YMA camp and all it offers my girls
8. summer knitting (read: shawls) 
9. summer sunsets
10. 100 degree days when the air is so still you can swim through it - love it. 

I'd love to hear from you all about what means "summer" means to you. 

And on to the sale news! 

We want to help you welcome summer the right way, so we will behaving a Memorial Day Weekend Sale, May 27-29, online and in-store! Find warm-weather favorites at 25% off - yarns like Berroco Remix, Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy, MondoFil Japon, Shibui Twig, Manos Serena, and more! 

 

These yarns are just begging to be made into these great summer projects:  

Ishbel in MondoFil Japon	Slope in Shibui Twig	Filtering Daylight in Manos Serena
Essex in Berroco Cotolana	Diamond Slouch in Berroco Modern Cotton	Eavesdrop in Classic Elite Fortuna

          

to serial knit, or not

I've been musing on the idea of serial knitting (knitting a certain project more than once, even over and over). I don't do it*. This must put me over into "product knitter" territory, because I almost never feel the urge to knit something more than one time. But I'll come back to this in a minute. 

Let's digress to that time I had to knit something four times. 

My mom is a twin. One day she and her twin are on vacation together. Separately, they each go to the knit store in town. They each phone me from the store, and ask if I would please make them socks if they bought the yarn. First time, I said, "sure!" Second time, I said, "wow, your sister just asked me that, but ok."

Then the twins came back from vacation and delivered their yarns to me, one at a time. And wouldn't you know it, they had bought the same exact yarn. Same yarn, same colorway, same everything. Oh yay. 

(kind of reminds me of the time they showed up to their birthday party in essentially the same shirt and then both closed their eyes for their picture - let's revisit that for a moment, shall we? 

They're going to be super happy with me for this one.

 So, I had to make the same sock four times. And you thought Second Sock Syndrome was hard to deal with. 

No, you're not seeing double. That's four of the same g*d*$# socks.

Even the things I have knitted and loved the most don't compel me to knit them again. Sometimes I think I might, or even say I might, but I never do. 

How about you all - do you serial knit? Even large projects like sweaters? 

*The Fine Print: there are a few things I have serial knit in my life - like 6 matching striped ski hats so my Six-Pack friends and I could look like dorks on the slopes (apparently there's no photographic evidence of these); or pussyhats for my whole family; or plain vanilla socks. I don't really feel these count.