knot another hat

My current obsession

If you've been around the shop lately, you already know what I'm going to talk about. Chances are, if you've been around the shop lately, my current obsession has already become your current obsession, because it's spreading like wildfire. 

I'm talking about crochet. 

A few weeks ago, Jill and Kismitt were discussing plans to knit a blanket using their sock weight leftovers. I overheard, and immediately thought of the piles of fingering weight leftovers I have in my stash, in all colors and sizes of "bits". Instead of a knit blanket, though, my thoughts went to a blanket I had made before, but in worsted weight - the One Big Granny Square blanket from Churchmouse Yarns. I originally crocheted mine back in 2012 out of Silk Garden, and it is still one of my favorites to this day: 

That night at home, I dug out alllll of my fingering weight leftovers. Just imagine how many fingering weight leftovers I might accumulate - between my own knitting and knitting for the store - it's a lot. I sorted them roughly by color family: 

I changed the hook from a G to a D (3.25mm), and off I went: 

After this picture I changed from an old steel hook to the much more comfortable Amour hooks, and that little beginning quickly became this: 

In all honesty, to say I've been obsessed is an understatement. I've had to force myself to take breaks because my carpal tunnel and tendonitis are both flaring. But it's soooooo fun. I can't stop. I have a little pouch I carry around with me, and each day (or so) I go back to the stash, grab four or five little balls in some random color progression that appeals to me, and throw them in the pouch. I crochet until I've used them, then I go back for more. I'm trying not to give too much thought to the order I place colors and instead just go with what calls to me in the moment of choosing. And I am in love. 

Now the question is - when do I stop? 

(Some of my favorite yarns making frequent appearances in this are: Knitted With Fingering and Sock, Manos Fino, Dream in Color Smooshy, and Wonderland Mary Ann. 

 

My love affair with the clapotis

Aah, the Clapotis. The scarf/shawl that swept the nation, right? It debuted in the Fall 2004 issue of Knitty, and its popularity soared into the stratosphere and never came back down. It only boasts a mere twenty thousand projects on Ravelry, and that number doesn't even include all the people in the world that have made one and NOT bothered to add it to Ravelry.  

Clapotis #1, 2009

I, myself, have contributed four Clapotis (what's the plural of Clapotis? My French isn't that good) out of the twenty-plus thousand walking the Earth. My first was way behind the times; after all I knit it in 2009, a full five years after the pattern was first published. The second was a gift for my friend Nichole, and I made it in my friend Paula's handspun yarn. The third was more recent, and it is this Clapotis that reignited the flame.

Clapotis #2, 2009

Last Fall we brought in Dream in Color Starry, a fingering weight hand-dyed yarn with a subtly sparkle. I looked and looked for the perfect one-skein project to show off this yarn and couldn't find anything to my satisfaction. The colors of this yarn are deep and saturated, and anything with too much pattern going on was going to fight against both the dark colors and the sparkle. I don't know when or how the Clapotis came to mind, but once it did, it was clearly the perfect solution.

There was one problem - it was fingering (the Clapotis is for light worsted), and I didn't have enough yardage. So I did a little reconfiguring and turned that puppy into the perfect scarf. 

Clapotis #3, 2012

This past summer I found myself in need of a "brightly colored scarf" (I sing in a local choir, and this was a dress requirement for our Memorial Day concert). It was going to be hot in the concert venue, and Noro Taiyo Sock had the ideal mix of bright colors and cotton content - it took about 10 seconds for me to decide to make another modified Clapotis. 

Clapotis #4, 2013

I couldn't love it more. 

• Project: Clapotis, by Kate Gilbert from Knitty, Fall 2004
• Yarn: Dream in Color Starry, color Amethyst Ink (upper pic), and Noro Taiyo Sock, color 09 (lower pic)
• Needles: US 5 and US 7, respectively

a humble thank you to you all

Hiya folks - - -

It's Turkey Day in the US . . . and even though I am not in the US right now, I just wanted you all to know how thankful I am for all of you and for the care and support you have all given Knot Another Hat over the last five and a half years.

People like to say these kind of platitudes all the time... "We'd never be here with you all", yadda yadda yadda. But I really, truly mean it.

To Nichole, Jill, and Destiny - my three rockstar employees who for three and a half years have had flexible schedules, infinite patience (and I mean infinite), and the mad skillz to handle the shop for me when I can't be there - there would be no KAH without you three.

To my amazing local customers, who come in and sit on the couch and have a chat, or a laugh, or a coffee, or a RIIIIIIPPping back of an entire sweater - thank you. Thanks for your stories, your compassion, your willingness to let me run out to the bathroom.

To my wide and varied web customers (some of whom have been local customers at times) - thank you. If you've ever looked at your receipt and noticed we sign a thank you note on every order, you know that we are just one person in a yarn shop filling your order personally, or answering your email, and you have rewarded us for that level of customer service by coming back time and time again.

Thank you - all.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours,

Sarah

Look ma! I'm on TV!

On August 13, local television station CGN7 had me on their show, Localite, to talk about knitting and my shop!

It went so much better than I had expected (I was so nervous!). :) And, in Segment 3 I even taught Jon Compton, the host, how to knit (spoiler: he was a natural)!

 

non-knitting entertainment

While we're all mired in our Olympic knitting (or regular knitting, or crocheting, etc), I thought I'd share a little fun non-needlework something with everyone!

My friend Marcus has a sister (Karla Reese) who writes and illustrates children's books, and Marcus just finished creating her first website - and it is gorgeous! The illustrations on the site are all by Karla, so go check it out for a little bit of eye candy. Or who knows - maybe you know someone in your life who would love their very own copy of Karla's book - I know my girls love theirs.

my little knit buddy

I've been meaning to put up a little post about this for a while now and keep forgetting - so here it is!

If you have an iPhone, you need the Knit Buddy app. I have no affiliation with it's programmer, I just love it.

Knit Buddy is the best knitting app out there so far. It combines stash management, needle tracking, and project management in one app. Within project management you can set up and maintain customized, separate counters that will save when you close. In needle management - here's a screenshot of my needle list -

you can choose whether to use US or metric size (I choose metric -much more accurate! If you don't know the US to metric needle conversions I would highly recommend you train yourself to use the metric sizes for the benefit of your gauging). You can enter the type of needle (straight, circ, dpn, interchange), the material (wood, metal, plastic), the length, size, then you can flip a switch to show it is in use (the needles highlighted in yellow in my picture are in use), and even add a note. For me, the notes are essential b/c I have 20 million projects going at any given time and can never remember where all the needles are.

Here's a screen shot of the yarn area. You can enter all pertinent yarn info, take a picture, and it stores it by weight. I honestly don't use this or the project section very much. For me - this app is worth its weight in gold just for the needle organization.

You can find this app by searching in the App Store for Knit Buddy. It's written by David Ross and costs $2.99. There's also a Rav group for Knit Buddy users.

benched.

Things are quiet here at the KAH blog because about 6 weeks ago my knitting came screeching to a halt. Some of you may remember waaaaay back in 2006 when I first mentioned I might have carpal tunnel syndrom in my hands? While it has come and gone most of the time since then, mainly flaring up when I go through a period of intense knitting, it came on strong during the month of September.

I could tell the problem was getting worse - both arms/hands completely asleep all night long, going to sleep while I was knitting, etc - but I was in heavy denial. It's Fall! The shop is SO busy! There are samples to be made! Computer work at the store is never-ending! How on EARTH could I be expected to STOP knitting?

But stop I did, after one grueling 24 hour period of a lot of twining. I finished a twined hat (I'll talk about it below) and then promptly began the earflap version out of the orgasmic Rowan Lima. (Yeah, I went there. And yeah, Lima is that good.) I was knitting in the shop and in pain, and stopping frequently to rub my arms, and Nichole looked at me and said, You have to stop. Now. Put down the needles.   

So I did. For almost four long, long, weeks.

It seems so obvious in retrospect, both the clear need to stop knitting and rest my hands, and why I was in such denial about needing to stop. Knitting is my sanity. 100%. I'm sure you understand. When I'm supervising the medium level of constant chaos that goes on in my house at any given moment, it's easy to not let it get to me because I can knit. I'm in my happy place. When we have to watch Hannah Montana or Suite Life on Deck on the living room TV because Campbell wants some veg time, I can knit through it to tune it out. And without the knitting - all of that stuff makes mommy kind of grouchy.

It's not just the lack of knitting, either. I also missed that constant hum in the background of my brain that I never knew was there. It's that thread of thought that is ALWAYS thinking about the project I am on, planning the next project, thinking about a new sample, going over a technique to make it better, etc etc. There is a constant knitting imagination at work, and when the knitting gets turned off solidly (not even a stitch, people) for that long, it's like everything goes quiet, in a very dull and not-good way.

Rest seemed to work, for now, and I've seen a nuerologist who says surgery is probably in my future when I finally get to the point that I can no longer bear/afford to do the resting. I went back to knitting after Terri Shea blew through the Gorge and shattered my world with her Selbu mittens and gloves, which I'll post more about in the future. I'll do some alternative things in the meantime to help manage it.

But can I tell you how good it feels to knit again? Like coming home.

OK - on to the twining that did me in.

• Pattern: Basic Twined Hat by Lisa Ellis (available in .pdf format)
• Yarn: 1 ball Crystal Palace Taos, color 04, Mirage
• Needles: US 9 (5,5mm)

Despite the pain this caused, I love twining! The effect achieved is so fun, so entertaining (especially the twined ribbing!). I started this little guy a year ago when I first taught the Twined Hat class, and for no reason in particular didn't finish it until now.

The method of twining creates a thicker, wind-resistant fabric that is excellent for outdoor use in the winter - great ski wear! And for this basic version of the hat, you can get all sizes out of only 1 ball of Taos. I was skeptical as I approached the top of the hat and my ball was looking so teeny, but it's true! If you haven't tried twining yet, I highly recommend it!  

 

 

Holy comments, Batman!

You guys mean business! There is no way I expected 72 comments to my lace post - so thank you all!!

I used the random number generator, and the winner is . . . . Paula F! Here's what Paula had to say about lace:

I couldn't resist a class with Lucy Neatby entitled "The Allure of Lace".  I took the class a few years ago and started buying yarn for lace and buying some books.  I recently took a class with Amy Singer on lace.  I have finished one shawl and started a lacy scarf.   I do like knitting lace, but it can be hard to find the quiet, not-tired time to concentrate on it.  Trying to knit lace with a deadline doesn't work for me.  (I love purple.)

Just as a refresher, Paula has won my leftover 720 yards of hand-dyed Alpaca Lace yarn, as well as a Gardiner Yarnworks lace pattern of her choice (I knit Toe The Line).

Even though Paula won, I can't resist sharing this ingenous little poem about lace, submitted by Tammy O:

Who could resist the rhythmic patterns and the flow of the drape, it's more than great.

Favorites in Ravelry and bookmarks on my shelves, for me they wait. 

Thread-like yarn with all its grace, what's to hate.

The patterns coveted and collected are too numerous to state.

But alas, my needles still wait.

Don't you think Tammy deserves a little something for that? Tammy - email me your mailing address and I'll send you a little surprise for your poetry. :)

Thanks again to everyone who left a comment! It was great fun to read them as they came in all weekend long. Stay tuned for some updates on the Botanica Medallion!

To close, here's a couple of pics from Memorial Day weekend, enhanced by the CameraBag app on my iPhone:

 

check out my new skirt!

Shannon Okey gave this artist a shout-out on Twitter, so I checked out her shop, and voila!

Nesting Matryoshka Dolls Skirt, by Made With Love By Hannah. I love it!

OMG...it'sFranklin!

I'm here in Chicago at the Yarn Market News conference, in a great presentation about blogging. Needless to say, I felt inspired!

my new love

I have to tell you about my new love.

It wasn't love at first sight. In fact, I had to be coaxed (or bullied, you pick) into this relationship. I was hesitant - didn't want to jump onto any 'ol bandwagon. I thought I'd see how other people handled this sort of thing, and later decide if it was meant for me. . . But, as usual the Yarnpusher (AKA Nichole) somehow convinced me I needed to go down this road. Sometimes I wonder if she drugs me, then gets me to buy a bunch of stuff from my own store, and then I wake up later surrounded by new yarn and other goodies...but I digress. So reluctantly I agreed, and, well....

I'm in love.

With my Clicks. addi Clicks. How sweet it is to have 10 sizes of addis at my finger tips, with three lengths of cord. Immediately they came to prove their undying affection to me by offering the elusive 7,0mm tip - EXACTLY what I needed to get gauge on my new Venezia sweater. I quickly put them to use on a multitude of winter projects, and have yet to be disappointed. Oh yummy addi needle goodness.

Now - when they come out with those Lace tips I'll really go over the edge...

Here's a little picture for the road - see the look on her face? Mischevious happiness? That's how we found her when we rounded the corner into the kitchen. And that's how my Clicks make me feel...

*ETA: We're waiting on our 2nd order of 10 Click sets, since the first 10 were pre-sold out long before they ever arrived. When I have news of their arrival, I'd be happy to let anyone know...

a day of reckoning.

As defined by dictionary.reference.com,

day of reckoning

 

–noun

the time when one is called to account for one's actions, to pay one's debts, or to fulfill one's promises or obligations.

My day of reckoning is here, at least in regards to this blog. Clearly, a debt of posts is due to my readers, many of whom have been here since the beginning (when I posted almost every day!). But before paying up, I had to have a heart-to-heart with myself and decide if I can live up to another promise of more frequent posting, or if I should just call a spade a spade and retire the KAH blog.

I decided...this will be my last heave-ho. Go Big Or Go Home, right? I'm going for Big, and let's cross our fingers that I've got the staying power. :)

Before giving my updates from the last couple of months, I want to give you a peek at what's captivating me right now:

Any guesses? Right! It's the most over-done project on the web, and I'm finally getting around to making one for myself. The right yarn had to come along, and when the Hand Maiden Great Big Sea came in at the store, the Clapotis immediately jumped to mind. I'd like to have it finished to take with me to Chicago in March when I attend the Yarn Market News Conference with Nichole (very excited about that!!).

So here's my oldest, unblogged projects, and they were all the Christmas knitting that I did this year.

• Pattern: Felted Bowls from One Skein by Leigh Radford
• Needles: two size US 15 (10,0mm) circulars (one was my new addi Click - more on that to come!)
• Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica: #104, prairie (above), #115, flame and #105 lava (below), #61 rhubarb and #68 citric (bottom)
• Mods: improvised a medium size bowl by using cast-on number between the Sm and Lg

The top, single bowl was made for my father's desk at work. He is the type who really doesn't want you to buy him anything for Christmas, so this was the perfect solution. I filled his with Werther's Originals and told him it was because that is "old man" candy. :P

The red/black combos were a set made for my mom for her living room, because about 5 years ago she re-did her living room in a striking red/cream with dark, dark wood furniture. It is stunning, and these match beautifully.

This set (above) was for my sister because it's so whimsical, and she is Ms. Creativity. An art major in college who frequently gifts me her artwork, it's hard to come up with something inspired and original for her. 

And OH MY GOSH I have completely forgotten to take a picture of the set I made for my sister-in-law Tracy, whose name I drew this year in our gift exchange....Tracy will you please send me pictures?? 

So that sums up my Christmas knitting. I was very un-inspired and generally down about Christmas until about 8 or 9 days before, when I suddenly went into a frenzy and whipped these puppies out. And I loved them! But, after doing 10 of them in as many days, I think I'm done with felted bowls for a while....

Oh - and the snow in the pics is courtesy of (loud, booming deep voice here) ARCTIC BLAST 2008!!!!

Happy New Year!

ETA: Jim (photographer) was kind enough to let me post a couple pics here - enjoy and check out his website!

 

First off - I want to share with everyone these amazing pictures taken of my family by Jim, of Tumbleweed Organic Children's Photography. We got together in November and had a shoot, starting at a local park, and ending down on the waterfront. They are SO fantastic, I can't help but ask you all to take a look!

http://thetumbleweedblog.squarespace.com/journal/2009/1/22/the-keller-family-in-the-hood.html

The link is to Jim's blog, where he posts a smattering of his favorites. Now I dont' know how we'll decide which proofs to buy! There are 108 shots to choose from total and I don't want to leave any behind! Hopefully they keep the proofs forever because it's gonna take us 30 years to buy them all. :)

So - happy new year, everyone. I have been busting my arse the last several weeks with business related nonsense - year-end inventory, big Gumball sale, getting caught up adding items to the website, etc - so needless to say there hasn't been much knitting. But I do have some Christmas projects to share and hope to get those posts to you soon!

Oh! And Jason's wearing his sweater in the shoot! Yay!

Happy Halloween!

  (Neckwear: Great Big Sea in Pansy by HandMaiden Fine Yarns - coming soon to the website)

Just for fun...

It's so fun making new friends! I have to say, though we have yet to meet face-to-face (as is so often the case in our little <HUGE> online knitting world), Tricia, the owner of Dublin Bay in Portland, and I have really hit it off. It's so nice to find another LYSO to connect with, share funny stories, and in my case, buy more Handmaiden!!

After finishing my Hourglass Sweater I was seriously jonesing (sp?) for some more Handmaiden Ottowa, so I had Tricia send me four more skeins in colorway Burgundy....yummmmmm. I'm still deciding what it shall become, but I have my eye on both this and this . And look what she threw in as a thank you:

The cutest little sheep calendar. It is housed in a CD jewel case, which you flip around when open to hold the monthly calendar sheets. It's available online here.

And to finish off, here's a little family photo, taken this morning as a test of a new tool my mom gave Jason for Father's Day - the XShot2.0. It's an extendable rod that you attach your camera to in order to take pictures of yourself! I'm the one holding the camera and you can't tell! :) Oh yeah - like the pink hair?

TNNA

Whew. 

Where to start? I can tell you I am waaaaayy tired. I've been back for three days and I still haven't caught up! It was a whirlwind - and lots of great things are headed our way. I ordered some amazing things for summer and fall, and can't wait to get everyone (me too!) knitting with the new goodies!

I went by myself, which afforded me some great alone time, but also left me hangin' solo quite a bit. I am just way too introverted to walk up to a group of people and introduce myself....case in point: in the lounge area of my hotel, I walked by a group of knitters hanging out, knitting and having a beer. Oh - let me clarify - by "group of knitters" I mean: Stephanie, Jess, Casey, Amy Singer, Jillian Moreno...and the list goes on.  I know all of those people are probably sweet as pie - but talk about intimidating!!! At any rate - the travel and alone time resulted in a LOT of knitting - we're talking a whole pair of socks, finishing my Hourglass sweater, and knitting an entire summer tunic (more on the knitting to come).

For now I'll just show you a bit of the goodies I brought home:

Moving from left to right is Alpaca With A Twist Punch - a brilliant, super-soft alpaca/tencel blend in a sport weight - perfect for kids and summer alike, and coming in almost all colors available. I also ordered (for Fall) their hand-dyed worsted alpaca, Mojito, an alpaca/merino tweed, Highlander, and Socrates, their new Alpaca/Bamboo blend sock yarn! Next is a Shawl Stick from Annie Adams, and I ordered all manners of Shawl Sticks, Pins, Buttons, and jewelry from her amazing wares. Next are a bunch of little miniskein samples from various companies. Last is a cute little bolero kit from Lanaknits Hemp for Knitting in their new allHemp6 Lux. I didn't order the Lux, but I did order their Cashmere/Hemp/Cotton yarn and a couple of kits and patterns.And underneath it all?? The map of the floor of the show - FREAKING HUGE.

Not pictured but also on the way: Mission Falls! I ordered both the 1824 Cotton line and their brand new Merino 136 - a dk weight washable wool. And? Blue Sky Alpacas!!! Yay! Coming from them is their new Skinny Dyed Organic Cotton and Alpaca Sportweight - interchangeable for gauge - and many of their great patterns. I also ordered some blocking wire kits, Pattern Tamers, new patterns and new colors of our favorites from Nashua Handknits.

Are you tired yet? Just typing this out is making me tired, thinking of all the work to come to make room for these new things!

Dublin Bay

A couple of weeks ago, Nichole, Julia and I took ourselves on a little yarn crawl through the Portland metro area. I say little because we only hit three stores, but in reality it turned out to be a BIG trip for yarn!

Our first stop was Dublin Bay Knitting Co, in the Pearl District of downtown PDX. I'm not quite sure what to say - this shop was so beautiful, and so full of the most lovely and inspiring yarns. Most importantly - they carry Fleece Artist and Handmaiden Yarns - mmm, mmm, mmm. Nichole and I both snatched up Ottowa, a wool tweed in luscious hand-dyed colorways, and my Ottowa is becoming this:

The Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It swatched perfectly to gauge and I cast on the very next day! I also procured some Casbah - a cashmere blend washable sock yarn that I can't stop squishing between my fingers. Long story short: Fleece Artist/Handmaiden will be on my list of yummy yarns to get for Fall!

I'd love to tell you all about our other two stops, but they were such HUGE disappointments (one had such an unfortunate odor all three of us gave each other panicked looks and we made a quick tour through and escaped for fresh air!) that I'm not going to go into it here.

Instead I'll tell you about our other, non-yarn-related stop - Andina. Ay ay ay - this Peruvian restaurant in the Pearl is quite possibly the best place I've ever eaten (and that is NOT just the pitcher of sangria talking). Amazing, amazing food. I left thinking I could quite happily eat there for breakfast, lunch and dinner the rest of my life. They may not appreciate me eating breakfast there, however, being that they're not actually open for breakfast. . .

Anyway- it was a great day thanks to the great company and the great yarns at Dublin Bay!