Tag Archives: koigu mini skeins

Fairwell to Frolic, Hello to Spring!

Frolicking is fun, but it is also great when it’s over. Yes- we can close the book on another year at the local, annual, knitter’s fair – the Knitter’s Frolic.  It was a goodie! We fed and watered a lot of hungry shoppers at our Knit-Cafe, and we passed on some special yarn and project plans too. In fact several new Knit Cafe patterns were introduced at this years Frolic. We will have them ready for purchase any day now on Ravelry so keep your ear to the ground and your eyes peeled. Big thanks go out to our outstanding team of helpers that made the whole thing possible for us.
Still the good times will not stop – just check out these lil’darlins↓

mini skeins koigu
There is nothing like a mini skein!  10 metres of joy! Koigu  has sent us a great collection of colours this time.  For things to do with mini skeins check out this post, or register for our June 17th needlepoint class and learn a whole new way to play with these colourful characters.
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Everyone likes contests, so I thought I would pass this along.  The West Queen West BIA is giving away a Mother’s Day shopping spree!  Just follow this link for more details. Many shops in our illustrious neighbourhood are participating, including us of course.
queenHappy May 1rst all
Craftily yours
Kristin

and the winner is…

At the beginning of the month we announced a contest. You were asked to contribute ideas.  How would you use the adorable mini skeins we just received from Koigu?  You can see my ideas, on the subject and what everyone else contributed here.
Your ideas were full of the vivid creativity that I would expect to come from a pack of knitters.  We could only pick one to win the prize, but you are all winners as far as we’re concerned.

The Contest Winner Is Carla kindermsn!
Who said, “I would start with 1 color and easy pattern for sweaters and just start to knit. I would make it very bright and that would be my happy sweater. Whenever I was feeling down and out I would put it on and start to knit.”

I love projects that embrace random invention.  It reminds me of the Knit Cafe’s Spring Blanket Pattern.  

From the whole smorgasbord of good ideas here are some other tasty selections:

From captainsharmie, “i love mini skeins! i’d make a pair of swedish fish mittens — so cute! or maybe a hat in the same style… :)

From Shay D, “I think minis would be awesome for Mochimochi Land patterns:
Or just amigirumi in general – where the colors can be as imaginative as the creatures. I’ve always loved this ladies creations, I can readily recapture the glee I felt when I discovered her dust-bunny sofa sculpture, and her Swimming Lemmings sculpture.

From Josie, “Just had an idea: they would be perfect for this hat and gloves set!”

From Lisa “I’m making the Barn Raising Quilt blanket – I think these mini-skeins would have enough yarn for a square each”

From collegeknitting, “I just finished a pair of socks using blocks of 10g-30g leftover sock yarn scraps. I bet they would look great with mini-skeins!”
These are her socks pictured here, you can find them on her lovely blog, as well as the link to the pattern.

Blithe Spirit says, “I would use them to knit swatches of cool stitch designs from Barbara Walker’s Treasury books which I’m drooling over. And then sew up the swatches to make a pillow or mini-blanket. Love your blog – always full of great and inspirational ideas.”
Thank-you for the compliment and for this great idea.  Anytime Barbara Walker’s Treasury of Knitting Books are involved I am on board.  This pic comes from Jared Flood, from Brooklyn Tweed, and shows a bit of his design process.


From Claire, “I like mini skeins to make little crocheted pincushions – with fabric tops.”
I found this example of a crocheted pin cushion made from hexagons.  This is the same crochet motif we use in our Beginner Crochet Blanket Class.  This would be a great thing to do with the hexagons that just didn’t make the cut for the blanket.

Some folks said they might use mini Skeins for embroidery.  I especially like that Carol-ann Casselman would add “rude messages” to a blanketHere’s her full quote, “Embroider your favourite blanket with monograms/initials, rude messages, love notes, etc. My favourite ideas above are the heart heeled socks, coloured pockets and chair socks.”
I little research on this idea, did not (sadly) unearth any such messages, but I did find this.  I vast link-list of embroidery tutorials, and patterns from Alina’s Adventures in Homemaking blog.


dirgni says, “I would knit football hats and make matching mitts. I would make 10 different fruitcaps”
I don’t know what football hats are, but fruit hats have always been popular patterns for babies.  If you would like your wee one to resemble a strawberry, here is a pattern that suits Koigu weight yarn.  Whatever the yarn requirements, mini skeins would be wonderful for embroidered details.  Think strawberry seeds!
I found  another impressive link-list for fruit hats, and vegetables, and cupcakes, and animals, and more. – here! at Chem Knits.
Honorable Mentions go to all the kind folks who said they would knit for the benefit of others.
Laurie Rodney, Sandy, Heather Neville, Chrissy Papas.

Thank yous to ALL!
Craftily yours
Kristin

the perfect blendship!

This weekend is the Friendship Bracelet Workshop

Embroidery floss is the traditional medium of the friendship bracelet!
I think we might get experimental with mini skeins too!

I look forward to this upcoming crafternoon.  Here are the details:

Friendship Bracelet Workshop
Sunday May 27, 1-3:30
$30, materials not included
children of all ages are welcome
call to register 416 533 5648
more on friendship bracelets here

All morning I’ve been “down the rabbit hole”.  This is how I describe the phenomena of being swept away from web link to link, with no visible end.  Eventually you take pause and wonder how you arrived at where you landed.  This time spent in the hole I have no regrets about.  I learned so much.
I think it started here ↓These instructions on how to make a garter stitch tab at the beginning of your shawl project may not interest everyone, but I urge you all to check out Tricksy. This site is replete with interesting things like this↓
It was just the other day, I was admiring the well-marked  paper pattern I was working from.  Decorated with chicken scratches, check marks, and circles, it was full of the history of my knitting adventures.  I wondered to myself how folks with iPads managed to follow a pattern, unable to draw pictures and make notes where necessary.  I mumbled to myself “I bet there’s an app for that”, and of course there is.  A PDF reader in fact.  Read about it here
I will never get the hours back I spent playing with this Chart Maker, but I don’t care!

I also found, in no particular order:

this very useful head/hat size chart

a tutorial on how to weave in ends which includes weaving into ribbing stitch!

a how-to decode decreases: how to make them, how they look, and when to use them.

There was more
but I think that is quite enough for today!
Apologies if you get trapped in the rabbit hole.

Craftily yours
Kristin