The postman rings several times

It has been a busy few days!

The mail carrier is a near constant visitor. 
Above is Perle Cotton tiny bundles of joy, hand-dyed from Valdani.  Last year I posted this project idea (and this one too) for the perle cotton and I still stand behind them as winners.  Some bright shades of embroidery floss came along for the ride,  arriving in time for our Friendship Bracelet Class in May.
Valdani Perle Cotton is $5 per ball. $2.75 per skein of Embroidery Floss.
This summer-sweater-ready-yarn from Berroco blends together the best of cotton and linen  to make a really wearable knit. Linsey yarn comes in 105 metre (114yd) skeins for $9 each.

We have two spring/summer pattern booklets Volume 10 and Volume 8 from Norah Gaughan which make good use of this yarn.

The Berroco box also held these goodies.  Vintage Chunky is now multi-coloured!  Many of you who are fans of this yarn for it’s price and washability might be compelled to try out some of the new colour-ways for your next baby gift. Vintage Chunky is $9 for 200 metres (217 yds).

What the heck? is what I imagine you might be thinking.  These cocoon shaped enigmas are actually hand-dyed skeins of yarn from Uruguay.  10 skeins come all bundled together like so.  Later, I will detach them and coil them individually and cram them into the shelves.  Three new colour options for the folks who are taking the First Sweater Class that starts April 30th.

If those nearly neutrals don’t grab ya there’s more!   Manos del Uruguay’s Bluejay, Potpourri and Mermaid are colours that might hit the spot.  There are only 2 remaining vacancies left in the First Sweater Class.  Call us for more info or to register. 416 533 5648.

…and that’s not all the postman brought us, but it is all for now.
Till next time,
Craftily yours
Kristin

crocheting on the edge

A super sunny DIY for a scorcher of a day.
This sweet project is the brain child of Cassie and her blog You Go Girl.  There is a wonderful tutorial there with clear and detailed photos on how to accomplish this crocheted edging.
I was smittened right away when I saw this and decided to try my hand at it. Coincidentally I had just inherited some cloth napkins from a friend that looked like they might appreciate a little reno.  So I went to work and there were some discoveries along the way!
I began with a straight from the horses mouth approach except I changed the materials slightly choosing Valdani Perle Cotton over baby weight yarn and a 3mm hook instead of a 3.75mm.
Truthfully my first attempt was a failure.  The blanket stitch I stitched was spaced too far apart for the tension of the crochet, leaving the trim pulled  and the edges of the napkins curling in.
Backing up to the drawing board  I resorted to the first rule of careful knitting/crocheting: check your gauge!  I stitched some crocheted scallop edging all on its lonesome and then measured the distance between the midpoint of each scallop and the edge of each and found that I should have been spacing my blanket stitches .75 cm apart instead of the half inch the tutorial suggests.  Oh you live and you learn!
The second attempt went swimmingly. I did make a few changes however:
1. I chose to make the length of my blanket stitches shorter (as well as closer together) so that the bars did not reach under the hem of the napkin but fell midway through.  I felt the shorter stitches were more appropriate for the delicate perle cotton.
2. I did not double strand my cotton as  I made may blanket stitches.  Waste not /want not!
3. When blanket stitching I did not use a length of cotton 15 times the circumference of the napkin  as the pattern suggests.  Since my yarn was not double stranded  I would not need so much.  Also I found I preferred to add on a new length from time to time rather then pull a ridiculous length of yarn through every stitch and watch the resulting tangles ensue.  Word to the wise – when blanket stitching  pull your yarn through slowly and carefully, remember to breath, and eat some chocolate as the tutorial suggests.
4. When single crocheting  through my blanket stitch I only made 2 single crochets in each space (not three).  I compensated for this later when making my scallops skipping only one single crochet (instead of 2) in between each scallop. 

With one wee ball of Valdani Perle Cotton I edged one full napkin and got 2 sides of the scallops finished on the second.
You could have fun trying out different kinds of edgings on all manner of whatnots.  A skirt hem for example, or a pocket edge, a table cloth or a tea towel, or even some pillow cases.  This is a page from one of my favorite crochet resources- Super Stitches Crochet. A glossy book with pretty pictures and easy to follows charts and written instructions for all sorts of crochet stitches, textures and edges too. Check it out next time you are in the Knit Cafe.

Happy stitching all!
Craftily Yours
Kristin

Sunday’s Soho Cowl

Yes – I was in New York – and now I am home safe and sound in sleepy Toronto. We do sleep here and that is not so bad.

I did get a bit of the inspiration bug that is going around and  especially contagious when one goes abroad.

Here is one of the charming things that caught my eye

“What yarn is that?”  I asked the man behind Purl Soho’s counter who was busy winding yarn.  ”Blue Sky Alpaca Cotton” he answered, cleverly mixed here and there with cotton thread – I said “cleverly” not him.  It is clever!  A muted background with glimmers of colour and a simple garter stitch is all it takes. Find details on how it is done at the purl bee .

A couldn’t resist putting together a few colour ways of my ownHere is a few colour ways of Blue Sky Alpaca’s Organic Cotton paired with wee balls of Valdani’s hand dyed perle cotton.  You might also want to mix lace weight yarn or plain old sewing thread into this project.  The more – the merrier.

More on New York knit adventures to come…