Winners!

Wow, what a fun & busy Final Friday we had! We had 9 sock contest entries, and they were all fantastic.

And the winners are...

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3rd Place: Pam E., with her baby socks made from Jawoll Superwash
Prize: $8 gift certificate from Nanetta

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2nd Place: Jill, with her Kai-Mei socks (from the Cookie A book Sock Innovation) made from Sox Appeal
Prize: $10 gift certificate from Nanetta

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1st Place: Jennifer, with her Honeycomb socks (from the Little Box of Socks) made from Jitterbug & Cascade Heritage
Prize: $15 gift certificate from Nanetta

Congratulations to our winners, and thanks to everyone for participating!

Sneak Peek

May Final Friday

Nanetta and Rita
Tomorrow (Friday, May 29th)

An art show including jewelry, sculpture, buttons, digital collage, and more...

Plus a sock contest - six entries are in so far, and more are on the way.

We'll eat, drink & be merry. Stop by anytime between 6:30 & 9:30 pm.

Rumble in Delano

Whoa.

Saturday afternoon & evening, Delano is hosting a car show. In commemoration, Kelsey & Cassie (of Bungalow 26 & Bohemia Healing Spa, respectively) have created a classic-style pinup calendar, featuring local businesses, cars, and beauties.

Come out and support the show, which is from 4 - 10 this Saturday, May 30. Here's a sneak preview of the Twist page in the calendar. (Note that Nicole is wearing a knitted vest and crocheted flower in her hair.)

The calendars will be for sale during the show for $15 each.

Daisy Stitch

I discovered this stitch in the card set, "101 Stitches to Knit" by Interweave Press. It's card #2, and is called, "Ornamental Stitch." I think it looks particularly well in Puffin yarn (a cut fleece yarn by Crystal Palace). So I wrote a baby blanket pattern around it. (Download pdf)

This tutorial begins with the first pattern row (row 7 on my pattern. The entire stitch pattern is 16 rows long.) It shows you how to make the petals of the daisy and how to purl the next row. The pattern rows start on the right side of the work.

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1) Insert right needle in loop (stitch) 3 rows below the 2nd stitch on left needle:

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2) Wrap working yarn around right needle as if to knit, and draw up a loop. Pull the loop out sufficiently to cover the distance from the stitch 3 rows down to your right needle. (In other words, don't let it get too tight.)

Wrap yarn:

Draw up a loop:
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3) Knit two stitches. Here's what it looks like knitting the next stitch after the long loop:

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4) Insert right needle into same stitch 3 rows down and draw up another loop.
5) Knit 2 stitches
6) Draw up a third loop from same stitch. Then your work looks like this:

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These 6 steps complete the Daisy Stitch (DS) on the blanket pattern.

When you get to the daisy stitches from the purl side, you will be purling each "petal" (or long stitch) together with the following stitch. Looks like this when you're purling:

When you've completed purling all the petal stitches, your daisy looks like this from the wrong side:

And like this from the right side:

Hurray! Good work.

Gauge for the Weather

by Pam

A couple of weeks ago I was swatching for a sweater I want to make, when I discovered that by going up a needle size or two, or more, from what it suggests on the ball band the resulting fabric has a totally different feel to it. I am knitting one of the "jumpers" from the Vintage Undies Knit-Along (KAL) for one of my granddaughters using cotton sock yarn. Instead of using the size US 3 needle the ball band and pattern call for, I am using a size US 8 needle. The resulting fabric has great drape, and feels more like bamboo or silk than cotton. That experiment led to one with the Wendy sock yarn that Shelly has. That swatch felt positively decadent, and definitely too nice to hide in your shoes!

Wendy "Happy"

There are times when you want a fabric that is fairly dense. You wouldn't want a pair of mittens or a hat that let the wind blow right through. And, winter sweaters should be heavy enough that you don't feel the cold. But, this is summer! Cool knits are in. In the KAL there are a couple of night gown patterns that shortened, and made from the Wendy sock yarn, would be perfect for a pool party, or a get-together at the country club. (Yeah, I know. I don't belong to a country club either, but the dress would still be nice.) You could even make a night gown out of some of the cotton blend DK yarn, using larger needles. Cori is making a night gown from one of the vintage slip patterns and it is looking really great. Come in to the shop and look through the vintage patterns and then join us on Saturdays!

Contest Winner!

As before mentioned, Susan S. was correct in her guess of 17 unfinished projects in Susan's pile of UFO's.

In order to make it fair, Susan required that the winner had to confess the number of UFO's in his/her stash to claim her prize.

The prize is now ready for the recipient, and when I inquired, was sorely disappointed.

She has 1. (As in, "one.") One that she is working on. I know that there are knitters and crocheters like this - who work on something and finish it before they move on to the next project - I just don't understand them. It's not how I'm built.

Susan S. wins a lovely wooden box, made for holding needles & notions. It came from a craft fair in England. She also gets a copy of the 365 Stitches a Year perpetual calendar.

Anyway, does anyone else care to share? Now I'm interested in who holds the record. If you can prove it - like making a list that includes pattern name, yarn, and % complete - we'll give a prize to the person with the most. Post just your number in reply to this message, and we'll worry about proof when we get a winner. (or three. We should have 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes.)

In other news, Susan is almost finished with her purple shawl - here's another in-progress picture.

Russian Join

Today, I'm going to give you a tutorial on the Russian Join. A Russian Join is a way to start a new ball of yarn without weaving in ends!
The Russian Join is particularly helpful when:

• You are joining non-felting yarn (to use instead of a spit-splice)
• You are joining fine-weight yarn, such as fingering or lace weight
• You are conserving yarn - there's very little waste.

Keep in mind - the yarn will be slightly thicker where the join is, and may show, depending upon your stitch pattern. So far, I haven't had any unsightly effects using this join, and I use it frequently!

I'm using a regular tapestry needle & Cascade 220 yarn (worsted, 100% wool.) With finer yarn, I like to use a darning needle, which has a sharper point.

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Weave the tapestry needle in and out of the yarn - you'll be stitching the end of your strand of yarn back down into itself. For loosely-plied yarn, you should stitch at least a couple of inches. (Farther than I show here.)

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Pull the end of the strand through your stitches, forming a loop.

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Thread the new strand (pink for illustrative purposes) through the loop you just made.

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Stitch the yarn end back into itself as you did before.

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Pull the end of the strand through.

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Pull the ends of the yarn so that your loops close, but don't pull tight. You want the yarn to lay flat and not bunch up.

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Trim the ends close to the yarn join.

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Ta-da! Continue knitting or crocheting.

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After you have worked through this join, tug your fabric a bit lengthwise & width-wise. A couple of ends may poke out. Just trim them down, eventually they'll work to a resting place.


Thanks to Angelique, who originally showed me this technique. Miss you, Angelique!

I Have a Secret

by Pam

I have a secret. I get really bored by daytime TV, and want something to think about while I stitch. I was getting books on tape or CD from the library, but was going through them fairly fast.

Then Jim, a really cool librarian, told me about the Kansas State Library. This is not the library associated with Kansas State University, but the state of Kansas library. It is awesome! You can download audio books, movies, do research, and I don't know what all. The best thing about it is that its free. Yup, FREE!!

You can sign in with your Wichita Public Library card. Call your local library branch to get your PIN number, or take your library card to the local library and they will open a state account for you.

Then you have access to more than 4,000 audio books. And they are getting more all the time. You need an MP3 player or an IPod, but compared to the cost of audio books, they are relatively cheap. Check it out!

Congratulations on my humiliation

by Susan G.

I should confess that when I posted this competition I actually had no idea how many projects there were, especially as most of them seemed so embarrassed they were hurling themselves to woolly death off the table making it difficult to manage an accurate count. I managed to corral most of them on the spare bed and sat down with pen and paper to document my humiliation. Yes, I wrote down every single unfinished item. [Shelly: Why didn't you give me the list? I would have liked to post it, too!.]

You know, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. And some of them might even be capable of resuscitation. Of course, that won’t be the socks in elasticized yarn – two balls of same, beige and brown. Let me know if you want it - I don’t. I also think the cotton bedspread is past hope. I just don’t WANT a cotton bedspread any more. I could knit a gazillion dishcloths with that. The bag for my yoga mat needs some thought. I love the traveling rib, but I don’t think whichever dog it was that decided to help quite grasped the importance of keeping the stitches on four needles. Then there’s the raglan sweater in purple chunky yarn with cable decreases. I don’t know…. I can’t see myself wearing it. There were two scarves, two pairs of gloves and a blue mohair hat that seem to have had some issues. One is strangled, another impaled and all are lying in an exhausted, twisted mess. There may be some surgery involved.

So thank you all for playing. I am going to do something nice for myself now to try to recover from the blow to my ego. I mean, what is it about me that makes you all think I’m chronically incapable of finishing anything? Could it have anything to do with the fuss I’m making about those 34 inches of seed stitch (times TWO!!) needed to finish the vintage bra?

And the Winner is...

Susan S., with 17.

Susan, please contact the shop and tell us exactly who you are and how many UFO's you have (e-mail us please - contact (at) twistyarnshop (dot) com).

Update on Plarn

by Pam

After spending several afternoons cutting the bags into loops and then knotting the loops together, Lee, Robbie, Lee Ann and I started crocheting Saturday afternoon. No one was having much trouble with the plarn. Lee Ann was using hers as a single ply while Lee Ann, Robbie, and I were using the plarn doubled. Lee cut her yarn at about 1/2 an inch wide; Robbie and I had plarn about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Lee made a neat cover for her bottled water, and thinks it will be good for summer because the plarn won't get soaked with condensation from her bottled water.


I chained about 20 stitches and then worked down one side of the starting chain and then up the other side of the starting chain to make a round, slip stitch to the starting single crochet. Next round, and every round after the first, ch1, sc in same stitch, sc around, end slip stitch into the first ch 1 of the round. The resulting bag isn't as limp as one made from kitchen cotton.

As we worked, the group had several other ideas for items made from plarn. It would be great for going to the pool and bringing back wet swimsuits. Lee Ann said her mother made a sort of mat to put by the back door for muddy/wet shoes. My ancient cats like to sleep on plastic bags because their body heat is reflected back to them. So, if a smaller hook is used, a cat/dog sleeping mat could be made.

Obsessed? Us?

I didn't properly introduce Susan in her last post, so now I shall. Susan is our own British import who has been knitting since the age of 3. We are so lucky to have her knowledge, enthusiasm, and characteristically dry humor around the shop. Come in on Fridays or during the Saturday Vintage Undie Knit-Along to meet her.
~Shelly

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It’s a sickness, I tell you

Thank heavens Shelly finally ordered copies of “Shawls and Scarves” (the best of Knitter’s Magazine, edited by Nancy J. Thomas). My copy is due back at the library this weekend. Notice I say “my” copy. Possessive would be an understatement. Since I discovered this wonderful book I have been checking it out regularly. I get to keep it for four weeks and I can renew it for another four. So I drool over it for two months, then I have to give it back. Boo, hiss. Things became so bad that I would return it and then hover by the check out desk until it was logged back into the system when I would rip it from the librarian’s hand and check it out again. I suffered severe withdrawal symptoms last time I returned it and it was inadvertently returned to the shelf – what? they think this is a library? This was so traumatic an experience that I realized I either needed medication or my own copy. Plus there was the niggling thought that perhaps I was not playing fair by other knitters who might also be addicted to lace. Shelly was good enough to order several copies, so if you want one, get down there quick, they’re going fast!

So there you have it. Any one who wants to read a very dog-eared copy of Shawls and Scarves can now borrow same from the Ford Rockwell branch.

I highly recommend it.

~Susan

What she's working on:
"In the English Tradition" - how apropos!

Top: Susan's first project from this book, knit in Cascade Alpaca Lace.
Bottom: The pattern she's knitting (yes, look closely, that's Elizabeth Zimmerman!)