The Slipped Stitch

October 2022

Fall is here and with the shorter and cooler days that means more time to work or projects.  We’re gearing up for the holiday season with a new challenge and another knit-a-long with several projects that will be great for gifts.  There will be no classes on Friday Oct 7 and Saturday Oct 8 as Chris and I will be taking a few days off.  Janet will be minding the store and will be available to assist with planning your Knitcol Challenge project.

The Fiber House is open til 7pm on Wednesdays.   Come on it and hang out, get help, or schedule a one-on-one class.  Janet and I will be trading alternate Wednesdays.

It's Challenge Time Again!

Introducing The Fiber House Accessory Challenge using Knitcol yarn.

Knitcol by Adriafil Yarns is a self-patterning, 100% superwash merino, DK weight yarn that does a great job of creating neat patterns when worked alone, or with a contrasting yarn.  This link will give you some ideas of what other people have created with this yarn: https://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/adriafil-knitcol/patterns.  I also have a knit-one-below vest I made using this yarn and it will be on display at the store. If you need help selecting patterns for this fun yarn, stop by and chat with Janet October 7th & 8th and she'll help you brainstorm your project.  

We will be offering the Knitcol at 10% off for the Challenge. Knit some cool accessories and bring them to the shop to be entered in the contest. You have until October 31 to complete your entry. Entries will be displayed in the store throughout the month of November and will be tagged with a number for "viewer's choice" voting. The winner will be announced on December first and will receive a $25 gift certificate from The Fiber House.  The only requirements are that your project must include at least one skein of Knitcol and it must be an accessory (hat, mitts or gloves, shawl, scarf, kerchief, boot cuffs, headbands, ???) and can be done in any craft medium – knit, crocheted, woven, tatted, etc.  Entries will be returned in plenty of time for Christmas gift giving.

October Event Round Up

Ranunculus Sweater Knit-a-long.  Continues through October and November. The Ranunculus Sweater, by Midori Hirose, is a popular design on Ravelry.  The design gives you a lot of options. Hirose description on Ravelry for the sweater: “Ranunculus is a top-down round yoke pullover with lace and textured stitches. I have designed   yoke pattern to look like wearing layers of necklace. I have knitted short rows between neckribbing and yoke pattern not only on back bit also on front, so that neckline has a bit boat neck shape and yoke pattern has necklace look. The round yoke has ample depth and finished pullover has cropped length so that you can lay it over dresses or high-waisted skirts and pants. If crops aren’t your style, please adjust body to your favorite length.  You can choose from smaller or wider neckline, and short sleeves or long puff sleeves with/without diagonal cuff line. You can use lace, light fingering to worsted weight yarn. The degree of transparency depends on the weight of yarn. Knitting with thin yarn on big needle gives light, transparent and airy texture to this pullover. Using thicker yarn or holding two yarns together adds more weight, and more structured look.”  

Hat and Mitten Knit-a-long.  Starts October 14.  Are you a beginning or novice knitter or crocheter who would like to learn to work a project in the round.  Then join us for this class to learn first how to knit a hat on one circular needle and then step up to using two circular needles or magic loop to work the top of the hat and the mittens.  Patterns will be easy stocking caps with your choice of with or without ear flaps.  Mittens also be easy standard mittens.  Both patterns are easily adaptable to different weights of yarn.  Crocheters will learn an easy crochet linen stitch hat that by using two colors will create a vertical stripe.

Oct-Nov Classes

Weekly Classes:

Wednesdays 1 to 4pm and Saturdays 10 to Noon – Learn to Knit/ crochet.

Thursdays, 1-3pm - The Hub Group 

Saturday, October 1, 1-4pm – Christmas Stockings

Friday, October 7 and Saturday October 8 – Knitcol Challenge design assistance

Saturdays, October 15 and November 5, and Fridays, October 21 and November 11 - 1-4pm – Ranunculus Sweater

Fridays, October 14 and November 18 and Saturday October 29, 1-4pm – Hat and Mitten KAL

Saturday, October 22, and Friday Nov 4, 1-4pm – Felted Slippers

October Special-

10% off Brown Sheep and Skacel Yarns

Brown Sheep yarns include Lamb’s Pride in both worsted and bulky, Nature Spun in worsted, sport, and fingering, Lanaloft, and Shepherd Shades.  All of these yarns are great wool yarns that would be perfect for this month’s hat and mitten KAL and felted slippers.  We also have Cotton Fleece, which is a dk weight cotton/wool yarn great for clothing, baby gifts, and wash cloths.  With only 20% wool, the yarn does not felt but the wool helps makes this a strong and durable yarn.  We also have Prairie Spun Dk, Stratosphere, and Wildefoot sock yarn.

Skacel distributes Hikoo and Schoppel Wolle brands.  Hikoo yarns include the extremely poplar Simplicity, Simpliworsted, Cobasi, Cobasi DK, Sueno, and Caribou (faux fur).  Schoppel Wolle yarns include many gorgeous socks yarns including all the Zauberball and Crazy Zauberball family of sock yarns, Zauberperlen, Zauber Flower, Boots, Edition 3 and Edition 6.

NEW! NEW! NEW!

More new fall yarns are here.  We have a lot of new yarns from Berroco this month.  They did a nice job with a variety of really cool yarns for this new season, including Aerial, Dash, Fika, Vento and Wizard.  Aerial is a mohair/silk blend that can be used on its own for a lofty and airy shawl or scarf or carried with another yarn to create a different feel and texture. Several of the patterns for Vento are use in combination with Aerial. Dash is a super chunky weight wool/nylon chainette yarn.  This yarn has long “dashes” of color on a white background for a cool striped effect.  Fika is a dk weight 100% superwash merino wool.  This yarn has speckles of multiple colors on a neutral (white, cream, or light tan) background.  It works well with our other superwash DK yarns like Jody Long’s Caio, Plymouth Yarn’s DK Merino Superwash, Brysons’ Variations Dk, or Hikoo’s Simplicity.  Vento is a dk weight alpaca/acrylic/wool blend with a slightly brushed look.  It is supersoft and cushy and really pairs well with Aerial.  Wizard  is a self-striping chunky weight superwash merino wool/nylon chainette yarn.  This will be a great substitute for Ella Rae’s Seasons, which we are sad to see is a discontinued yarn.  We have pattern books for all these new yarns to give you plenty of inspiration for your holiday projects.

Weaving and Spinning News

We will be meeting at the UU Fellowship building, Sunday October 16, 2022 from noon to 4pm.  Bring a snack to share.  Note:  This month we will be moving our meeting to the 3^rd Sunday of the month to accommodate other scheduled events.

In Consideration of . . . (also known as – Donna’s Soapbox):

The Butterfly Effect

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the idea that small, seemingly trivial events may ultimately result in something with much larger consequences.

Sherry’s butterfly story.  Recently at a weaving get together, Sherry was telling us about a quilt she had recently completed.  She had used a floral fabric and said that when it was done it was “okay” but she just felt that it needed something . . .  but she wasn’t sure what that was.  Then as she was driving down her driveway a swarm of butterflies flew around.  Inspiration hit and she decided the quilt needed the addition of some tatted butterflies.  So she set out to tat a few but couldn’t get the wings to look the way she wanted.  After a dozen or so attempts and with tatted butterfly wings fluttering around on the table, she finally got the right shape.  Then she just needed to make nine more of them.  We all laughed and decided we’d call this the butterfly effect in crafting.

Sometimes you have a picture in your head of how a project looks and even when you get it finished it isn’t quite there yet.  So you have to add something or change something or  . . .  just do something to make it right.  

But there’s another example of how the butterfly effect works with crafting.  In my case (and at least one other person’s as well) it was a decision to crochet an afghan using up all my scraps and partial skeins.  Only about halfway through I had sort of developed a pattern with the scraps and ended up needing to buy more yarn to finish the afghan.  And of course, I ended up with more partial skeins left over. 

There are so many ways the butterfly effect works.  Such as deciding to make crocheted snowflakes to send out in Christmas cards to everyone on your list.  And only realizing during the process how painful it is on your fingers to have to starch and pin out forty snowflakes, each with a bunch of tiny picots that need to lay just right.

To me, the butterfly effect it that part of crafting where your end goal sometimes involves a few unintended consequences along the way.  It’s part of the creative process, which can sometimes be a true exercise in chaos.  But it’s also true that out of chaos comes something beautiful and much more than what the original project was supposed to be.  Because the even though it might have been frustrating and painful during the execution, the feeling of satisfaction of completing the project and seeing the end result makes it so much more worth it.  Like seeing a crocheted snowflake on your mom’s Christmas tree 10 years after you made them.  So persevere, keep pushing, keep trying.  Eventually you’ll get it just right – whatever “it” is.