THE SLIPPED STITCH

From The Fiber House

 September is going to be a busy month!  We have a couple of Knit a-longs starting, the MadelineTosh Trunk Show, a felted scarf class, a cash and carry fiber show, and a new Challenge for you all.  With all of this going on you should get plenty of ideas and inspiration for all those holiday gifts you might be planning! Out 5th Annual Cowboy Yarn Crawl ends on Monday (Labor Day). The Fiber House will be open so you still have time to get your passports stamped.

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.

We will be offering the Knitcol at 10% 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.

September Event Round Up

Double Knit Knit-a-long. Starts Tuesday September 6 or Saturday September 10.  Join Georgann Lee and Sharon Miller in creating reversible scarves or cowls in double- knitting using patterns by Alisdair Post-Quinn, available from Ravelry. If you’re not familiar with double-knitting come to the first session to see swatches and discuss appropriate yarns and his beginner patterns. Pre-requisites: you need to knit stockinette stitch with even tension, can knit with 2 colors in a row, and be comfortable working from a chart. If you want to make a practice swatch, bring 2 colors of sport-weight yarn and appropriate size needles. Sharon has prepared help sheets explaining Post-Quinn’s vocabulary and stitches.

Cash and Carry Fiber Event.  Saturday September 10, Noon to 4pm.  In preparation for the Nuno Felting Class Shelley Ketcheson of Wicked Tints, from Wright, Wyoming will be visiting us with a load of hand-dyed roving and other fun stuff.   The fiber can be used for wet felting, needle felting and/or hand spinning.  Shelley will be bringing fiber we pre-ordered for the Nuno Scarf class as well as extras available for cash and carry.  These are going to be hard to resist!

NUNO FELTED SCARF - In conjunction with Shelly Jelly and Karen Sorenson, the Creative Fiber Guild will be doing a Nuno Felting Work Day Saturday, September 17. Samples can be seen at The Fiber House, and questions can be directed to Janet Hoxie, Shelly Jelly or Karen Sorenson. We will be putting together kits of the wool fiber, silk netting, and general felting supplies needed for the class. We have ordered fiber in a variety of colors for those who have signed up and we will have some additional on hand if you would still like to attend. 

MadelineTosh Yarn Tasting/ Trunk Show.  Sunday, September 18, 1 to 4pm.  Our first trunk show in several years will feature MadelineTosh yarns Twist Light (fingering weight superwash merino) and Pashmina (fingering weight cashmere/merino blend) as well as several garments and accessories on display using these yarns.  We will have 50 one-of-a-kind hand dyed skeins of each yarn on hand for purchase.  Cost for the yarn tasting is $30 and you get 10% off all yarn purchases that day as well as two free patterns.  Limit of 15 participants and sign up is required.

Ranunculus Sweater Knit-a-long.  Starts Friday, September 30. 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.”  

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.

Sep-Oct Classes – 

Weekly Classes:

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

Thursdays, 1-3pm - The Hub Group 

Friday, September 2 and Saturday, September 24, 1-4pm – Spree Linen Stitch Tee 

Saturday, September 3, 1-4pm, Friday, September 9, 1-4pm, – Tunisian Crochet Short-Row hat

Tuesdays starting September 6, Saturday, September 10, 1-4pm and Friday, September 16, 1-4pm – Double Knit KAL 

Saturday, September 17 – CFG Scarf Class at the Big Horn Women’s Club

Friday, September 23, Saturday, October 1, 1-4pm – Christmas Stockings

Saturday, September 30, and October 8, 1-4pm – Ranunculus Sweater

Friday, October 7 and Saturday October 15, 1-4pm – Hat and Mitten KAL

September Special-

10% off Wool Yarns

Time to get going on those holiday gifts!  To help you along this month all wool and wool blend yarns are on sale.  Since this is about 80% of the store you won’t lack for choices.  This also works well with our new KnitCol challenge.  Although you are already going to get 10% off the KnitCol, this month you can also get 10% off a wool yarn to pair it with if you so choose.

NEW! NEW! NEW!

Fall is here and that always means a new yarn season as well.  These new yarns will be coming in over the next several weeks so check back to see what’s new and interesting.  Just in this week are two dk weight yarns.  Jody Long’s Ciao is a 100% superwash merino.  This replaces Sugarbush’s Crisp, which is no longer available.  We currently have 10 solid colors in stock.  The book, Sweet Knits for Baby, and several individual patterns are available to give you lots of ideas for using this yarn.   Mirasol’s Reque is a luxurious soft dk weight merino wool/ mohair/ Tencel blend.  This yarn has a slightly heathered look and we have 6 colors in stock.  Available patterns include a cool poncho and a crocheted sweater and skirt set.

Weaving and Spinning News

We will be meeting at the UU Fellowship building, Sunday September 25, 2022 from noon to 4pm.  Bring a snack to share.  Note:  Starting in November 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):

What I’ve Made

During a recent weaving class one of the participants was talking about all of the handcrafted tops I wear at the store and she suggested that I have a trunk show to show off all them.  Maybe.  We’ll see about that.

I’ve written a few Soapbox’s on unfinished projects and stashes of yarn that are wannabe projects, but I don’t think I’ve written much about what all I actually have managed to complete.  So I went to take a look at my closet and started counting.  I’m not bragging (much) but I was a little surprised myself at how many things I have: at least 14 tees/ tank tops, seven sweaters, eights vests, and a poncho.  I’m pretty sure there are a few more hanging around somewhere that need repairs.  

And these are just the tops/sweaters that I wear on a regular basis.  I really have lost count of everything I’ve made since I started crocheting as a teen.  I know I’ve made at least 10 afghans, over 40 pairs of felted slippers, dozens of hats, scarves, baby sweaters, mittens and gloves, and socks.  Probably about 90% of these items were made for other people as gifts or as display items for the store. 

All the tops and sweaters sitting on the shelves in my closet are presents to myself.  It’s a little bit selfish, but a whole lot satisfying.  I love wearing what I make and I love showing other people that they can do the same.  It may not be perfect the first time – or even perfect every time, but the more you do the better you get at it.  

Chris loves my story about my “10-year sweater.”  After crocheting for almost 20 years and making everything but a sweater for myself I finally decided to give it a try.  Of course this was before I owned a yarn store and since most of the things I’d made up to that point didn’t require being fitted to a particular body, I didn’t know much about gauge.  Nor did I do a gauge swatch. So I’m happily crocheting away on this pretty sweater for several months without ever trying it on or even holding it to my own body.  I get it finished and try it on.  Well, I attempted to try it on but since it was about 2 sizes too small that didn’t work well.  That sweater ended up as a gift to my teenage niece.

That discouraged me for awhile and then I finally got the courage to try another sweater.  This time I figured (again no gauge swatch) I better make a larger size to make sure it fit.  Crocheting away, still not trying it on, several months go by. . .  This time the finished sweater was about 2 sizes too big!   But then I thought, hmm, maybe if I wash it, it’ll shrink a little!  Yeah, except it was acrylic yarn and instead of shrinking, it stretched and was now about 4 sizes too big.  That sweater went to my sister-in-law (I’m not sure she ever wore it though – cause it might have been too big even for her).

And no the story doesn’t end there – Several years go by and I attempt another sweater.  But this time, I’m a little smarter (not much – still no gauge swatch) and I held pieces up to my body before I put it all together.  The back was a little big so I made the front pieces a little smaller.  It was a little odd looking but I wore it proudly because – yay I had a finished sweater that sort of fit!!

I’ve learned a few things since then and am getting better at things like gauge swatches and trying things on, but I’m still not perfect.  But I wear my things anyway, because each one is an accomplishment, and I really am proud of then – even the not perfect ones.