Knit Happens

When I moved everything over here, I forgot about updating the RSS feed.  Oops.  I’m trying to get it back up on the sidebar, but it’s being difficult, so I’ll just put it up out here.  http://knithappens.net/wp-rss2.php

Update your blog readers accordingly – once I get a chance to make sure I have copies of all the pictures that were on the Blogger blog, it’ll be deleted.

We’re not letting a bit of snow get us down! We’re here and it’s warm and dry inside. We’ve got tons of new books for you to peruse and a lot of new yarn for you to cuddle. (Hey, it’s Dream In Color and Schaefer, I don’t blame anyone for cuddling it… sooooo soft!)

Yup, the first week of the year marks the beginning of a new year for us in more ways than one. Like every year, we will be closed this week to do our annual inventory. We will reopen on Saturday, 1/9/10 at 10:30am. We look forward to seeing you then!

We will not be open today, 12/20. (It’s going to take me all day to dig my car out from all that snow – by the time that gets done, it’ll be time to close. Boo.)

Yes, it’s snowy out, but it’s just not safe to drive in to the shop, so we are closed today. Everyone, please stay home and safe today. It’s a perfect day to make yourself a cup of cocoa or tea, pick up that project that’s been neglected and knit (or crochet).

I guess it is that time of year again – Thanksgiving. For me, it’s the official start to the holiday season despite what the stores say. (Many of you have heard me rant about this over the years, but for me – personally – the holiday season doesn’t officially start until Santa rides his sleigh into Herald Square at noon on Thanksgiving, but I digress.)

With Thanksgiving in just a few short days, I should tell you about the week’s hours here at the shop, huh? This week we will be open:

With the holidays just around the corner (I know, talking about it doesn’t make them any easier to handle), everyone seems to be looking for the quick and easy knits. You know, those knits that take almost no outside thought and can be done within the span of a good movie? This cowl is definitely one of them.

Olga was browsing on Ravelry (our favorite site to find fab patterns, natch) for a great cowl pattern that wouldn’t take too much time or yarn and came across the Marian cowl by Jane Richmond. Originally written for one skein of Twinkle Soft Chunky, we’ve substituted two skeins of Teva Durham Tundra (one skein of Rowan Big Wool could be used as well), cast on 51 sts instead of the recommended number, and have gone down to US17s instead of the US19s recommended. Olga cast on immediately, an hour later, she had washed it and laid it out to dry. The Tundra, an already extremely soft wool, got even softer after a wash and dry – which is why I can wear it around my neck!

Yup, it’s that time of year again – it’s officially Fall, which means the handknits come out of the closet. Honestly, before I was a knitter, I wasn’t a huge fan of Fall, Summer was always my favorite season (hey, I like the heat, what can I say?). Once I learned how to knit and started to knit wearable things, I fell in love with Fall. (Winter and I are on speaking terms, at least, but only because it allows me to wear my handknits.)

I finally finished my Baby Cables and Big Ones Too (Rav link) by Suvi Simola. Many of you might remember that Olga taught a class on this sweater last Winter, which would be when I started mine. (Granted, I started it towards the end of Winter and Spring warmed up quickly, so I put it down. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.) Last week when I was looking at my pile of handknits, I realized that I should finish a couple of the ones on the needles and this one was the closest to being done. I picked it up on Monday and by Friday had finished both sleeves, woven in ends and was able to wear it in the shop on Saturday! (That was even with a short stop on Sleeve Island – those sleeves never seemed to end… Oops, sorry about the horrid cell phone picture, it was better than all of the other ones I took with a real camera!) This sweater = LOVE. Knit in the Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK, it is soft and lovely with awesome stitch definition! Olga even wore hers in on Saturday so we could be twins. It was the unofficial Knit Happens uniform that day.

Knit ‘n Nosh is tomorrow night, so bring your knitting or crocheting on down here and join us! Since tomorrow is September 11th, we will be spearheading another helmet liner knitalong! We’ve already received 5 and hope to add quite a few more by the end of the month when I take them down to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico.