Friday, April 14, 2023, Issue 292: Happy Friday!!

• Posted on 13 April 2023
• By Susan Wong-Tsang
• Posted in April, April 2023, KAL, knit-along, lYS Day Yarn Crawl, spring knitting
• 0

Can you believe how warm it has been this week? My sister Mary, who is visiting and I have been wearing our summer knits...Are you knitting or doing yard work before it gets cold and wet again?

Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 29, 2023 for this year’s Local Yarn Store Day and our Windsor-Essex Yarn Crawl!

All four stores below are excited to be participating in the annual Local Yarn Store Day on Saturday, April 29th! Local Yarn Store Day - a brick-and-mortar yarn shop appreciation day created to show support for small businesses while bringing together a unique community of knitters, crocheters, weavers and spinners to drive awareness and celebrate the craft. Online purchases qualify too!

Mark your calendar and plan a trip to our Yarn Crawl!

Participating stores:
@sue2knits - 10 am to 4 pm
Sue2Knits and Yarn
12045 Ducharme Lane, McGregor, ON;

@Shall We Knit - 11 am to 4 pm
Shall We Knit
17 Main St E,,Kingsville ON;

@littlesheepyarnboutique - 10 am to 4 pm
Little Sheep Yarn Boutique
521 Erie Street East, Windsor, ON;

@thehookpusher - 10 am to 4 pm
The Hook Pusher
4755 Wyandotte Street East., Windsor, ON

Drop in at each location for knitting, crocheting, crafting demonstrations. Check out our special kits and patterns (free with purchase).

We will have some yummy goodies at each location. Stay awhile, visit and make/craft a bit before going on to the next shop!

Shop to win! Each purchase you make at a participating shop gives you a chance to win a $50 gift card from that shop. Shoppers will get one ticket to the gift card draw for every $25 they spend in that shop.

Double the Stitches Design is thrilled to offer this LYS Love Shawl pattern free with the purchase of yarn. Sign up for her LYS Love Shawl Knit Along.

I will have patterns available with purchase from Koigu, Berroco, The Fibre Company, Casapinka, Jessica Ays of Double the Stitches and more.

With the warm temperatures the past few days, we start to think summer sweaters! Sommerknus by Elsebeth Judith is a round yoke sweater worked from the top down.

Jocelyne (jocblais) knit her wonderfully textured Sommerknus with Garnstudio Drops Belle.

I knit mine using Sandnes Garn Line. My sister Mary cast one on last night! Our group knit many, many Sommerknus sweaters since the pattern was released.

My sister and I are both wearing one of our Rock It Tees by Tanis Lavallee! We liked the pattern so much that we have both knit three of them. The one Mary (maryc1981) is wearing is knit using Bergere de France Bigarelle and Garnstudio Drops Kid Silk. Mine is knit using Leo & Roxy Sock and Mohair Silk.

This basic shape lends itself to infinite possibilities when it comes to stripes and colour blocking. It is knit top down, flat until the neck shaping is complete and in the round after that.

Sonia (soniabknits) has a solid colour Rock It Tee on her needles. She is using Rowan Summerlite DK iin colour 460 Linen.

FOs and WIPs

My Northerly by Caitlin Hunter is finished but I still need to weave in all the ends and block it!

I hope I will be able to wear it a few times before it gets too warm to wear it!

When I cast this on February 23, I used 2.75 mm needles. I wanted to use the Judy's Magic Cast On version of tubular cast on. For the provisional cast on version of tubular cast on is quite loose and you need to use a smaller needle so I assumed this would be similar. It turned out to be a wrong assumption! I finally used a 3.5 mm needle for the Judy's Magic Cast On, the knit round and the round setting up the 2x2 rib used in this pattern. Then i used 2.75 mm needles for my ribbing. Note that I am a loose knitter, you might need bigger needles than I used.

My main needle was a 3.25 mm.

I mostly followed the pattern. On my sleeves, I followed Caitlin's sample of 4 repeats of rounds 35-40.

I changed how I worked rounds 56-66 of the sleeve chart. On round 55, I knit the last 2 stitches together to get 90 stitches (divisible by 6). I loosely followed that section of the body chart so that the beginning and end stitches did not result in the double stitch outline.

I also found that the decrease round before the cuff works for a 1x1 rib but not a 2x2 rib where you need it to be divisible by 4. I worked my decreases and then knit 3 extra rounds. For the size I knit, I wanted to end up with 56 stitches. I worked 10 rounds of 2x2 rib before binding off.

After I finish weaving in the ends and blocking my Northerly, I am going to cast on a new sweater before the Kate Davies Knit Along starts on May 2st. This is Bogota by Le Styling Knitting. Originally it was only available in French but is now available in English.

Irene Lin’s Ola Top is a lovely top down v-neck, oversized and elegant design. I am still undecided as to which to cast on! I already bought Bogota so that is what I should cast on. Either way, I plan to use BC Garn Bio Balance.

KNIT GROUP AND GALLERY

I saw my sister Mary (maryc1981) over Easter at our get together and a visit with me. Here she’s wearing her Lehto by Anna Johanna. Main yarn is The Fibre Co. Arranmore Light, contrast is Malabrigo Dos Tierras.

My sister Mary (maryc1981) finished the #11 Unwind by Eisaku Noro Design Team from Noro Knitting Magazine 18. Yarn is Noro Kakigori.

Debbie (@love.knit.spin.weave) finished this fabulous Black Wolf by Linka Neumann from the book Wilderness Knits: Scandi Style Jumpers.

Patti (@patnelann) knit this gorgeous Feather Cardigan by Heidi May for her granddaughter using Berroco Remix Light. A second one in different colours is almost finished for the twin.

Brenda (@bmallat42) finished this stunning Arika Cowl by Jane Richmond. There are 3 more almost finished!

Linda (lmcnorton) was given this yarn so she crocheted this Perfect Planned Pooling Scarf by Marly Bird!

Beverley knit this gorgeous Gradient Wrap Shawl from Vogue Knitting, Early Fall 2019 for her sister using 2 cakes of Hikoo Concentric in Pastel Pop.

Here’s another shot of her Gradient Wrap.

Jan (mrsjanknits) finished this pair of socks using Timber Yarns Twin Socks in Allsorts.

LOOM FOR SALE

Debbie (@debsnubs) has an Ashford 16 shaft 24” table loom with stand that she wants to sell. She also has an extra reed for it.

It is like brand new since she only used it once and has taken very good care of it. New the loom is $2000 and the stand is $639 plus tax and shipping. She is asking $2000 total. Please let me know if you are interested before she lists it elsewhere.

Popular because it is easy to use and so versatile, the Ashford 16 shaft table loom is in demand with both beginner and experienced weavers.

Features

• Smooth lacquer finish
• Portable
• Easy to use and versatile
• Ideal for beginner and experienced weavers
• Folds flat for storage with weaving in place
• Overhead beater with automatic bounce back

Happy Friday, Happy Knitting, Crocheting and Crafting! Keep calm and keep on knitting and making!