Friday, March 20 2020, Issue 140: What is on your needles?

• Posted on 20 March 2020
• By Susan Wong-Tsang
• Posted in COVID-19 changes, March 2020, spring
• 0

Yesterday was the first day of spring so even with the current craziness, signs of it are popping up everywhere! Flowers are sprouting as Linda's posted pics show and my grandsons having outdoor fun!

My sister posted these photos of the cherry blossoms in Vancouver today! You can still enjoy the sunshine while maintaining social distancing! It just goes to show that life goes on even though we need to keep to ourselves! We are so lucky that we have our knitting, crocheting or making to keep us busy! What is on your needles?

With everyone needing to self-isolate, there are a lot of designers offering their patterns free right now on Ravelry.

Whitney Hayward and all of her Harrisville Designs patterns are free until March 31st. This one is her Carlina Pullover. She says:

It is our hope that turning to fiber crafts will bring a small reprieve for those finding themselves spending more time in their homes in response to Covid-19.

Cozy and roomy, this floral colorwork yoke pullover is generously sized to be worn with plenty of positive ease, or a little closer fitting depending on your preference. Increases placed throughout the colorwork chart shape the yoke of the sweater, worked from the top down.

It is knit using fingering weight yarn and although this one is shown using two solid colours, it looks great with a variegated or self-striping or marled yarn as the second colour. The suggested needle size is 3.25 mm (US 3) for a gauge of 28 stitches and 36 rows = 4 inches in Stockinette.

Quiet Ways shawl by Katie Flora is free for now:

This pattern is free for the next three months, as we all endeavour to stay home and stay safe xo

In a world of neon and noise, it’s good to spend time walking the quiet ways. A squishy rustic yarn, gentle texture, and easy botanical lace combine to create an easy-to-wear wide triangle shawl you’ll want to wrap up in all year round. Find your favourite needles, and embrace the natural, the soft, the quiet.

Quiet Ways is worked from the top down, with increases on both the outer edges and on either side of the centre spine. The shawl is finished with an applied lace border which binds off the body stitches as you go.

The shawl is knit using fingering weight yarn and 4.0 mm (US 6) and 5.0 mm (US 8) needles for a gauge of 20 stitches and 28 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch.

Approximate actual yardage for sample shawl body: 625m/684yd.
Approximate actual yardage for sample lace border: 400m/438yd.

If substituting yarn, select at least 1200m/1312yd of fingering weight wool yarn. Yardage and finished measurements may vary according to yarn choice and individual gauge.

These are only two of the multitude of patterns available right now for free Ravelry Download so that we have projects to work on while we stay home.

WIP's and FO's

I have only a few more rows before I separate the body and the sleeves of my Antonia Cardigan by Cocoknits that I started for our Cardigan Class.

I am knitting mine with Berroco Elba, a 100% worsted weight cotton tape yarn that feels like your favorite t-shirt but creates fabric with beautiful stitch definition. I knit my swatch with 3.75 (US 5) and 4.0 (US 6) needles but instead of needing to go down a whole needle size like I usually need to, for this project I needed to use 4.5 mm (US 7) needles as the pattern suggests.

This is how far I am with my Malabrigo KAL sample of Odyssey Shawl by Joji using Malabrigo Dos Tierras...How far I got before realizing I messed up the final rows of my first colour...

The Pre-Pay Malabrigo KAL Class has been cancelled but the Malabrigo KAL is still planned to start April 1st.

Sign up

ARE YOU IN? Please join us and sign up here: malabrigo KAL

Prizes

KAL participants are invited to share their progress and photos on Ravelry and Instagram during April for the chance to win weekly prizes. Please, use #malabrigokal in all social media channels.
Of course, the garment has to be knit using Malabrigo Dos Tierras.

I couldn't resist casting on another WIP! There are so many I want to make and it was a toss up between Lunenburg Pullover by Amy Christoffers and Sirius by Camilla Vad! I also bought Goldwing and Gardengate by Jennifer Steingass! that I will steek! I cast on Sirius which I want to knit as a cardigan.

I added 7 steek stitches, moved my main marker and have finished the short rows! Now I am ready to start the colourwork in the yoke. I decided to use Lichen and Lace Rustic Heather Sport in Nutmeg, Birch, Pollen, Lake and Coal.

KNIT GROUP AND GALLERY

The current Knit-Alongs are the Butterfly / Papillon KAL and the Knit Any Shawl KAL and the Knit Your Project: the everlasting knit-along to encourage and support you to knit is running from January 1 until March 31st. Don't forget to post your finished projects so that you will be included in our quarterly draw! I am sorry that I haven't had time to keep up with my Ravelry Group! I also notice there aren't too many posts of finished projects for the March 31 Draw. It is coming up fast.

I wish that I could include posts of finished projects to the Sue2Knits Knitters and Makers Group or Instagram or Facebook but then you would need to post there and tag me. I would need to keep an eagle eye on that too! Help!!

Diane brought in show and tell last Saturday! This is Diane’s Flax by tincanknits that she knit for the Top Down Sweater Class using Cascade 220 Heathers.

These are her first socks she knit for the magic loop sock class using Stray Cat Socks!

These are the first socks that Donna knit for her magic loop sock class using Regia 4 Ply Tutti Frutti, a sock yarn that is breathable and extra soft because of its high cotton content.

Diane finished this beautiful houndstooth scarf using the Ashford loom she bought when she took our Rigid Heddle Weaving Workshop in January! At the time, I had a few Ashford Complete Weaving Kits in stock.

Angela brought in a beautiful shawl she wove to show me while wearing a stranded sweater she knit...Unfortunately before I was able to take photos, I got busy!

Linda finished this Odyssey Shawl for her sister using Berroco Alpaca Light before Malabrigo announced their KAL.

Lise knit this sweet Flutter of Butterflies as a test knit for Taiga Hilliard back in December. The pattern was released in February!

Love the colour Lise chose to use for her The Purl Code by Isabell Kraemer! It is one of my favourite colours!

Christina knit these Lily Slipper Flats by Pam Allen

VIRTUAL KNITTING

Although Classes and social knitting has been cancelled, on Wednesday night we conducted a small trial run to see if we could hold a virtual knit night using an App called Zoom! It worked with a few hiccups and on Thursday night we also decided to try to use Facebook Messenger since it is easier. Messenger worked but limited it to only six people so we all left the Messenger group and joined the Zoom group.

Next week, we will start our Virtual Tuesday Afternoon Knit Group at 2pm on Tuesday and the Thursday Night Knit Group at 7pm.

Pictured above is part of last night’s knit night group! We showed off what we are each working on but unfortunately until I have photos I can't include them:)

Here are the details —

• We’ll use the app called Zoom. It’s a neat app where you can see everyone you’re chatting with. You can choose to have your video on or off, that’s up to you! Note that on an IPad, I could only see 9 on my screen and the others when I paged across, on a tablet, they could only see 2, while on a laptop, they could see everyone...So if you use your laptop or computer will work best!

• Click this link to join the call at 11 am PST (2pm EST) tomorrow: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/4891385481

• Download the app now: Download Zoom app

• Limited space: I can only have 100 people in the chat room so be sure to sign on at the right time!

• Start time: Tuesday afternoon at 2 pm or Thursday night at 7 pm

• Now of note is that the Free version of this app only allows for 40 minutes before we have to leave the meeting and then start it again! Also, those who participated last night, we were using Jen's account so please sign in to this account.

NEW IN!

New Timber Yarns Twin Socks and Mini Socks have arrived!

Timber Yarns Autism Awareness offerings I bought to support it and an Allsorts Bag I bought myself that may or may not be for future draws!

A few of the newer books!

Lots of more from Katrinkles, Twill & Print and others!

Happy Friday, Happy Knitting, Crocheting and Crafting!