Feature Friday: Wobble Bass Win a Copy!

Lee Meredith, of Leethal Knits, is a bit of a knit genius. She has wild concepts that knit up into beautiful, wearable garments. She asked me about an assortment of yarns, three different weights, six different colors and made this gorgeous hat.

Wobble Bass in Cedar and Brown Sugar, picture belongs to Lee Meredith 

She is also a generous knitter. She covers numerous techniques in her patterns with tutorials. She gives you the skills you need to tackle out of the box concepts with confidence. Wobble Bass will be the perfect quick knit for a fall hat. The pattern is written for all weights yarn and is easily adaptable.

All three color combos she used in the pattern are available in the shop, along with a few other ones. Etsy only lets me put up 5 pictures, so if you have two colors you'd like to see together just leave it in the notes. The etsy listings are for preorders, so please allow a few days for me to dye/dry/rewind and mail out.

 Cedar, Brown Sugar

 Prussian Blue, Yellow Brick Road

 Beaujolais, French Kiss

 Canopy, Thistle

 Peacock, Picante

 Prussian Blue, Moody Blues

 Prussian Blue, Picante

 Brown Sugar, Yellow Brick Road

 Canopy, French Kiss

 Thistle, French Kiss

 Peacock, French Kiss

 Carbon, French Kiss

 Carbon, Beaujolais

Carbon, Prussian Blue

Lee was very generous to give away a pattern to a reader. Leave a comment with your favorite color combination in the shop! Contest closes Sunday night, winner will be announced Monday!

WIP Wednesday: Hiro Choices

I'm happy to report I'm going to finish clue 2!! I have 2.5 rows to go of the garter rows as I type, but I'm confident I'll get it done by the end of the day. I'm trying to summon all the restraint in the universe to not cast on a new project and warp the loom. I know, it's ridiculous! But I'm grateful to want to craft, there have been times when the mojo is not with me.

I want to get into the knitty gritty details of Hiro. Fall is just around the corner and I want to have all the yarn dyed up in time for you to cast on. Below are color options that I've come up with, you are welcome to pick any combination you love! The three color combos are for Petite Hiro, if you are knitting the adult sweater just add a fourth color or repeat the bottom color.

Here are your yarn choices for knitting with:
Super Wash DK: 100% super wash merino, 205 yards, 100 grams, $22 each. I love this yarn, so bouncy and round! Julia suggested going up a pattern size and down a needle to make the yarn work.
DK: 85% polwarth, 15% silk: 330 yards, 4 oz, $26 each. I think this would make a lovely sweater. It's such a great yarn for sweaters, and that bit of silk makes a beautiful shine.
Super Wash Worsted: 100% super wash merino, 218 yards, 100 grams, $22 each. The pattern calls for a worsted, and this is perfect. The yarn takes the color beautifully and boldly.

Adult Sizes
34( 36, 39½, 42, 45)[48, 50½, 53¼, 57, 60]"
4 (4, 5, 5, 5) 6, 6, 7, 7, 8 skeins main color, 1 skein each contrast color 1, contrast color 2, contrast color 3

Children Sizes
Sizes: 
4 (6, 8, 10, 12, 14) years 
Finished Chest: 
23 (25, 27, 29, 31, 33)” 
2 (2, 3, 3, 4) skeins of main color, 1 skein each contrast color 1, and contrast color 2

Check your size above and let me know how many skeins you need of each color. I'll need your order by September 6th so I can get the yarn in and dyed up in time for you to cast on September 22nd, fall equinox! If you're attending Oregon Flock and Fiber, you can pick it up there too. I can't wait to get Owen's and Eli's all dyed up and ready to go. If you're having trouble picking colors there's a great discussion going on in the group. Julia has some great tools for picking colors.

Peacock, Thistle, French Kiss

Brown Sugar, Yellow Brick Road, Cedar

Prussian Blue, Carbon, Cedar

Beaujolais, Canopy, Prussian Blue, French Kiss

Canopy, Carbon, French Kiss, Thistle

Canopy, Peacock, French Kiss, Thistle 

Carbon, Beaujolais, Picante, Beaujolais

Tell Me Something Good: Community Supported Yarn

Community Supported Yarn (CSY) sign ups are just about to close. I wanted to chat you up about all the great things that are CSY. Lets review the knitty gritty details first.

• 5 skeins of yarn over 5 months, starting September 15th, ending January 15th. 
• 4 out of 5 yarns have been chosen, want to chime in with your opinion about the 5th? So far there is a worsted, 2 fingering, and one DK. 
• Each skein is either 100 grams or 4 ounces. Essentially five full skein.
• A membership is $100+15 for shipping $20 to ship to Canada, $30 to ship international 
• Each skein retails for $25+ individually, major savings when purchased as a CSY
• There will be one variegated dyed skein, the rest will be semi solid colors. 
• Included in each month's shipment will be pattern suggestions that are available on Ravelry.
• You are welcome to purchase more than one share. If you are head over heals about a specific yarn and want more of it you are welcome to order the quantity you need.
• Colors will be exclusive for 3 months to CSY members.
• Monthly prizes!

So why am I selling memberships to Community Supported Yarn? A lot of reasons! There's two I want to focus on: growing Knitted Wit, and creating community while doing it. 

Business Goals

• Attend winter TNNA, the wholesale trade show for the needle industry in Long Beach, California. I attended the summer show in Ohio and added more wholesale accounts from around the US. Made contacts with magazine editors and designers. Since the show, more shops have contacted me about carrying Knitted Wit. Magazines have asked for yarn to review. Designers have requested yarn for new patterns. This is the best place to make connections with other people around the US and world that have the same passion that I do. 
• I want to improve my productivity by buying more efficient equipment. I currently dye one pot at a time. I plan on buying another burner stand and a larger propane tank to run two cooking pots at a time. Double the yarn being dyed!! That sounds fantastic to me!
• Currently I have an electric winder that I wind yarn on to from cones, and use to rewind skeins. The machine can do 3 skeins at a time, a great improvement over 1 skein at a time. But I would love to upgrade to a winder that can do 6 (!) at a time.

Community Goals

One way to have a Knitted Wit community, if you're not in Portland, is buy into a membership with other knitters. Two women from my knitting group knew they wouldn't be able to knit fast enough so they shared a share. Or maybe schedule a knit night when the new shipment comes, or pick a group project to work on. 

Creating community might be difficult to measure. Community can only grow based on what every individual contributes. I am hoping to use social media spaces like Ravelry, Facebook, and Twitter to get together and have chats. I know there will be members of the CSY that don't chat in the Ravelry group, or don't have a Twitter account. But hopefully we can find a space to have conversations, and not just about yarn! I am so grateful for the variety of conversations I've had with our community. A lot has been related to children and health issues, but that seems to be where our life is right now! I'm hoping that not only will I enjoy this community, but you will too. Again, we get out what we put in! I'd love to hear your ideas on how you'd like to grow and enjoy the Knitted Wit community.

If you have any questions about Community Supported Yarn, please ask away! I'm so excited about this getting started and I can't wait for you to join us!

Feature Friday: Tulipan Shawl

Tulipan Shawl  is a beautiful, quick shawl that will fly off the needles! It's available in Leaves, you can buy on Ravelry or order the book. Since I can't mail you a book, how about free shipping for the weekend! Purchase a skein of fingering weight yarn to make Tulipan and the shipping is on me, code SHIPNOW.

I employed Eli to do all the modeling. We practiced gazing off into the distance. I think he nailed it.

Next, we went with an artsy shot, flower snuck in. The yarn for this sample is Shine, merino/tencel. I just got 10 pounds of this today to dye up, let me know what color you'd like!

oooohhh, look at the shawl blowing in the breeze! He's a pro I'd say! I love the way the pattern flows down the shawl.

He drives a hard bargain, payment was reading the book! Enjoy free shipping this weekend with a the purchase of a fingering skein. Use code SHIPNOW, does not apply to Community Supported Yarn.
PS cashy and feather weight are in the shop!

WIP Wednesday

I'm still plugging away on my mystery shawl. My goal is to end clue two (I know, 2!) before coming back next week. What's slowing me down on the knitting front? A little dyeing. Okay, a lot of dyeing! Close to 100 skeins of Cashy are on their way out into the world! 

all 12 colors!

I delivered an order to Twisted today, they have all 12 colors. I'm pretty sure For Yarn's Sake does, too. Nina's in Chicago has a lovely selection, and Wildfiber in LA should soon too.

Brown Sugar, Canopy (richer in person), Carbon, Beaujolais

After getting all the orders out I found a few lonely skeins. The above beauties are up for grabs. Comment away if you want to claim them. I'll try to do a shop update this afternoon if time allows. Cashy is an MCN 70/20/10 (merino/cashmere/nylon). This yarn is a little slice of heaven!

view from Trillium Lake of Mt Hood

And why wouldn't time allow you ask? We're trying to grab all the last bits of summer left. Last week we escaped the heat and spent the day at Trillium Lake with the Oma's. What a beautiful day! We're going to Oaks Amusement park today hopefully and the beach on Thursday! 

Quick Follow Up

• I'm so excite about CSY!!! Please share the word with all your knitty friends! This CSY is almost twice as big as the first, that's a great start!
• Have you picked your colors for Hiro yet? I'm trying really hard to stick to knitting the boys sweaters. I really want one!!

Tell Me Something Good: School Supplies

I've decided Monday's will be dedicated to something good. We can all use a little extra good right? Today is all about School Supplies. I l-o-v-e school supplies. I really love buying school supplies. So far the boys don't need me to, instead I fulfill the desire to buy and donate! I've done this for the last 10 years I think. Yeah, before I had kids. I don't know why, but there's something about the fresh beginning of the school year. All the hope, anticipation...it just builds up into me buying color crayons and notebooks!

Here's a few of my tricks. At the beginning of August there are some crazy deals on the essentials. I buy the max that the sale allows. 10 notebooks for $1, 4 glues for a $1. And you know I find the coupons! I know, it's a disease. A fun, happy making disease! I usually set a budget of how much I want to spend, sometimes $20, sometimes $5. There's a lot that can come home with me for $5.

Why am I telling you about school supplies and my love for buying them? Because I want you to join the fun too! At Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival I'll have a donation bucket for you to contribute to. If you donate you'll get a coupon for the online shop! Can't make it to OFFF? Make a donation locally, snap a happy picture and I'll send you a coupon code! All supplies will be donated to Schoolhouse Supplies. A local free store for teachers to shop for school supplies, all run by volunteers. Pretty great!

I think I might revive an old color, school supplies. Seems pretty appropriate!

Feature Friday: Zen Rain

Doesn't a little rain sound nice? I know, crazy coming from Oregon, but boy it's been hot! Instead you can knit a little rain, a little Zen Rain! Michele did a beautiful job with designing this fun shawl.

 Zen Rain is shown in Silky Merino, fingering weight 50/50 merino/silk. There are a few skeins listed in the shop, but if you don't see the color you'd like let me know and I'll dye it up. It's been so hot here that yarn is drying in 2 hours!

Purchase any fingering weight yarn to make this shawl and I'll include the pattern to make Zen Rain for free! Happy Weekend!!


Quick updates:

• Only 2 more weeks to join the CSY! I'm so excited about all the people that have joined, I super hope you do, too!
• Want to make Hiro for the fall KAL? I'd love to get your order by September 1st so I can get the yarn here and dyed in time. You are welcome to put a deposit down and pay the rest when it ships.
• 10th Grade and Gin & Tonic are back in the shop!!

Owl Mitts!

Have you seen the new Twist Collective? There are some fabulous new patterns in there! Horatio and Oren jumped out at me as too cute not to knit! Can you tell I've just been waiting to try color work! The kids mitts are knit in fingering and I think Feather Weight is just the ticket! It's springy, squishy, and will make a nice cozy fabric. The adult mitts are make in DK weight, and I have two great options. DK, polwarth and silk, or super wash merino. Both are great options and favorites of mind to knit with! Below are a few color options, let me know what tickles your fancy!

Brown Sugar and Yellow Brick Road

Beaujolais and Yellow Brick Road

Brown Sugar and French Kiss

Canopy and Thistle. I'm so crazy in love with these two colors together! 

Another combo, Picante and Peacock. A more subtle one, Prussian Blue and Carbon. Or Prussian Blue and Picante. So. Many. Choices! I'm going to try to get these in the shop. If you have a combo you can't wait to knit up let me know and I'll get it out to you right away!

Future WIP

It's been busy around here so I haven't  made much progress on my current WIPs, the kids at the lunch park aren't even impressed! So I thought I would show you a future WIP, the fall KAL. I really hope you'll join me on this adventure. I fell in love with Hiro as soon as I saw it! And Julia is pretty fabulous too. I had been looking for a color work sweater to knit for the boys this fall but I wasn't having much luck with the weight yarn I wanted to use. Along came Hiro and  Hiro Petite. Let me start by saying, I've never done color work. It just seems like the right time to tackle the skill! So if you don't know how, we'll try this out together. And Julia has offered help if we get stranded (ha!). 

For the Hiro adult sweater, it takes 4 colors. Hiro Petite takes 3. Knitted Wit's current color collection has 12. That's a lot of options my friend! Below I've put together some color options, mainly in 3's. It's easy enough to find a 4th to add for the adult sweater. 

For the boy's sweaters I'm thinking I'll knit it up in super wash merino. I haven't decided on DK or worsted yet. I really love the DK, so round and bouncy, but the pattern calls for worsted. I think a little needle adjusting would make the DK work no problem. For the adult one, either of those yarns would work. But you could also class it up a bit with the DK, polwarth and silk. Or just go deluxe with the Silky N Plied. I think the Silky and Plied would be stunning, so shiny!

On to color choices! The color on the left is the main body color. Julia suggested having the highest contrast be between the main color and the first contrast color. Above is Canopy, French Kiss, Thistle.

Prussian Blue, Beaujolais (super washed out from the sun light), Carbon. Nice and sophisticated.

Yellow Brick Road, Brown Sugar, Peacock. I love this combo! So playful. The peacock is a little more green and saturated, the color was washed out in the light. This one might be for Owen. He's such a goofball, this just fits him.

Cedar, Prussian Blue, Carbon. I find this combination very calming. Maybe this one would be perfect for Eli. He's starting Preschool in September is taking it very seriously. These look nice and serious.

Yellow Brick Road, Peacock, Picante. You know I couldn't resist this combo! I'm crazy about these three colors together!

Beaujolais, French Kiss, Moody Blues. Feminine with all the reds, but not so that you want to poke anybody's eye out.

Yellow Brick Road, Peacock, Carbon. Playful and gender neutral, always good!

Peacock, Thistle, French Kiss. I would love this for me! Maybe I'll add carbon and call it mine!

Brown Sugar, Cedar, Prussian Blue, Carbon. Hello Manly! Oh, and the adult pattern comes in cardigan or pull over, that's pretty handy.

What do you think? I would love to hear your color combination ideas! I've pulled a bunch of colors, and I'm going to start little swatches. I can practice color work and see what the colors look like together. I'd like to take pre orders for this KAL so I can have it all ready to go for you on cast on day. Let me know what combination you like and the size and I'll get to dyeing!

Finding the Good in Monday

Since a case of the monday's is contagious, I thought I'd take today to focus on the positive. My dear friend Beth is doing so well. And I wasn't sure if I told you this. She's riding her bike, driving her car, picking her guitar. Dang! That was a good rhyme! Anyways, she's just about all the Beth I can remember and I'm so pleased every time I get to have a chat with her.

What's brightening your day?

Feature Friday: Summer Wind

Summer is alive and well here in Portland, finally! So cool off your knitting with Summer Wind. It's easy, breezy, snappy to knit! 

Summer Wind in Peacock Variegated

please excuse the horrible photo, I forgot to snap one before the sun went down!

I think this is a great summer time knit. It's knit in the round, perfect for traveling and hanging out around the campfire. Summer Wind takes one skein of fingering weight yarn! Buy a skein of fingering weight yarn in the shop and I'll include the pattern, Summer Wind, for free! Happy Friday!

WIP Wednesday

The knitting is a little slow going with the heat these last few days. I'm still on clue two for the West Knits mystery KAL. I love knitting it every time I pick it up, I just haven't picked up often enough.

I have picked up some socks I've had in a bag for a while. I'm working on the heal and it's going pretty fast with a row here and a row there. These socks are for Eric, he's been riding his bike to work everyday since January and asked for some knit socks. How can I say no? In the middle of knitting these socks I've changed how I hold my yarn when I knit.

The tension totally changed, shocking, I know! With my tension/holding yarn differently, I'm having a hard time with wooden needles. I switched to metal and went up a size and now I think I'm back to a reasonable gauge. But they'll be a wee snug around his ankle. Also, I'm not the best at purling with how I'm holding the yarn now, so there's a little rowing out. But we'll all survive, right?

Those are the two project's floating around in my knitting bag right now. As soon as the weather cools a bit I know I'll want to get out my cardigans in progress and finish those off.

A quick call out for custom dye orders. On Sunday I'll be doing a bunch of custom dye orders. Is there a variegated color you're looking for? Let me know and I'll dye it up! See something in the shop but you want a garment quantity or it's not on the right weight yarn? Happy to dye it up! Just let me know! Also, Oregon and Washington are winning for the most members in the CSY!

The August newsletter is about to go out, sorry about the lateness! If you aren't signed up, join in the little box up on the right!