It’s fun to see many of you joining in on the Malabrigo KAL that starts on April 1! We put together some Yarn Sets for you to consider, if you don’t want to pull your own colors.
(Note – the pattern – Temperance Shawl – is free on Ravelry, and you’ll need to download that on your own.)
And if you’d like to pull together your own yarn trios, check out all of the colors we have! I pulled just a few together for pictures here.
If you play tic tac toe, you’ll find a few more fun color combos within the grids below!
We have a major snowstorm coming our way this weekend, so if we can’t get in to the shop on Saturday, we’ll be here Monday to ship all of your orders out!
Have you tried adding beads to a yarn project? One of the challenges this month for Camp Loopy is to mix materials, and one of the options is knitting with beads. I love beads, so that’s the challenge that I’m doing!
Why add beads to yarn projects?
– Beads add a bit of sparkle and pop – They also add a nice bit of weight to the hemline or body – Beading breaks up all of the knitting and adds fun to your knitting time – It’s easy to do and something different
I’m working on Knit Night by Inspiration Knits with a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in Exploration Station. (We sold out of that Camp color, but we have ordered more.)
The pattern is an interesting (and very easy) construction and not one that I’ve done before. This would make a really fun gift for those on your gifting list, with or without beads added to it. However, knitting with beads is a good skill to add to your list and it adds a little extra to the finished gift. Here is my progress so far.
How do you knit with beads? Here is the way I do it:
First, add your bead to a tiny crochet hook.
Second, put the next stitch on your left hand needle, onto the hook.
Third, slide the bead down over the two legs of the stitch.
Next, put the stitch back on the left needle.
Last, knit (or slip – whatever the pattern calls for) as a normal stitch.
We’re always happy to match beads for you. Just order a tube with your yarn order and leave us a note that you’d like us to pick the best match for your yarn. We’ll check to see if there might be a better option for you.
How About You?
Have you used beads in your knitting projects? Do you like it? Do you have other favorite patterns that call for beads? I’d love to hear your experience!
Loopy wants to know, how YOU doin’? You said that like Joey, didn’t you? (How can you not?)
Just checking in, because for the first time in all of our years, I have fallen behind on blogging! We’re still here every day, shipping your orders out and thinking about all of you. Just not enough time for much blogging. I’m working on that.
We have been doing Facebook Live videos and Instagram Live videos for you though. It has been fun to stay in touch that way. I can’t figure out how to keep the Insta Live after 24 hours, but you can access all of our Facebook Live videos here. When we do another one next Tuesday, I’m going to have Loopy on with me so I can tell you a little bit about where he came from. We usually go Live around 3:30 or 4:00 Mountain time, after the mailman has come and gone and we can’t get any more orders out for the day.
Today, though, I’m doing a Three Things post. And I hope you’ll comment with your three things!
Three things I’m looking forward to: 1. The weekend! 2. This soup for dinner tonight. 3. This silk/cashmere yarn going up on Monday.
Three projects I’m working on: 1. My Goldfish Memory out of Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere 2. Three out of Rosy Green Cheeky Joy. 3. Going through my spices and tossing the expired ones. (Does anyone else have expired spices?)
Three things we’ve been watching on TV lately: 1. The Keepers (Wow. Sad. Haunting.) 2. Schitt’s Creek (Campy. Crazy. Fun.) 3. Zumbo’s Just Desserts (Which makes me want dessert.)
Three things I want you to know about the times we’re in: 1. Things will get better. 2. It’s ok to be unproductive. It’s also ok to be overally productive. (It’s also ok to eat more chocolate.) Whatever you need right now. 3. We’re here in any way we can help you. Just let us know.
Now – what three things (or one thing!) can you share with me in the comments?
It’s a new year and organizing seems to be the buzzword for January. What’s more fun than organizing your knitting projects for the year?
There are a couple of ways for tracking what you are doing and organizing your knitting projects. If you’re a paper and pencil person, then a nice notebook works great. (You can get all fancy with colored pens and stickers if you like doing that. I keep mine pretty simple.)
What should you keep track of? Anything you find useful! Here are some ideas for pages:
Patterns that you want to knit soon
Yarn that you want to use this year
Finishes for the year
Year to Year project numbers (total finished, yards used)
Yarn you want to remember to try in the future
Possible Camp Loopy projects
Patterns that you like to make for gifts
Patterns that you own via pdf or have in Knit Companion
Books that you own
Patterns you’ve made that you want to make again
Yarn that you have in stash
Or just yarn from certain companies that you collect
Designers that you like and follow
Christmas/Holiday/Birthday gifts to make this year
Knitting Needles/Crochet hooks that you own
WIP’s (works in progress)
Color inspirations/combinations you’d like to try
A page for each project with start/finish dates and yarn info
Here are some of my pages in my notebook:
Need some ready-to-print pages for a 3-ring notebook instead?
Cassie over at Little Red Window has free pages you can download! Click here to get to those pages on her website.
You might also want to print some of our handy reference lists to add to your notebook.
Not into the paper and pencil thing?
You can also track almost all of these same things if you have a Ravelry account. There are a lot of options, but two things I want to highlight from there that have been helpful to me:
You can add tabs to your project page. I have tabs for each year and tabs for the things I like to knit the most. I like clicking on a tab and being able to see specific categories within my projects.
How do you add them?
Decide on your tab names and add them to the top of your project page. Three easy steps:
First you click the organize icon/button:
Then you’ll get a screen where you can create a new set:
And finally, you’ll name your set (your tab) and indicate the tags that go into that set:
Tags to include in set – perhaps you want a Shawls tab, and you want anything tagged shawl or shawls to go into that tab. Type both words there.
Name for this set – I do tabs for each year and tabs for things I like to make. You can do tabs for anything – gifts, toys, baby, yardage, etc.
Now, when you add a project, add your tab name as a tag on the project, and it will automatically be filed under that tab.
The second feature I like on Ravelry is Bundles.
You can make bundles for pattern ideas that you want to group by topic/project/use. I have bundles for gift knitting, baby knitting, Camp Loopy (800+ yardage), etc. Go to your Favorites (Faves) and there you can create Bundles.
When you click on a bundle, it gives you several ways to add patterns into that bundle (from your favorites, from tags, from a search, etc.)
Is it worth it to keep track of all of these things? Well, I don’t spend TOO much time on it, because I’d rather be knitting! But it does save me time when I want some ideas for projects, or I want to try a new yarn, or I want to remember to make a pattern within the next couple of months and I don’t want that pattern to get lost in my 1200 Favorites list. 🙂 And I do love seeing my finished projects by year, to keep track of what I do each year.
These are just some of the things I track for organizing knitting projects. Your lists will be different, depending on what is important to you. I use these tools to enhance my knitting/creating time, not to take away from it!
Do you have other lists that you track for your projects? Feel free to share them in the comments! Do you need more yarn to organize? Pop over and tell us what you need and we’ll get it shipped right out!
