Karen King's Komments on Knitting and ...

As the weather gets colder, lots of people come in to the store driven by virtuous and commendable gift-making and -giving ideas. And a lot of the time, these same people fall in love with a new yarn, or a new shade of an old fave, or an exciting new pattern that they want for themselves. And then I get to witness their personal drama: the struggle between the desire to let creativity run free and the desire to at least appear disciplined, self-controlled, maybe even frugal?

Then I can almost count down the seconds until my darling customer turns to me and asks something along the lines of, "Maybe I shouldn't until I finish my other project? I can only work on one thing at a time, right? I mean, how many projects are you working on?"

(These are the people who don't know me personally. Those who know me personally, are now snickering. I can hear them.)

I usually respond to my customer with a role of the eyes and and airy "Oh, lots!" or "Oh, I'm way into the double digits." Then they look at me with new eyes. I wish I could be sure it was respect or awe, but I have a sneaky suspicion that at least some of them are thinking I've gone off the deep yarny end.

So, without further ado, I give you (ta-da!) my projects on needles:
I think there's a color thing going on here....

I said, "On needles." That's not including my other knitting dreams and schemes (which are crazy, crazy many), not including projects for which I've purchased yarn but haven't yet started, not including (ahem) things I owned before our beloved k2tog existed, and certainly not including just general stash. (Not on the first date.) But, still, I can count to my lucky 13 pretty easily!

So stitch on fearless knitters. You've most likely got a WAYS to go to catch up to yours truly. And, as long as we don't completely abandon those impulses of discipline, self-control, and frugality, as long as we're not hurting anyone, I say the world can sure use our creativity.

Karen K.

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The new year starts here in the shop with an exciting field trip and fun new theme.

First, the field trip. Ellen and I will travel to beautiful Long Beach, California to The National Needlework Association (you'll hear us say TNNA) trade show. Here we'll get to preview vendors' latest and greatest new stuff for the year. Everything from delicious yarns to fun new gadgets and bags and things. We'll be scouring the market for the best to bring you at the best prices. We're especially on the lookout for organic yarns, naturally dyed yarns, recycled yarns, anything that treats the earth (and us) with special respect. It is slowly becoming less costly to do, so we are hopeful.

And then the new theme. We're excited about this one. January will be sock month at k2tog. Drop by to see all kinds of samples of socks. Socks knit from the top down. Socks knit from the toe up, and sock knit every which way (thank you Cat Bordhi). We'll have a toe-up sock class taking place over three weeks of the month. Jump in and join the fun of sock knitting. (Warning it can be addictively satisfying.)

And on the knitting front, after a few rough lace rows I'm into clear sailing on the Hemlock Ring big lace blanket. I've taken care of lots of little holiday gifts, and find myself ready to take on some new projects. I plan to resurrect something from the stash as well as start something new. Something new might just be a pair of socks from a yarn I haven't tried yet. Cascade's Sassy Stripes or the Rio de la Plata sock yarn maybe. (I've already started using our new yarn Wick from Knit One Crochet Two. This is the one that's part polypropelene and wicks moisture from the skin. Easy and fast.) From the stash I'm looking at another moebius shawl or a vest that's almost done ... heck, you know I'll (re)start both.

Ellen has just completed a moebius shawl in Misti Alpaca chunky handpaint. If you haven't seen it on her, you've been away too long. It's lovely. (We're waiting impatiently for the rest of our order of this yarn!) Ellen is also working on a design of her own in Cascade's Venezia worsted weight. It will be a sweater in a gorgeous red with stockinette on the body and lace on the shoulders and sleeves. Ask her about it. I will be trying to carve out some time for her to write up the pattern for all of us!

Check out the calendar to see all our new class offerings. In January we have the toe-up sock class Sweater Math, Fixing Mistakes, and Slip Stitch Knitting. Also every Saturday at 1:30, Ellen will present a Quickie Class on a current topic. And in February and beyond we'll be looking at various ways to put color into our knitting from fairisle, to intarsia and beyond. Join us!

Happy knitting. Karen

The weather is all over the place this time of year...sunny and hot, foggy and freezing, sunny and windy. Having lots of knitted items on hand to layer on and off as the temperature changes is just the ticket. At least that's the excuse I'm putting forth for having everything from a cotton tank top to an alpaca Einstein Coat on the needles at the same time.

Not that this stops me from coveting each and every new yarn that comes in the store. For instance, today we saw some geeorgeous new handpainted chunky alpaca from Misti Alpaca that should come to us by the end of the year...

Other news from around the shop is that Ellen is off to Stitches East to teach for 4 days. She's teaching a few long classes and half a dozen short, in-the-market classes. She's taking with her her new Misti Alpaca Chunky Einstein Coat and her Southwest Trading Company Rock mitered square cardigan. Both are sure to be hits, one for its softness, the other for its colorfulness.

Halloween is nearly here and Auban has knitted and felted a couple of cute pumpkins for our counter. The pattern is Auban's circular version of the one available from Knitty.com. Just come in and ask us for Auban's pattern if you'd like some pumpkins of your very own.

And Marieke is swatching with a sample we of some of the new Malabrigo lace weight we have coming in a few weeks. Yeah! Malabrigo. This yarn which we have coming in worsted and lace weights, is soft merino wool kettle dyed in a beautiful array of colors, some variegated and some "solid." I can't wait to start a sweater.<\p>

And I definitely need some more socks, don't you think? The Rio de la Plata sock yarn sits across from me in the shop and talks to me, asking me which color should come home with me. It would be good for lace too. Maybe lacey socks. I just need more time in the day.

I'm also excited about some new Knit to Support opportunities we're putting together. We have the knit alongs on the first and third Sundays of every month in support of the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund (BCEF). Bags will be knitted and donated to BCEF to be auctioned at their annual fundraising event, next September. It's a fun time to get together and knit. Some great bags were just turned in for this year's fundraiser using Noni patterns available in the store.

And now we're cooking up a new opportunity to support an East Bay charity. More soon.

In the meantime, keep knitting the world together.

I hear that some people stop knitting in the summer. I hear that some people stop knitting with wool in the summer. I hear these things, but I'm not sure I really understand them. The words "stop" and "knitting" don't want to be in the same sentence from my mouth....

Here at the shop I do see knitters going on vacation and needing a little something easy-breezy to knit. I do see knitters settling down to classes as their schedules loosen up for the summer. So we try to meet these needs in addition to our all-year-round support of sweaters, afghans, and all things wooly.

Come by and check out the latest market bags. They are THE easy breezy project for summer. Choose from small or large and feel virtuous as you have fun creating a substitute for all those plastic grocery bags.

We have classes scheduled through August to satisfy all your knit or crochet needs too. From Learn to Knit and Learn to Crochet to Cables, Seams and Felted Flowers, you're sure to find something that will add to your stitching skills.

Summer time knitting to me means summer tops, maybe a flippy crocheted skirt. I love summer tops for their sleeveless ease. Our Classic Elite cotton, silk, and bamboo blends are perfect. I'm starting (yes, I have startitis in the very worst way) a summer tank out of Classic Silk and Premiere. It has the prettiest ruched detailing. Can't wait to dive in.

This doesn't mean that I dislike the wooliness of the other great projects I have on the needles. Oh, no, I still love them very much. It's just that summer in a new opportunity, you see....

Yours in year-round-knitting, Karen