Well I am back on my design work and I would like to introduce the Woodsman Cap. This little cabled delight is a perfect hat for yourself, little ones, or perhaps one for the whole family! I was really in the mood for some cables this fall and it’s just getting to be cool enough for hats. The flip brim makes the hat extra warm where it counts. Of course I had to knit a wee one and I liked it so much I made a charming green one just for me!

Not only did I feel the need for cables but I’m smitten with pompoms too. While I realize you can use cardboard to create a pompom I find it much MUCH easier with a pompom maker. The key to a good full and fluffy pompom is the number of times you wrap the yarn, this is true no matter what method you use. While I realize pompoms tend to be yarn eaters, it’s really worth it. Who wants a limp pompom?

The yarn I used was SweetGeorgia superwash worsted and I really love this yarn. The stitch definition is fantastic for cabling and it’s kind of a stiffer yarn so the hat stands up really well.

To make a Woodsman Cap of your own you will need:

1 skein SweetGeorgia Superwash worsted (for the smallest size you will need one of the smaller 50g hanks, for the rest you will need 2 of the smaller size or 1 of the larger sized 115g hanks)

4.5mm needles (16″ circular and double points except for the smallest size, it’s all on double points)

1 pompom maker

The pattern should be in shop later today!

Thanksgiving weekend seems like the perfect time to explore the idea of domesticity. I am lucky enough to have many different women in my life and all of them seem to have different takes on the purpose and worth of domesticity. Some would rather go out to dinner than make something at home, some prefer a home cooked meal to almost any other kind. Some get a certain sense of satisfaction out of a clean house, others would rather have someone else do the tough scrubbing, and still others would rather just not look above that shelf. This got me thinking about the domesticity of knitting and what that really means.

While I don’t think knitting and domesticity ALWAYS go together, it is definitely often the case in my experience. The ladies at Urban Yarns definitely fit this bill. Knitting certainly isn’t the only craftacular and somewhat domestic endeavor that we undertake on a weekly basis. There are quilters, bakers, cooks, weavers, cross stitchers, needlepointers…..the list is endless and most certainly overlapping. Knitting is only one of the many domestic activities which we undertake.We are multi-faceted women with lots of hobbies and undertakings, many of which fall under the category of domesticity.

Now, that being said, is knitting always a domestic activity? I would say almost certainly not. Knitting is not only about creating clothing or accessories for ourselves and our loved ones, it’s about much more than that! Knitting can take many forms, including art, protest, fashion, and the somewhat domestic practicality. This idea got me thinking about what really makes something domestic. Is it just something that takes place in the home or regarding family? And what exactly is the line between domesticity and art? Can things be both? Is domesticity itself an art? Holidays always make me feel a little more domestic and I think I like it, no matter what that says about me.

So, get a little domestic and enjoy this delicious chocolate cookie recipe from Jan!

Nutty Double-Chocolate Cookies

2 cups flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder & salt
1 cup butter at room temperature
½ cup icing sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 ¼ cups chocolate chips
½ cup coarsely chopped almonds or pecans
1 cup icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Lightly spray 2 baking sheets

In a small bowl mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder & salt.
In a large bowl beat butter with ½ cup icing sugar until creamy.
Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture until
evenly mixed. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Pinch off about 1 tbsp dough and roll into a ball. Place on cookie
sheets about 2 in. apart. Flatten balls slightly. Bake approximately
14 minutes, switching position of baking sheets half way through
baking.

Cool and just before serving roll in icing sugar to evenly coat.

This is a lesson I’ve had to learn many many times. I’m often inspired to get moving on a new project. I fall in love with a pattern, yarn, and I’m off to the races. I move along either until it’s done, or until I get distracted by something new. Then my formerly inspiring knit gets put away for a while, sometimes a long while. Now, I don’t necessarily think this is a big problem, it happens pretty often and I usually get back to projects and they eventually get finished. Do I have moments of knitterly guilt? Of course, that’s what eventually gets things finished! All of that being said, there are some pretty annoying things that often occur when I return to a project.

I don’t take good notes. I have no idea where I left off (having not really known I would be leaving the project for any length of times, I suppose I should just know myself better than that by now). How many decrease rows have I completed? How many inches was I supposed to work in stocking stitch? Or even worse, what size was I making? What needles was I using? What colourway was that? I can usually figure out what the yarn is just by looking, but it certainly wouldn’t kill me to write it down. Second socks are terrible for this, let me tell you. How many heel flap rows was I working? What shoe size is the person I’m making this for? And so on and so on……

So here are a few things you might want to make a note  of when you are working on a project, whether you intend to put it down or not. You may even find this kind of information helpful if you decide to knit something again, or if you need to make a repair etc. Ravelry is a great place to make such notes as well. In the interest of the knitting community you might not be the only one who wants to know how many decreases you made or what size etc.

Items of Note:

1. Yarn: colourway, dyelot, and yardage

2. Pattern source: where did you get this pattern? Book, website, magazine, etc.

3. Needles: size and any important information like whether lace needles were helpful, length of circular etc.

4. What size you are making

5. How many decreases or increases you have made or inches/rows you have knit, I might make a note of this every so often, you never know when you might be inspired by something new!

6. Any alterations you might be making to the pattern. This is particularly important. If you are knitting a large size, but you are making it shorter or longer, you will definitely want to know this and by how much.

If anyone can think of anything else of note let me know!

–Alexa–

This weekend I broke the rules and cast on the cutest little sweater. Friday night was a super busy knit night and one of our charming knitters had the pattern for the Baby Sophisticate Sweater and she was casting on. I couldn’t resist, I went home and cast on too. I don’t know if it was the shawl collar that got me, or perhaps the promise of using toggle buttons but I was a bad little knitter who went to her box of needles and pulled some out. I used some Dream in Colour Classy I had on hand in the colour Happy Forsest.

Now, the problem came about 3 inches in when I realized it was coming out rather tiny. I know babies are small but the sweater was coming out REALLY small. So I took a gander at the pattern, recommended needle size, yarn gauge, pattern gauge. It just didn’t quite add up. The yarn is an 18, the needles are a 5mm, that makes perfect sense. Normally i would get 18 stitches per 4 inches no problem. I measured out my gauge and I sure did have 18 stitches, the problem is that the pattern gauge is 15 stitches per 4 inches. The pattern designer must be a VERY loose knitter to get that gauge.

I had a couple of options, I could go up a couple of needle sizes or I can use a bulkier yarn or both. I decided that I really loved the colour of this yarn and a slightly looser fabric would be okay so I went to some 6.5 mm needles and started over. I had everything but the last sleeve done by Monday morning, what a great quick knit. Now I just need some adorable buttons…..

To make a Baby Sophisticate of your very own:

1 Skein of Dream in Colour Classy

6.5mm needles (I used 24″ circulars)

2 stitch holders

the pattern, which can be found here.

We just got in some beautiful new colours in the ever popular Peter Rabbit. This is an aptly named Angora yarn (70% Angora, 20% Nylon, 10% Wool) from Handmaiden. What might Angora be you ask? It’s bunny hair! It is a super soft and charming fiber that is fuzzy (maybe hair is a better word for it) and oh so warm. Nothing traps heat like Angora, it’s even warmer than Alpaca.

It always sort of reminds me of capelets or mitten cuffs someone might wear in the fifties or sixties. Perhaps a sweater set with a combination of angora and wool. Something you might see in a period movie anyway. That image sort of makes the yarn seem sophistacated but it’s also really fun. The fuzzy softness is perfect to add a bit of whimsy to any knit. A whole garment in Peter Rabbit might feel like a bit much (although I’m certainly not ruling it out) but I am thinking I will head in the accesories direction. This little hat is so cute and fuzzy, it’s a free pattern with purchase of yarn. Whip one up this weekend!

Mmmmmm, new yarn. It’s pretty exciting when we get in new colours. It’s way more exciting when we get a new yarn from an old friend. It’s the MOST exciting when we get an entirely new line of yarn! We are all pretty knitting nerdy around the shop (do I really need to tell you that?!) and nothing creates a buzz like a whole new yarn. When we got Shibui there were emails and texts flying about what we would make with the lovely new yarn, would we revamp some old favorite patterns? Try the new patterns we got with the yarn? What colour combos would be best?! It can be a little crazy and pretty funny when you take a step back from the situation.

These are just a few of our colours.

That being said, I’d like to share the new Pear Tree yarns! The ladies at Friday night stitch and bitch were convinced there must be something other than pure merino in it. No, they exclaimed, it can’t be ONLY merino, it’s just too soft. It is the softest merino I personally have ever come across. Sometimes yarns without much spin can be pretty soft but that’s the other surprising thing about this yarn, it has a spin to it and it’s still super soft. Anina had some crazy idea about knitting a sweater for her nephew in this stunning new yarn on Friday night but don’t worry, we talked her out of it.  She’s working on a gorgeous turtleneck sweater for herself instead!

We’ve got 2 weights of this yarn. Drop in and check out the lovely colours and give this yarn a pet!