I joined the knitting olympics. I know, I know, it wasn’t enough to challenge Anina to a sweater knitting competition, no. I had to take things one step further. I am so enjoying the wonderful exciting atmosphere of this city and I am awed by the way our athletes are pushing themselves to the limit. That in mind, I decided to accept the challenge posed by the Knitting Olympics.

What are the knitting olympics you might ask? They are a challenge to all knitters to get their knitting game on. While our athletes are pushing themselves to make personal bests and to land on the podium you are encouraged to challenge yourself to a knitting project.  For the record: I’m not comparing the years of hard work athletes spend training etc. to a 2 week knitting project, that would be silly. For the full details you can check out the Yarnharlot’s post about the Olympics here. She explains all the details.

I spent yesterday wandering the crowds downtown and this afternoon cheering on our women’s hockey team, but other than that I have been glued to CTV enjoying every televised moment of the games. Of course, I couldn’t let my hands idle so I am plugging away at my own challenge: The Dude.

I spent this summer with some of my cousins in Winnipeg and we thoroughly enjoyed drinking White Russians and watching The Big Lebowski. I came across the pattern on Ravelry a while ago and this 2 week challenge seemed like the perfect time to pick it up. I cast on Friday night while Wayne (no last name required) lit the flame. I have almost finished the back in the first weekend so I am at least somewhat on track. There are, however, some things I should have considered before embarking on this project:

1. 1×1 rib. Not just the  cuffs, not just the bottom ribbing. The WHOLE THING. Seriously.

2. Charts make it slow knitting while watching the games and also lead to a lot of ‘wait, what just happened!?’

3. Aren’t I supposed to be in another sweater competition of sorts?

These are all things that should have probably been considered more seriously before Friday but as it stands I am attempting to finish 2 sweaters by the closing ceremonies. Good times.

I am not, however, the only one at UY who will be embarking on this journey, almost all the gals have cast something on! Here’s the list:

Jan will be working on the Burberry Cowl

Anina will be making Sahara, by Stitch Diva (and a Reindeer sweater)

Amanda will be making Prairie Boots

Kalin will be making the Playtime Hoodie

Sarah will be making the Sea Vines Vest by Fleece Artist

and I will be makeing The Dude (large size with Cascade Eco)

You can follow our progress,  get all project info, or join us through our Ravelry group

PS: The Reindeer sweater is coming along

PPS: doesn’t it look like I’ve accomplished a lot with these detail photos? What a faker, I haven’t even finished the back!

From the Moving Mud studio, we just received these gorgeous buttons, shawl pins, and stick pins. These pieces of art are hand-made with the inspiration of nature around the Mad River Valley in Vermont. Each button or pin has a unique, “one-of-a-kind” design, and no two pieces are the same. Above are the flat buttons, and below we thought we’d try out some of their round buttons since the different textures on these ones are amazing! Any Moving Mud products are sure to be a great compliment to your own piece of art.

And just a quick note that we will close at 5:30pm today (Friday) instead of 9pm. Have a great weekend!

Firefly is the newest addition to our Classic Elite collection. This yarn is made from 75% linen, and 25% viscose and is knit on a 3.75mm needle. It has a lustrous sheen and is going to be great for spring and Summer projects!

We also brought in two new books from Classic Elite. The first is Picnic with simple, yet elegant designs. Ballet wraps always look so elegant to me and this one is done in an 18 stitch gauge, so it would knit up fairly fast. Take a look:

The second book is called Curvy Knits Park Street. This is a great book for fuller figures including four fabulous essentials for your spring closet. My favourite is the drape front cardi. I think it’s such a simple and casual design that can be worn dressed up or down with a pair of jeans, like in the photo below.

Our Special this week is Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed at 40% off. Remember those cute mitts that Kalin made from Interweave Accessories? This yarn would be perfect for that project!

Valentines is upon us , whether we like it or not! I generally ignore this holiday except to enjoy the pretty tulips my husband usually remembers to get me. This year I came across a pattern I found both hilarious and intrigueing. I just surfing around Ravelry, minding my own business, when I came across this cute valentinesy pattern for mittens. I figured they would knit up fast and be both funny and kind of functional. I do like to hold hands.

These mittens are designed for the hand holding couple. Those who like to take walks in the chilly winter/spring air. There are two separate mittens for the non-holding hands and one mitten (somewhat shaped like an anatomical heart, not sure if this is on purpose) for holding hands in. It’s designed with 2 cuffs but one mitten part. Hilarious. I’m not sure if I will use these mittens myself or if I will gift them to a cute couple. I thought they might make a funny winter wedding gift. Or maybe an anniversary present…..

To knit up a pair of Handholding mittens for yourself or someone you love you will need:

2 balls of Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran in red (machine washable, what a great perk)

1 ball of Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran in white

4.5mm and 5.5mm double pointed needles

Some waste yarn and stitch markers

The pattern, which you can find here.

On a slightly less lovey topic I though I would inform the knitting public of a certain competition. It’s a sweater battle. Anina and I have decided to duke it out knitting style. We will both be knitting the Reindeer sweater from Canadian Living. I will be using Dream in Colour Classy (as pictured above) and she will be using Eco Alpakka. We will be knitting different sizes (small for her and large for me) but I think I can handle it. Unfortunately this is how far I am: this is the back ribbing.

Of course, the minute I agreed to the competition on Friday and Anina headed home for the night I got the votes of confidence from the rest of the gals on staff. “You are never going to win, what were you thinking?” Kynna asked me. “Anina is a crazy fast knitter, this will not end well” Amanda informed me. Well, I’ll just have to give up sleep! Kynna and Amanda are also working on the reindeer sweater (possibly at a more reasonable pace). Kynna is using Cascade Eco Plus and Amanda is working in Viking yarn. Can’t wait to share out finished products!

The pattern for the sweater can be found here.

Continuing from the last entry, I thought I would post some of the gorgeous photos Venus shared with me…

Venus knit her sample in the “secret agent blue” colour-way. Unfortunately we’re out of stock in that colour, but will re-order next time. With 11 beautiful colours to chose from though, there’s bound to be something for everyone! This shawl will be on display in the Point Grey store once it’s finished. Well done Venus!

A lovely box of Alchemy Haiku was delivered today! Alchemy is a company which we love for it’s luxurious fibres, and rich, vibrant colours. Take a look at their website to find out a little bit more about them, and how you can contribute to the social and economic well-being of different cultures and communities by purchasing their yarns.

Venus, who works in the Point Grey store on Mondays, is in the process of knitting the Illusionist shawl from Destination Alchemy (pictured below). This shawl takes 4 skeins of Alchemy Haiku, and is knit on a 6mm needle. Venus recommends using the Addi Lace needles or bamboo needles, as the regular Addi needles are too slippery for this yarn. The pattern is made from rows of slip stitch ribbing, alternated with stocking stitch ruches. It’s absolutely stunning with the change in texture, and subtle change in colour depending on which colour-way you chose. We have 11 georgeous colours to chose from including dragon, meadowgrass, mediterranean, and aubergine (pictured above).

Other yarns that we carry from Alchemy are Juniper, Silk Purse, and Silken Straw.

We are stuffed to the rafters with our new Fleece Artist and Handmaiden shipments! One of our most popular kits has been re-stocked in some beautiful colours. The Devin’s Toque is a great gift to give knit up into the hat, or just given as a skein with some circular needles. This is the warmest hat you’ll wear made from 100% cashmere. Here are a few of the colour choices:

For another soft and cuddly yarn, try out the Peter Rabbit. Check out Kalin’s crocheted scarf that she made from this pattern. It just shows how different a pattern can look in different types of yarns.

The Bias Shawls always seem to be the first to go when we receive the boxes. This time we received them in blackberry, paris, caicos, periwinkle, hemlock, and cedar.

We also re-stocked our collection of Lace Silk, Casbah sock, Mini Maiden, Swiss Mountain Silk, 2 Ply Cashmere, Lady Godiva, Olann, Big Merino, and many other yarns and kits.

The Harvest Jacket kit makes a beautiful, warm jacket, made from nine gorgeous skeins of big merino. We brought in five lovely colours to chose from; earth, twilight, morgana, caicos, and red fox. No photo’s as of yet, so come in and take a look!

Jan’s favourite is the Northern Nights Blanket Kit. She knit the one below which Jessica is nicely wrapped up in… what a lovely photo! She says that her two daughters fight over this favourite blanket all the time! We’ve re-stocked these blankets in labrador, blackberry, ireland, boreal, mahogany, hemlock, and burgundy.

We know you’ll love all the products that we’ve brought in from Fleece Artist and Handmaiden… we certainly do!

For this week’s special we’re putting the all of our Sirdar Denim permanently on sale at 50% off! This includes Denim Tweed Dk, Denim Sport Aran, Denim Chunky, and Denim Ultra.

Another Month gone by, another Urban Yarns draw! Congratulations to Shirley in Point Grey, and Patrice in Edgemont who both won a $50 Urban Yarns Gift Certificate. Feel free to pick them up anytime!

From Interweave Knits Accessories, Kalin made these cute mittens with only 1 ball of Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed. We all love one skein projects, so why not try out your first pair of mittens with this great pattern.

With the Grand Plan Mitten Chart on page 116, you can chose what weight of yarn , and which size of mitten you would like to make. Kalin used the Hiya Hiya 9″ circulars in a 4mm for her mittens and the chart for a 5 stitch gauge.

You can basically make these mitts out of any yarn you can think of. Kalin said she has also used Elsebeth Lavold’s Angora, although she did advise that mitts in that yarn are probably best for more colder climates than ours at the moment!

We have this featured yarn on sale at the moment for a great deal at 25% off! Hurry up and get it now, during our “Go Canada” sale!

All around Vancouver there is excitement in the air (and a little annoyance at the traffic) surrounding the olympics. I love the idea that nations will be coming together to compete in the world of sport and I am happy that Vancouver will be showcased to the world. I love this city. Of course, one of the first things I considered was what knitwear I would be sporting around town during this busy and exciting time.

All of the posters and flags around town have the pretty blues and greens that are the colours of the games. I knit up this fair isle headband with the games in mind. It has the blues and greens, snowflakes, maple leaves, and some pretty swirls (no connection, I just like them). It’s a small project so it knit’s up quick, you can be wearing one to the opening ceremonies! To knit up this little number you will need:

1 ball (less than 100 yards) of washable wool in DK weight (I used Debbie Bliss Rialto DK)

1 Gourmet Sock 2010 Mini Ball (sock yarn is held doubled)

1 Canadian 2010 Headband pattern

3.25mm 16″ circular needles

The pattern and yarn will be available in a kit and should arrive in North Vancouver this week.

We also recently received some of Sweetgeorgia’s new colourway for the games and I just had to knit some up. A good friend of mine just had a beautiful baby boy and I decided I would knit up the 5 Hour Baby Boy Sweater. This sweater is knit from the top down which I really like.

There are some great advantages to knitting a sweater from the top down: you can try them on as you go (or try them on someone else as the case may be) so you can make sure everything is fitting  the way you want it. You can also maximize your yarn usage by knitting the sleeves shortly after they have been separated out (this will make total sense once you have tried a top down sweater I promise). This means that once you have finished the sleeves you can just keep going on the body until it measures the length you want or until you run out of yarn. The only disadvantage to top down I can see is that they can sometimes lack structure. No seams to keep everything in.

For the 5 Hour Baby Boy Sweater I knew I would be cutting it close for yarn with just one skein so I made sure to knit the sleeves ASAP. Instead of knitting the sleeves flat and sewing them up, I decided to knit them in the round.  I only needed one skein of the Sweetgeorgia worsted weight for this sweater (although I really used every last drop)! To knit one of your own you will need:

1 skein Sweetgeorgia Superwash Worsted (200 yards)

6mm needles, straight or circular (double points too if you are knitting the sleeves in the round)

5 Hour Baby Boy Sweater Pattern

This pattern turned out quite charming in the olympic colourway but of course you could knit it up in any of the worsted weight, I might knit up a few more!