Get togethers are great!

CALLING ALL CRAFTERS who like to hang out together with others who share your enjoyment.

Do you have a group of friends with whom you share some regular knitting, hooking or regular crafting time and would be open to having your group visited or joined by others of the same persuasion? Please let me know the details. I'd love to be able to share the information here on the blog, in our newsletter, on our Ravelry site, or just when people call us to see what's going on in the crafting community of Kingston.

This picture was taken a couple of years back. It shows our regular Thurs. evening gang that meets at the store from 6:30-8:30. This group has been going on for the better part of 10 years with an obvious ebb and flow of participants. It began with the class regulars outgrowing the need for instruction but still looking for the fun and companionship of a regular "class time" with or without the actual class.

As I was working on my "To Do" list this morning I realized that next Wednesday, the 8th of September we will be restarting the bi weekly rug hooking get togethers at the store (the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month.) By the way, this is the piece that I was working on for part of last year and finished late in March, but the Reindeer that I was hooking when we left off last spring has not been touched since then. How typical!

The feeling of anticipation reminded me of when I was a kid and I looked forward to my first Brownie meeting of the year, or swimming lessons starting up again on a Saturday morming. There's something really great about the rhythm of returning to an activity that we enjoy on a regular basis.

Here we notice at our regular on going classes that so many of the people who attend form real bonds that sometimes extend beyond the knitting store; there's the fun of getting together with people of like mind who may be from very different backgrounds, age groups, and life experiences but still share our love of learning a new skill. If someone has been away for awhile, they're welcomed back with questions about family, pets as well as the progress of the knitting project.

Please consider joining us on Thursday evening whenever possible. It's free and fun and we'd love to have you.

How to value your knitting.

This afghan (which was made by my husbands great aunt for her sister in the early part of the last century) is a perfect example of a project that can only be considered an absolute labour of LOVE as it is knit entirely of garter stitch sections in FINE, 4 ply fingering weight yarn. When it comes to placing a value on reproducing such a knitted project, it is without price (as most of us would die of boredom long before it was done).

We have so many amazing knitters that we meet each day, and also many who are extremely competent yet all of these craftspeople and artisans often feel shy about answering this rather sensible question asked by those who don't know about such things: "What would you charge to knit....(whatever) for me?"

Despite the fact that anyone who would even consider taking on a knitting or crochet project for money must absolutely LOVE knitting, and be fairly enamoured with the concept of a bit of a challenge in their knitting, it shouldn't take away from the reality that you are giving up a substantial number of hours of your skilled work to produce something for someone who absolutely must realize how valueable that work is.

What I'm saying is: don't be shy!

The people who are asking you to knit something for them usually fall into one of 2 categories: the first might remember the beauty of the handknit article that they received in their past and recognize how rare it is to have someone care enough for you to produce such a garment and are willing to pay accordingly. The second group is associating your work/ability and the finished project with the pair of mitts made of sayelle left over from 1973 that they saw at the church bazaar last fall for $3./pair.

My advice is don't even consider the project unless the person is willing to accept the fact that it requires good quality yarn. You deserve to enjoy the feel of what you're doing. Then when it comes time to charge for your labour, you should at least receive the equivalent price of what was paid for that good quality yarn. (I can almost guarantee that it won't net you much more than $1/hour but at least it's something.) If the pattern is in anyway complicated, altered, hard to understand, boring beyond belief or inordinately time consuming then you should charge twice what the good quality yarn is worth for your part in the process.

A group of women in the UK have really gotten it right and came up with a great way of dealing with this dilemma in forming Grannies, Inc. a company that knits and sells custom designed beanies to the hippest of the young skiers, snowboarders and other hipsters on the British Isles. The company charges (and charges well, I might add) for their hats and the ladies don't need to be embarassed.

Keep it warm. Their latest product, which is this collection of tea cozies inspired by favourite TV shows in Britain. The cozies cost 45pounds (pardon my lack of familiarity with the symbols on my keyboard) but you can order and download the pattern for just 2.50pounds.

Take pride in what you create and share that enthusiasm and pride with those who don't have the skill, knowledge or time to do it for themselves. You deserve to be recognized as the skilled artisan that you are.

The Fall Line Up of classes.

We have a wonderful list of classes for the next few months, most of which were suggested by our customers.

Take the time to go through them and contact us to register or if you have any questions. Registration for any of these classes can be made in person, via email wooltymekingston@gmail.com or by phone: 613-384-3951

The fine points: Classes must be paid in full at time of registration to ensure your place.

Refunds will be issued only if the class must be cancelled. Should you not be able to attend, a credit can be issued for a future class.

2 Dates to choose from:
Sat. Sept. 11th 10am-2:30pm or Sat. Nov. 27th

SOCK-IN-A-DAY

If you can knit and purl then you can learn the techniques required to knit socks in any size, using any weight of yarn.
$45. Includes all materials.

2 Dates to choose from:

Sat. Sept. 18th, 1-4pm or Sat. Nov. 20th 1-4pm
Traditional RUG HOOKING

Learn the basic techniques of beautiful traditional rug hooking using yarn, fleece and cut strips.

$45. class $45 material kit.
Students must bring a 10"-14" hoop or frame.

Sat. Sept 25th, 1-4pm
OTHER SOCK TECHNIQUES
For those who are familiar with knitting on 4 needles this class covers a simple, practical "toe up" method and "afterthought heel" so you can expand your sock repertoire and make socks that fit every time.
$45. Material list available at registration.

GET 2 CLASSES IN ADVANCED SOCK KNITTINGFOR JUST $75. READ ON.

Sat. Nov. 13th 1-4pm
THE MAGIC OF CIRCULAR KNITTING NEEDLES
Everything you ever wanted to know about using circular needles for all of your knitting projects. Use long needles for small hats, mitts and socks with the "Magic Loop" method. Learn how 2 circular needles worked together can make any project in the round a breeze. Try out the different materials in circular needles including Addi TURBOs in regular and lace styles, Chiao Goo PREMIUM RED series, and Clover BAMBOO needles.
NOTE: $30 for "OTHER SOCK TECHNIQUE" participants. $45. for others.

Fri. Oct. 1st 6:30-8:30 and Sat. Oct. 2nd 1-4pm
SWEATER BOOT CAMP -I
These Part I weekend sessions are for those who are ready to go beyond the knitted scarf and want to develop the confidence to select the right yarns, choose the right size and learn to read patterns correctly.
$45. class. $20-$40 materials to be purchased on Friday evening. Material list available at registration.

ATTENTION -- GET BOTH CLASSES FOR $75.

Sat. Oct. 16th 1-4pm

SWEATER BOOT CAMP - II

Part II will show participants how to finish their cardigan begun in Part I. Button bands and button holes, sewing seams and inserting sleeves will be covered.
NOTE: $30 for Part I particiants $45 for others.

2 dates for this very popular workshop.

Wed. Oct, 6th 6:30-8:30pm or Wed. Nov. 17th 6:30-8:30pm

FINISHING WORKSHOP

Bring your finished sweater pieces and learn the best way to pick up stitches, sew seams and give your garment that professional finished look.
$25. Sign up early, space is limited.

Wed. Oct. 20th 6:30-8:30pm

BLOCKING 101

Learn the techniques used to block knitted pieces and the best way to achieve a beautiful polished look to your project.
$15. Bring your knitted pieces for demonstration.

Sat. Oct. 30th, 1-4pm

DROP SPINDLE

This most basic of techniques for spinners is a great introduction for fibre-holics into the satisfactionof creating your own yarn. Surprisingly easy and fun.
$45 class $10 materials.

Wed. Nov. 3rd 6:30-8:30pm

FAIR ISLE KNITTING

Learn how to achieve beautiful colour work by stranding 2 yarns of different colours. THis class will include an introduction to "continental knitting" in order to achieve the two handed Fair Isle knitting method. Chart reading and finishing tricks will also be covered.
$30. class Material list available at registration

Sat. Nov. 6th 103pm

INTRO TO RAVELRY

Those who are feeling uncertain about finding their way around the internet for knitting help will love the workshop introducing RAVELRY the site that has it all. Free Patterns, yarn descriptions, technical help, friends, informatio of all kinds.
$30. class No materials necessary.

Introducing the class for which we've had so many requests:

DESIGN A SHAWL OR BLANKET

Part I Sat. Oct 23rd 1-4pm

Part II Sat Dec. 4th 1-4pm

In Part I you will learn the beginning skills of designing your own patterns by incorporating the beautiful stitches found on-line and in stitch dictionaries to create your own unique shawl or baby blanket. Basic knitting and pattern reading skills required.
$45. class Material costs will vary.

Part II will teach the basics of finishing your beautiful blanket so that it is equally appealing on the front and the back. Picking up and finishing from a provisional cast on will be covered as will working a crocheted edge.
$30 for Part I participants. $45 for others

Knitting Designers

So I've been really lazy with the blog this summer, having fun on a trip to the Maritimes and getting things organized for the fall.

When I was preparing the August Newsletter I was so impressed by the designs of Laura Chau, a wonderful knitwear designer from Toronto, and we're really pleased to feature some of her patterns in the store. They've been going well. Alana discovered this new pattern from Laura that's now available through Ravelry called Cityscapes.

Then I started thinking of some of the knitwear designers from the Kingston area who have had patterns published over the past couple of years and I spent spent some time browsing the Kingston Group of knitters on Ravelry and came up with these examples. Hope you like the line up (and this is just a few of the talented artists in our area).

Cathy Broughton's Diamond in the Rough

Stephanie Earp's Deplhine

Deb White's Silk Bathrobe from the book: No Sheep For You

Rachel Bearse's Small Fox Sox

Maria Leigh's Picnic Cardigan

Carolyn Barnett's Zing jacket

Robin Hunter's
Pinwheel Cardigan

And our latest addition to the group of Kingston-connected knitwear designers, Elizabeth McCarten will be featured in the next edition of the Twist Collective with this gorgeous men's zipped cardigan called Sandridge.
Link to her blog and you'll not only get the inspiration that contributed to the creation of this sweater but also see the cleverly reinvented version of it as a lady's coat with a flattering A line silhouette (also available on Ravelry).

Knitting in public for a week.

During the week of June 12th to the 19th I chose to conduct my own little knitting social experiment in conjunction with World Wide Knitting Day/Week. It was a great experience in that it gave me a chance to just sit and observe the world for 1/2 hour each day while I also got to work on my lovely blue sock (made from left overs of On Your Toes Bamboo sock yarn and Tofutsies sock yarn).

Day 1 was at the very beginning of the World Cup and was the day when the UK and the US would be facing off again for the first time in something like 50 years. I could hear the hoopla coming from Jakk Tuesdays, the Sports Bar next to the store, while the Sock in a Day class was going on, so I was really looking forward to seeing the 2nd half of the game while working on my sock. Well... BORING! Obviously all the excitement took place in the 1st half when we could hear everyone cheering. Never mind...I did notice that when it's the 3rd game of the World Cup of soccer, and you're knitting in a sports bar - NO ONE CARES.

The next day I went to City Park at the corner by Bagot St. We lived about a block from this park when we first moved to Kingston about 25 years ago. How lovely to dig up the memories of the swings on a summer's night, with my much younger oldest daughter. I sat in the "Walk at City Park", a memorial garden sponsored by Hospice Kingston, offering a lovely treed shelter and fountain, surrounded by bricks, benches and other features dedicated to loved ones who have passed on.

The bench across from me said: "For the enjoyment of all, from the dog friends of Grace Howard." How sweet of dear Grace's canine friends. At my feet was a brick that mentioned that Robert (Bob) Snider had passed away on Sept. 12th, 2001. Not only is this the day after such a memorable date in North American history, it was also the day that Ernie Coombs, alias Mr Dressup, died.

Day 3 had me knitting at Loblaws after picking up some groceries where, continuing with the dog theme, I found this fellow to pose with my sock.

Day 4 I went to Progress Fitness (and I blush as it was the first time in about 3 months that I'd made it to the gym. )

Day 5 which was Thursday I like to go to the library for an hour or so before going back to the store to teach on Thurs. evening and Sockie came with me.

The next day I had to have the oil changed in my car and I sat in the waiting room at Edwards Ford.

On the last day, Saturday the 19th, I wanted to do something in solidarity with the knitters who were gathering in Cambridge Ontario to make an attempt to beat the Guinness World Record for the greatest number of knitters gathered together plying their craft. So off I went to Chapters and propped the sock up on an abbreviated edition of the record book that didn't seem to have much information at all about knitting except that the fastest knitter was from the Netherlands and the longest needles were BIG (I forget the exact dimensions).

So what did I learn from this experiment?

I observed that the only place that anyone even gave me a second glance was in the park, and there I actually had 2 people who stopped to talk to me, both of who had fond memories of mothers knitting in their past.

I've tried to come up with some reason why this was the only place where my knitting would attract any attention, and I believe that it has a lot more to do with the frame of mind of the people passing by than anything else. Most of these other venues had people who were there for their own specific purpose, and that it would take an awfully strange activity indeed to keep them from completing their task in the most efficient manner possible.

I must note that the park was also the only place where I actually noticed that people were less prone to scowl. Even at the library, the determination on the faces of the patrons surprised me as they focused on the search at hand. To me, it says a lot about the value of our green spaces and how we should maybe take the time to enjoy them a bit more.

Why I could never knit a true Alice Starmore design

As I was approaching the end of my Knit In Public week, someone at the store asked how my socks were doing and I said that all was on track - IN FACT, I was finishing a second pair of socks that weren't due until September. Hurray! 2 out of 3 WIPs (works in progress) nearly done!

I reflected later on that I was quite proud of this September pair of socks as they were the first project in many years that I had followed the directions to the letter. I did precisely their toe beginning (3 times on the 1st sock), I slavishly measured my gauge and did the precise calculations. I followed the techniques to the letter. I NEVER follow anything to the letter, but it seemed like an interesting experience and a challenge worth pursuing during my month of learning while I was away in May.

Boasting is not a good thing to do. It calls the gods down to laugh at you.

On Saturday evening, I finished the "afterthought" heel exactly as they described and voila: a sock that doesn't fit! I couldn't believe it. My daughter who will receive these socks has about the same size feet as I do and we both have tried them on along the way, to the extent that one can try on a tube before it's "afterthought heel" is put in. All seemed well, until you take in to account the fact that the human foot has an instep.

The way that you can tell that the sock doesn't fit without seeing the sweat on my face from wrestling it over my heel is the fact that the "bull's eye" effect of the heel has its centre under the heel, and by the tiny hole that I was going to secure when weaving my final ends in, which has blossomed from the strain over my foot into the size of a giant blueberry through which skin could be seen from across the street.

So much for my effort at following someone else's directions. I have since separated the leg from the foot at the "afterthought" line and will proceed to knit the feet with a regular heel and finishing with a perfectly lovely and acceptable Kitchener toe.

I don't follow direction well in most endeavours. It's not that I don't get what I'm being told. It's more often that I think that I know a better way of doing things. Or in the case of a recipe, I may not have the time, tools and/or specific ingredients to do it exactly as the chef prescribes. I can usually wing it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I do however appreciate that there are times when it is wise to just follow the leader. This lesson was learned by me in a most wonderfully humbling way with the rug that I hooked using my nephew's painting at right. He was 8 years old when he painted this, and his mom sent a beautiful copy to my parents. I was so taken by the flow and colours and the simplicity of the design, I wanted to do it in another medium.

As I got going with the rug hooking I believed that I would adapt it, to add some more warmth to the textures that the wool would bring to the piece...remove the black outlines around the bottom sections, change some of the colouring of the rocks to add more depth. Once again HA! The artistic gods and no doubt, my nephew, Andrew's innate sense of what works, put me in my place and I ended up changing back every modification that I'd made and the rug is a pretty faithful reproduction of the original - cause everything I tried wasn't as good as what a very talented 8 year old had already done before. I love it.

So the reason that I could never do an Alice Starmore design, such as the Mary Tudor shown below, and that I'm reading about in Adrienne Martini's book Sweater Quest, is that people who put the time and effort into taking on such a project actually want to make it exactly as it was designed, remaining as true and faithful to the colours and styling as is humanly possible.

When I knit, I usually have discarded a half dozen details in any given pattern by the time I get the cast on row finished.

It's not that I think I know better...well, maybe it is. What I mean is that it's more that I know myself and know what I'll put up with, or what I have the time to accomplish, or the money to purchase, or the inclination to complete. I know better what is possible for ME. And the unbelievable dedication to the cause required for such a mammoth project is beyond my scope or discipline.

This picture of the Mary Tudor sweater was taken in January of 2009 by it's owner, Irene who had begun it in 2004. Irene's blog is not a usual knitting blog in fact Irene and Man Yung's Tango Blog isn't usually about knitting at all. But who would know that behind all that Latin passion involved in their tango lives, Irene is an incredibly accomplished knitter who has more dedication than many of us can lay claim to. Check out this post as the pictures of the inside of the sweater are amazing.

Hats off to all of the consumed knitters how decide to pay homage to such talented knitting designers that elevate our treasured hand craft to an art form.

I'm a few days into my week of knitting for 1/2 hour in public each day and it's been an interesting experience. On day one, last Saturday, I spent my allotted time at Jakk Tuesday's, the sports pub next to the store (how convenient) where I knitted my way through the 2nd half of the US vs UK game. I'm actually a bit surprised at not hearing more of our customers coming in to pick up a specific soccer watching project. I'm sure that during the last World Cup there were more dedicated purchases, but actually most of the conversations with our customers are around the Inventory Sale so perhaps they are using their sale yarns, or maybe they aren't watching the games? I am.

While trolling the internet this week I came across these guys. Aren't they wonderful?
The pattern comes from a site called the Evesham Dallimores
named for the Dallimore brothers who live in Evesham, England; I have yet to figure out why they have a website but they do have a friend and "knitting expert", Marion Kinchin, who has written a simple pattern to knit the monkey (who is actually based on the star of a PG Tips tea advertising campaign in the UK). The pattern is designed to be made by children with some adult help. You can find it by linking here.

More about the other days of knitting in public later.

By the way, I love what an equalizer the internet is: after posting about Sweater Quest, the book that I'm reading, I received a nice little email message/comment from Adrienne Martini, the author of said book. Very cool. (Funny that I didn't hear from Stephen King when I wrote about reading his book: On Writing - one of my favourites and the only book of his that I've had the courage to finish.)