Perhaps Today is a Good Day to Dye October–December 2010 KAL/CAL

Please join us in another fun KAL/CAL!

What: a KAL/CAL, wherein you can knit or crochet any project you like, using the Hanks Yarn and Fiber line of yarns, Perhaps Today is a Good Day to Dye (available at our online store although you are certainly more than welcome to use anything in your stash). You can use any weight, any colorway, any project. Easy!

Where: Starbucks on the corner of NW 13th St/16th Ave generally from about 6-8 although we reserve the right to stay later if we’re having a great time or online via this thread and any blog posts (if you have a blog). Easy!

When: OK, this is the complicated part. Break out your calendars. Every Thursday barring holidays (I hear Thanksgiving is coming up in a few months? already? time flies!) and Third Thursday Spinners, as we are already committed to that. So we will be meeting on the following dates:
October 7, 14, 28
November 4, 11
December 2, 9, and the 30th if anyone is in town

Why: Besides the obvious of loving to crochet and knit, and loving our yarns, this time around we have prizes! People who finish before the end of December should send us a picture of the finished work. When everyone who has finished sends us a picture, we will have a drawing for prizes, of which there will be three. First prize is a skein of yarn in any colorway of ours that you want and a yarn mug in your choice of solid colors. Other prizes will be announced as time gets closer.

We hope that some of you will join us in person, and those of our friends who live far away will join us online.

Thanks, y’all!

Gathered Pullover Knit-along

(See this pattern on Ravelry!)
4/11, 4/25, 5/9, 5/23, 6/6, 6/20 (Sundays) | 2:00-5:00 | Free
Materials Not Included


WHO? Whomever would like to join! While we’d love it if you sign up at the shop so that we know roughly how many people to expect, anyone is welcome any time.

WHAT? A knit-along in which we all sit around at a designated time and place, knitting the same thing, inspiring and helping each other.

WHEN? 4/11, 4/25, 5/9, 5/23, 6/6, 6/20 (Sundays) | 2:00-5:00

WHERE? Hanks Yarn and Fiber, on the “office” side (where the glass table is).

WHY? Why not? Let’s try it, see how it goes!

Pioneeeeeeeeer!

The August and September Lorna's Laces Knit-along pattern is Pioneer; I'll be doing mine in the Woodlawn colorway -



However, I am having horrible gauge problems.

Here's an excerpt from something I wrote on Ravelry, as back-story:

But here’s the process that I used to get to my correct cast-on number (and bear with me, for I’m sort of writing out my thought process rather than jumping to the conclusion, because I am about the most math-phobic knitter on the face of the planet):

Swatching: I knit a swatch on both 4’s and 3’s - I did the 3’s first as I am a loose, loose knitter and usually knit Shepherd Sport on 3’s. However, I have circular 4’s that are the length I need for this project, so I swatched on those as well. I’m getting 6.5 on the 4, and 6.75 on the 3, so I’m going with the 4’s.

Begging for logic in math: I want to make about the 38” bust, but if i am getting 6.5 stitches per inch, and I want the bust to be approximately 38 inches, then at the bust I should have approximately 247 stitches; which only really looks close to the numbers of the 50” size. Ack! brain!melting! So then. Let me see what Sally says about ratios (I accidentally took three classes from Sally Melville last year - long story - and was possibly insufferable for weeks with my knitting friends, only saying “Well, Sally says…” to every knitting question). OK; according to my notes, if gauge in the pattern is “puppies” and my personal gauge is “kittens” (I refuse to say “X” and “Y”, I have just.that.much. math anxiety), then puppies into kittens equals martinis (one of which I really want after thinking this much about math before lunchtime). So I should multiply by martinis every time my pattern says puppies. LOLwhut?! Using real numbers instead: the gauge in Pioneer is 5; my personal gauge is 6.5; 5 into 6.5 is 1.3; so every time I see a number in Pioneer, I should times it by 1.3. Sadly I do not have the numbers for the 38” because I am a slacker and kept forgetting to email and ask for it, so I’ll pull from the numbers for the 41”, which I’m guessing I’m going to wind up using anyway. After all of the neckline increases are done, at approximately the bust level, for the 41” numbers I should have 206 (at 5 sts/inch). If I times 206 by 1.3 I get 267, which is only 20 stitches more than I’m guessing I would have. The difference of those 20 stitches is approximately 3 inches, which is the difference between 38 and 41 - and I really hope y’all are still with me.

Conclusion: In playing around with that ratio formula, all of the numbers I’ve played with seem to indicate that the given numbers for the gauge that I’m getting means that I need to make between the 38” and 41” size. However, I’m not making this for me - I’m making it for [deleted to not ruin the surprise], who is roughly the same size as I am. I would much rather have it come out just a tad too large than a tad too small, so I have decided to use the numbers for the 41” size to make Pioneer.

However, what I'm getting on size 4 needles is so loose that it... it looks like cheesecloth. You can practically read through it. So... I'll be switching to size 3's, and going up one size in my knitting in order to compensate.

And I'm sooo glad this is a two-month knit-along!

Air Raid

How have I not shown these off yet?



Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Sheridan
Needles: Size 1 DPNs
Pattern: Air Raid by Emily Miller (Ravelry link; pattern link)
Notes: Part of the Lorna's Laces Knit-a-long; this was the July pattern.

Lacy Summer Rainbows

Remember earlier in the month when I mentioned the Lorna's Laces Knit-along? I finished my socks--



If you missed out on June, for July the pattern will be Emily Miller's Air Raid Socks. Hmmm... what color of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock do I want to use for this one...?

As if I needed an excuse...

As if I ever needed an excuse to cast on another pair of socks, here are three more reasons...

1. Lorna's Laces is doing a Knit-Along (here is a post on their blog about this month's pattern; here is the Ravelry group).
2. The KAL is for a pair of socks.
3. The sock pattern takes ONE skein of Shepherd Sock.

The fact that I have like eleven other things on the needles is NOT A PROBLEM. Because these socks are cute. And socks. And they take one skein. Must... cast on... today...!

January is for Karen Knit-along

We've been talking about this over on Ravelry (if you're on The Rav and haven't found us, Hanks has a group here) and we'd like to do a Knit-along for January is for Karen.

We have copies of the pattern in the store, and while the page is under construction, for right now you can download a PDF of the pattern here.

We'd love for you to comment here, if you want to knit along with us! Tell us what yarn you plan to use, and if you plan on doing any mods!