The Sock Yarn Trap

I have finally figured it out. All these years, it never occurred to me to wonder about the placement of the sock yarn shelves in relation to the door from the classroom at Kiwi into the rest of the shop. Never crossed my mind. And yet every time I teach at Kiwi, be it a project class or Knit Dr., I walk right past the sock yarn shelves. Only I don't walk right past them, if you follow my meaning.

Now, Lynn knows of my deep and abiding weakness for sock yarn. Do I require additional sock yarn? No. Does that stop me? HECK no! Yesterday, as I finished playing Knit Dr and walked up to the front of the shop I saw these...



These babies have to be petted to be believed. Called Socrates and made by Alpaca With A Twist, this yarn has a blend of 30% baby alpaca, 30% merino, 20% bamboo, 20% nylon and measures out to 400 yds per ball. All of the colors have a very subtle heathered look, and I can see myself making socks for me out of any of the colors, and for my husband out of that beautiful blue and the grey. Because this is a hand-wash yarn, you might use it for beautiful lace pieces, as well. This could become an amazing lace scarf. Of course the alpaca and merino contribute towards making this yarn very plush and soft with the merino also adding elasticity, bamboo gives a very pretty sheen, and the nylon makes it extra durable. One ball would be enough for most pairs of socks, or a lovely scarf.

No sooner had I finished oohing and aahing (and frankly, drooling) over those, than I saw these!



New colors from Regia in the Kaffe Fassett line! By the way, that is pronounced kafe, like cake with an 'f', as I am reliably told by an old friend of his sister. The fiber content is 75% superwash wool and 25% polyamide. I'm not a fan of handwashing socks, and usually will machine wash on gentle even my handwashable yarns, and lay them flat to dry. But when you have the ease and convenience of superwash, life becomes even easier. The yardage is approximately 229 yds per ball, and two balls will make most pairs of socks.

And that is when the penny dropped, as they say. Lynn puts those right next to the door because she knows I walk past the sock yarn shelves and give everything therein a thorough going-over every time I'm in the shop. Sometimes I buy, sometimes I don't, but I always look at the sock yarns. Very clever! Like a sock-knitter version of fly-paper.

Also, have you heard about the Sock Summit? This coming Aug 6-9 in Portland, OR, with classes, vendors and just plain wonderful sock overload. Our own Heather Ordover is one of the teachers! Sounds like a heck of a lot of fun. Details are still being worked out as far as fees and hotel info, you can sign up for email notifications on the Sock Summit website or just keep checking back at the website. There is also a Ravelry group all about it.

Finally, because of my classwork load, I am now playing Knit Dr on alternate Fridays. I was there yesterday, Feb 20th, and will be back in two weeks. When I'm not there, Marianne plays Knit Dr. I think it's a great opportunity for you to get more exposure to various ways to skin the proverbial knitted cat. Remember, Knit Dr happens every Friday from 10 - 12, and is a free service.

New Kits at Kiwi

I am a big fan of knitting kits. There is something pretty wonderful about having a little package that contains everything one needs to make a jewel of a project, except the needles. Pattern, yarn, accessories, it's all there. And right now at Kiwi you have some wonderful choices.

First up are a trio of wonderful little kits from own our Jill Holbrook and Brookmoore Creations. You can choose between the 'Arizona Barrel Cactus', which makes a whimsical barrel cactus complete with flower; the 'Lizard Tales Lace', a very pretty lace bookmark; and the 'Arizona Treasure Bag', a beautiful little beaded lace drawstring bag. The yarn included is a natural cotton handspun by Jill, and all that is required for any of the kits besides what is included is a pair of size US2 knitting needles. The Arizona Treasure Bag even includes all the beads, with a choice of either multi-colored or turquoise beads.



And they come in a great plastic case that would be perfect for a knitters tool case after the project is finished. If you are looking for a gift that says 'Tucson' to the giftee, these would be a delightful choice.



Also available at Kiwi Knitting is a new kit for the Cat Bordhi 'Blissful Baby Booties'. These cute little booties are miraculous in that when you are finished with the project, you're finished. There is nothing to be done once you set down your needles - all the construction and even the drawstring is completely finished on the needles. And there is a variety of sizes available in the kit.

There will be a class on this project at Kiwi in the afternoon of this coming Friday, the 13th. And Lynn is planning an Easter version of the kits, so keep your eyes open for seasonal variations on the theme.



Happy Spring Knitting, everyone, as we wait for our promised winter storms to come through!

An Ode to Self Indulgence

Anyone who has been within whine range of me has heard me exclaim - once or twice maybe, or perhaps even as much as three or four times - that I have been knitting Christmas gifts ever since the beginning of last July. That's seven months now. Seven. Very. Long. Months. It started to get on my nerves back in September or so. But now I finch and utter a little mewl of terror whenever I clap eyes on my very last, unfinished, Christmas gift project.

Don't mistake me. I love every single thing I've knitted. I've loved the yarn I've worked with. I love the people I'm knitting for. I love seeing them appreciate the beauty and the utility of what I have made for them. But dang, I'm ready to be selfish again. I've got some grandiose knitting schemes cooking in the back of my brain, just dying to be let out into the light of day and onto my needles.

Luckily, I always need to have a small project to carry with me for those times when I had better have knitting on hand to keep myself sane (would have helped a LOT this morning when I showed up for my class an hour early). And so sometime back at the beginning of September or so when I ran out of gift socks to knit, I cast on for a pair of Mermaid Mitts for myself.

I only had rare flashes of opportunity to knit them - a bit in the doctor's waiting room here, a row or two while waiting in line at the PO. It took until somewhere in December, I think, when I decided one day in a fit of pique to just get it the heck over with that I finally finished the danged first mitt. And now I am within spitting distance of finishing the second.

Mermaid mitts have hit the Ravelry world like a debilitating winter snowstorm - everyone is affected, whether you think it is pretty or not. If you are familiar with the Pomatomus sock pattern from Knitty.com and designed by sock designing goddess Cookie A, you will recognize the origin of the Mermaids instantly.

And if you think about it, a fingerless mitt is just a sock without heel or toe. Oh, and throw in a thumb.

I'm making mine with some gorgeously dyed and lusciously squishy Lorna's Laces sock yarn in a colorway called Baltic Sea. This is my first time working with this yarn and I have to tell you how very much I like it. The firm twist in the yarn gives great definition to textured stitches and yet it has a wonderfully soft hand that I just know, from trying on the first mitt over and over again to admire it, is going to feel really good on my hands in just a few short days.

So if, like myself, you haven't done anything extravagant and selfish for yourself lately, I encourage you to indulge in a yarn you perhaps would not ordinarily buy yourself - perhaps a beautiful cashmere or an alpaca yarn that speaks to you every time you see it in the shop, and make yourself a lovely little something to chase the winter blues on their way.

Old Pueblo Knitting Guild

I know that I have mentioned the wonders of our local knitting guild here on the Kiwi Knits blog in the past. But I see so many knitters at Kiwi that I do not see at the knitting guild meetings, that I think it bears a revisit.

I find that everyone's knitting guild experience depends on what one wants to take away from it. There are many in the guild who participate strongly in the many charity projects that our guild supports - Project Linus, preemie hats and blankets, Operation Gratitude, the Navajo Project - just to name a few. All very worthy causes, and I think it is wonderful that the guild is so heavily involved in giving back to our local and not-so-local community.

But I confess that I enjoy the guild meetings most for the educational opportunities that they offer. They can range from something so informal as one of your table mates giving you a quick demonstration of how to do a new cast-on, to sharing pattern ideas with other members and having the opportunity to pet unfamiliar yarns. I find that I always come away from a guild meeting filled with new ideas and inspiration for new projects. There is also a wide range of technique videos available to borrow for viewing at home.

The very best educational opportunity always comes from the speaker we have each month during the presentation portion of the meeting. Did you know that Amy Singer, creator and editor of Knitty.com and author of No Sheep For You will be speaking at our next guild meeting on February 19th? Our new Workshop co-chairs - Pat Wood, former owner of the Fiber Factory, and our own Jill Holbrook - have been organizing some wonderful workshops for this '08/09 season, along with our Vice-President, Judith Segel, who is responsible for bringing in a range of interesting presenters to talk with us each month. Now think about this - in the last few months alone, for the price of your $20 yearly guild membership, you get to hear people such as Amy Singer and Galina Khmelova speak to the guild about their journey as knitters, teachers and designers, as well hearing them share some wonderful info relating to their particular specialty.

At the January meeting of the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild our presenter was Clare Campbell Park, demonstrating the power of color and how the use of color theory can relate to our creative process as knitters. Clare is a teacher in the Fine Arts department at Pima College, and she gave a wonderful demonstration. We all got to play with packs of color cards and see for ourselves how simply arranging the same cards in various way gave a completely different effect each time. I can tell you that the differences were very dramatic, and we all had a lot of fun playing with colors, and going around the room to see what color combinations others had come up with.

In fact, Clare was so inspiring that I and another guild member are now taking her Color and Composition class at Pima, and I'm taking her Mixed Media in Fiber class as well. I am having a blast! I always joke that kindergarten was my favorite part of school, because we got to make projects all day long if we wanted to. But to be honest with you, I'm not sure how much I am actually joking. To give myself the opportunity to nourish my creative side and allow it room to grow is so incredibly rewarding. I can already appreciate how these two classes are going to influence me as a knitter, as a teacher, and as a designer.

I'm a firm believer that to be a good teacher one must first be a diligent student. The moment that I begin to believe that I have nothing left to learn is the moment that I have nothing left to teach. So I eagerly look forward to seeing how this opportunity for me is going to trickle down into my teaching experiences with all of you. As a result of that one presentation at our OPK guild meeting, my life has taken a completely different, unexpected and delightful turn. How's that for the cost of guild membership?

Now mark down on your calendars - our guild meets on the third Thursday of every month, from 9:30 am to 11:30, in the Murphy Room at St Philip's Church at River and Campbell. Visitors are not just more than welcome, they are set upon by eager knitters! Come and sit with us, see if you would like to join us, and open yourself up to new opportunities to expand your life as a knitter.

The Addi Clicks Are Here!

Addi Turbos are the preferred knitting needles of many a knitter's dreams. They are smooth, the join between cord and needle is seamless, the cords are very flexible - they are wonderful to knit with. The company that makes Addi needles, Skacel, are well known for their attention to detail, the quality of their product, and the fact that they stand behind everything that they make. However, Addi Turbos, as you know if you have ever bought them, are not the least expensive circular needles that are out there in the knitting marketplace. For a knitter to stock up on a range of Addi Turbos in various sizes and cord lengths would cost a small fortune. Believe me, they would be well worth it, but wouldn't it be nice to have another way to make that work?

Well, Addi now produces the interchangeable needle version of Addi Turbos, called Addi Clicks. Here, in one neat set, Addi provides you with 10 sizes of needle tips, from size 4 to size 15. With them comes three different cords in 24", 32" and 40" lengths. There is also a connector that allows you to join two of the cords together to get an even longer circular needle length if you wish. This adds up to over 30 different needle sizes and length combinations - without even going into all the combinations of lengths one could get using the connector to lengthen the cords. Multiply that by the last pair of Addi Turbos you bought for a new project, and you can begin to get a sense of what an enormous savings one of these wonderful kits would be.



One of the biggest bugs for many knitters about various interchangeable needle sets is the way that the needles are joined to the cords. They are notorious for coming apart at crucial knitting moments. Not so with these needles. The two sections join together with a push and a turn and a click - and they are locked together and ready for business. Think of the way that you change the paddle on your Kitchen-Aide mixer. Same idea. The kit comes with a very detailed booklet explaining how it all works, but trust me, it is as easy as pie.



If you are a new knitter just starting to collect your needles as you go from project to project, this kit will save you a fortune over your knitting lifetime. If you are a more seasoned knitter, this is a wonderful gift to yourself - truly a gift that keeps on giving. As with everything that Skacel introduces in the Addi line, they are much in demand and that makes them scarce until the production can catch up with the demand. And I believe that the more knitters that see them, the more knitters that will want a set for their very own.