Debuting at Stitches West last weekend were our two latest patterns:
Counterspell is an all-over knitted lace shawl with beads throughout. Made with fingering weight yarn and #9 needle, this shawl can be made in a 48″, 62″ or 76″ width as well as a “sample” size that will fit an 18″ doll!
Matadora is a cute cropped sweater that is knit from the top down, perfect for your first sweater or just for something quick and fun. Made with worsted weight yarn and a #8 needle, sized to fit chest sizes 36″, 40″ and 44″.
Both patterns are available as pdf downloads or as printed patterns at our online store: www.KnittingFairy.com
Just as a reminder: We are Stitchin’ at the Studio tomorrow, March 7th from 1-4pm. Hope to see you there!
Just a reminder, Alissa is headed to Stitches West in California this weekend. There will be no Stitchin’ at the Studio this week but we will be back on Sunday March 7th. Hope to see you then!
Not only is it Valentine’s Day, it’s time to gather for another Stitchin’ at the Studio Sunday. We’ll crank up the coffee, pop up some popcorn and enjoy a nice afternoon together. Everyone is welcome to join us! We’ll be there from 1-4pm, I hope you will too.
Our shipment of Kraemer Yarns Sterling Silk and Silver in Princess Pink has arrived! This is the color used in the picture on our Shoulder Bling Shawl.
Knit it in White Veil and it would be perfect for a lovely Spring bride. Worked in Tuxedo it would be great with that little black dress.
You will need 2 skeins for the 60″ shawl and 3 for the 80″ version.
Here are the dates for upcoming February Stitchin’ at the Studio events.
Sunday, February 7th from 1-4pm
Sunday, February 14th from 1-4pm
Sunday February 21st from 1-4pm
**Please note, we will not be here on Sunday, February 28th as Alissa will be at Stitches West with Brooks Farm Yarn.
Every Stitchin’ date we will have the Keurig coffee machine fired up with coffee, cocoa and tea available. You are welcome to bring your own drinks and snacks as well. All types of needlework are welcome and Alissa will be available to answer your knitting and crochet questions. Of course, other types of questions are always open for discussion as well.
Monique asked if I prefer to knit entrelac in solid or variegated yarns. The easy answer is YES! I like to knit entrelac. Which yarn depends on what effect I want to achieve. With hand-dyed yarns, like the wonderful goodness from Brooks Farm Yarns, you can get a neat look with less effort. I like the way Sherry dyes yarns and her dye patterns lend themselves well to entrelac because she uses shorter dye paths so I get thin stripes across the squares in a fairly repeatable pattern.
A few great examples of this are Natalie’s Scarf, Natalie’s Hat and the Entrelac Baby Blanket. All are show here in Brooks Farm Yarns Solana.
What I don’t like to use in hand-dyed yarns when working entrelac are spotty yarns with splotches of color of inconsistent size. That just looks like splotchy knitting, which frankly will look splotchy if I knit it in straight stockinette just as much as if I put the extra work into entrelac. Why bother?
Machine dyed, multi-color yarns with LONG color runs can get you some interesting looks too. Take Noro Kureyon for example. This is a shawl I knit from Scarf Style
called the Lady Eleanor Shawl by Kathleen Power Johnson. The long color paths of Noro made my squares LOOK like they were knit from different skeins of yarn without having to go to the bother of changing skeins. Neat!
These socks are a pattern that I wrote for a class on Entrelac Socks, I knit them from a self striping sock yarn (you can see what it would do in normal stockinette in the foot) and the blocks worked up as mostly solid colors. I was fascinated by how knitting entrelac in the round changed where the squares fell and made each side of the socks look different.
So, with all these wonderful looks from multi-colored yarn, why would I ever want to knit with solid colors? Predictability, price and fabric care. The entrelac blanket I am currently knitting is machine washable, a big plus for first-time mommys and it comes in the color selection I wanted to use for this girl baby. Cost is also a big factor in this project, I have 4 baby gifts needed in fairly short order. Dropping $100 per on yarn is more than my budget allows. Knit from Perfection this blanket is half that price.
Thanks for asking, Monique. I hope that answered your question. If you have a question you want to ask, feel free to leave a comment. I will answer them either publicly or privately depending on my mood and the nature of the question. 
Alissa, KnittingFairy
I leave tomorrow for a little get away, hurray! This trip is long anticipated and greatly needed and I can hardly wait to get near the water. But, what to pack? No, I don’t mean clothes – that’s simple. It’s my knitting that has me perplexed! This is a chance to get away from it all and relax, which sounds simple unless you own your own business. Every moment is spent working and it is very difficult to leave that behind. I am trying but I fear that I MUST bring some work knitting if I am to make my deadlines. SO, here I sit in my studio, having a stern talking to with myself and balls of yarn. 
YOU, my Peacock Feather Shawl, you are most definitely in the bag. I want to finish you! This is where I want to spend most of my quality knitting time this week.
But, there are also Dad’s socks (no picture, but imagine miles of chocolate brown sock worked on size 1 dpns.) those have to be finish before his birthday in February. In the bag they go too.
I am also on a roll with my handspun Fidgit and it makes for good late night knitting – so I will stick that in too. It only takes a small amount of room since it’s one skein…
Now we come to the work parts… the parts I would like to leave behind but can’t because, well if I do I will be behind. There is the new shawl I have just finished designing for Brooks Farm Yarn, no pictures yet – I would hate to give away the surprise. But, if I want to have this done before Stitches West I have to get a move on. Three more skeins in the bag…
And there is the Entrelac Baby Blanket, moving along quite nicely – I would hate to lose momentum. 9 more skeins in the bag.
Do you see the folly? So far, in my bag for a one week vacation I have 15 skeins of yarn worth of knitting. Now, I am fairly fast and pretty good at knitting, so a skein a day is not totally out of the question but TWO? Good Lord, I hope I have more to do than sit and knit the whole time I am gone.
Hmmm, what books shall I take?
Since I am enjoying knitting on my Entrelac Blanket I thought I would take some time today to tell you about the yarn I am using, Perfection by Kraemer Yarns.
Perfection is a worsted weight yarn with 200 yds/3.5 ounce skein. It is 30% Domestic Merino and 70% Acrylic, machine washable and tumble dry. The merino part makes it much softer that other wool/acrylic blends on the market and it feels heavenly! It is currently available in 40 luscious colors with that color range expected to increase to 48 this quarter. We keep all colors in stock, so you can start your project as soon as you dream it up. If, by some odd chance we do not have enough of a color you need – I am more that happy to order plenty for you. Kraemer is fantastic about shipping so you will have minimal delays.
I think that certain things need to be machine washable. Baby stuff, afghans… that sort of stuff. This yarn is just as it is billed, Perfection! At $5.95/skein it is also affordable. Something I think we can all appreciate.
The best part? Kraemer yarns are spun right here in the USA in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. When I was growing up my Dad worked in the auto plants in Detroit. I have a deeply ingrained sense of “Buy American” and I was thrilled to find Kraemer yarns.
I am still totally in love with entrelac and with the Entrelac Baby Blanket I 
designed and knitted with hand-dyed yarn by Brooks Farm Yarn but now I want to knit it in a yarn that we are carrying.
I don’t have a particular baby in mind but I have several candidates.
I decided to think girlish thoughts and start with pink. The original blanket was knit in one color, I want to use three. Butterfly, Bloom and Fluff. Of course, you could use any number of colors – knit a whole rainbow if you like.
The pattern has 25 rows of triangles and squares, so my 3 should work out just fine. 8 repeats of my three colors and I will end the blanket with another row of Butterfly triangles. Perhaps I shall edge it with Butterfly as well. I’ll keep you posted on its progress.
