HRYC

Going through all our sales for the year is an interesting task. I'm plotting and planning for next year's purchases and it's curious to see, time and again, the most popular colourway in every one of the ranges we hold.

It's grey. 

We have a shop filled with colour and yet we sell more grey than anything else. Surprise! I suppose if all the colours were added together it would far, far outweigh the amount of grey we sell.  If I had my way the top seller would be yellow. I'm curious - do you have a favourite colour to knit with? Do you naturally tend towards grey because it's easy to wear? 

 I love short rows. Crazy about them. I adore how they add 3-dimensionality to something that would otherwise remain flat. 

What i'm not such a great fan of though, is how they can look if you don't work the wraps in well enough to keep them hidden. 

As I was knitting the first of several Aviatrix hats in anticipation of Justine of Just Jussi's visit, I started thinking. Surely there are some good resources around that give you some options for better short rows. 

And of course, the ever amazing Alice of Socktopus comes to the rescue. I could have spent hours working my own way through lots of instructions, taking lots of photos, and she's done it all already. Alice's shadow wraps technique is my favourite - as long as I remember to use it. 

(image from Alice)

See the picked up wraps? No? That's because this is such a super awesome technique. I'm a pretty big fan of not having to pick up the wrapped stitch on the way back, which I find annoying and slows things down. I suspect it'll be one of those things like Kitchener Stitch - for the first twenty or so times you work it, you need to look up the instructions. An entire Aviatrix using shadow wraps will have you a Grand Master at the technique, i'm sure!

Seeing as this Aviatrix hat knit up super fast...I think I may need to cast on another and see if I can finish two in one night.

Happy knitting, and wrapping and turning!

 On my usual little meander through the top Ravelry patterns, I came across this beauty:

Holy wow. I'm in love. Well and truly.

It's the Teasdale shawl by Corrina Ferguson. Would like to cast on Right. Now. 

And here's another that would be perfect to throw on of a late summer evening (or make a wonderful Christmas gift)

Shibui Linane by Anna Kuduja

And lastly for now:

Lonely Tree Shawl by Sylvia Bo Bilvia (isn't it great to see a smile? And that hair! LOVE!)

Happy knitting!

 A picture says a thousand words...or draws a thousand gasps of delight? 

I'm going to leave these ones to speak for themselves - new Fyberspates colours have just been launched and we lept super fast to get them on the shelves as soon as we possibly could. They are seriously worth lusting after.

Fyberspates Lace (l-r) Primrose (new!), Gold, Treacle Toffee

Fyberspates Lace (l-r) Eau de Nil (new!), Slate, Wine Gum

Fyberspates Sport (l-r) Magenta (new!), Flying Saucer, Jen's Green (new!), Charcoal (new!)

Seeing as we're heading into the season of doing nice things for other people, Fyberspates is the perfect gift yarn. The lace skeins have a whopping 1000m and the sport 365m - so you just need one to make something really special. And Fyberspates is pretty gosh darn irresistible. I'd like one of each, thanks very much!

 There is something about stocking stitch.

Complain as we may when I project has what feels to be miles and miles of the stuff, it is oddly soothly and reassuring. 

Row after row of knit or purl (or in the round, just knit), it's the perfect stitch for tv watching, or talking with friends, or daydreaming. mostly because it's pretty hard to mess up. 

While knitting away at the sunshine yellow cardigan I got to thinking how easy it is to get obsessive over a project that is mostly stocking stitch. 'One more row' easily turns into ten, and there's something soothingly rhythmic about the whole thing. A long row of knit, a long row of purl, turn, repeat, over and over. 

The Sunshine Celestite Cardigan in progress

I know there's a bit of history behind stocking stitch (the English is Stockinette, but stocking is so much simpler to say), so I decided to hunt out some tidbits of info.

Each column of stitches on the right side of the fabric is a 'wale' - which I love. Except I keep thinking of actual whales. Also, the bumps on corduroy fabric are also called 'wales' (hooray for old fabric store know how!).

Knit and Purl stitches are asymmetrical (I didn't know that!) which is why stocking stitch fabric curls at the sides and ends.

The path that your yarn takes is called a 'course' and each loop is called a 'bight'

Knitted garments can stretch as much as 500%! Holy moly!

When we knit by hand we are 'warp knitting' as we are creating wales that run perpendicular to the course of the yarn (hooray for putting terminology together!)

Feel smarter about your knitting? I do. Feel smug because I should have known all this stuff already and you totally do? Yeah, that's cool.

Happy knitting!