Help fibre space get votes for “Best New Retail Shop” in the Washington City Paper’s Best of DC 2010 Reader’s Poll!

We are open today, 11-5. Old Town is slowly digging out from all the snow, but we got a head start on all our shoveling yesterday! Come and see us – we’re still trying to finish up all that holiday knitting – but be safe getting here.

Edited to add: Fayette Street has not been plowed but King Street is clear. It apppears they’re allowing parking on King Street today.

I did finish this Malabrigo Sock scarf last week. It is a modified version of the Juno Regina. I worked only one repeat of the increase so that I could get one out of a single hank of sock yarn. I ended up with lots of leftovers. We did get lots of Malabrigo in today but no more sock. There appears to a run on Malabrigo sock these days.

Someone talked me out of making the vest for my dad by TODAY so now I am going to make it for the holidays. I don’t remember who talked that sense into me, but thank you, whoever it was. Since he will be here in a week or so for Thanksgiving, I am going to make him something else out of Shokay Yak yarn…yum, yak. It will be the first time he has seen my shop, and I am super excited and nervous. My dad is sorta a grumpy guy, and he personally helped out a great deal with the opening of the store, so I hope he is impressed and proud. It will probably be expressed in some sort of grumpy dad way, but I will know.  Those of you who have been in the shop when we have been on the phone have overheard our very Italian way of communicating. It involves a lot of sarcasm, some yelling and plenty of hand gesturing. When I broke my arm while in grad school, I called him from the hospital to tell him that i was having emergency surgery to put my arm back together and he said, “So wait, you are telling me that you did this to yourself by flying down a ski slope on a snowboard? And you want me to feel sorry for you?” So yeah, not imagining a warm response to the yarn shop But he is an entrepreneur himself and I know that he is proud, even if he thinks it was a huge waste of college tuition. (Does anyone really use their college degree?)

Vacation fibre school has been going on all week. Here is the amazing yarn that the girls made on Monday. They dyed it themselves! Didn’t they do an awesome job…so exciting to see a new generation of knitters starting up.

Then we got a small package from Funky Beads, who makes glass stitch markers by hand. How adorable are these things?! We have sheep, giraffes, turtles, and so much more. They make adorable zipper pulls for children’s sweaters or just cute stitch markers.

THEN the mailman brought me a box of Miss Babs!! She agreed to pull out some multi sock yarn before she headed to Sock Summit so we now have 14 new multi colors as well as new colors in lace and some merino bamboo roving. How cool is that? I wish I was a spinner…might have to pick up a new hobby. But the most exciting part about this box was that it included the colorway “black & gold.” Well, because they are Steeler colors! and just in time for the new season of football.

So, needless to say, I haven’t knitted yet today or even eaten. Have to get this new stuff out asap!

So…Molly of Molly Miller by Appointment just dropped of TWELVE hanks of her hand spun art yarns! Twelve…and only twelve. So if you want some…come and get it fast!! We are getting it into our inventory system right now.

For those who don’t know, this is the local artist who hosted our “Fall in Love with Fiber” retreat this winter. One hank of her amazing fibers can make a quick and beautiful scarf, wrist warmers or a cowl. Here is a scarf knitted up in her fab yarn:

Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille arrived today! This is 100% cotton chenille and is fab for wash and face cloths. With one ball, you can whip up a face cloth or two, pair it with a nice bar of soap from our neighbor Bellacara and have a cute and fast gift! Free pattern available here.

This stuff is also great for baby things, and we got an entire range of baby colors to add to our “babyland” section of the shop.

If you haven’t heard, the new Blue Sky Alpaca’s line, Spud and Chloe, was all the rage at the latest trade show. We are very excited to be one of the first stores to carry it and to also have their trunk show! The yarn is arriving on Wednesday and will be available at the grand opening of fibre space on July 24th!

We will also have their amazing pattern line:

This one is by our friend Olga:

Kathy M. won her choice of a free class in the winter session, for taking a few seconds to fill out the Winter Semester survey.

Thank you to everyone who participated. I am using this very valuable information to better plan the winter semester. If you expressed interest in Dupont Circle area classes and have ideas for a good location, please let me know. I am struggling for a good spot!

I am tired

I barely got to the “other job” this morning…well, its almost afternoon so I guess I was really really late. I will pull it together before this evening, I promise.

Tonight: Cheesetique. I am too tired to get you a URL. It’s on Mt. Vernon Avenue in Del Ray. Google it! There is ample parking in Del Ray. Main street, side streets, the enormous parking lot behind the restaurant…any of these will work. OR you can ride a bicycle, scooter, monkey and have a front location parking spot. OR you could take the blue or yellow line to Braddock road and take one of several buses that goes down Mt. Vernon avenue. OR if you are Amanda, you can walk from your house. (she is spoiled)

Time: 6pm onward. If you want a seat, get there early. What do folks think about sitting outside tonight?

What: Third Thursday. Knitalong with Knit-a-Gogo. Bring your stuff unfinished objects that need to be seamed. We will do some seaming.

ok, so that wasn’t so short.

Have you felted yet? Sure you have…you just didn’t realize that it was an actual knitting technique. Felting was when you put that expensive sweater in the washing machine with hot water and it came out very very tiny. The process is used by knitters to shrink knitted fabric down and make it tighter. It works wonderfully for hats, shoes or clogs, place mats or coasters and purses. When you knit a purse, pens and other small items may slip through the knitted fabric. Often knitters have to line the purse to make it more secure and usable. But a felted purse will stop these little objects from falling through because the knitted fabric has been shrunk down and made solid.

When I first moved to DC I went through a felting craze. (shocked, aren’t you) I loved felting and ordered no less than ten felted purse patterns from an online store and proceeded to knit what looked to be giant purses and then shrunk them down in the washer. I think I am over this now, but every once in awhile a felting pattern will catch my eye.

This entrelac felted purse is one of those patterns for me. I love entrelac, as we know, so this is one pattern that has taken the technique and worked it into an adorable purse. I also love that the handles are real purse handles. (I don’t know why this little touch makes me happy, but it does). It can also be knit in a more evening bag size.

Olga selected this project for a class this fall, October 18th and 25th from 10 am to noon at Knit Happens. Since the other entrelac class this fall is filled, this is a great alternative way to learn the entrelac technique and to throw in some felting while you’re at it.

How adorable is Connie’s little one, Peyton? He is showing off his Rowan Wool Cotton blanket that myself and several Knit-a-Gogo students made for him.

I have realized that I become obsessed / fixated. I am standing in a yarn shop for two straight days and I can’t stop buying things. Since Amanda openly berated me on the blog yesterday for considering yesterday’s purchase, I put the yarn back and came up with a different plan. Today’s plan is shown left. I switched to a different mitten pattern. One that is more “me” and chose a yarn that I absolutely love: Neighborhood Fiber Co‘s Studio Worsted merino. This base yarn is probably (in my opinion) one of the best machine washable merino’s out there. (The company owner teaches for me so I probably already have this stuff in my stash but using stash yarn doesn’t satisfy my need to purchase). Amanda, I am winding this yarn as soon as I post this message and then it can’t be returned, so take that!

I also realized today that my obsessions extend beyond knitting. Lets examine another obsession for a moment: coffee shops. About a year ago I was obsessed with St. Elmo’s. I taught most of my classes there and would stop on the way to work for a decaf whole milk latte and a scone. They have amazing scones. I continue to go to St. Elmo’s but have been sidetracked. For a couple of months I was obsessed with the organic Belgium place that opened in Old Town. I was in there so much that I knew all of the staff and which ones could actually make a decaf whole milk iced latte and which ones would screw it up. It is all organic so that made me super happy. (organic milk, cheese, meat, produce happens to be another obsession)

Now I am obsessed with Buzz. I love Buzz. Buzz serves alcohol, coffee and desserts. The only three food groups, as one customer put it today. Buzz serves Illy coffee. I love Illy coffee. You could say that I am obsessed with Illy coffee. After the Belgium place grew old, I went to the Illy shop in DC every morning during work (when I had a full time job) and now it is still only a block from my consulting gig, so I visit almost every day. So I guess I have two coffee shop obsessions right now. And the yarn obsession. They kinda go together though, don’t ya think?

So, for those of you meeting up on the third Thursday of September at Cheesetique…(for the Knit-a-Gogo Knitalong) you will be able to seam the left and right, back and arms of the sweater before starting your hood. Be sure to have them blocked and ready to go. Once we seam the shoulders, we can set in the sleeves and then seam up the sides.

I have half of the sweater seamed up (I needed a break from web stuff yesterday) and I started in on the hood, hoping that I would have enough yarn. With one entire ball left (to work the ribbed button hole edging), I have completed the hood. (What a relief! I didn’t really want to have to beat up Stephanie and steal another ball of yarn)

The directions say to bind off the hood stitches and seam up or to use the three needle bind off to seam it up. I decided that I hate seams on hoods and that I would graft the two sides together. (I think this was in part because I ate an apple fritter from Starbucks, an iced latte, and then a key lime cheesecake in the last five hours)

Then I realized that if I were knitting another row, it would be the cable row for the cable that runs up the front edges of the hood. So THEN I decided that I would work the cable while grafting it. WHAT?! Who let me use knitting needles today? Get me away from the yarn. So here I am grafting my hood. I hate grafting. We know this.

And…

It worked.

It totally friggin worked. Course, the cables don’t come together the way they should but that is because the pattern has each side twisting a different way, but oh well, it is still waaay cuter than having a seam!

Do NOT ask me to do this again in September. I will refuse

I must confess that last night I cheated on the knitting world. My first passion and love and I cheated. I had this other life ya know, and it called to me and I couldn’t resist… Most of you don’t know about my other love. I have another addiction almost as bad as the fiber one. But only because it is so much more expensive. I have a scooter problem. Yes, a scooter problem. I have owned several, including a vintage Vespa smallframe named Mario (seen here in orange). I went to “scooter rallies” on the weekends and rode with folks from across the country. I did all kinds of crazy things in the name of scooter love. But then Mario went to live with a friend, and I was without a scooter for a little while. I had only time for one love…and that was knitting. Then I bought this black one (who needs a name, by the way)…and I love it too. I commute on it almost every day and it gets over 75 mpg!

Last night, my scooter family invited me to go on a ride with them to Rock Creek Park and despite the fact that it was late night at Knit Happens, I couldn’t resist the temptation and I went.

I am so sorry to have cheated on you, my dear dear knitting. I swear I do still love you more.

Well hello blog world. How have you been? I am back from a week long vacation in Montana. I learned that:
1. knitting needles are useful on airplanes when you need to defend yourself from 6 year olds who have never been disciplined.
2. Montana serves coffee from tiny shacks on the side of the road labeled “Espresso”
3. Cherries grow everywhere in the Flathead Lake area of Montana
4. It is totally appropriate, and in fact wonderful, to play Europe’s “The Final Countdown” when being introduced the first time as husband and wife at your wedding reception (Sarah, you rock)
5. White duct tape is not the same as the traditional silver kind and will not, in fact, hold paper stars or wedding lights to ceilings in extreme heat
6. Traffic laws in Montana were written be someone who drives like I do…which is scary. Dear State of Montana: It is NOT appropriate to drive over 55 mph on a two lane road in Glacier Park when there is no guard rail to keep you from going over the cliff.
7. and finally…No matter how much time you have to knit on vacation, it will never seem like enough. The truth is, I find more time to knit during my busy workweek thank I do on vacation. Possibly because I just plain need it more when I am running around trying to get work done.

Ok, back to business. I see that we have quite a few Central Park Hoodie fans that are plugging along on swatches and the ribbing. I did get almost the entire back complete while in Montana this past week. Thank you to the lovely Kathleen for keeping things moving along. If you haven’t met her yet, please do plan to attend the first meet up next week at Knit Happens on Wednesday of next week (July 30) during late night. (there will be wine and munchies!) I plan to post some instructions this week on waist shaping and modifying the cables. Also to come: pictures and detailed instructions on fixing a cable many rows after you discover that it has been twisted the wrong way.

For now, an update on what’s going on with me and Knit-a-Gogo. This month I made the difficult and exciting decision to leave full time employment in the non profit world. I will be working “on the side” for various non profit organizations as a fundraising consultant. My first gig is with a former employer a few hours each week doing some database set up and management that they desperately need. Knit-a-Gogo will become my primary focus. The company will be providing all registration and scheduling for both my personal classes as well as all classes taught at Knit Happens. In mid August, you will notice a new and improved class registration system that will include more detailed information on the teacher, the supply list, the class and project as well as any prep work that is needed before the start of class. In the coming weeks, I will introduce you all to the wonderful instructors that I know from Knit Happens, who will become part of the Knit-a-Gogo family. I will continue to teach classes, and perhaps even more with my new found time! I will be available more for private lessons and daytime private lessons as well.

In addition, I hope to take on a bigger role in Washington DC area classes, which have been lacking for some months. I hope to pick up another couple of locations in Dupont and the Georgetown areas. If you know of a great location for classes in DC, please let me know. It should have:
-good lighting
-be open to 6-8 knitters hanging around for 2 hours
-serve some sort of beverage and/or food
-be willing to hang flyers or put out my postcards

In other news, I will be hosting a monthly “Knit-a-Gogo Knitalong” at a local coffee shop (or perhaps chocolate shop). This will be something like a Stitch n Bitch or KnitnNosh on the same day of every month. Even if you aren’t participating in the current Knitalong project, I hope that you will stop by and take advantage of some free knitting help with yours truly as well as meet my other “followers” and enjoy some time with the amazing people that make up the Knit-a-Gogo knitting community. I am thinking Del Ray Alexandria as the location for this Knitalong, but only because that’s my home Please let me know what night of the week you think would work best for this. Mondays tend to be jammed with classes and Wednesday nights are late nights at Knit Happens. I even think that a Friday night would work well, but only if you all would come that night. Let me know!

And in closing…because this truly is a long post with no photos of fabulous knitted things…Thank you all for your support over the past two years (wow, it has been almost two years)! I am really lucky to have so many amazing students in my classes. I can’t think of anything in the world that I would rather be doing than teaching more wonderful women (and men!) to knit. Look forward to seeing many of you in the fall.

~Danielle