Loving Knitty First Fall 2014

Knitty's First Fall issue came out yesterday and we've been lusting over the patterns featured in it. Here are our favorites, along with yarn suggestions you can find right here at Yarn Garage and StevenBe.

Indigo Cones, a gorgeous open and lacy cardigan is knit with Rowan Creative Linen, a worsted weight cotton/linen blend. Our Diva Audra knit herself a dress out of this yarn and absolutely loved it. This cardigan is the perfect garment for transitional seasons and gives you a great opportunity to use the perfect statement button on the front--and you know how we love our buttons around here.

The Katie Cowl features two of our favorite things right now: two color brioche (Nancy Wynn is teaching eight eager knitters how to do this technique right now!) and funky handspun. Beginner spinners, this one is for you--designer Maryse Roudier says that the more textured the yarn is, the better. Not a spinner? That's okay! We've got some great handspuns in the shop and available on our website here.

Double stranding to create a gradient?! That is SO up our alley. The Briar Mittens use three different colors, always holding two strands together for a fabulous gradient. We love the idea of using Rhichard Devrieze Fingering to add some hand-dyed depth to these basic mittens.

Jenise Reid, the designer of Double Take, was admiring the high-low skirts that are in style right now and considering the possibility of a high-low cardigan. We love her creative solution to the neck shaping and the sweep of hand dyed color across the back! She knit hers with Malabrigo Rastita but we're thinking about double stranded Malabrigo Finito for that extra bit of softness that comes with lambswool or Trendsetter Merino Sei for a more solid colored classic version.

VKL Chicago 2013!

Vogue Knitting Live Marketplace opens today and we're doing it up in true StevenBe style! To those of you lucky folks who are enjoying the weekend in Chicago, we've got a crazy assortment from Be Sweet, Skacel, Alchemy, Feza, and Malabrigo along with some fabulous exclusives from Madelinetosh, Three Irish Girls, Batts in the Belfry (thrummed mitten kits!), Handmaiden, Zen Yarn Garden, Wild Hare Fiber Studio, and MORE.

The StevenBe mini-shop is hardly "mini"!

 Make sure you check out Steven's Knit It In a Minute presentation and pick up a free copy of his Deep Rib Collar Cowl pattern--then head to the booth to check out the Icelandic Edition! You'd never believe Lopi could feel so soft or that you could have such a huge cowl in so little time.

Steven and his Divas: Brenda in her Cabled Ponchini, Mama Christa in her
Color Block Ponchello, and Sue in her sparkly Laurel!

We've got a group of Glitter Divas roving Chicago, recruiting for our new Glam Club on the brand new StevenBe website.

Mama Christa and Steven making travel friends!

 And, of course, Steven and his mother are collecting new friends, as they do wherever they go.

Vanessa Putt shops our booth and shows off her fantastic designs
in Malabrigo Book 5!

Say hi to Missy and Jeremy in the booth, too. They did an amazing job yesterday turning our booth into an experience you won't soon forget. Tag your StevenBe stash on Ravelry and comment here to let us know what classes you're taking and how much fun you're having!

If you're still in the Twin Cities, don't worry--there's still fun to be had! Yarn Garage is having a huge sale this weekend so head to Rosemount and check it out!

Winner!

Congratulations, Jennifer T.! You're the winner of two fabulous skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in Steven! It's squishy soft and I know you're looking for another project. Come on in and we'll check out Ravelry and see what you can make!

Handpainted Yarn Mania!

My name is Bridget and I am a handpainted yarn addict. When I see the colors that these dyers create, I get chills down my spine and I must have them now. I have probably used this same logic to enable you: if you see a color you love, you need to get it now because the next dye lot will probably be wildly different. Here are just a few of my favorite color magicians:

Malabrigo:

Take a squishy soft merino wool base, then apply vibrant colors that knit up into a wild mish-mash of delightful color and just try to keep it off my needles. Just try. Rios is their superwash and it's perfectly lovely and my pick for baby knits but my heart belongs to Worsted--it's a single-ply, lofty and squishable.

Wild Hare Fiber Studio:

My love for Wild Hare is not just because Melissa, the owner/dyer, is so much fun to work with and understands us so well. It's because she creates these fantastic color combinations (animal prints, even!) on yarn that feels nice on the hands and works up into a wonderfully soft and drapey fabric. But also, she gets us--Melissa created yarn for me inspired by Firefly, one of my favorite sci-fi shows, based on some images and my obsessive colored pencil shadings.

Gotta love someone who gets you!

 Dragonfly Fibers:

Dragonfly does these marvelously deep colors and then dusts over many of them with this smokey  haze of black. I find that the haze doesn't hide their intensity but draws it out in those little portions where it peeks through. We have two of their fingering weight bases, Djinni Sock and Pixie Skein--Djinni is fabulous for socks and single ply Pixie is awesome for shawls.

Freia:

Smooth, beautiful handpainted gradients on lovely wool base yarns. Freia is my absolute go-to yarn for Stephen West's Spectra--I made mine using the lovely single ply Sport with Lorna's Laces Sportmate and I adore it.

Three Irish Girls:

 I'm an Irish girl so it only makes sense that I'd be partial to other Irish girls, especially the yarny ones. I love their color combinations and the distribution of those colors. Ordering from them and staying within budget is one of the hardest parts of my job (and yet still one of the most pleasurable). Plus, they do a lot of really fantastic exclusive colors for us.

There are so many really amazing hand-dyers out there and I love discovering them (or having them brought to my attention). To ring in my first guest blog here in true StevenBe-meets-DrawFour fashion, I'm doing a giveaway! Hurrah!

Enter to win the two squishy skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in exclusive Steven by commenting here and answering this question: if you were a handpainted yarn, what colors would you be? (Imaginary bonus points if you tell me your fiber content, too.) The winner will be chosen by random number generator on Sunday the 15th!

Bridget (DrawFour Designs) signing out!

For Your Review: Bobbin Winder

Winding bobbins by hand is kind of like winding yarn into balls for knitting - it’s possible to do it without one, but it’s a lot faster when you have the right tools. There’s a great video from The Woolery about how to wind a bobbin.

You SHOULD practice this, though. The person in the video makes this look really easy, but it’s harder than it looks, at least for me! So far, no weaving mishaps have happened because my bobbin wasn’t perfect, but I still wish I were better at it.

I wind as many bobbins worth of yarn as I think I will need before I start weaving, but it’s no big deal to jump up and wind some more if I run out. It creates a small break in the weaving - I probably should stop and stretch my legs every once in awhile, anyway!

If you're a spinner who doesn't weave, you might still want to consider buying a bobbin winder. They're great for winding storage or plying bobbins!

Show and Tell: Crown Jewel Hat

63Stella on Ravelry made a Crown Jewel hat out of 2 skeins of Plymouth Yarn's Gina.

This is what she had to say about it:

I did this project as a tester and it’s a quick easy knit. I checked my notes and next time I am going do the bobbles thicker so they stand out more. Also I would buy an extra skein of yarn so I can “pick out” colors if I use the Plymouth Gina again.

Thanks for sharing, Stella! Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy supplies for something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

For Your Review: Mini Boat Shuttle

The 9-inch mini boat shuttle was my first shuttle purchase. The wood is so smooth! It really just feels so nice in my hand, I can’t believe it. I bought 10 bobbins for it. The little plastic bobbins for shuttles are really inexpensive, so there’s no excuse for not having a bunch of them.

Bobbins come in different lengths - make sure the ones you buy fit your shuttle!

With stick shuttles, I sometimes snag the warp yarn as I weave. This basically never happens with a boat shuttle. Plus, if I work carefully, I can use more of the warp with a boat shuttle than with a stick shuttle. I can tuck the nose of the shuttle into small and strange sheds. For thinner yarns, like sock yarns, it works great! It takes a little practice to get the hang of it, and I always end up winding more bobbins than I think I needed, but I really like it.

I should back up - boat shuttles hold bobbins, which are just little plastic spools that hold yarn. You can wind bobbins by hand or you can use a bobbin winder. Winding by hand takes no more time than winding a stick shuttle, so until you’re ready to get a winder, you can just work with your fingers.

Show and Tell: Sprout Blanket

Jill (sheepish1too on Ravelry) made a Sprout Blanket out of 5 skeins of Spud & Chloë Sweater.

This is what she had to say about it:

Gauge is important to make the leaves pop out properly. I am actually making another Sprout now for friend and I am going down a needle size due to my loose gauge to help make the leaves pop more. So you may want to consider doing a gauge swatch.

Decide how much yarn you will need. It is easy to modify this pattern and make it bigger; this will require more yarn. The chart at the top is larger than the beginning and center charts so take that in to account for yarn quantity also.

A friend of mine also made this (RavID: Lightning) and noted some errata so adjust your pattern accordingly. The notes on her project were very helpful!

Look through others’ project pages to see what yarn was used to help you decide what to use. I really like the look of the Spud & Chloe yarn. It has the structure to make the leaves stand out. I also recommend a solid color over instead of variegation for the same reason.

I wrote out the charts as I was having trouble reading it while knitting.

Use stitch markers between each chart and to remind you to do 9 stitches of garter on each end of the blanket.

This is a really nice pattern that isn’t boring to knit but also isn’t terribly complicated, and the result is absolutely beautiful!

Thanks for sharing, Jill! Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy supplies for something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

For Your Review: Stick Shuttles

When you buy a loom, it usually comes with a stick shuttle or two. These are basically what they sound like - stick-like things you use to shuttle weft yarn from one side of the loom to the other. Serious weavers will sometimes discount these cool little tools and prefer to use “boat” shuttles. I love boat shuttles, but sometimes only a stick shuttle will do.

Thicker yarns (as in, worsted weight and thicker) and art yarns, for example, sometimes work better for me on a stick shuttle. I started liking stick shuttles a lot more after I learned how to wind yarn onto them in a figure 8 pattern. It makes the shuttle much more flat and easy to use. You can also get a lot more yarn on your shuttle, so you don’t have to stop and wind yarn as often. As always, just have fun! The tools are just there to help you.

Show and Tell: Ballband Dishcloth

Amanda (blackcat95 on Ravelry) made a classic ballband dishcloth (it's a free pattern!) out of 2 skeins of Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima.

This is what she had to say about it:

Don’t be afraid of clashing colors! I think this pattern really shows up any colors really well, and it’s super fun to knit, so if you love two colors but aren’t sure they go together, I’m pretty sure the pattern will make up for anything.

Thanks for sharing, Amanda! Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy supplies for something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

For Your Review: Why Use A Stand for Your Loom?

Not every weaver works on a stand. Many prefer tables. If a loom is small enough, it can even rest in your lap. I talked with one weaving teacher who said she uses a TV tray to hold hers.

I decided to go ahead and get a stand. The tiny loom I borrowed from my friend did fit in my lap, and that was nice, but the cats sometimes knocked it off. It was uncomfortable to have to hold my legs still while weaving. Also, sometimes it’s hard to pack in the yarn onto a loom that’s in your lap. (You don’t always have to do this, but when you need to, it’s nice to have a little leverage.)

I am so happy that I got the stand. Schacht stands are really stable and I’ve never heard of one breaking down. It was really easy to put together, too. But, be careful - they include hardware for a bunch of different looms with the stand. It might be helpful to measure each of the bolts before you begin, so you don’t do what I did and use the short bolts where you should have had long ones!

Show and Tell: Dangly Orange

Gail (roadrunnerknitter on Ravelry) made a Dangly Orange out of 2 skeins of Shibui Knits Linen.

This is what she had to say about it:

I think it is a versatile pattern, lending itself to many types of yarn: wool, linen, silk, cotton. I do think it looks better with a larger needle and a yarn weight that can create an open look. That’s what makes it look so lacy and floaty. The pattern does cause the yarn to curl a bit at one end, but I think that adds to the appearance. I and others added beads, and I think it would just fine without any. It’s a very wide shawl relative to its depth, and someone could change the look by doing increases also on the WS, something I might try if I knit it again. They could also just add more stockinette and eyelet rows for more depth.

Thanks for sharing, Gail! Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy supplies for something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

For Your Review: Weaving for Fun and Stashbusting!

I got bit by the weaving bug, hard, just a few weeks ago. A friend of mine loaned me a little rigid heddle loom to try and I was hooked when I finished my first project - two hours later.

Let that sink in. My FIRST project, which was a not-tiny scarf, only took me two hours to weave. Start to finish.

Weaving is a great way to explore color combinations, use up bits of stash yarns, and finally have something to do with that handspun yarn you loved to spin but never “told” you what you should knit with it. It’s fun to weave it, instead!

So, I started researching looms.

I picked a 25-inch Schacht Flip. It’s big enough that I can weave an afghan in just two panels (or a really big one in three), I can add a second heddle later to do double-weave, and it still folds up so that it’s not super-huge and totally taking over the living room all of the time. All from a company I already really love because of my Ladybug wheel. Perfection!

If you’re choosing a loom and can’t decide what you need, this video from Paradise Fibers might help you. It really covers a lot of the factors you should think about.

So, there are a bunch of new words to learn and almost as much new stuff to get! But, it uses up stash yarn!

Show and Tell: Presto Chango

Pat (pattybknitting on Ravelry) made a Presto Chango! out of 2 skeins of Spud & Chloë Sweater.

This is what she had to say about it:

This is quick and easy…Knitting the placket is engaging and choosing the buttons was fun. The yarn is soft and practical for a baby garment…and it’s darling isn’t it?!

Thanks for sharing, Pat! Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy supplies for something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

Show and Tell: A Summer Scarf

Dagmar (Daggi13 on Ravelry) made a scarf she called "Nori" out of 1 skein of Rowan Fine Art.

This is what she had to say about it:
The pattern is from knitty, but I just knitted a little scarf. Increased stitches up to a width of about 18 cm , went on without increasing, and then I decreased the stitches.

And the yarn, Rowan Fine Art is fantastic!

Thanks for sharing, Dagmar! Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

Show and Tell: Queen for A Day!

Amy Shelton, the Co-owner and Online Manager of Crochetville, wrote to share a story about her Queen for a Day pattern and our very own Steven.

I first met Steven when he had a booth at the Knit & Crochet Show in Minneapolis in 2011. Although I had a very busy conference schedule, I managed to carve out time to visit the uber-fabulous StevenBe store in Minneapolis, not to mention spending a lot of time in his booth on the show floor. I love sparkle and glitter just about as much as Steven does, so I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! I was thrilled to learn Steven had a booth at the Knit & Crochet Show in Indianapolis last week.

Because you can never have too much sparkle, I designed some crowns to wear in the booth to grab the attention of show attendees. The crowns make people smile, and many stop to talk with me about them. Since I'm selling Red Heart yarn in my booth, we were wearing the crowns made from their brand of cotton thread (the silver one is also heavily beaded). My good friend, crochet designer Tammy Hildebrand, and I wore the crowns in the booth and when walking around the show floor.

Every time Steven saw us, he mentioned the crowns and how much he needed to have one of his own. Well, I just happened to have a couple extra crowns up in my room: the first one I designed using Filatura di Crosa's New Smoking yarn. What was a sparkle-loving girl to do? Obviously, I had to run up to the room, grab a Queen for the Day crown, and present it to Steven as a gift!

He gave me the biggest hug, put it right on his head, and told me he was going to wear it when he emceed The Knitting Guild Association's Fun Night that evening. Saturday morning, he told me he actually had worn the crown that night.

Steven mentioned starting a Crown Club for all his wonderful Diva customers who deserve a crown of their very own. What a fabulous idea!

The Queen for a Day pattern is available in these locations:

Crochetville:
http://www.crochetville.com/community/files/file/7-queen-for-a-day-crown/

Ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/queen-for-a-day-crown

Thanks, Amy! It looks fabulous.

Show and Tell: Cap Sleeve Lattice Top

Jodi (JodiTheGrandma) knit a Cap Sleeve Lattice Top out of 1 skein each of Schoppel-Wolle Leinen Los and madelinetosh tosh merino light.

This is what she had to say about it.

I decided to do mine in the round at a gauge of about 5.5 sts/in. Since I wear a small, I altered it down to 176sts (I knit it in the round), which left me with 88sts for the front and 88sts for the back (which happened to be multiples of 3+1 for the ‘lattice’ portion). I knit to 14” for the body of the piece because it was more flattering for my body at that length. A simple Kitchener stitch hid the seaming on the back pretty well… in fact, I can wear it either way because they look about the same!

It was nice to work on something totally basic since I’ve been doing a lot of car/movie/social-time knitting and need to not always be looking :)

Thanks, Jodi! It looks so nice for summer heat. Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy supplies for something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com

Show and Tell: Crochet with Two Kinds of Rowan Yarns

Tina (TinaSanders on Ravelry) crocheted a Spring Petals Scarf using 1 skein of Rowan Fine Art and 1 skein of Rowan Kidsilk Haze.

This is what she had to say about it:
This pattern was perfect to show off the beauty of both yarns and sometimes the most simple designs yields fantastic results. For those who are new to crochet, this is a great beginner project that only requires one skein of yarn. I’ve also come to realize that sock yarn is not only for socks and can be perfect for many projects, both for knit and crochet.

Thanks for sharing, Tina! Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

Show and Tell: A Tee from Sock Yarn

Dayana (who is also dayana on Ravelry) made a lovely Rowan Fine Art Tee using less than one skein each of Cascade Yarns Heritage Solids & Quatro Colors and Rowan Fine Art. She blogged about it (and a trip to New Orleans) here.

This is what she had to say about it:
This can be a great stash-buster project for partial skeins or even skein scraps. Choose the first stripe to be the yarn you have less of. You can follow the stripe pattern, as is, until it is gone and then finish with all contrast color. Or, feel free to play with the stripes to really maximize the use of your skein over the whole body length. If you are nerdy like me, I’m sure you could weigh the tee at the midpoint (7/7), and figure out how many stripes you can do!

Thanks for sharing, Dayana! Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

For Your Review: Merino/Tussah Silk to Spin

From Ashland Bay's website:

"The 70/30 Merino/Tussah Silk dyed fiber blend is a perfect ratio of wool to silk for a spinner’s first introduction to spinning with silk. The blend is also great for felting. We offer over a dozen bright and vibrant colors of our Merino Silk dyed fiber blend, including seasonally inspired color ways."

All I can say is, AMEN! I decided to treat myself for the Tour de Fleece, and, man, is this a treat.

This top is so beautiful, and spins so well, I almost can't believe it. I tried over-the-fold, at first, because I heard that was a good way to control silk, but it didn't really work. So, just a simple, relaxed, worsted-spun yarn was born. Plied into a two-ply, it is drapey, smooth, and beautiful. 

If you want to spin silk, or even a silk blend, go for it! Just, maybe, get a manicure first. Every snag or rough spot on your hands will catch at the silk, and it's rather annoying.

Are you doing anything special for the Tour de Fleece? I know I'm going to be spinning the rest of this. Come grab some spinning fiber at the shop before I use it all up!