A quick note: the Guided Projects class is ON tonight. Susan Mehringer will be there teaching the class.

Here’s one of the Baby Boleros Hickory recently made in Blue Sky Alpacas Cotton, modeled by Ryland O’Brien Lee. The newborn size Bolero keeps the baby warm in Ithaca’s cool summer nights, and is easy to put on and take off without irritating the baby (and subsequently, the parents).

Baby Bolero in Blue Sky Alpacas Cotton

Ryland is our new baby knitwear model. I am sure you will see him showcasing many of the baby sample garments we have in the shop!

Knit In Public! (Go Kylie!)

Laura Nelkin from Schaefer Yarn is organizing an Ithaca event for WWKIPD. It sounds like it will be a very fun morning! I’ll be there if I can be

WWKIPD (World Wide Knit in Public Day)
Where: The Commons in front of Autumn Leaves, Ithaca NY
When: 10 - noon on Saturday, June 14
Why: To hang out and knit in public : )

Bring a chair, your knitting, and a project or 2 to show off in the fashion show!

In case of rain: we will either be upstairs in Autumn Leaves or at Center Ithaca, a note will be posted to let everyone know!

There will be prizes donated by local knitting businesses, like Schaefer Yarn, Homespun, and, of course, Knitting Etc! See you there!

Yup, I know I’m jumping ahead here. I’ve been looking for some nice sweater patterns for the fall sweater classes. I’d like to get some work done on them this summer so I’m ready to teach and inspire you all come fall. I’d love some opinions and suggestions if there are any particular sweaters you are excited about. Here are some ideas I’ve come up with so far:

1. A Cardigan for Arwen: This one has a very unique sleeve construct, and some wonderful Kate Gilbert details.
2. A traditional gansey. We can explore some various traditions and change them up a bit if we want. We would likely design our own yokes and knit to fit our unique selves.
3. Seamless in the round, either bottom up or top down: This is a favorite of people who hate finishing. When you’re done knitting, you’re really done! These can have lovely fair isle yoke patterns too. We’ve done the Sven in the past.
4. Big Girl Knits inspiration. I’d like to pick a sweater from this book or the second, More Big Girl Knits, and help you adjust the pattern to your body using the hints and directions given in this wonderful book. This one is for curvy or hard to fit women.
5. A traditional cabled Aran would be a lovely thing too. We could put our own design together using a cable stitch dictionary and a tape measure!

Let me know what you think or if you have any more ideas. Tell me what you want to make this fall: hickory@KnittingEtcIthaca.com

I’ve been knitting Baby Boleros (from Leigh Radford’s popular One Skein book). Yes, plural My first is a pretty little periwinkle blue in Blue Sky Cotton. My gauge on this one is a little tight, so it’s definitely newborn size. Changes to the pattern? Of course, I mirrored the increases and decreases around the eyelet to make it better centered and more tidy looking.

The second is a rich tomato red. This one I have the correct gauge, and it’ll likely fit for a few months. I didn’t like the lumpy and stiff seams in the blue one, so I picked up and knit the sleeves downwards. I also gave myself an extra selvage st so that the ribbing looks more purposeful and properly put together.

Now I’m on to saffron colored one. This one is a gift. And I have two more to make after this. I am very inspired by the colors of the Blue Sky Cotton, of which we have almost every color in stock. I haven’t picked the next two colors yet….