Tooling Around

HiyaHiya circular sock needles are a try before you buy item. Jan likes using them. Me? Not so much. We have a sock set up for test knitting in the store. Only 9 inches long from tip to tip, these come in both metal and bamboo.

We have also added to our inventory HiyaHiya's straight double point bamboo needles in small sock sizes.

Do the Math

Designing knits sometimes requires it. For me, that means nearly always. Being able to understand this arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry also comes in quite handy when helping customers decipher directions. Especially when they've been poorly translated from another language to knitspeak.

Example
The pattern calls for "dec for sleeve shaping 1 st alt on every 2nd and 4th row 13 times."

There are 3 ways this has been interpreted -

1. Decrease on rows 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26
   
2. Decrease on rows 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42, 46, 50
   
3. Decrease on rows 2, 6, 8, 12, 14, 18, 20, 24, 26, 30, 32, 36, 38

Lets say for the purposes of the example we have a gauge of 5 sts and 7 rows per inch.

The decrease of 13 stitches = 2.6 inches
One can see from the final row number for the decreases that the height of the piece for each option is different.

26 rows = 3.7 inches
50 rows = 7.1 inches
38 rows = 5.4 inches

This also affects the slope and the length of the line of the armhole. These directions were actually for a tank top with a higher neckline. I'm guessing that the third option is the correct one. The neckline in the picture looks too high for option one. The armhole for a tank needs to be higher than a sleeved garment in order to cover up the bra. This eliminates option two for me since there are further directions for straps that would make this armhole way too large an opening. Option three seems just right.

That is enough of this. I'll not bore you with further details on the geometry and trigonometry one could involve. Instead, let's have RECESS!

Value of a Shop Sample

The white cardigan pictured here is a sample garment (we didn't knit it) from Gedifra made from Top Soft. This is the third season I've been raving about this yarn that feels like butter and knits up quickly with a US 8 or 9 needle. It is now flying off the shelf!

Book 081 has a picture of this design which does not do it justice. Rather than the standard side shaping for the feminine figure, this garment has shaping incorporated throughout the body by varying the with of the ribs from bottom to top. This allows the fabric to drape gracefully over the hips giving a pleasing appearance to everyone that has tried it on for size. I'm suggesting a buttonhole and a focal button be incorporated into the cable at the neckline. Here are some additional views of this lovely garment.

Our customers are always welcome to try any of the garments in the store. All they simply need to do is ask.

Let the games begin!

Some of our KnowItAllDivas have chosen an official yarn for the Linden Hills Yarn Shop. I suggested a knit-along. Kathleen selected an arbitrary date to end the "contest" and this whole thing has snowballed!

Austrian painter, sculptor and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser created his painting "Die StraBe zum Sozialismus" in 1982. He "rejected the straight line and embraced bold color, organic forms and humans in harmony with nature." He loved experiencing the heightened colors found during rainy days and often painted in the buff.

ZwergerGarn is a German yarn company which produces a spectacular line of sock weight yarns by the name of Opal. The rainforest, insects, birds and Hundertwasser's paintings have been used as inspiration for their colorways over the years. We've had the Hundertwasser 1 sock series in the store for a while and are excited to report that Hundertwasser 2 will be available this fall.

The labels on these products are a mix of German and English text. All it took was for one of our brilliant customers to point out that the name of this particular colorway of yarn is translated as "The Road to Socialism" (and she of course used it to make something for her uber-conservative niece) in order for Jan to start selling it like capitalism might end tomorrow. I believe it was the Saturday morning KIADs that adopted it as the "Official" yarn of the store. Then serendipitously, although not suprisingly, Claudia was over at her mother's place and noticed on her shelf a small book about Hundertwasser and his paintings which she brought into the store.

I'm always up for a promotion and decided we should have a knit-along using this sock yarn. However, we will not bring down the hammer and sickle requiring the participants to make socks. Make whatever you want using your yarn. Hats, sweaters, comrade cozies. Just bring your finished project into the shop before the ending ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics and in addition to a brotherly pat on the back, you will be eligible to put your name in a drawing to win more Opal yarn!

M. already finished one sock.

Hat Phactory Sighting

So I'm at REI trying on new hiking shoes. I look over to the wall of footwear and spot a beautiful head of red hair. On top of this hair is a great gifted project made by P., a.k.a Hat Phactory, which I modeled for this photo. How cool is that?

"SALE SALE SALE"

Jan and I decided to have a Spring SALE. I decided we needed a big SALE sign. After three stops looking to purchase a sign that said merely SALE, I did what any Missouri Mule would do and made it myself. If you come by the shop to marvel at my "artwork" you might notice the sign tagged Old School Products by cmrieffer. One should really have a ventilated area when applying that much Sharpie. My father would be proud of my sign crafting ability ;)

What's in a steek? or You're cutting my sweater!

For those of you not in the know, a steek is a group of extra stitches made when knitting a garment in the round for which the sole purpose is to provide a selvage edge around a cut opening.

Pictured here (click for more) is one of my many side jobs. We provide this service for a fee to our customers at Linden Hills Yarn. Sometimes the customer only needs the machine reinforcing stitches. In this instance, the whole process was desired. This involves machine stitching around the armhole, seaming the shoulder, seaming the armhole and covering the steek selvage with the binding which was knit as part of the top of the sleeve. This customer did an outstanding job on her traditional Norwegian pullover. Thus making my job easier and minimizing her cost for this service.