Tag Archives: KAL

The Magic Sweater

If you haven’t yet read our last blog post, A Feisty Knitalong, read that first before this one.

Earlier this year, The Yarn Therapist and Feisty Fibres met at a yarn festival, and fell very much into creative love. Since then, they have been working on a collaboration that uses both of their yarns to the full extent of their beauty. The product is The Magic Sweater!

This fully customize-able sweater kit includes enough Yarn Therapist self-striping to make a perfect yoke for your chosen size, and enough Feisty Fibres worsted to complete the rest of the sweater. This kit can be used to make just about any top-down sweater pattern. See the bottom of this post for some of our suggestions. And best of all, we are offering this kit at 10% off if you pre-order by September 26th! Send an email to info@yarnsuntangled.com or give us a call at (416) 603-2338 to place your order.

The yoke section of the sweater is available in 5 scrumptious colourway sets; seen in the main picture above are four of them (L to R): Kelp Forest, Deciduous, Rainbow, and Royal. The final colour not included in the picture is a series of six shades of grey that would match with anything, photo coming soon!

The possibility of combinations here is just endless, but the dyers have a few suggestions of their favourites to help guide you:

Rainbow + PANK! in a Flax Sweater, size 6mos

Kelp Forest + Lemongrass Sass, also in a Flax sweater, size 12mos

These five colourways from The Yarn Therapist can be coordinated with any of the colourways from the Feisty Fibres catalog. Although as she is still a newish dyer, she has yet to have a presentable photo of each and every colourway she produces. To get you started, here are some lovely photos of 17 colourways from her roster.

Not pictured here: Crush, Falling, Lucky Penny, Luscious, Mermaids Are Real, Party Like a Unicorn, Roses Aren’t Red, Rust Sleeps, Sweep, Totally Teal, YOLO, and YU @ Night.

So very many patterns will work with these sweater yokes, but we have quite a few recommendations of ones we like best.

To fit everyone:

The ever-popular Flax Sweater from Tin Can Knits

Basic Raglan Pullover by Joji Locatelli

Amelia’s favourite: Gramps by Tin Can Knits

Just for men:
Hanstholm Sweater by Petite Knit

A cardigan: Shore Cardigan by Carrie Bostick Hoge

A turtle-neck: Monochrome Pullover by Katrin Schneider

For colourwork:

Arboreal by Jennifer Steingass

Radiate by Joji Locatelli

With a touch of lace: Payday by Jenny F

For the kids:

Little Coffee Bean Cardigan by Elizabeth Smith

A Simple Baby Pullover by Erica Kempf Broughton

and for the crocheters,
Top Down Baby Jacket by Donna Wilby

Once you’ve chosen your pattern and you know your size, here’s how you choose the right yoke:

Chest	Size	Total Price	Pre-order Savings
18″	0-6m	$48.00	$4.80
19.5″	6-12m	$76.00	$7.60
20.5″	1-2y	$76.00	$7.60
22″	2-4y	$86.00	$8.60
24″	4-6y	$86.00	$8.60
26″	6-8y	$114.00	$11.40
28″	8-10y	$114.00	$11.40
31″	xs	$124.00	$12.40
33″	s	$152.00	$15.20
35″	s/m	$152.00	$15.20
37″	m	$180.00	$18.00
39″	m/l	$180.00	$18.00
43″	l	$223.00	$22.30
47″	xl	$223.00	$22.30
51″	xxl	$251.00	$25.10
55″	3xl	$251.00	$25.10
58″	4xl	$279.00	$27.90

These are of course only the tip of the iceberg of what you could make. Give us a call or come see us and we will help you choose the one that’s just right for you. If you’ve already chosen your pattern, post below and share your wisdom with the group. And remember, get your pre-order in by September 26th to get 10% off!

Spring KAL: Toys!

Spring is in the air…

After the last few garment-themed KALs, we wanted to take this one in a different direction and celebrate the tiny, the cute and the silly this spring. Sometimes toy knitting/crocheting can seem a bit intimidating due to the tininess, but we are here to help (through classes, and the drop-in clinic), and to provide moral support. And who says it has to be tiny?

*Clockwise from Top Left: Elijah by Ysolda Teague, Porg by The Geeky Hooker, Timothy the T-Rex by Kelsey Liggett, Palpitation by Hunter Hammersen*

Pattern: Anything that falls (or should fall) under the Ravelry Toys and Hobbies category is eligible. This is a great time to try a toy technique, if you haven’t already. Knitting in the round, DPNs, seaming, amigurumi, needle felting (!!), pattern reading, embroidery, the list goes on! Come see us if you need help choosing an appropriate pattern.

We’d also like to draw your attention to a couple of great toy designers starting with Lucy Collin (for the geeks), Hansi Singh (for the under-the-sea lovers), Elizabeth Kellner (for that realistic look), and of course Anna Hrachovec of Mochi Mochi Land (we’ve got LOTS of kits already on our shelves for these, and they will be 10% off for the KAL participants!).

There are tons we haven’t included here, share your favourite toy designer in the comments below! Also, both Brenna and Amelia are working on toy designs as we speak which will be ready to knit in time for the start date.

Schedule:
Start: Sunday, April 29th
Sunday Drop-In Clinic (FREE for KAL participants): April 29, May 6, 13, 20, 27, June 3, 10, 17
End: Wednesday, June 20th (8 weeks)

Prizes:
Most original project: Make a stuffed cat that looks just like yours, or design a pattern for the perfect obscure animal, or make a stuffed boyfriend that looks just like yours should (you get the idea)
Most finished objects: The participant with the most finished objects will win a $15 gift card for Yarns Untangled (in order to count towards your total, a project should take 50 yards of yarn or more).
Best mess up and recovery: Share your learning experience with us! The person who has the best mess up and recovery will get a coupon for a private lesson with either Brenna or Amelia.
The Random Draw: One winner will be randomly chosen from among the participants, see below for parameters. Prize will be a $10 gift card for Yarns Untangled.

Suggested classes (10% for official KAL participants):
Crochet for Beginners, with Brenna: Tuesday April 17th OR Friday May 18th, 6-8pm
Amigurumi, with Brenna: Friday April 27th, 6-8pm
Needle Felting, with Brenna: Friday May 4th, 6-8pm
Project class, with Nicole: Mondays April 16th through May 15th.
As always, the Sunday Drop-In Clinic is free for anyone needing help with a KAL project.

Participation: In order to be considered for entry for prizes, and to receive discounts on classes, crafters must either join our Ravelry thread or post on Instagram (#YUToyKAL) and announce which yarn you’ll be using. Once the project(s) is/are finished, you must post at least one picture of it. If you’d rather, come see us in person and we’ll get a snap of it for you and help you to post it on Ravelry.

Hashtag: #YUToyKAL

Yarn: Crafters must use yarn purchased from Yarns Untangled, but it doesn’t need to have been purchased during the time of the KAL. If you choose to use yarn purchased elsewhere, you are still welcome to stitch-along with us, but you will not be eligible for prizes or free drop-in clinic help.

That’s it! If you have any questions, reply to this post, shoot us an email at info @ yarnsuntangled.com, give us a call at (416) 603-2338, or drop in and see us in person!

Socks and Shawls and Sweaters, Oh My!

by Nicole Tavares and Amelia Lyon

Ding! Ding! Ding! Our Kate Atherly Knit Along officially came to a close this week. Kate is one of our favourite teachers, and her patterns sparked a great deal of creativity over the past two months. With two hundred and fifty designs to choose from – anything was possible, and at least 30 of you glorious knitters and crocheters jumped in with both feet. We are so pleased and impressed with every WIP and FO we’ve seen throughout this process, so congrats to everyone who participated, regardless of whether you made it past the finish line in time, or not!

Our collected finished projects covered baby sweaters, shawls, mitts, and of course – SOCKS! Kate is very often referred to as “The Sock Guru,” and the name is very very well-earned. Out of all of her published patterns, virtually half of them are for socks, and the variation therein is so inspiring; from the plain ol’ top-down sock, to some of the fanciest colourwork and cablework out there, Kate’s socks are our go-tos whenever it’s time to keep our tootsies warm.

One of the best parts about knit-a-longs is watching crafters expand their skills and this one was no exception. We had a few people attempt their first ever pair of socks, while others went for a new method: two at a time socks. Congrats to Jen C, Karen, Rachel, Ni, Jen H, and Annabel for tackling this tricky challenge this summer, we loved watching your progress.

cuff down socks and two at a time socks

Knit wavedeck pi shawl

The Wavedeck Pi Shawl was a very popular choice. This half pi shawl by Kate paired perfectly with two skeins of our Mineville DK and it’s tiered lace pattern is simpler than it first appears. With Pi shawls the increases aren’t worked every row, instead the stitch count is doubled periodically in order to achieve the circular shape. Don’t worry if math isn’t your thing – the pattern has done it for you!

This pattern is a half pi shawl, meaning it’s a half circle instead of a full one. As Kate herself says in the pattern, “quicker to knit and easier to wear!”

Our sample in the shop offered lots of inspiration for those looking to make their own.

With dozens of gorgeous mineville DK colours to choose from, little Wavedecks started appearing all over the place in blues and greens.

wavedeck-collage

Along with the wavedeck shawls came a parade of socks in all shapes and sizes, from the most basic cuff down patterns to intricate colourwork. Seen here are just a few of the sock FOs that crossed our path this month.

photo-2016-09-18-1-16-34-pm

Still other knitters tackled chart reading, colourwork, brioche and more. In the end, we had more than 25 projects finished (or almost finished…).

photo-2016-09-18-3-30-20-pm

No KAL is complete without a celebration at the end and some prizes. Without further ado, the winners are:

Most Individual Projects Completed

Goes to Rachel for finishing a Wavedeck shawl AND a pair of socks! If you haven’t met Rachel, she started out as a loom knitter and has only recently moved into working with needle-knitting as well. Obviously she’s rocking it! Her prize is a $15 gift card for Yarns Untangled.

Biggest Mess Up/Lesson Learned

Goes to Cheryl for her work on the Asking for Flowers shawl! This pattern was a step up for her since it offers the instructions for the lace in chart form, and there are quite a few short rows used to turn around the centre point of the left-to-right shawl. With a wee bit of help from Brenna, Cheryl was able to turn out this just gorgeous shawl using three skeins of Rhichard Devrieze Peppino she picked up at the summer trunk show, and she is very pleased with it. So are we! Her prize is a coupon for a private lesson with either Brenna or Amelia whenever she wants! Can’t wait to see what she learned next.

Most ingenious pattern alteration:

Goes to Francesca for her work on the circular Wavedeck. This pattern was by far the most popular one throughout this KAL, but Francesca took it up a level when she turned the half-pi into a full-pi! She used two skeins of Riverside Studios in “Midnight;” these pics don’t do it justice, it has to be seen in person to be full appreciated. Way to go Francesca! Her prize is a digital copy of Kate’s amazing book, Pattern Writing for Knitwear Designers.

photo-2016-09-18-1-12-06-pm — Pre-blocking, but slightly more colour-accurate

Of course the Random Draw! The two winners of our draw were awarded a collection of beautiful yarn from Kate’s stash. Lucky lucky knitters! Congratulations to Claire and Vidya who made a Wavedeck and a One-Piece Baby Sweater respectively!

Thanks to everyone who participated, you guys all rock. As we head into the Fall season, we have lots coming up in terms of classes, trunk shows, events, brand new yarns, and a selection of old favourites. Check us out on the social media platform of your choice (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) or sign up for our mailing list to be kept in the loop. Happy Stitching!