By very popular demand, we welcome back Yarn Indulgences!
Handdyed out of Cambridge ON, Deb works primarily in the floral industry and finds much inspiration from nature.
“My colours are as varied as I am. I love creating new colours by mixing unlikely combinations and I especially enjoy working with yarn shops in making their own colourway, unique to them.”
She will be bringing a wide range of her yarns including her two flagship lines, the Indulgent line (100% british wool) and the Zed line (made in Canada!) which is a supersoft merino.
Join us from 11am to 6pm for the last Pedestrian Sunday of the season!!!
Yarn Indulgences Trunk Show
Luxury hand dyed yarn. Always unique and often one of a kind.
Yarn Indulgences was one of last year’s most successful shows, and we are so excited to have her back! We’ll be set up and ready to go for 11am, and the show will close up close to 6pm, so come early. Pick up some yarn and then go enjoy the rest of what Pedestrian Sundays in Kensington Market has to offer.
Sinister Yarns Trunk Show
Kicking off this summer of six pedestrian Sundays, we are welcoming back store favourite, Sinister Yarns!
Marianne will be bringing lots of new stuff including tons of fibre, sock blanks, a tweed, a squishy bulky, some sweet DK, and NEONS!!! Come early because things always move fast. We’ll have chairs and an umbrella for shade set up, so bring your FOs and spend the day with us!
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?
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!
The Blue Brick Trunk Show
Shireen and her beautiful gradient yarns are coming to Yarns Untangled for Canada Day! Saturday, July 1st from 11am to 2pm, our table and shelves will be full of jer classic Killarney Sock, Escarpment DK, twin sets, as well as brand new bases like her Point Peele Lace and Tobermory Worsted. There will also be some limited one-of-a-kind colourways and bases that are otherwise unavailable anywhere else! Check out her new Canada Day colourway that will be available on Sunday:
The Blue Brick has been a huge hit at festivals and shows across Ontario and this one will be no exception. Get there early because the most popular colourways always go quick!
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.
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.
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.
Still other knitters tackled chart reading, colourwork, brioche and more. In the end, we had more than 25 projects finished (or almost finished…).
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.
Pre-blocking, but slightly more colour-accurateBlocking!
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!
The blocking process has always been a bit elusive to me. I’ll do it of course, because I know I’m supposed to, and I know that it’s essential, especially for a garment like this one. But I will admit that, in the past, I have skipped blocking my finished objects as often as possible. This is not for any good reason other than basic impatience to have the project finished (there’s nothing like the satisfaction of changing a Ravelry status from “WIP” to “FO”). But just like so many other aspects of knitting and crochet, I’ve learned the hard way not to cut corners (some of you may recall the lovely gold and blue sweater that turned into a longish indoor jacket in 2014. Pictures are pre-blocking. It’s a good 20% bigger now since the cashmere bloomed. Wash your swatches!).
As of yesterday, I had finally finished each section of the sweater: back, left front, right front, and both sleeves. What remains to be completed is the seaming (sewing up the sleeve seams, and joining all five pieces together), the button band, and the folded hem at the bottom. But before the seaming can begin, the five pieces must be blocked. The reasons for this are many, but the few that stick out most to me in my experience are as follows:
They just look way better. I don’t know about you, but when I’ve finished a piece of a garment, especially one that is mostly stockinette, it curls and rolls and flops around and people say, “oh are you making something for a child?” Post-blocking, they look much more like they’re supposed to, and I’m able to say, “why yes, that is a sleeve!” which is always gratifying.
They are much easier to seam together. Washing and drying allows the stitches to get up, stretch, and go for a walk. When they come back, they feel much better and are more willing to sit a row quietly behaving themselves than they were before. This makes it easier to pick up stitches, and to find corresponding spots from sleeve to body, and front to back. Un-blocked pieces are more likely to cause trouble in the seaming process and you could end up having to rip out the sewing and re-do it, which is way less fun than ripping out knitting.
Measuring. If your pattern is worth it’s salt, it will include a schematic (see Ann Weaver‘s Tempest schematic included here). At this point, you can grab your measuring tape (or ruler, or metre stick, or tapeline) and see how close your measurements match where they’re meant to be. The fun thing is, if your piece doesn’t quite lie at exactly 11.5″ wide (as my sleeves should be), now’s your chance to stretch the piece a bit and pin it down. If you’ve used natural fibres, it should dry and hold that measurement better than if you hadn’t pinned and measured in the first place.
I feel pretty confident in my measurements of my pieces. The back and fronts are both longer than they should be, but that’s because I added 12 rows to each of them. I have a weirdly long torso (and stubby little legs!), so I often make tops and sweaters a bit longer to help me not look too freaky. Since Tempest is written in stripes, I simply added an extra “stripe” to all the pieces. This will change the number of stitches I need to pick up for my front bands, but since the pattern doesn’t give me a set amount, I needn’t worry. More on that in part 4.
Behold my blocked and measured cardigan pieces!
Here we have all my bits, drying out and ready to be seamed. They are now hiding under a beach towel since my feline roommate loves bits of yarn and pins beyond the fair points of reason and safety. I think the bit I’m most proud of is the right front. Note the cute little pink pocket! I’ve never put a pocket in anything before, but my friend Kathryn is working on a wicked man’s cardigan and used a skeinette of Rhichard Devrieze‘s Peppino (only $4 in store!) to line the pocket with a complimentary colour, and I stole her idea. The skeinette was enough for a pocket and a bit of leftovers – I bet I could have done two pockets, but I decided one was enough. Here’s what it looked like pre-wet blocking:
Hopefully the front will lie a little flatter once it’s dry and the lining is sewn into place, we’ll find out together! And as a bonus for reading this far, I give you my roommate Felix helping the pocket to lie flat. Now that I’ve gotten over the blocking hump on this project, seaming never takes me too long. It’s too much fun to pull everything together, and I’ll share a few tips on the next post about how I like (read: how Brenna taught me) to pick up stitches for the front bands and bottom hem. xo!
Helping
Knitted Christmas Ornaments: A Kit
For our first official foray into kits, we’re happy to announce that these sweet little numbers are now available in store. There’s something especially cozy about a knitted tree ornament, and these are some of the coziest. The kit features 11 possible designs (8 easy charts, and 3 more challenging ones), all from the mind of knitting guru Kate Atherley and they are currently only available as part of this collection.
Since most of the charts are relatively uncomplicated, this kit is suited to any knitter comfortable with knitting in the round and with basic colourwork. However, if you’re feeling a little tentative but would still like to knit yourself some festive decor, join us on Thursday, December 17th for a class that will guide you through your first ornament and get you set up to make more (the kit includes enough material – yarn and stuffing – for twoornaments). And as if that wasn’t tempting enough, we’ll make sure you get at least one cup of delicious mulled cider to accompany your learning experience.
We’re working on more kits as we speak including two featuring designs by the ever-so-talented Laura Chau, so if Christmas (or balls) ain’t your thing, stay tuned for more curated combos of yarn and patterns. And if Christmas is your thang, make sure your family knows this is on your list.
nd up having to rip out the sewing and re-do it, which is way less fun than ripping out knitting.
