Have you all seen the latest issue of Knitty? There are beautiful sweaters, shawls, hats and socks. But what really struck me the most was this pair of mittens. They look kind of ordinary and functional. But they are anything but ordinary. The original designer of these pair of mittens was none other than Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. She was quite an avid knitter and two patterns that she authored were found among her papers by a park ranger, Mary Ann Colpy at Hyde Park. Ms. Colopy asked Franklin Habit if he could help test and translate the patterns. What a treasure! It's really a neat feeling to know that someone of Mrs. Roosevelt's stature knit these same mittens. I am making my mittens out of St. Denis Nordique yarn, which was the yarn recommended in the revised pattern. It knits like a dream --- I started these last night and am almost finished with the first one.

Just got this model in -- it's the Origami Pullover from Frog Tree. Gwen kindly agreed to model it for us. It looks great on Gwen and I am sure it will look great on everyone.

Marinel came in look for one last skein of Jamieson's Spindrift to complete her Santa Fe Wrap. Love how she improvised the design at the top of the scarves.

Linda brought it in herManos Silk Sweater -- the pattern is from Oat Couture and is called the Celtic Cardigan. Linda is definitely what I call a Type A knitter. This sweater is just perfect.

Sally is going to ring in the New Year with this Martini Felted Tote by She Knits for Knitters.

Gwen used my new hand dyed colorway "New River Rock" in a knitted scarf.

Louise finally finished her Wrap Me Up shawl out of Boku. Great colors!

Louise and Donna are busy dyeing socks after taking my sock dyeing class. They used Kool Aid dyes and went to town!

Sally showed off her Vest using K1C2 Linus. The original pattern is written for Baby Alpaca Grande, but I've seen it knit in every yarn. It's such a versatile pattern.

I have collected close to 100 helmet liners --- if you have any more finished, please bring them in. I'd like to get them to the Red Cross before Christmas.

Just a reminder -- we'll be having our annual Fiber Finishing Frenzy Sat, Dec 19th at 6 pm at Woolbearers. We'll provide the food -- you just come with your soon to be finished projects. See you all then!

Janet brought in 24 helmet liners she knit and vowed she would never knit another one! It reminded me of when I had the brilliant idea of knitting all the yarmulkes for my son's bar mitzvah, out of hand dyed, handspun silk, no less. I made 54 of those da**n yarmulkes and still have one on the needles. Zach is almost 19. Maybe I'll finish it for his wedding. Oy vey!

Anyway, helmet liner knitting night at the Woolbearers was a huge success. There wasn't an empty seat and everyone had a great time. One of the gals said that she would give one of her helmet liners directly to her grandson who was being deployed to Iraq soon. So far, I have collected 75 and I know there are lots more of them out there. If you can, bring them to the shop by Dec 20th, so I can give them to the Red Cross before Christmas. Their goal is to have 1000 made by the end of the year.

Will lives about 1 hour away, but manages to come to the shop as often as he can. Here he is in his first raglan sweater made out of Cascade 220. Will was little embarrassed to ask if I had a few yards of Alfresco in the Key Lime colorway. He just needed 2 yards to finish the shawl. Well, I had a little bit of undyed yarn leftover and was able to dye it and match it to the shawl. Will just happened to come into the shop when I was about to mail it out to him. You can see the finished project here.

Another botanica done! This gal lives about 1 hour away as well. The last time she was at the shop was when Shiri came to give a talk about the Botanica -- here's the finished product. Great jobl

Kay is showing off her first weaving project.

Teena is fairly new to knitting, but y0u would never guess that by looking at her projects. The first scarf is done with one strand of Lana Grossa Chiara and one strand of Nashua Grand Opera. She decided to put an opening, such as the ones in the bowtie scarf and figured out how to do it with this Ruffled Scarf pattern. The other scarf is also the Ruffled Scarf pattern done with 2 strands of Lana Grossa Evento in two different colors. Love the outcome.

Anne is shown here once again teaching her famous Finishing class. As usual, the class is filled. We'll be doing it again next April.

Sandra is showing off the Endless Knitted Cardi Shawl by Stich Diva Studios. She gets together with about 5 other gals to knit and they are all knitting this lovely design out of Tilli Tomas' Silk Plie.

Linda has been knitting this adorable baby sweater out of Mission Falls 136.

More Knit to Fit --Brynn got her inspiration for her Knit to Fit sweater from this sweater she found in a magazine. I can't wait to see it finished.

And Rebecca finished her Knit to Fit creation and is almost done working on her second!

Donna's mystery bag is done. I just love the design and the clever use of the scarf and straps. I just wish there were more hours in the day.

Helmet Liners -- we will be knitting helmet liners for soldiers being deployed from the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst base. Come to the shop on Tuesday evening at 7 pm. We'll have pizza and drinks -- the pattern is free and any yarn purchased for the helmet liners is 20% off. The helmet liners must be made out of 100% wool and they need to be black. Give me a call or drop me a line to let me know if you will be there.

We've had a busy fall --- lots of interesting classes. Nelda Davis, the master spinner came for a workshop last weekend. Her students were so impressed that they have asked me to bring her back for another workshop.

Here Nelda is showing everyone how to use wool combs and the other picture she is demonstrating the proper technique for hand carding. We will definitely have Nelda back sometime in 2010.

Kathleen was so excited to show me more of her beautiful spinning -- she bought some of Woolbearers hand dyed merino and went to town. These skeins are just perfect.

Lucky for me, while Nelda was here teaching, Wendy came in to the shop -- all the way from Las Vegas and wanted to buy a drop spindle. I am a terrible drop spindler, but Nelda had a few moments and got her going. Wendy just couldn't stop spinning. I know we will be seeing her when she is in town again.

Here is the result of Jill's dyeing workshop with yours truly. It's a little hard to see the lace pattern, but it came out beautifully.

Karen's Knit to Fit class has always been a big hit with our customers. She'll be doing it again (right-Karen?) and we're hoping to have her do another class as well. Keep you posted on that.

Our beginning weaving class have finished their scarves. We'll be offering beginning and advanced beginning weaving in our next class list.

Sharon is working on her Einstein Jacket and Margie is working on another square for her Learn to Knit Afghan. Only 50 more to go!

Kris finished one of her Christmas stockings. Very cute!

And Gwen is crocheting another shawl -- this time out of Zauerball.

Donna is showing off her mystery purse from She Knits for Knitters. It will be felted -- can't wait to see the results.

Jane's shawl out of Punta's Merisock and a scarf made out of The Fibre Company's Road to China Light. She used a pattern from Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns

Looks good from either side.

Anita stopped by for buttons for her new Mission Falls sweater. Great colors!

Phyllis felted her bags. The top one is knitted out of Woolbearers' Delaware Valley Yarn and the blue one is out of Cascade 220

Community -- that's what it's all about. Saturday and Sunday were such busy days with all the different classes and groups of knitters that came in and stayed. Some folks met each other for the first time, and of course, they are no strangers to each other because knitting is their common language.

Our new knit to fit class is coming along. Everyone is diligently working on their sweaters, discussing necklines and ripping out that shoulder once again -- but this time it will fit perfectly.

The weavers are warping their looms and weaving their chenille scarves for the first time. Megan is little bit further ahead of the other gals. Love her color choices and design.

Judy came in looking for yarn for another project. I immediately recognized the sweater she was wearing as the one she just bought yarn for a few weeks ago. She said that there were a few mistakes in the pattern and that she and the designer emailed each other so much that he asked her to do some sample knitting for him! It's the Cecile Pullover from Knitscene Fall 2009.

Saturday was another dyeing class. Can't wait to see the results.

This is the dyed "scarf" that I finished on Saturday. I hope to turn it into another pair of socks. This time, I dyed the scarf more symmetically.

Last time I had the dye class the scarf was just dyed with one color after another and this is the result. Great socks, but they are completely different.

Linda came in to show off her finished and almost finished projects. She needed another skein of Mission Falls 136 wool for the baby sweater.

Here's a scarf she knit out of Jitterbug sock yarn.

Linda knit the Malabrigo Lace beautifully - it was hard to get a good picture.

And -- ta dum! She finished her Rambling Rows afghan. I think it took longer to pick out the colors than it did to knit it up!

Teri is in my Learn to Knit afghan class. She keeps picking up other projects to do and fell in love with the Afghan Shawl from Vogue Knitting on the Go Shawls 2. We read and reread and then read the instructions again and couldn't figure out how to do the stitch. I went home with the pattern and Voila! the lightbulb went on. Like I tell my students -- do exactly what the pattern says -- don't overthink it. You had to work elongated stitches by wrapping the yarn and then on the next row you knit 4 of the elongated stitches together, then purl the same stitches together (twice). Clear as mud, right? But it did finally work and I expect Teri to have the shawl done by next week --- working on Size 15 needles with Cascade Magnum. Yes, I may have to succumb to making one too!

Gwen is showing off yet another tam. This one is an Ysolda Teague pattern called Rose Red

Phyllis loves to make felted bags. She's doing this one out of our own Delaware Valley Worsted weight yarn and I have to say that I love those colors.

Jane just finished this ruffled scarf made out of Artful Yarns' Shakespeare

And Rachel made this great shawl, Laminaria. It is made out of OPY.

Rhinebeck

I love going up to Rhinebeck. I remember when it was a much smaller show and you didn't have to fight the crowds every minute. There is so much to see - you get on sensory overload and everything looks the same after a while. I did run into some old friends -- sorry don't have pictures of anyone. I got a big hug from Mr. Otto from Strauch Fibers, where we get the finest drum carders and ball winders; Heidi from Woodstock Knits --- we have her kits and yummy alpaca yarn; Sharyn from Punta Yarns -- Punta's Merisoft has been a big hit and signing books was Mary Beth Temple, who will be teaching a crochet class at Woolbearers on Nov 1. If you haven't signed up already, do so quickly!

Socks -- OK, so I finally succumbed. I had a dye class a few weeks ago and was trying to figure out what to knit with the sock yarn I dyed. So, socks seemed reasonable. I didn't realize how meditative knitting socks could be. I couldn't put this one down and am actually knitting the second sock!

Sydney came in today to show off her new Shibuiknit socks. The pattern is from the latest issue of Knitty.com

Kris couldn't wait to come in and show me her just finished White Lies Design "Evangeline" made from Rowan Silk/Wool. Isn't is just gorgeous?

Deb came in with a dilemma. She is knitting the Every Way Wrap from Interweave Knits Fall 2009. She had missed doing the cable quite a few rows down and didn't want to rip out the knitting she had already done. So, I told her to drop down to where the problem was and pick up the stitches, remembering to cross at every other row as she was picking up the stitches. And she did so successfully!

It's been a weird week. One gal asked me how much a normal skein of yarn weighs. I didn't quite know how to answer. When pressed, she said, you know, like the one at Michael's or Joann's. Ah yes, the normal skein of yarn. Now I get it. She must have meant those pound skeins. Or the gal who came in and asked if it would be tacky if she put up a sign in my window for her yard sale featuring fiber and yarn. I told her that it would be tacky and she ran out of the store before I could blink. Yesterday a gentleman came into the shop looking for yarn he could wind around spools for table he just refinished. While I was contemplating some inexpensive yarn, he picked up some 1836 Mission Falls wool and said it would be perfect. He wanted red, white and blue and I just happened to have those colors. Then, he asked if I'd seen a customer who used to work for him. Well, then I put two and two together and figured out it was none other than Jim Saxton, our former congressman. It's not everyday that y0u can say your congressman was in your store shopping for yarn. I thought it was pretty cool. So, it came as no surprise that Donna had to share her latest knitted creation with us.

Yep. You guessed it. It's a chapstick cover.

Gwen finished crocheting her Provincial Fall Scarf out of Woolbearers Seacell sock yarn. The border is out of Shibuiknits sock yarn.

She's still working on those tams. These are crocheted.

and this one is knit.

Stephanie stopped by to show us her latest crocheted creations. She'll be teaching a crochet class at Woolbearers emphasizing textures.

I couldn't resist this pattern in the new Knitters' Magazine out of Mission Falls 1824 wool. I just have to embroider some hearts and I'm done.

Speaking of Mission Falls -- Woolbearers has a Trunk Show featuring all the beautiful garments from all of their earlier books. Come and see for yourself.

We started a new KAL at the shop for the Jojoland Halo kimono.

I got my first seven hexagons done and started working on the in-between triangles. I just love the way the colors change ever so subtly. I stopped working on it because I was wondering about the directions. The pattern says to pick up for the triangles on the wrong side and then make your color changes on right side. I'm not sure this is correct, but will look carefully at the model we have in the shop, when I get back tomorrow. I may have to rip out the triangle. Some words of advice to anyone who wants to knit this. Use the cable cast-on method - it makes a cleaner edge and is easier after casting on to transfer stitches to the other needles. I did try doing this magic loop, but I just must be an old-fashioned knitter and prefer my double points. I am going to try and use some shorter needles, though. When you get down to 4 stitches -- there's a lot of needle in the way!

How do you get this -

to turn into this?

By doing this, of course and plenty of knitting. Gwen spun my hand dyed Merino/Bamboo blend and made a tam from a doily pattern. Another great knit by Gwen.

I think she got the doily-tam idea from knitting the Hemlock Flower Tam pattern by Robyn Wade

And she made another that she calls the "Pink Doily Tam". They must be like eating potato chips.

We had a lot of fun in my dye class on Saturday. Not too many spills and everyone made great looking sock yarn. I can't wait to see them knitted up. Stay tuned!

Jane knit this baby afghan out of Jil Eaton Minnowmerino -- two strands held together. It's hard to see, but in the closeup there is an outline of a bear that is knitted through0ut the afghan. Great job.

Sabra finished this gorgeous mitered square vest out of several colors of K1C2's Paintbox. We're having a class to get y0u started on making your own.

Rachel has been diligently working on her Dr. Who scarf. How long is it going to be?