That Dang Duck

Below is the pattern I have been tweaking for knitting my son a duckling from a children’s book that he loves.

1. Cast on 30 stitches. Knit four rows. On fifth row, knit into front and back of each stitch, 60 stitches.

2. Knit 1, slip 1 all the way across. Continue until you realize that this doesn’t seem to look like double knitting as it was explained to you by Elizabeth Zimmermann’s books. Also realize that this seems a little big for a duckling. Frog, and tell yourself that it was a good thing you did it sooner rather than engage in Knitting Denial (a real syndrome) and keep going.

3. Cast on 20 stitches. Knit four rows. On the fifth row, knit into the front and back of each stitch, ending up with 40 stitches. Again (because you’re on autopilot) knit 1, slip 1 across each row. Realize that you have now knit something that you will have to turn inside out, so the smooth knit stitches will be on the outside of the duckling rather than in its innards. Frog again.

4. Cast on 20 stitches, again knit four rows, again increase to 40 stitches as in previous directions. Think long and hard about what is confusing you about double knitting and why you’re not getting the result you want, and decide (inexplicably) to do. the. same. thing. again. Knit 1, slip 1. Have at it, go to town. Now you tell yourself you WANT to flip the bird—inside out, that is. Tell yourself that you meant to do that, what with those two garter ridges at the bottom and all. Tell yourself it’s for stability or something…anything. Knit on. Remember the syndrome mentioned in Step 2, but shrug it off.

5. Get to about 3-4 inches in length, gloating to yourself about how cute this little alpaca/wool yarn is, and how it looks just like the ducky in the book. Set duck body aside and prepare to figure out how to knit its feet.

6. Cast on nine stitches in the softest, sweetest, carrot-y colored alpaca yarn ever. Melt internally when you picture how it will go so well with the gray duck body. Imagine that your son will, for once, fawn nonstop over the knitted duck, as opposed to the other knits you have made him. Cunningly shape the feet, using SSKs and k2togs like a champ. When down to three stitches, work I-cord, smirking to yourself about how these look SO much like duck feet that you feel like your IQ just went up three points. Repeat with second foot, and add additional five points to IQ.

7. Return to duck body, and prepare to sew/graft duck feet to garter ridges, but properly, so it will look ridiculously cute when the body is turned right side out. Cut gray yarn with enough tail to easily thread (on a yarn needle) through every other stitch on one side, turn work and thread the needle through every other stitch on the way back. Remove work from knitting needle and feel a little nervous. Luckily enough, the

knitting opens up in the middle, just like it ought to, like a pocket. Feel free to say “Squee” in a high-pitched voice now, like a pre-teen at a Justin Bieber concert. Turn duck inside out.

8. Realize that duck isn’t properly turning inside out.  Make this face: 

9. Realize that there is one. single. stitch. that you mis-knit/slipped and now, you have made a duckling with one heck of a belly button.

10. Spend too much time trying to come up with some kind of knitterly work around, to no avail. Console yourself by realizing you knit the cutest duckling feet ever. The first ever knitted duckling feet?  Decide to go back to the drawing board....

I'm sure there's a yarn store closer....

The time has come for our annual visit to Cincinnati to visit my husband’s family. We drove. The two kids with their car seats, their toys, and me in the backseat, and Steve up in front. Do you know that you can drive fast on the highway, only stop three times, get snarled in traffic twice, get a flat tire once, and have a nine hour drive take 12 (TWELVE!) hours???!! Please hold your applause, but I will take my Purple Heart medallion now. Both children were great and very excited for the first hundred miles, and then it was just that grit-your-teeth-and-drive experience every parent knows about and shudders to remember.

I did a little knitting on the drive up, when both the children were asleep for approximately four minutes. I’ve been having a little love affair with simple knits for the kitchen, namely scrubbers. I get some good old cotton yarn, cast on 33 stitches, and knit in seed stitch until it is approximately square, and then bind off in pattern. It makes for a wonderful dishcloth, and something about the type of stitch makes the yarn long lasting.

For me, one of the fun things about travelling is visiting funky and cool places you can’t find at home. Granted, I live in Chapel Hill and with Carrboro nearby, it is near impossible to have a shortage of funky and cool. But, when it comes to yarn stores, I find that, the more I see, the more I want to see. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of visiting the yarn store, and the fact that they’re all over the globe, not just in my neighborhood, means that (thank god) I am never in danger of running out of yarn. I don’t think that will happen, but I want to be prepared, you know, just in case.

I visited a yarn store I’ve never been to before.

Fiberlicious (http://www.fiberlicious.com/) is located in Madeira, Ohio, and owned by the slightly flushed Cindy, whose air conditioning had conked out the morning I had visited (I’m sure it’s functioning wonderfully right now).

She has a wealth of novelty yarns, eye-catching and beautifully dyed, and she was very friendly and lovely herself. She told me how they were ordered from all over, but all dyed in the USA. She will sit with you and help you design your own knits as well. There were also button and carved rosewood hooks, skeins with wooden beads and cloth-cut leaves strung on them, and clothing for sale as well as purses and knick knacks. A very interesting and eclectic collection, and I left with some interesting cocoon-shaped bobbly yarn to make into a scarf, and some lacy yarn that ruffles when you knit it, and a wee gorgeous skein of (gulp) cashmere, my first. It was a single skein, all by its lonesome, and I felt like it really needed a friend. So, it was more of a philanthropic venture than an impulse buy. And it was “souvenir yarn”, so I think I’ve done well at rationalizing that purchase. I’m hoping I have enough to make a lacy, airy cowl. The other yarn purchases are going to be knit into Christmas presents.

I am also attempting to knit a duckling.

That may be the weirdest sentence I’ve typed in recent memory, but it’s true. My son is in love with a children’s book: Duck, Duck, Goose (by Tad Hills), and there is a little, gray, know-it-all duckling named Thistle. My son loves Thistle, and has been begging me to make one. I selected an alpaca/wool blend yarn...

(Valley Yarn Stockbridge from our very own Yarns etc, to be exact), and so far I had juuuuust enough time to cast on 30 stitches, knit three rows, and then knit in the front and back of each stitch to bring me to a total of 60 stitches. I have a theory that some double knitting might be the way I want to go on the body and head of this duck. But of course, I’m hardly an expert knitter, and I might find (shortly) that that isn’t going to work out. Stay tuned….

Updated: Fall Classes at Great Yarns

UPDATED 8-8-2011

Great Yarns Fall Quarter Classes 

August 22 through October 14, 2011

 Call us at 832-3599 to sign up or for more information.

Beginning Crochet:  6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  August 23 & 30 or September 7 & 14. $55.00.  Supplies included.  Learn the fundamentals of crochet! In this 2-part class, we will learn how to make a beginning chain, slip stitch, single crochet, and double crochet, and we will put these stitches to use in making very lovely dishcloths. No previous experience necessary. 

Beginning Knitting:  9:30 to 11:30 a.m.  September 12 & 19. Or 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.   September 15 & 22.   $55.00. You need a new hobby! Beginning Knitting is a newbie friendly class with lots of fun included and a great chance to meet new people.  You will learn (or be refreshed on) the basics of knitting plus tips and support to get you started on TONS of new projects. After this class, scarves, hats, blankets, washcloths, even simple sweaters will be at your fingertips!

Sweater Class- 6:30 to 8:30p.m. -  August 22, 29, September 12, 19, 26 & October 3.  $65.00. Are you willing to go to the next step?  Take your skills to another level and learn to put a sweater together.  Seaming, increasing/decreasing, shaping, selecting what patterns are best for you are all part of this 6 week session. This class is in high demand and a traditional favorite at Great Yarns, don’t hesitate to sign up now.

Fingerless Mitts with Cables:  6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  August 24, 31 & September 9. $50.00. In this class we will learn to cable while knitting a pair of beautiful fingerless mitts! 

Intro to Lace – 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. September 1 & 8.  $50.00.  Lacy scarves and shawls look good on anyone and are incredibly fun to knit, but the patterns can sometimes seem intimidating or daunting. Fear no more! In this class, we’ll learn the basic lace stitches, which all the other lace stitches are based on, and we’ll also learn how to read lace patterns, including how to read charts. In this 2-week course, we’ll get you started on a simple, customizable lace scarf – depending on what yarn you choose, it can be a light-weight accent scarf perfect for a spring or summer evening, or a heavier woolly scarf to keep you warm on a chilly winter night! Supplies not included. 

Intro to Socks ( w/ DPNs) – 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. -  September 6, 13 & 20.  $50.00. A great introduction to making socks and knitting in the round on double-pointed needles! In this basic intro-to-socks class, we’ll work step-by-step through the process of knitting a sock (cuff down) in a simple ribbed pattern, and when we’re done, you can take your new skills home to knit its mate on your own. Supplies not included. 

Cabled Purse: 9:30 to 11:30a.m. September 14 & 21. $45.00. Learn a new technique and take home a beautiful clutch purse with cables, a perfect addition to your wardrobe.  

Magic Loop: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. September 21. $35.00.  Come and learn this exciting method of knitting in the round and free yourself from dpn’s! 

Knit 201: 6:30pm to 8:30 p.m.  September 27 & October 4. $45.00.  Keep making mistakes? Dropped a stitch? Afraid to fix an error?  Come learn how to correct those pesky errors and take your skills to the next level.  

Knitted Toy Doll:  9:30 to 11:30 a. m. September 28, October 5 & 12.  $50.00. Many knitted toys have been the most favored and treasured toys ever created.  You can learn to create these adored items in this class and truly enjoy making knitted dolls for your children and grandchildren.

Fair Isle Goodie Bag with Halloween Design – 6:30 to 8:30pm -September 28, October 5 & 12.   $50.00. Join us in our intro to the Fair Isle/Stranded knitting technique while we knit this adorable Halloween goodie bag! 

Crochet Market Bag: 6:30 to 8:30 pm - September 29 & October 6.  $45.00.  Create a useful crocheted market bag for grocery shopping. This bag is simple yet fun to make. Also great to give as gifts! 

Cast – On Methods (knit): 6:30 to 8:30 pm - October 10. $35.00.  Did you think that there were only one or two ways to cast-on? There are actually many different ways. Come join us for a fun evening as we explore a few of them and learn what situations they are best suited for. 

Learn to Knit Continental: 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.  October 11.  $35.00. Most Americans learn to knit English style – that is, holding the working yarn in your right hand and “throwing” the yarn to create the stitch. However, some people find that Continental style – holding the working yarn steady in your left hand and “picking” the stitches with the right needle – is more efficient and can reduce pain caused by carpal tunnel or tendonitis. In this two-hour workshop, you’ll learn how to knit and purl Continental style. Supplies not included. 

Crochet Granny Squares: 6:30 -8:30 p.m.  October 13.  $35.00. The granny square offers endless possibilities in crochet. Learn how to create the basic granny square, how to create a giant granny square blanket, and how to join smaller squares into an afghan.                        

An Introduction

How did I get here? Well. My name is Erin, and I used to be a regular, non-knitting individual. But all that changed about four years ago. Before then, I thought yarn was vaguely interesting…sort of. Somehow, mysteriously, I got sucked in.

I started knitting when my son was eight months old. I learned from a book, and while I wanted to throw the yarn across the room and use the book as kindling for a fire (I was a leedle frustrated at first), I kept at it. When I had a strip of something that looked like knitting, I felt almost as I did when I first became a mother. “See that? I made that! Isn’t it cute?”

At first I could take it or leave it. I didn’t need to knit all the time, and I didn’t miss it when I had a few minutes’ time and nothing to do. It took me seven attempts to knit a purse. Seven agonizing cast-ons, hours and hours of grinding concentration to make the simple in-wrap-out-off motions of knitting, and seven fraught bind-offs, including my personal favorite, when I figured I could cut the yarn an inch in length after I’d finished, and I watched the entire thing frog itself in .087 seconds. That was attempt #6, by the way. Weirdly enough, I kept at it.

Sometime after that, I don’t know when, I morphed into a knitter. I started visiting the local yarn store, Yarns Etc, more often. I started planning ahead, buying yarn for those “future projects” I had planned (the slippery slope of yarn addiction is very subtle), and sometimes I just bought yarn because it felt too good to go home without it. I started new and daring things like…hats, socks, sweaters. Things meant to fit a human body, and sometimes the results were tragically comic. What better way to underscore the importance of gauge than to spend two months knitting a nightgown that would work better as a cozy for a tractor tire? That little label on the yarn is trying to tell you something, chica!

My son is four now, and I have an almost four-month old daughter, too. My knitting time is scarce, but now I would say I am a Knitter. It is a rare day that I don’t knit for at least a few minutes (I knit while I waited in the hospital to have my daughter—the nurses were very amused, and I think some of them wanted me to get a psych consult). I buy knitting magazines, I’m on a knitting and crocheting social network (Ravelry holla! If you haven’t been there, you must go), and one of my most favorite moments in life right now is the second I walk in the door at Yarns Etc, and just look from wall to wall at all the cubbies full of fuzzy skeins that scream, “take me home!”



When did you become a knitter, Knitter, or knit enthusiast? Or even...a crocheter???

I don’t get to come to Yarns etc as much as I’d like to lately, but I am always greeted like an old friend when I show up with my wee people. My son loves Mary’s thoughtful assortment of toys (and I appreciate them, too), and has even knit a little bit. My daughter is becoming alert enough to see all those beautiful colors on the shelves…perhaps she will become addicted to the art of knitting and crochet, too?

A few days ago, Mary had asked me if I would be interested in writing for the store’s blog, and I leapt at the chance. Hmmm, let me think…talking about yarn, knitting, my favorite store, and do it weekly. Gee…um…YEAH!

So that's how I got here. I want to talk about yarn, fiber, cool stitches, beautiful projects, and all the fun things that are arriving at Great Yarns and Yarns etc. I want to make your mouths water and your fingers twitch with lots of beautiful pictures of projects and yarns.

New Bags

We just got these great drawstring project bags in both stores! There are 2 sizes and many colors to hold all of your projects. They are printed on both sides with "KEEP CALM AND CARRY YARN"

A good slogan to live by -don'tcha think?

SPRING SCHEDULE FOR GREAT YARNS

New schedule for classes at Great Yarns right here!

Basket Workshop

Last Sunday a bunch of us knitters got together and learned how to make baskets! We all learned a lot about the craft of basket making and we all were very happy with our finished work.

Beth and Rebecca are hard at work weaving the last few rounds of their baskets.

Ann and Vickie are almost finished!

More Basket Progress!

Here is a finished Basket! We all really enjoyed our class and our baskets that were all unique to us. We were all happy to go back to our knitting too!