Hamptons Halter

Pattern: Hamptons Halter from Twinkle's Big City Knits

Yarn: Twinkle Cruise #36 Mauve (sort of a milk chocolate brown)

Comments: I loved doing this knit and love the finished product. Cruise is an absolutely luscious yarn (60% silk, 40% cotton) with a beautiful drape. Seven days from start to finish.

Caution #1: If you do any of the patterns in the book that call for the Cruise, you are supposed to hold four strands of the yarn together. Do not try to knit from 4 balls! It creates a big tangled mess. It is much better to take the four strands from their respective yarn cakes and wind the four strands into one giant ball.

Caution #2: Go to the Classic Elite Website and print out the errata for the book. Their are quite a few corrections.

Something Red

Pattern: Something Red by Wendy Bernard at Knit and Tonic

Yarn: Rowan Calmer #463 Calmer - 5 balls

Comments: Wonderful pattern, but I made a wrong yarn choice. Calmer, which is one of my all time favorite yarns, just doesn't have enough body for this pattern. It would have turned out much better in a heavier, less spongy, yarn. I'll still wear it though because it is very comfy.

TNNA and a new KAL

Sheryl and I are back from our whirlwind trip to TNNA (the yarn market). We had already done all of our fall yarn purchasing through our travelling reps, so we concentrated on seeing what was new in patterns and accessories.

I was really jazzed about the new Amy Butler knitting bags. The opening order was really high so we couldn't invest in them right then, but I hope to pick them up for the shop in the near future. We did by the new Namaste bag which resembles a yoga mat bag. VERY different and cool.

We bought new patterns from designers we love: Stitch Diva, Glampyre, Chris Bylsma, Knitting Pure & Simple, Oat Couture to name a few. Phoenix Bess is a new designer that we picked up that has some really cool designs.

We saw a LOT of handpainted yarns at the show. To take advantage of those yarns, the yarn companies are doing a lot of colorwork pieces. Mainly entrelac and modular knitting. We will be doing some classes on both in the upcoming months.

We got to hang out with some of our favorite people at the show as well. It was awesome to catch up with the French Girl (Kristeen Griffin-Grimes). Not only is she an amazing designer, but she is a very interesting person and a great friend. I can't wait to travel with her in France! Y'all should go over and read Sheryl's Blog to hear about us rubbing elbows with the Crochet elite as well.

Finally, I'll leave you with a new Knit-a-Long I started. I've been obsessed with the new book Twinkle's Big City Knits since we got it in the store. I've started a blog for it at www.twinklealong.blogspot.com. You can see the designs from the book here. I plan to knit the Hamptons Halter, the Karate Sweater, and the Rockefeller Sweater. I got the yarn for all three on Friday! She has a very modern sense of fashion, which I find lacking in a lot of knitting design. Go check it out!