December is a fun time at Lettuce Knit.  The store is chock full of beautiful yarns in every conceivable colour.  Come on in and be blown away.

We’re still tweaking the class schedule but it’s pretty much up.  Book early because winter classes fill up quickly.  We have a lot of new types of classes and way more for Crocheters.

December Events

Holiday Party - Preparations are underway for our holiday party which is taking place on December 18th from 6:00-10:00 pm.  There will be a charge for the party of $15/person which will also be your ballot for the door prize.  All the money will be donated in equal shares to the Daily Bread Food Bank and to Sistering.  We will also be selling raffle tickets for additional prizes, and if you were there last year, you know there are lots of prizes.  Again, all the proceeds are going to charity.  We are grateful to our vendors, artists and staff for their donations.

Queer Stitch Night - We’ll once again be having our Queer Stitch Night on Dec. 15th.  We welcome all our queer and queer friendly customers.  Queer Stitch Night is like our regular Stitch Nights — pot luck, hang out & stitch.

Boxing Day Sale - Our Boxing Day sale is actually a weekend long this year, beginning December 27th through to December 29th.  We’ll be closed for inventory on December 30th but open on December 31st.

No Stitch Night on January 1st - Since we won’t be open on January 1st, we’ll need to skip that stitch night.  We’ll resume Stitch Night on January 8th.

Gift Ideas

There’s are a few weeks left before Xmas.

• We have knitting boards that are appropriate for all ages.  Brenna is pictured below in a cowl that Ange made.  We have Sock Knitting boards, regular knitting boards, and even board large enough for blankets.
• Our shipment of Schacht Cricket Looms should come in this week in 10″ and 15″, that were were a huge hit last year.  Daf Summers (Farmable Fibres) is teaching our weaving classes.
• The Doctor Who sock and scarf kits have come in.
• The Rainbow bundle Blueberry Pie Studio Box of Crayons come with a project bag.
• Tulip Sweater kits from Dream in Color.
• Our Art Yarn Meow collection is as popular as I anticipated it would be.  The BFL is extraordinary.
• Fancy That Stitch Markers & Shawl Pins
• Project Bags
• Needle sets — straight, DPN, circulars & hooks
• Yarn, yarn, yarn & more yarn!!!

Our new class list is posted.  See you soon!

10 & 15 Inch Cricket Looms by Schacht

Gleener

I’ve got quite a story for you.  On the weekend of 21-22 September last or so, a lady came in with a beautiful dog.  I fawned over the dog while she looked at yarn.  She was specifically looking for yarn to make a wrap for her daughter in law — the Square One Wrap.  She’d made one apparently for herself in alpaca and now wanted to make one for her daughter in law.  She mentioned that it was from an old Vogue magazine.

I pointed her to Illimani Royal I and the Illimani Silky Llama.  She looked around with a promise to return with her daughter in law and the actual wrap.  As a retailer, we hear that people will come back all the time.  We rarely ever see them again.  Brenna and I looked at the Square One wrap on Ravelry and weren’t overly impressed.

But the lady came back with her daughter in law about an hour later and the wrap!!!!!!!!!!!  OMG the picture on Ravelry doesn’t do it justice one bit.  I had to have one!  I’ve been known to be like a dog with a bone; I wanted it now!  She promised to drop off the pattern.  Whether she did or not, I couldn’t wait.  I tweeted asking if anyone had the pattern from this old issue of Vogue (1991).  I wrote to the designer, brioche designs’ queen, Nancy Marchant.  Nancy couldn’t sell it to me because she’d sold the rights to Soho Publishing.  In the meantime, I got a pdf of the pattern from someone who had responded to my plea on Twitter.  I didn’t feel right about using that version thought since my making the wrap, I knew, would create demand, and well, I’m a yarn store owner and pirating patterns is wrong.

So I wrote to my contact Jamie at Soho Publishing, publishers of Vogue Knitting magazine.  Jamie sold me the same pdf that I’d received so I was off to the races.  Alvaro from Illimani comped the yarn.  Now I’ve begged and pleaded with Soho Publishing to make the pattern available on Ravelry for you guys and they’re working on it.  In the meantime, you can buy the pattern from us, or from Jamie at Soho Publishing.  The information is on the Ravelry link.

Anyhoo… I cast on and ribbed, and ribbed and ribbed to the first mitered corner, and ribbed and ribbed and ribbed, and then made a mistake and ripped out 2-1/2 balls’ worth of yarn and ribbed and ribbed and ribbed again to first the mitered corner, right this time, and continued…  I got to the point where I had the second corner done and bam, I could wear and knit the second panel — welcome Instant Gratification.  Everywhere I went, I was wearing this wrap and knitting the second panel.

Except there were to be three mitered corners, not just two.  Well the problem with the pdf copy of the pattern is that the instructions aren’t that visible so I only made two mitered corners.  That’s fine though for a petite, curvy five foot one and three-quarters (yes I insist on the 3/4 inch) woman.  The result is spectacular!  If I was tall, I’d want the three mitered corners.

So yesterday, I hung the wrap on the judy in the store and w’ve already sold the pattern several times along with yarn quantities.    It takes 6-8 skeins of worsted weight yarn depending on whether you will make two or three mitered corners.  I want to make it again, this time in a more vibrant colour.  The Silky Llama I used makes it spectacular because of the drape and shine.  In fact, as I was knitting the final inch of the wrap while in the underground on Bay Street, a lady asked me how much it would cost to buy from me. I explained that it was about $120 worth of yarn but because of the time I’d put in, it would be around $1,000!  She offered me $950 on the spot.  I refused of course because that would defeat the purpose.  But that’s how good and rich this thing looks and it’s easy TV knitting — just my thing!  My version of it took about a month to knit working a full time job on top of the store, and I had the flu and fever for three days.  Mind you, I am a one trick pony ….  It could be a much quicker knit for someone else, and what an amazing Xmas gift it would make!

My recommendation for yarn for this project is to go with something that is not going to pill too much.  A merino is nice but a silk blend is nicest.  The silky llama I used is perfect because of the weight and the drape.  The original version Brenna and I saw was made of Alpaca and it was very pilly.  I also think that a mohair mix would look stunning.  In terms of price range, you can probably make the Instant Gratification project for as little as $54+tax for a Cascade 220 or Berroco Vintage right up to $192+tax for a more luxurious yarn such as ZYG Serenity worsted.  As I said previously, the version I made would be $120+ tax using Illimani Silky Llama.

Happy Knitting!