What To Do If You're Not Getting Gauge

I'm a regular reader of the Glenna Knits blog.  She's a Canadian sweater designer (who loves cables) and avid sock knitter.  Her blog posts are often instructive and informative.  This latest one has some very valuable advice about getting gauge and how to make adjustments to get a sweater that fits and is the fabric you want so I thought I'd share it with you since, despite the current heat and humidity, sweater weather is on the way.  Click the link below for a short lesson in getting gauge.  (Don't panic, it involves swatches.)

What to do if You're Not Getting Gauge

Pack 'Em Up

The August meeting of the Bay Lakes Knitting Guild is tomorrow Thursday, August 13 at 6:00 for help from the Knit Doctor, then the meeting starts at 6:30.  Since it's summertime, we'll be knitting in Jackson Square Park across the street from our usual meeting place.  Bring a lawn chair.  (As always, we'll move indoors if it's rainy, windy, chilly, or too buggy.)

But I'm mostly writing this blog post and sending it around to all of you so that those of us who made a Yarn Bowl at the July meeting and event remember to pack up your yarn bowl and bring it along so we can ooh! and ahh! over them all.  Even if it didn't turn out exactly the way you hoped it would bring it anyway, we won't know the difference.

See you there!

Are You Thinking About A Design?

I have to confess, I'm kind of on a stitch dictionary buying jag lately.  AT gave me Barbara G. Walker's Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns last spring and then I found Barbara G. Walker's Charted Knitting Designs in hardcover, no less, at Goodwill about the same time.  (Does anyone have the yellow covered paperback from Schoolhouse Press that I could compare my hardcover to?)  Then at the Yarn Bowl event PH gave me a poster with mosaic knitting swatches on it she'd used to teach a class, the patterns coming from the Barbara Walker Treasuries and the dam broke.

People, I am on a stitch jag.  I found a cable that looks like a tree and a mosaic pattern that looks like a person.  Can I join them in something?  I don't know but I think I'm going to try.  I might have to buy stock in Post-It Notes, I have so many pages marked.

What all of this blabbering is leading up to is I want to point out a couple of the websites I've listed under "Websites & Pattern Links" in the right column of the blog.

In "The Weekly Stitch" the blogger has posted a video of a different stitch every week since 2011.  I found the site in late December 2014 and at the end of January 2015 she announced that she's taking a break.  I thought "oh great, as soon as I find you you quit" but then I realized that she didn't erase all four years of stitch videos, she's just not making new ones.  I haven't seen them all but the ones I have looked at are excellent.  Check it out.

The other site is "Purl Avenue" which has a stitchinary, not videos but good, clear directions and sharp-focus pictures, and some free patterns that look interesting.  Do you make hats or mittens for charity?  Pick one of the stitches and put a column of it up the mitten backs or up one side of the hat.  Smack a square of some fascinating stitch at each end of the next garter stitch scarf you knit.

These two sites are just the tip of the iceberg of information and inspiration available FREE online for your knitting pleasure.  Take a scroll through them the next time you need to make a baby blanket or your mother-in-law wants a shawlette and take one of the stitches out for a spin.  Make a resolution to find a new stitch and knit a dishcloth using that stitch once a month.  You'll build up a supply of excellent dish and washcloths, have a quick hostess gift handy, and something all ready for the Dischcloth Swap at the December BLKG meeting.  What a great idea I just had!  You'd be a fool not to take it and run with it.    I'd be a fool not to grab that idea and run with it.

I've been knitting since June 2007 and until the BLKG Design-A-Thon in 2014 I'd never so much as deviated from a pattern.  Oh, I'd pick my own colors but I was a slave to the pattern, stitch count, row count, stitch pattern.  I make a "knitting resolution" every year and 2014's was to learn to cable better so I swatched a bunch of cables, figured out a basic shape and stitch count to make fingerless mitts, and slapped my chosen cable on the side opposite the thumb.  I must have knit the first one ten times, but I persisted and had mitts and a written pattern to enter.  I didn't win.  I didn't expect to win, but I had a pair of cabled mitts that I'd designed myself and a new bravery when it came to my knitting.

All of this is a roundabout way to say, "Hey, be a little brave and try a new stitch, and maybe design something simple and enter it next time."  It's only knitting, you guys, you can unravel it if it goes bad and no one will ever know.  Plus, as KW says, knitting yarn twice halves the cost so you're getting double value for your yarn dollar!  See you at the August 13 meeting in the park across from First United Methodist Church, our regular meeting place, unless it's raining and then we'll be indoors in our regular room.

An Excellent Evening Despite the Drizzle

The weather didn't cooperate for the BLKG's annual picnic--again--even though we pushed it back into June hoping for less rain.  Fifteen hardy knitters made the trip south of DePere to Echota Gardens and it was well worth the trip.  Echota looks like a gardening or decorating magazine feature article with flowers and succulents planted in salvaged and reclaimed oddities like cowboy boots and old coffee pots.

 




The clubhouse/party room was perfect for our meal with lots of seating, a bar, and a covered pool table with ample space for all the potluck goodies.  President Julie started a round of "You know you're a knitter if..." with "you ask your husband to bring your knitting bag and he asks which one."  We heard about having multiple pairs of the same size needles and yet being unable to find a matching pair.   About having many UFOs and WIPs all over the house and hiding, uh, stashing yarn everywhere.  About making sure you have your knitting before a trip to the ER and you're the one on the gurney.  I wish I'd written all of them down but there was too much laughter.

There were chickens to see and even a baby donkey.  Plants and planters were examined and bought.  It was only right since we got to use the room for free and the business wasn't even open to the public.  

You're really sorry you couldn't make it, but I hope to see you next month at Paintin' Pottery & Bead It even if you're not making a yarn bowl.  Come and kibbitz.

BLKG Picnic

I got an email from Events Chair, Kathy Potter with all the details about the Picnic so I'm passing it all on to you.

"The BLKG picnic will be held on Thursday, June 11th from 5:30 PM to 8:30-ish.  We will gather at Echota Gardens -- rain or shine.  (Click the link to their website, click "About Us" where you'll find a map to their location.)

Everyone should bring either a salad, a bread, or a dessert to share.  Bring your own beverage (spirits are allowed), a chair (if you can, there will be seating in the lodge), your imagination for a gardening project, and a smile.  The Guild will provide plates, plastic silverware, and napkins.

Chris, the owner, is a Leinenkugel beer fan.  If anyone has a beer holder mitt they'd be willing to donate that we could leave with him, I think he would love it.  Let Kathy know if you have you can contribute.

If there is anyone who has not signed up yet, send an email to kpotter(at)gmail(dot)com." 




The July 9th meeting will be held at Paintin' Pottery & Bead It, 520 George St. in DePere from 5 PM to 8 PM.  We will be making the yarn bowls that we signed up for at the last meeting.  The cost is $25 per person ($36 for those who wanted the large bowl) which includes everything needed to make a bowl.  Click the link to their website for directions and click Gallery for glazing ideas.  There is a coffee shop there as well, with some good decaf brews, so even if you're not making a bowl bring your knitting and come knit while we glaze.  Email Kathy (address above) with any questions.

Kathy emailed those of us that signed up at the meeting that it'd be a good idea to stop in to pay for our bowl and maybe pick out glazes or paints to save time that night.  I think that's a terrific idea.  We don't want a traffic jam at the cash register to interfere with our creativity now, do we?

Five Years of Bay Lakes Knitting Guild Fun

President Julie recapped many of the fun things we've done, guests we've hosted, and techniques we've learned over the years.  Here are the Charter Members at last week's meeting.

There have been three Yarn Crawls: one to Milwaukee yarn shops in 2012, one to Madison in 2014, and last month's visit to Xpressions Bead & Yarn and then the Alpaca Fiber Fest.

We had one Knit-Away weekend to the Landmark in Door County and a Knit-Away day to the St. James Inn in DePere where we all made shelf elves.

For knitting in public, we've gone to Stitch 'n Pitch Brewer games, Timber Rattler games, and Bullfrog games, plus we knit in the park across from our regular meeting place in the summer.

Guests have been many and varied:  Ann from Shepherd's Purse talked about Free-form Knitting, Melissa and Jessie of Hello Purl talked about taking fiber from Lamb to Yarn and brought spinning wheels for us to try, Jane from Autumn Larch Farm gave a presentation on her farm, sheep, and wool, and brought soaps and garlic that she produces, Wayne from LondonDairy Alpacas came with yarn, roving, and designs, Melissa from Green Yarn Company brought reclaimed yarns and talked about repurposing found sweaters and even shredding old jeans to make yarn,  Sean French, a Physical Therapist, Strength and Conditioning Specialist, taught us how to avoid pain and numbness from overusing muscles.

Program Topics have been just as fun and interesting.  We've learned how to "read" our knitting, how to read patterns and charts, even how to write patterns.  There have been programs on Increases and Decreases, I-cord Bind off, EZ's sewn Bind off, Seaming, German Short Rows, Finishing Techniques in Crochet, How to use Ravelry, Yarn Storage, State Fair Knitting, Knitting with Beads, Knitting with Wire, Magic Looping, the Barbara Walker Project, a whole knitting bag's worth of Cast Ons, and many more.

For the last two years we've had a Design-A-Thon that challenged us to try our hands at making up a design, knitting it, and writing the pattern to share with the Guild.  It's been both scary and exhilarating.  You should try it.  Come on, even a dishcloth in a cool stitch counts.

We've knitted preemie hats, baby hats, chemo hats for veterans, afghans for newly christened babies, mittens for cold schoolkid hands, and given it all away.

Our December meetings are filled with laughter as we share a potluck of salads and desserts, then exchange dishcloths while listening to A Knitter's Night Before Christmas.  That's one meeting you shouldn't miss.

It has been a fun five years and I can't wait to see what comes in the next five.  Knit on!

It's BLKG's 5th Anniversary!

1st Anniversary Cake

Unbelievable, I know, but Bay Lakes Knitting Guild has been connecting, educating, and entertaining knitters for five years this month.  I read President Julie's letter in the newsletter this month (thanks, Beth!) that she has fun things planned for the meeting.  (She mentioned a big decorated cookie--I'm in!)  Here's what she had to say:

"I have dug through the Knitting Guild's record book and I've found some interesting things in there.  I'll do a recap of some of the events of the last 5 years.  I'll also have a summary of some of the programs we have done.  My, what we have learned!  Come and enjoy!

We'll have an open forum-type meeting with our regular Show and Tell along with Yarn Crawl Show and Tell.  Can't wait to see the treasures from Xpressions Yarn and Bead and the WI Alpaca & Fiber Fest.

Even if you didn't participate in the Yarn Crawl, I would still like to invite you to make the Like Magic Knit Scarf for an upcoming Show and Tell.  It would be a lot of fun to see the same project made by different knitters."                                                                                                                                                                                                               --Julie Lefevre

I agree that it would be fun to see the same project made by a bunch of us.  I printed off the pattern and checked my Ravelry stash to see what sport yarns I have with the yardage the pattern requires.  (I'm determined to knit from stash all year if I can.)  I've read and reread the pattern and it seems fairly straightforward.  Now all I need are about 325 size 6/0 beads and I can play along.  (Hmm, I wonder if I might have some beads that size... I don't have many beads but I should go look.) Think about playing along too.  This looks like a great "summer" project--because who wants a lap full of wool in the summer?

Are you working on a "stash" project?  (Last month's President's Corner suggestion.)  I resurrected a sweater that I started in 2010.  The back was done, the front almost done, and I had started the cuffs 2-at-a-time.  In her President's letter, Julie said she had a gauge issue with her stash project, had ripped and restarted twice.  I had a measurement issue in that the armholes of the front were about 1 1/4" shorter than the armholes of the back.  Oops.  I thought they were the same until I blocked the pieces, laid them one on top of the other and discovered the problem.  (This is a powerful argument in favor of blocking before seaming up.)  It was an easy fix to frog back the shoulder decreases, slide in a lifeline (for easy measuring), and knit up to where it was supposed to be in the first place, THEN do the shoulder decreases.  I finished the sleeves on Tuesday so the sleeves and fixed front got an overnight soak in wool wash then this morning I patted them into shape to dry.  I had hoped to have it finished for next Thursday's Show and Tell but once the pieces are dry I have to seam the shoulders, knit the collar, then seam the sleeves on and sew the sides, so maybe not a whole finished sweater by Thursday but close.  Not to brag (okay, yes, I'm bragging, I admit it), I resurrected another WIP from 2010 (was that the "year of abandoned projects?") to knit on while the sweater parts dry.