Washing Your Wool and Blocking

Hi Knitters,
Do you wash your wool? I do and often. I have become a regular wool washing convert. If there is one good point I want to get across in this post it is that washing your 100% wool knit items is incredibly simple and produces gorgeous finished projects. In fact, even when I have knit a garment in superwash wool, I still wash it by hand as if it is regular wool because I don't want it to stretch out. I enjoy giving my handknits gentle attention and extra care. Plus, it is easy.

You don't need to be intimidated by the care involved for wool garments or accessories. It is a snap to wash and block. Blocking is actually kind of fun. If you follow some simple, easy steps you will be a wool washing convert, too. The results of the washing and blocking of the 100% wool yarn is a match made in heaven. The wool fibers relax, the fabric becomes softer and the stitches even out. It is a beautiful thing.

I am going to take you step-by-step through the washing and blocking of the shawl I finished called, Piper's Journey by Paul Emons-Fuessle of the Knitting Pipeline Podcast. It is knit in the 100% American wool by Quince & Co. in the Chickadee base which is a dk weight. The colorway is Icelandic, which is a beautiful heather gray.

I will link all information about the knits and everything I use today to wash and block my shawl at the end of the post.

Step 1: (photo above)
Pull out all of the things you will need to wash and block your item before you start. In this case I used blocking boards, flexible blocking wires and pins, wool wash, and a tub for soaking.

Step 2: 
Pour a little of your wool wash in your tub and fill the tub with lukewarm or room temperature or cold water if that makes you more comfortable. I use lukewarm water. I don't measure the amount of soap. I like lots of suds and I love the smell of the Soak so I am generous when squeezing that bottle to add the soap. I fill enough water to cover the item I am washing.

Step 3: Place the item to be washed in the tub.

Step 4: 
Gently squish your woolly knit into the soapy water so it saturates and seeps into the fibers of the yarn.

Step 5: 
Let your item soak for at least 20 minutes or so. Here is a place in the process where I fudge around quite a bit. For this project, I ended up making lunch for my son and husband and came back to my soaking shawl about an hour later. It's all fine! Some people soak their items for a lot longer than I do.

Step 6:
While your woolly knit is soaking in the wool wash, set up your blocking area. I pieced the blocking boards together and got my wires ready to go.

Step 7:
After the item has soaked long enough I gather it up and gently squeeze it over the tub to get the excess water out. I don't rinse the Soak out at all. I love the scent and it conditions the wool and dries beautifully. It is like leave-in conditioner for your hair. After gently squeezing I place the knit item in a clean towel and gently squeeze it again. It is still wet at this point, just not dripping.

Step 8:
I carefully spread out the item on the blocking board.

I am going to specifically talk about this shawl now. The designer, Paula, said she gently blocked her shawl so really you could leave the blocking at that and just let it dry. It looked beautiful without adding any pins or wires. It's really up to you.

Here is another photo of the shawl without pins or wires. It already looks great.

Step 9: Adding Pins and Wires
I started at the ends of the shawl and added a couple of pins to hold them in place. This just seemed like a logical place to start.

Next, I really wanted to stretch out the lace edging to show it off to its full effect. I started at the center of the outer edge. Using one flexible wire, I threaded it through each garter ridge along the edge of the lace and continued threading until I got to the end on one side.

Then I added another wire starting at the center and threaded it through in the same way along the outer edge until I got to the other end. Next, I started adding pins just inside the wire to hold and secure the shape I wanted for the shawl. These flexible blocking wires are fantastic for round shaped shawls. I also have straight blocking wires that are great for straight edges.

Above is the finished shawl with pins and blocking wires pulling the lace out quite tight. I didn't measure or worry about it being exact in any way. I just used my eye and it worked out wonderfully. Some people like to measure to make sure things are even and perfect and that's good, too.

I didn't pin or use wires on the neck edge of the shawl. I didn't think it needed anything.

You can see how the pins pull the wire out to really open up the lace edging. It was nice and tight.

I just wanted to share the beautiful stretched garter stitch in the light and airy Chickadee. I love this yarn more than I can say. It is simply gorgeous.

Step 10: 

Let it dry! Now comes the test of patience. You have to wait it out until that yarn is completely dry. I like to put a fan on my blocking items. You will be amazed at how much this speeds up the process of drying.

Wait, wait, wait!

Step 11:
After your item is completely dry (this shawl dried very quickly but I left it overnight), carefully remove the pins and pull out the wires.

Next up? Check back to see my finished Piper's Journey Shawl!

Links to the items used in this post:
Quince & Co. Chickadee yarn
Piper's Journey shawl pattern
Soak Wool Wash
Soak Basin
Inspinknity flexible blocking wires
Knitter's Block blocking boards

I hope this was informative and helpful.
best, susie

Knit Nest & I finished something!

Hi Knitters,
Well, I am taking you back to Key West today to share the little knit shop we found there. First though, I have to share another message I received from Rose at Cakewalk Yarns. Apparently, you all love the Cherry Blossom colorway as much as I do but I also have noticed other colorways flying out of Rose's shop. I have wanted the Smirk colorway in sock yarn for a long time. I saw it pop up in the shop and came back a short while later to purchase it and it was gone! I'll keep my eye out for the next batch. The other colorway/yarn I have been eyeing is called Brooklyn in the worsted weight, that could make a fun knit, too.

Anyway, you can see that I am still not over Cakewalk Yarns yet. Click here for her Etsy shop! Here is Rose's message from last Monday where she is thanking me but really she should be thanking all of you for ordering.

Another even BIGGER Thank You

Sent at 3:13 PM April 15, 2012

Hi Susan!

Whew!! I had to send my husband out for more printer toner so I could keep churning out mailing labels….the orders just keep coming! Let’s just say, your readers are loving your Cherry Blossom socks.

I want to thank you again for being so kind to share your socks & the yarns in your stash with your readers. I’m very grateful for your kind words & your willingness to help along a little business like mine. Its true, knitters ARE nice.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! -- Rose

Now onto to the tropical yarn shop adventure. I didn't even think about finding a yarn shop on our trip to Key West but we stumbled upon the sign in the photo above. Then I had to check it out with TC in hand.

To get to the shop you had to climb some steps where there was a raised row of shops. The shop is called Knit Nest. TC and I asked the owner, Curtis Noon, for permission to take photos. He was very friendly and didn't mind a bit.

The spacious shop had these black shelves with the yarn organized by color. It was pretty and an interesting way to sort through the yarns.

The pattern rack shown here contains the owner's patterns I believe. He was knitting while we were in the shop and from what I gathered he creates a lot of shawls and accessories.

There was some interesting yarn in the shop including this multi-colored hank of yarn. This is actually a kit to make the Bias Shawl. This one big hank is 600 yards of separate skeins creatively put together.

There were different colorways for the kit. I guess you get the pattern included when you purchase the yarn. I didn't see the actual shawl or pattern but I like the idea of this kit.

There was a lot of art yarn and novelty yarn including quite a bit of sequins and beads and fringe but along with that there was plenty of wool, alpaca and even sock yarn.  The art yarns totally make sense in this climate. You would never wear a full-on wool sweater here but light shawls and scarves with sparkle would be perfect year round.

These adorable handmade bags propped up on a ledge caught my eye.

TC enjoyed browsing around. She is one who really enjoys sparkly yarns (hence the sequin butterfly on the back of her shirt) so she was in the right place. We had lots of fun and spent a good chunk of time perusing the shelves.

I ended up bringing home this sweet gray and yellow bag, one of my favorite color combinations. Is this Amy Butler fabric? I recognize it but can't quite place it. I love this new project bag so much. I also picked up a gorgeous hank of variegated green Colinette Jitterbug as a gift for Miss Molly. TC and I debated a long time on what to get her until we found the perfect skein. I don't have a photo of that one since Miss Molly already has her yarn.

I love the inside of the bag and the sturdiness of the sides and the straps. It sits open so well. It is beautifully and meticulously made. I think it could hold a shawl, scarf, baby project, socks... you could fill this one up with a medium-sized project for sure.

The bag is made by Noreen Emmel from Stewartstown, PA. She doesn't have a website listed on the tag but her email is: nwemmel@yahoo.com. You could email her if you are interested in a bag or contact the Knit Nest in Key West.

For the Knit Nest here is the contact information:
Click here for the website!
Knit Nest
Owner: Curtis Noon
218 Whitehead Street, Key West, Florida, 33040
Phone: 305.295.7565
Email: info@nestkeywest.com

Knit Nest was a fun little knitterly discovery. While we were in the shop there was a group of British ladies perusing the yarns. They were really fun and quite chatty and kept the owner busy. I think they came off a cruise ship and headed straight for the yarn shop, which I admire. They were into the baby knits mainly.

I was going to post about the Knit Nest yesterday but I became completely obsessed with finishing the project you see above. The project is the Piper's Journey shawl, designed by the lovely Paula of the Knitting Pipeline, knit in the completely endearing sweetness of Quince & Co.'s Chickadee (even the yarn name is sweeter than sweet). I used the Icelandic colorway, a pretty heathered gray.

I kept kidding myself that I was almost done with the applied lace edging when I really wasn't even close to being done. I was maybe a quarter or an eighth of the way through when I picked it up later on Sunday. Really I had the entire edging to complete. It took me hours to finish the edging on Sunday and Monday but I was on a mission to finish. I could not put it down and I enjoyed every stitch along the way. I was so excited to bind off yesterday, I can't even tell you.

I will have lots more about the Piper's Journey coming up, including blocking and final product photos. It is one of the best projects I have ever knit. You may just want one for yourself.

Have a great Tuesday, everyone.
best, susie

Vacation Sock Madness and More News...

Hi Knitters,
I am going to quickly talk about a couple of the news items first. I am teaching one class on Saturday, April 14th, 2012, in Madison, Wisconsin, at the Knit Circus Retreat. There are still a couple of spots available if you'd like to join me. There are a few other classes with openings, too. Hope to see you there.

Click here for the Knit Circus Retreat Class information!  

One more quick thing I want to mention is that I noticed yesterday that my YouTube Channel has just gone over 1,000,000 viewings! That is so incredible and hard to believe. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love doing tutorials and whatnot so I will continue to post videos over there. You can subscribe if you want notices of updates. I don't mention my stuff on YouTube very often so the number of viewings is pretty surprising.

My channel has 42 videos which are mainly tutorials. I started filming at my kitchen table in 2007 with my 15 year old son (he's now 20!) behind the camera. I have had two new camera updates since I started so the picture is little clearer now.

Click here for SusanBAnderson's YouTube Channel!

There is one more news-type item but I'll save it until the end.

Now let's move onto the sock madness of last week. While on vacation, I posted a quick photo of a sock I was working on. I linked the Etsy shop, Cakewalk Yarns. A couple of days later I received a message on Ravelry from the owner of Cakewalk Yarns, Rose, and I asked her if I could share it with you. She said yes, so here it is:

Thank You!!

Sent at 10:29 AM April 7, 2012

Hi Susan!

Well, I’ve hardly had a second to sit down to the computer & thank you properly for mentioning my shop on your blog this week. Droves (and I mean droves!) of your readers have hopped on over to check out my shop - I can’t dye Cherry Blossom fast enough for them :) I am so grateful. I appreciate your kind words & taking the time to show off your socks!

Enjoy the rest of your vacation. --Rose

How fun is that? Yay, Rose! I am so glad to send business your way. For those of you who are keeping Rose busy with your orders, I guarantee you won't be disappointed. I finished the first sock in Cherry Blossom and started the second sock.

Click here for Rose's Cakewalk Yarns shop!

I am crazy over this splattered yarn. It knits up like a dream and the colors come in and out of play in the most pleasing way. Above is the Cherry Blossom colorway which is incredibly sweet and fun.

I used US size 1 Signature Needle Arts double-pointed needles (in the top photo). I used my regular old How I Make My Socks pattern, which I store right in my noggin. That way it is always available.

I have two more skeins waiting to be knit into sock-y madness, one is called, Hero Squad (click here to see it better), and the other is called, Sudden Valley (click here to see the color better). My girls are in love with this yarn so I think I will end up knitting a pair for each of us.

Isn't it the coolest ever? Cakewalk Yarns are so unusual and different. The base is lovely and really thin, kind of a light fingering weight. I love it! Rose has great customer service and she is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Remember the Vesper Candy Corn sock? I made great progress on the second sock on the way home. I finished the gusset decreases and now it will be easy and fast going to the toe. I'll show you when I finish the pair. I have loved this yarn for years and years. It is wonderful.

It is hard to get this yarn and there is some available in the shop right now so jump over if you are interested!

Click here for Vesper Self-Striping Sock yarn! 

Okay, one last sock and sock yarn for today! After I shared my love of self-striping watermelon yarn, I was sent over by a lovely friend of mine, Wendy on Facebook, to this fantastic Etsy shop called, Knitpurlgurl.

Unbelievably so, there is some yarn available in her shop for pre-order right now! Run! This is another difficult to get your hands on yarn.

Click here for the Knitpurlgurl shop on Etsy!

I am absolutely loving this squishy, hearty, rainbow sock yarn. You get a cute themed stitch marker with your order which is a fun touch. You will love this yarn, too. Abi Grasso is an insanely amazing dying talent, I can't understand how she dyes her yarn. It must be so intense. She puts stripes, hearts, gnomes, mushrooms or toadstools, stars and stripes, watermelon stripes, Christmas themes, bunnies..... and more into her patterning sock yarn. I have never seen anything like it.

I have a skein of her heart yarn I got around Valentine's Day (I haven't started those yet) and a skein of her watermelon striping yarn but I really want her snowman yarn.... wish me luck!

Don't miss this shop if you like fun striping and patterning sock yarn like I do!

I finished one sock in the Rainbows and Clouds colorway on vacation. I have had a love of rainbows since childhood so this one is right up my alley.

Click here to see the Rainbows and Clouds sock yarn in the shop!

TC wants these socks for herself in the worst way. We'll see. We may have to share.

If you order from Knitpurlgurl tell Abi I said hi!

Now I'll end with one book and one magazine.

Instead of buying new books for the trip, I went to my book shelf and pulled out a couple of books that I've had for a long time but haven't read. I ended up reading, The Secret Between Us, by Barbara Delinsky on my vacation.

Barbara is a knitter and she so sweetly came to a book signing I had in Boston a few years back in 2007. It was so strange because I had just finished her book, Family Tree, which involves knitting and Madison. I didn't know this before I started reading the book. Also, I had never read a Barbara Delinsky book before Family Tree (which I highly recommend). Then a couple of weeks later I met her. Isn't that strange coincidence?

Anyway, The Secret Between Us, is an intense read that keeps you wondering what will happen next right from the first page on. I could not put it down. It is a riveting story about a single mother trying to cover up a horrible mistake her daughter made. As a mother I immediately could relate to the main character's urge to protect her daughter from harm. It wasn't light reading, it was slightly angst-filled, but very entertaining. There is no swearing or racy-ness, just good character development and story-telling, which is Barbara's clear talent.

I enjoyed the book very much. I read that Barbara has over 25 million books in print. She is doing something right!

I was at Barnes & Noble with TC a couple of days ago. We had a Hunger Games book 3 emergency! I saw the spring issue of Your Knitting Life on the stands. I had heard I was featured in this issue so I picked up a copy.

I did the interview with them way last fall so I had kind of forgotten about it. The brief one-page article is really well-written and good. I had to just share the article title and sub-title with you. I don't know why but I think it is funny. I never imagined myself being known as a "Critter Knitter" but I am good with that.

You just never know where you're going to end up in life, right?

Click here for the Your Knitting Life website!

I know that was really a long post and if you can believe it, I actually took stuff out. I have too much to tell you I guess. Thanks for staying with me to the end.

I'll be back soon with the tropical yarn shop I visited in Key West.
best, susie

Island Life

Hi Knitters,
Today is the first day my house has been empty. Everyone is back to school and work so I am glad to get back to visiting with you. My family and I spent the last week in Key West, Florida. It's a spot we have always wanted to visit but never have before. We took advantage of spring break lining up at the same time this year for all of the schools. All of the kids were able to come on the trip which felt so good.

I was talking to my editor yesterday and he asked what my favorite part of the trip was and I had to say it was my pink cruiser bike with the handy basket. I loved and rode that bike so much all week. Once we got on the island I don't think we drove more than a couple of times the entire week. We walked and biked everywhere. I want one of these bikes at home to keep....

The weather was gorgeous, hot and sunny every single day. We took advantage of a state park just a few blocks down from the place we stayed. It was so beautiful and convenient.

We biked out on this gigantic and colorful pier a couple of times.

It was just stunning in the bright sunshine. One of my sons fished off this pier but didn't have much luck.

TC got a pink bike, too, and Peachy picked a white one. The boys all had black bikes.

We stayed in the Truman Annex which is a spectacularly well-kept area. The Little White House sat directly in front of our condominium, just steps away. It was old-fashioned and sweet looking. Harry Truman spent many vacations here along with other presidents like Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and John Kennedy. There were many other visitors with famous names you'd recognize on the sign outside this historic house. There were many historic buildings and houses everywhere you looked. We went by Ernest Hemingway's house but never went in. It was really pretty.

This is the entrance to our condominium. It was quiet and clean and plenty big for our large family. The building backs up to a fantastic boardwalk which we spent lots of time walking on. There was a local coffee shop and an ice cream shop that we frequented along with other cute little beachy shops along the way.

I just loved all of the colors and brightly painted houses. There was tons of artwork nestled into the community. Mosaics and paintings kept catching my eye in unexpected places. There were also roosters all over the place and cock-a-doodle-doo-ing all of the time. That was amusing to us.

We stayed right on Front Street which, in my opinion, is the prettiest street on the island. It was clean and colorful, lined with beautiful houses (some big, some small) and inns and bed and breakfasts. My favorite thing was the huge front porches and white picket fences on all of the houses. I've always wanted a big front porch like that.

My husband loved these extra-gigantic palm trees. They were impressive.

Cruise ships rolled in and out during the week. This was a foreign cruise ship but we never found out exactly where it came from.

This was the view from our pool, lovely and bluer than blue.

My fisherman son got lots of good fishing time in. He caught quite a few fish and always quickly throws them back in. He loves the water and the ocean.

Peachy loved the trip. She is the fairest of us all so I tried to keep her from getting a sunburn and succeeded this time. That's a full-time job in itself. Three of us have my olive dark skin and the other three have lighter skin that needs closer attention in the sun.

This son is already back at college and I was so glad to have him with us on the trip. The others are back to their real lives as well. The food, sun, water and activity is always fun but the best part of any trip is that we get all of that time together as a family. When I said my bike was my favorite part of the trip earlier? I'd like to change that to having uninterrupted time with my family as my favorite part of the trip. That's a given.

As my kids get older I value these fleeting weeks together more than ever as I know that busy schedules and lives will get in the way more and more as the years go by.

I hope you all had the chance to enjoy your families and dear friends last week, too.

I'll be back very soon with some island knitting.
best, susie