Sunday, January 11, 2015

Madison Knitters' Guild Knit In and Knitting Galore!


Hi, Knitters,
The classes and registration information is up for the Madison Knitters' Guild Knit In! I am teaching on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 21 and 22, 2015 at the Alliant Energy Center (or the Coliseum for the old-school Madisonians) in Madison. There are so many great teachers and a fantastic marketplace. The prices are very reasonable for the classes, many places I teach charge double or even triple the class fees being charged at the Knit In. Some of the teachers include Patty Lyons, Joanna Johnson, Sheryl Thies and Annie Modesitt. There are many others instructors with interesting and fun class offerings.



I'm off to New York City in a few days to teach at Vogue Knitting Live. I can't wait. In addition to teaching on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I am speaking on a panel discussion at noon on Sunday. The panel is being led by Trisha Malcolm the editor of Vogue Knitting. And on Saturday night I am doing a book signing at the Knitty City booth #710 in the marketplace at 5pm!

A couple of my classes have been sold out but this keeps coming and going so I think numbers are still shuffling about. If a class is sold out be sure to request the class you are interested in. Sometimes I can change the numbers to allow more in the class if they aren't already too high. It's worth contacting the people at Vogue to check.

It's going to be a jam-packed weekend of fun. Click here to find out more about VKLive in NYC!

I am also teaching at Vogue Knitting Live in Pasadena, California in April! 

Now for the socks in the photo above. I finished these last week and I love them. The yarn is from ColoringBookYarns on Etsy and the colorway is BMO. The heels are knit in Opal Solids in Black. These were really fun to knit. The yarn is wonderful.

Needles: US size 1 dpns
Sock blockers: From theloopyewe.com

To make the heel flap a different color I leave the Main Color attached and start knitting the heel flap with the Contrast Color. I work the heel flap and turn with the Contrast Color and cut the yarn. Then I go back to where I left off with the Main Color and continue on picking up the gusset stitches. It works well to not break up the striping pattern on the rest of the sock and if you are concerned about not having enough yarn it gives a little more leeway.


As for an in-progress knitting update, I finished the first sock in the most fantastic rainbow gradient I've ever seen. The yarn is called Rainbow Gradient and it comes in the Gradients Matching Socks Sets by KnitCircus. It is truly beautiful and I love that the two yarn cakes are exactly the same so my socks will match perfectly without having to do any extra work.

US size 1 dpns

I knit an 8-inch cuff in hopes that I would reach all of the colors and it worked. I could have gone with a 9-inch cuff. I wear a 7.5 US women's shoe size. 


I started a pair of Broken Seed Stitch Socks yesterday. The pattern is free on Ravelry.


I am knitting them out of some really old Koigu that I purchased at Purl Soho maybe 8 years ago when I was in NYC on an early book tour. I lost the label so that's all I know about it. The contrast is a tan color in the Opal Solid Series. The combination is a good one. 

I don't like pooling at all so the contrast color and stitch pattern is a good mask for variegated yarns that pool. You can see that the rusty color is pooling but it actually looks kind of cool using this pattern. I'll keep you posted on my progress.


Lastly, I finally got started on a shawl project I am collaborating on with Jaala Spiro, the dyeing genius at Knit Circus Yarns. I am using the Come What May Gradient that comes in a 600 yard skein. I can't tell you how much fun this is to knit. I have a good start with a little easy lace and we'll see where this takes me. I have lots of ideas about how the shawl will grow from here.

Click here to see this skein on Knit Circus Yarns on Etsy!

I'm not sure when the new pattern is going to be released but I am hoping in the next couple months. I'll post about it when it is available.

Have a great Sunday! It's all about the Packers around here today (not for me so much but for other members of the family).
xo ~ susan