I Want to Ride My Bicycle!

I did it! I bought myself a bike to get around the neighborhood. I thought that this would be a great way to get to the shop each day, go to the grocery store and run other errands. It's the cutest thing you've ever seen, and it coordinates beautifully with The Naked Sheep Knit Shop colors!

Queen songs keep running through my head as I'm riding: "I want to ride my bicycle" and "Fat bottom girls, get on your bikes and ride!" Makes me smile :)

Brad installed my basket yesterday. Now I just need to figure out a secure way to fasten Riley in, and we're off!

Riley's May Sweater

Does this little guy look like he needs a sweater, or what?! Don't worry, Riley; help is on the way! This is Riley's May sweater...he's going to be a sweet little bumblebee. My son, Nick, once remarked that I was embarrasing Riley by dressing him up. To that I replied, be thankful it's not you anymore! I think that Riley secretly enjoys his personal wardrobe! He wants to do his part to support the shop!


My two boys, Cory and Nick, are also big supporters of The Naked Sheep; and they help out any way they can. They wash windows, put away yarn, take out the garbage, and even wear sheep costumes! Oops, I guess I do still get to dress them up!

Ludo, for Brad

This is the sweater that I'm knitting for Brad from Elsebeth Lavold's new pattern book; the pattern is called Ludo. It's an interesting, very easy pattern that gives the illusion of cables.

The pattern calls for Cable Cotton; and I'm using one of the new spring colors (#019 Blue). It's such a fabulous yarn to work with. I love the soft, springy fabric it creates.

I normally have several sweaters going for Brad, but right now I just have this one. I'm hoping to have it finished up for his birthday in July.

I appreciate having a husband who is so supportive of my love for knitting. He doesn't just tolerate wearing things I make for him; he actually enjoys receiving and wearing hand knit sweaters and such! I sometimes have students or customers that say that their spouse or partner would never wear anything they knit (for many different reasons); that makes me sad. But it gives me one more reason to believe that I made the right choice almost 23 years ago!

And Yet Another Sweater for Me

This sweater is on the cover of Elsebeth Lavold's newest pattern book, The Sunny Side Collection. I'm actually knitting 2 sweaters from this book; one for me and one for Brad, my VP of Everything. I'll talk about Brad's sweater next time.

For myself, I'm knitting the wrap sweater shown on the cover. It's called Meadow. I'm using Cotton Frappe, Elsebeth's newest yarn. It's a really cool cotton with a thin polyamide wrap. I chose the variegated color called Meadow Mix. It's knit at 5.5 stitches to the inch, and I had to go down to size 3 needles to get the gauge; I tend to knit loose with cotton yarns. I really love the texture that this double broken rib pattern is creating.

This is one of Elsebeth's better written patterns. Her patterns tend to be vague, with a lot of assumptions. They also tend to have errors. I'm pleasantly surprised with this one. I've finished both sleeves and am to the armhole on the left front.

One of my customers is knitting the same sweater, and we started at the same time. So we decided it would be fun to have a little race. She started on the back and is now working on the left front. I'm saving the back for last. So I'm not sure who is ahead. But it's fun to have a little knitting rivalry going on! Good luck, Cheryl!

Spring Shop Model

This cute little Ribbon Vest is knit with Ischia Silk. I found the pattern in Silk Knits by Elaine Eskesen, a lovely book.

Besides knitting sweaters for myself, my sweet dog and my VP of Everything; I enjoy making shop models for The Naked Sheep. Owning a yarn store definitely feeds my knitting addiction. As new yarns and patterns arrive, I feel the need to "test" each one out personally. Not such a bad thing, there are definitely advantages to touching and working with the yarns myself. Also to become familiar with what patterns are available and how easy or difficult they are to follow. The problem is starting more projects than I finish. But I do tell my students that it's not all about the finished product; we need to enjoy the process. Good advice for myself.

This Ribbon Vest will be happily displayed in the shop very soon.

Happy Knitting.

Another Sweater for Me!

This one may look familiar. It's from Knitting Pure and Simple, the same designer as the Summer Cardigan from my previous post. But this one is called the V-Neck Shaped Cardigan. I like it because it has some side shaping at the waist, and really fun bell shaped sleeves. I'm really excited about the neckdown sweaters. No seaming at the end is very appealing; and they are flattering for most body types! I'm using Pima Tencel (another wonderful Cascade Yarn).

The sweater is knit in stockinette stitch with seed stitch edging. But you can doctor it up and add some cables or texture to the fabric. There's something to be said, though, for the zen of knitting one row, and then purling the next. This is a good movie theater knitting project.

Drop me a line

Let me know what you'd like to see and read about. Write a comment and let me know what's of interest to you. But, be patient with me. This is all new to me.

Summer Cardigan

Project #1 is the Summer Cardigan from Knitting Pure & Simple. I'm using Sierra Quatro from Cascade Yarns, color #86. This is one of my favorite yarns; it's a really nice blend of 80% cotton and 20% wool, easy to knit with. Finishing this sweater is high on the list of priorities since I'm teaching it as a class this spring. I'm using Bryspun circular needles, which allow me to knit longer because they're a flexible plastic, easy on my hands and wrists.

New Beginnings

Spring is here, a time of new life and new beginnings.

This knitting blog is a new beginning for me. I thought that this would be a fun way to record my knitting adventures, for myself and anyone else who is interested!

During the next few days, I'm going to gather up all my knitting projects in their various degrees of being done, take pictures, and post them on the blog. I'm hoping that this will help me to finish up some of these projects. While I love new beginnings, it feels good to have happy endings, also. Wish me luck!