Aha!  I just found the SAVE button.  I've been writing, distracted by something or other, and whenever I come back to the computer, what I wrote is GONE.  NO MORE!  I will use the save button and attempt to complete at least one thought.  And that thought for today is knitting with linen.  I recently went shopping and looked at the Eileen Fisher sweaters.  Good Grief, they're expensive!  Beautiful in their simplicity, so I made my own version of an Eileen Fisher cardigan for a lot less than a purchased one would cost.  Once I overheard a knitter tell her friend who was shopping for a sweater, 'I could knit that for...twice as much!'  Well, in the case of Eileen Fisher knits, you can knit a linen sweater for half as much!  Personally, I love linen.  I'm making another linen sweater--this time, a blend of cotton and linen in dark aqua and purple, that is unbelievably soft.  100% linen is not soft.  It's sturdy.  It's machine washable.  It takes color beautifully.  It's perfect for summer evenings, inside movie theaters and grocery stores, and for spring and fall.  So come in and have a look at Oodles' linens and get started on a late summer/early fall simple, classic, all purpose cardigan.

There is one class left for this month.  It's Short Rows which is scheduled for July 28th.  I'll probably change the date, so if you're interested in learning all that you can do with short rows and how to do them, call a knitting friend and I can schedule a class for the two of you at your convenience.  Actually, I can do that with any class--get at least two people together and I can teach at your convenience, except Mondays.  I'm keeping Mondays to myself and my grandkids. 

Well, I hope your summer is going swimmingly.  Stay cool.  (Oodles is air conditioned, ya know)  Bev

Another day, another blog.  I was thinking about which comes first--the yarn or the pattern.  Which way do you think is best?  I'd say, it depends.  (Don't you hate that answer, but it's true.)  Sometimes I get a new shipment of yarn and I HAVE to knit something out of it.  Maybe I'll knit up a swatch just to see what it looks and feels like, but usually I've already seen it knitted up at the yarn show.  Sometimes I see a pattern of a sweater I want to knit so badly I'll roam the store and pick out every yarn that might work, and lay it next to the picture of the pattern.  (I never have made quick decisions.  The word 'impulsive' doesn't even come easily to my brain.  I literally have to stop and try to retrieve the word from my brain whenever I want to use it, which, obviously is rare.)

Anyway, I'm about to finish a project using MaggiKnits' white cotton boucle short sleeved summer top with a 9" black square centered in the front.  I really love this sweater.  I still want to do a neck edge and of course I have to sew in the sleeves--oh, @#$&&)(*!!  I think I lost a sleeve.  Anyway, this sweater will be the first of my kits to go on sale. 

Next project will be...well, I'm not sure.  I just got some yarn from Universal called Whistle, which is 4.25 sts/in on a 5 needle.  I was going to knit the ice blue, but that color didn't come in with the order I placed.  Rats.  I have it in a cool grey and a luscious champagne color.  Hmm.  I have two projects to work on now (not counting the black and white one which is 99% done)--one is a baby sweater for my granddaughter, Bea, and one is a light aqua in *k1, yo, k3, slip the first of the 3 over the other 2*, repeat from * to*.  It's really pretty and it's a fun and easy lace.  I'm knitting it on Dyelot Yarn's 50/50 silk and bamboo.  But three projects isn't too much. 

So that's all for today, my knitting friends.  More later (maybe even tomorrow)
Bev

Oodles blog is back!

Geez, Louise!  I've been working on finding out how to get back to my blog for nearly an hour and I don't have that kind of patience!!!!!  Now that I'm here I will try to regularly write informative knitting information and to keep you amused, but I can't promise. 

In June I went to The National Needle Arts yarn show in beautiful downtown Columbus, Ohio, to see what's new in the yarn world.  My overall impression is that (I can hardly believe this myself) fluffy, feathery yarn is back!  I'm not sure I'm going to have any at the store though, except one, whose manufacturer I can't remember at the moment, that is so exceptionally soft you have to make something out of it--something that you wear next to your skin.  I might make a night shirt out of it and wear it to  hibernate in next winter. 

I'm in the early stage of creating something new for Oodles. While I was at the show, I looked at lots and lots of pattern books, pattern leaflets, and finished projects but couldn't find much I thought my knitters would like to buy.  I found that my sweater designs are on the mark for knitters who want something more than a classic cardigan or a bikini or a headband or another scarf.  I am about to launch Oodles' Kits and club (the word 'club' will likely change as soon as inspiration hits me), available on line (as soon as my web site is up which will be SOON!!!) and at Oodles store.  These kits will be my original designs (I always get compliments on my sweater designs when I wear them at the yarn show--even from designers:  Cat Bordhi and Whatsername who owns Prism Yarn both complimented me on two of my sweaters at this past June show) and will include wonderful yarn from companies that aren't the run of the mill (haha) yarns.  They will include Dyelot Yarn, Yarns from Italy, Colinette, and who knows who else at this time.  Joining the club will give you discounts on the kits.

I may also do a mystery knitalong.  What's a mystery knitalong?  As soon as I found out, I thought it would be fun to do.  A mystery KAL is when you get pattern instructions a bit at a time, and you don't know what the finished piece will be until you're nearly finished.  Trust me, the KAL will never be a knitted bikini. 

If you have any suggestions or requests for anything in the world that has to do with knitting, please write me.  Talk to you again soon.  Bev