What's on my needles (week 8)

At The Knitting Garage at AL Stickle

Change is in the air

 Here are some pictures of phase 1 of the changes at the shop.
I love how this lay-out opens up the space more :)

But wait here we are going into phase 2.
You can see there will be more space for classes and yarn by expanding into the area which was behind the curtain.  This will help with the air flow, too, so that it will be warmer in winter and cooler in summer; yeah!
Leah has been busy moving things around, painting and hanging curtains even though she was sick with a cold.  Thank you, thank you, thank you :)

Speaking of yarn:  We just got a big order of Madeline Tosh in both Light and Vintage.  Come while there are still lots of choices.  The colors look much prettier "in person" so you will need to come in and see for yourselves.

Store samples

The Fortune's Wheel is finished and came out beautifully!  Leah ordered more of the Dyelot Stimulus Package which is on back-order, but we have a couple of skeins left if you don't want to wait. 

This shrug/ vest is a perfect garment to greet Spring and Summer; actually I would wear it year round.  The best part is that it is an easy knit.

For more information on this check out my earlier posts on this blog or my notes on ravelry :  Strickliese's Fortune's Wheel.

My next store sample

For my next store sample I am using a yarn we just got in:

Araucania Nuble.  This yarn is a fingering weight Merino and Silk blend and at $12/ 240 yard skein quite a steal.  For the shawl I only need one skein.  I expect this yarn to be flying off the shelves latest at the next yarn crawl later this month.

Here is the beginning of the Venomous Tentacula

This is a sideways knit garter stitch shawl.  The lace border is created by simple bind offs and cast ons. The electronic version of the pattern is available for purchase at the store.

And this is how it will look like all finished:

At Home

The cowl for my owls

The cowl for my owls' sweater is coming along nicely.  I still have to knit another 3 or so inches and I have to make some decisions on how to finish it.  But as soon as I have done that and have written out the pattern you will be the first ones to know about it.

Lucky socks for Tony

Last not least here is my update on the socks I am knitting for Tony.

Thank you to Patty Joy White aka the Sox Therapist for the FLK Heel! (click on this link and it will take you right to her ravelry page)

I should really go on and on about how amazed  I am about the simplicity of this heel construction.

When I first heard about this new way of knitting a heel and purchased the pattern which is a steal at $1, I was a daunted by the number of pages (16 pages in all) and was reluctant to try something new just as time was of the essence knitting up Holiday gifts.  

I finally started on these socks for my husband and decided to give the FLK a try.

I traced his foot and marked the ankle bone point at which I needed to start the heel.  On Friday I had knitted to the right point and put the socks aside.

Getting up early on Sunday morning while everyone else was still running on Wintertime and fast asleep, I had all the time and quiet I needed to investigate this FLK :) 

After reading the instructions which are very clearly written and watching the instructional videos on the "twin stitches" I "got it" and was not only able to knit the heel for the first sock following the instructions step by step, but I was able to knit the heel for the second sock without so much as a glance at the directions.  It just makes sense and the numbers are easy to remember and adjustable to knitting socks in any size with any weight yarn.  So, this is really cool!

Not only is this an easy way to knit the heel, but it also looks good and it fits even my husband's feet with their high arches.

Let me share a trick with you.  When knitting two socks at the time you can easily get your yarn tangled up while you knit flat on just one sock during the heel construction.  This happened to me while I knitted the first heel, but was easily remedied by putting the yarn into the sock I was not working on.  Such a simple thing to do and probably others do just that, but I never thought of it until now and it was a happy "Eureka moment" for me.