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Anniversary Sale

• Cascade 220
• Noro Silk Garden Sock
• Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool
• Valley Yarns Northfield
• Cascade Ecological Wool
• Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande

For Weavers

• Rayon Chenille
• 5/2 Valley Cotton

Upcoming Events

Granby Library in Granby, MA is hosting a Knitathon to raise money for their new library that need building.  Call Jean at 413-467-3320 at the Granby Library.

I-91 Shop Hop June 24-26, 2011. 12 shops are participating and for every store you visit, you receive a stamp in you passport and can enter to win prizes.

WEBS Beads will re-open as Northampton Beadery 4/15.

Tip and Tricks with Kirsten: Cables

– Addressing something we didn’t mention in the last podcast that we should have: what does holding the stitches to the front or back do? You’re literally crossing two sections of knitting, one over the other, like crossing two strands in a braid.

– Charts are a great way of visualizing what’s being crossed over what. Often, charts use symbols for cable crossings that look like the resulting cable. If you have trouble reading cable charts, I recommend not trying to memorize what symbol means what set of steps, but looking at the chart and at your knitting and crossing your stitches so they look like the picture.

– It’s possible to work a cable without a cable needle! Definitely faster, but it involves dropping the stitches off your needles briefly and picking them back up again, so I’d say it’s best with cables involving 4 or fewer stitches. Essentially, instead of taking stitches off the needle and holding them for later while you knit another group, you’re just rearranging the order of the stitches on your left needle and knitting them in the new, crossed order.

-Stay away from mohairs and cotton/silks – the slippery yarns when cabling without a cable needle.

– Let’s try a basic cable where you’re crossing 2 knit stitches from right to left over 1 purl “background” stitch. This might normally be written “slip 2 sts to cable needle and hold to front, p1, k2 from cable needle”.

– slip all 3 sts to your right-hand needle

– skipping the first stitch (the purl stitch), insert tip of your left needle down into 2 knit sts on the RS of the work

– slip all the sts off the right hand needle, that little purl stitch has sprung free from the needles!

– retrieve that runaway purl stitch with your right hand needle, going behind the two knit stitches

– slip the purl stitch back on to your left needle

– now all 3 sts are back on your left needle, in a new, crossed order: purl, knit knit, with the 2 knit sts crossed in front of the purl st

– p1, k2

Steve’s Yarn Picks

• Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport
• Abstract Fiber Targhee
• Abstract Fiber Matisse
• Abstract Fiber Alto
• Valley Yarns Charlemont Kettle Dyed
• Classic Elite Alpaca Sox Discontinued Colors
• Sheep Shop Sheep One Closeout
• Sheep Shop Sheep Two Closeout