Regia Design Line by Erika Knight

Regia 4ply Design Line by Erika Knight $8.50

Hot off the heels of Regia`s collaboration with knitwear designer Kaffe Fassett is another line of designer sock yarns from the mind of Erika Knight. Knight`s unwavering aesthetic is always simple, elegant, classic, and modern. The yarn is same classic high quality you have come to expect from Regia, with Knight`s flare for understated beauty. 50g-210m, 75% superwash wool, 25% polyamide. You can find this yarn on Ravelry as Regia Design Line Jazz Colours.

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Regia Sock Stuff!

Regia 4ply & 2ply Solids

This may be the MOST boring product update I ever write. I apologize in advance.  

NEW!  Regia 4ply Sock Yarn in four shades of your favouite colours - heathered grey!  We have light heathered grey, sock-monkey heathered grey, charcoal heathered grey, and dark charcoal heathered grey.  Heathered grey is the perfect neutral colour for toes and heels, as well as borders on garments like Bees Knees Knits. If you aren`t already familiar, Regia is a very sturdy German sock yarn that stands up to wear: 75% spuerwash wool, 25% polyamide - $8.50 for a 50g-210m ball. 

Plus!  We also now have Regia 2ply Reinforcing Yarn for Socks in the same four favourite colours. This yarn is dyed to exactly match and blend with the solid 4ply yarn. When knitting toes and heels, simply hold together a strand of 2ply with the regular sock yarn, and it will lend an extra longevity to your hand knit sockies. Regia 2ply Reinforcing Yarn costs $2.50 for a 5g packet.

Regia ABS Stoppers  $10

Regia ABS Stoppers are made of natural rubber are ironed on the soles of your hand-knitted socks for slip resistance. They come in yellow, blue, red, green and black, and can be wash as usual in the machine on cool. 

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Regia 4ply & 2ply Solids

This may be the MOST boring product update I ever write. I apologize in advance.  

NEW!  Regia 4ply Sock Yarn in four shades of your favouite colours - heathered grey!  We have light heathered grey, sock-monkey heathered grey, charcoal heathered grey, and dark charcoal heathered grey.  Heathered grey is the perfect neutral colour for toes and heels, as well as borders on garments like Bees Knees Knits. If you aren`t already familiar, Regia is a very sturdy German sock yarn that stands up to wear: 75% spuerwash wool, 25% polyamide - $8.50 for a 50g-210m ball. 

Plus!  We also now have Regia 2ply Reinforcing Yarn for Socks in the same four favourite colours. This yarn is dyed to exactly match and blend with the solid 4ply yarn. When knitting toes and heels, simply hold together a strand of 2ply with the regular sock yarn, and it will lend an extra longevity to your hand knit sockies. Regia 2ply Reinforcing Yarn costs $2.50 for a 5g packet.

Regia ABS Stoppers  $10

Regia ABS Stoppers are made of natural rubber are ironed on the soles of your hand-knitted socks for slip resistance. They come in yellow, blue, red, green and black, and can be wash as usual in the machine on cool. 

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Stitch 'N Pitch 2011!

Toronto Stitch 'N Pitchers

Stitch 'N Pitch is fast approaching! This year our fibre-sportsmashup is being held on Wednesday July 20th.  If you've never been to a Stitch 'N Pitch, it's it's a big get-together for needle arts enthusiast, conveniently located at a baseball game (it's the only venue that can seat all of us and also serves beer). 

There will be giveaways for the first 600 people who pass through the gate (although they don't tend to run out), plus a plethora of prizes and maybe some other freebies. I love freebies!  

The Street Knit Project will be in attendance this year, collecting hand made outerwear for Toronto's homeless. Knit designer Amy Swenson will also be joining us on the field at the7th Inning Stretch. Finally, there's a contest for Stitch 'N Pitch kids to join Amy on the field!

The tickets are available at the store, they're just a flat price of $20 (but you have to pay cash). You can also get the tickets online, but they'll service charge you at least an extra 5 bucks per ticket.

 

Vital Stats

• Toronto Blue Jays vs. Seattle Mariners
• Wednesday July 20th, 7pm
• We enter at Gate 1, right near Skywalk
• Tickets $20 (cash,) in the store

Info

• Info Blog
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Ravelry

Last year the Yarn Harlot threw out the first ball, 

and later showed up on the Jumbo-Tron. 

BJ Birdie Learned How to Knit

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

NEW Sari Silk Ribbon Yarn

Sari Silk Ribbon Yarn  $17

New new new! It just arrived, Sari Silk Ribbon Yarn!  It's made in Nepal from 100% recycled silk fabric (actually, I think the technical term is 'repurposed') and looks LOVELY!  It's cheerful, like snow flakes, not two skeins are exactly the same. One 100g skein is 50 yards, but it's super thick, so you'll be able to whip something up super-quick on 15mm, 20mm, or 25mm needles! It'll also be great for artsy projects with mixed fibers like Scribble Lace.  By the way, if you are joining a second skein, I would just sew the 2 ends together with needle & thread. 

Project Ideas

• Scribble Lace Scarf - 1 skein
• Dropped Stitch Scarf - 1 skein
• Dropped Stitch Scarf (another) - 1 skein

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Handmaiden Casbah Cashmere Sock $27

We just got a new shipment of Handmaiden Casbah!  Casbah is the loveliest sock yarn with a puffy loft. It's a cashmere-merino blend with a smidge of nylon thrown in for wearability. Here are a few of my favourite, FREE, simple for summer projects your can use with Casbah. To see some previous suggestions, go HERE. 

Skew - 1 skein

Garter Yoke Baby Cardie - 1 skein

The Age of Brass & Steam - 1 skein

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Projects to Keep Little Hands Busy: Part 2, Felting Beads

Make Felted Beads

Here's a great tutorial on how to make felted beads! It's easy for kids of any age, and a perfect activity for the cottage, birthday parties, and lazy summer days. 

All you'll need is:

• Wool Roving ($2.50 per packet)
• a cup of hot water
• dish soap
• an old towel. 

Dye Roving With Kool Aid

If you want to keep the muchkins busy for a bit longer, you can get into dyeing roving yourself with Kool Aid. Just remember to buy the DIET Kool Aid!  You can also dye using Food Colouring (Wiltons makes great colours, $4 each in store), you'll just need to add some white vinegar to the dye bath. 

You'll need:

• undyed wool roving ($9/100g)
• Kool Aid (the kind WITH OUT sugar), OR food colouring (Wiltons $4) & white vinegar
• rubber gloves
• pot & stove, OR pyrex bowl & microwave, OR crockpot
• paper towels 

As an aside, I keep a spray bottle of bleach heavily diluted with water on hand for the final clean-up, and be sure to cover your workspace with newspaper or paper towels. If you have a camping stove this is the perfect activity for the back yard!

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Summer Hours!

This is just a quick newsflash to let you know that we've switched over to SUMMER HOURS!  This mean we'll be close on Sundays until after Labour Day. I know, it's sad, but we do it because you don't tend to stick around on the weekends during the summer, which is OK, we should all go outside and play!  Sunday Stitch 'N Bitch shifts over the Saturdays, as do Yarn Swaps.


Additionally, we are making a change to our evening Stitch 'N Bitch, which is moving from 
Thursdays to Wednesdays!  


So here are what our hours will now look like:


Mon  11am -6pm
Tues  11am -6pm, Stitch 'N Bitch 12pm to 5pm
Wed  11am to 8pm, Stitch 'N Bitch 5pm to 8pm
Thurs  11am 11am -6pm
Fri  11am -6pm
Sat  11am -6pm, Stitch 'N Bitch 1pm to 4pm
Sun  CLOSED

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Projects to Keep Little Hands Busy: Part 1

Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick ~ $20

Kids Knitting is the best knitting book I've ever come across for children. I know several kids who've actually taught themselves how to knit using this book, and also I use the instructions to teach adults. The projects are what makes this book indispensable. The patterns are fun things kids want to make, they are easy for kids to accomplish, and are written in a way that kids can understand and follow. Kids Knitting gets 5 Stars from me, which is why I put it in our Knit-O-Matic Kids Knitting Kits ($38). 

The materials we suggest for Kids are:

• Bulky weight yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky $10 or Berroco Comfort Chunky $7
• Needles to match: 6.5mm or 7mm  plastic needles $6
• Jumbo Darning Needles $5.20 

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

60 Quick Baby Knits

60 Quick Baby Knits $21.95

What a great idea!  This book compiles 60 great patterns for babies using the same versatile, soft, affordable, and washable yarn - Cascade 220 Superwash. The yarn comes with PLENTY of yardage (200m fpr 100g) and costs a very reasonable $10. And as for the patterns, there's lots to choose from: sweaters, blankets, hats, slippers, leg warmers, dresses, jumpers, mittens, and socks. The skill levels are varied, as are the aesthetics, so there's something there for everyone. 

Color Square Blanket

Garter Stitch Jacket

Smock Dress

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!

Heel from Soak!

Heel - Spearmint

Heel - Scentless

Heel - Cucumber

Heel Cream from Soak ~ $10

New Heel is wonderful new cream developed by Soak. Soak knows how to treat hand-knits & delicates, and their new cream was created specifically for feet that wear hand-made socks. It's nourishing without being heavy, and absorbs quickly into the skin, so it doesn't leave a residue on precious hand knits.  I particularly love using Heel on my hands, because it soaks in quickly, making it easy for me to keep on knitting/crocheting/felting/typing. 

I fell head over Heel last month at the DKC Knitters Frolic, where I spent a really fun day next to Jacqueline at Soak.  They say the most popular scent is Cucumber, which flies at the trade shows, and almost sold out at the Frolic. My fave is Peppermint, which has a light, natural scent but doesn't get tingly like most mint creams. The most interesting one is Spearmint - it's really cool, it smells like gum! And of course, they also make a Scentless option in case you want your feet to smell their footiest.  

Not sure which to choose? Not ready to commit? That's ok, come on over to Knit-O-Matic and try them on! 

As always, you can find us at Knitomatic.com!