Meet and Greet with Shem & Zeke :)

Hi everyone! I hope you're enjoying this beautiful spring weather! I have a very exciting announcement:

Meg Wheeler, owner of Adonai's Way Farm, will be at The Nest with Shem and Zeke, two of her alpacas, on Saturday, May 1st!

Meg will also be bringing 20 lovely colors of her natural alpaca yarn with her for a trunk show! Her yarn, which is grown and processed in West Virginia, will be available for purchase during the event. We hope you'll join us for a fun day full of fiber, food, and furry friends!!!

Here are the details for the day's events:

Alpaca Meet & Greet

Saturday, May 1st

10:00am - 12:00pm

Cost: $12, which includes a boxed lunch

Please RSVP at 304.848.2444 in advance.

Trunk Show

Saturday, May 1st

10:00am - 5:00pm

Some of you may remember that my Mom knit me a beautiful entrelac afghan out of Adonai's Way Farm yarns. I don't have a photo of the blanket to share with you, but I do have a couple photos of her adorable alpacas! How could you not love these guys?

Beautiful Spring Socks

Happy Spring! In celebration of all the beautiful spring colors that are popping up everywhere, I would like to show off my newest pair of socks. These are, hands down, the most beautiful socks I've ever knit. The pattern is Xanthophyll by Hunter Hammerson. The yarn is Prism Saki, in the Highlands Colorway. I knit the leg on US 2's, and the foot on US 1's. Because of the slipped stitch pattern, the sock is less stretchy than most socks I've knitted. That, combined with my freakishly high arches, led me to knit the leg on US 2's.

Prism Saki is a fabulous sock yarn, and is officially my favorite. The colorways are stunning, and the yarn is so soft. Because it has nylon in it, the yarn holds up well, and I haven't had any problems with it being mashine washed (cold). The Nest just received a brand new shipment of Saki, so get it while it's hot!!!

And here's a close-up of the stitch pattern. The yarn was absolutely perfect for this design. The variegation shows up so nicely!

FINALLY!!!

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all enjoying the early spring weather! Just in time, I finally finished my Mondo Cable Cardi! I had it mostly done back in November, but I didn't like the way the collar looked. Last weekend, I mustered the courage to riiiiiiiiiiip the collar and reknit it with some minor modifications. I'm very happy with the results, and am so excited to share it with you!

Here are the deets:

Pattern: Mondo Cable Cardi by Bonne Marie Burns of Chic Knits

Yarn: Noro Cash Iroha, colorway 92. I used a little less than 8 skeins (792 yards) on my cap-sleeve version of the cardi.

Needles: I ended up using US 5's, US 6's and US 8's for this project.

Okay, now time for photos!!

Moderne Log Cabin Fun

Hi y'all,

It's been a while since I've posted! I spent most of February traveling for graduate school interviews, so I had no time to knit or blog :( How sad! However, I intend to make up for it now that things are calming down. This week, I've settled into my couch and enjoyed watching the Olympics with my knitting in hand - so relaxing!

I wanted to post a quick finished project for you. It's a baby blanket that I knit with Cascade 220 Superwash for a dear friend who had a baby recently. The pattern is the Moderne Baby Blanket, originally included in Mason Dixon Knitting, a fabulous book by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne. Lucky for us, the baby blanket pattern is available for free, but the mitered border is not included on the PDF link. I did a simple 4-stitch I-cord border, and I think it looks great.

The blanket took a little less than 2 skeins of each of 4 colorways of Cascade 220 Superwash (so 8 skeins of yarn). I knit it on very long US 10 circular needles. I excluded Block 9, because this bad boy was getting huge, but if you knit it in a lighter weight yarn (such as Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino), it would probably be perfectly-sized.

All in all, it was a very easy knit. Really, the only skills you need to knit this blanket are the knit stitch, CO, BO, and picking up stitches. It was a great road trip project, and much of this blanket was knit in the car (and NO, I was not driving!)

Here are some photos! Enjoy!

New Class Schedule

Hi everyone!

As promised, here is the class schedule for February and March! Please see previous post for photos and details. Call The Nest at 304.848.2444 today to sign up!

Fearless Knitting Workshops:

Take your knitting to the next level! Start with fixing mistakes, move on to cables, chart reading, lace, and beyond! The workshops are free when materials are purchased from The Nest and with regular attendance commitment.

Prerequisites: must be able to knit, purl, bind off and cast on with fluency.

Tuesdays, 11:00am: 1/26, 2/9, 2/23, 3/9, and 3/23

Wednesdays, 4:30pm: 1/27, 2/10, 2/24, 3/10, and 3/24

Saturdays, 10:00am: 1/30, 2.13, 2/27, 3/13, and 3/27

Snowman Hat from Itty Bitty Hats:

Two 1-hour sessions

Class fee: $20

Tuesdays, 1:00pm: 1/26 and 2/2

Fridays, 2:00pm: 2/12 and 2/19

Tuesdays, 5:00pm: 2/23 and 3/2

Baby Surprise Jacket:

Three 1-hour session

Class fee: $30

Thursdays, 11:00am: 2/4, 2/11, and 2/18

Cozy Cowl:

One 1-hour session

Class fee: $10

Friday, 1/29 at 1:00pm

Infinity Scarf:

One 1-hour session

Class fee: $10

Friday, 1/29 at 2:30pm

French Press Slippers:

Two 1-hour sessions

Class fee: $20

Fridays, 11:00am: 1/29 and 2/12

Saturdays, 3:00pm: 1/30 and 2/13

Saturdays, 3:00pm: 2/20 and 2/27

Tuesdays, 5:00pm: 3/23 amd 3/30

Burberry Cowl:

Intermediate Class (learn provisional CO, cables, and kitchener stitch - how exciting!)

Three 1-hour sessions

Class fee: $30

Tuesdays, 5:00pm: 2/2, 2/9, and 2/16

Fridays, 11:00am: 3/5, 3/12, and 3/19

Faux Isle Hat:

Advanced Beginner Class (learn 2-color stranding!)

Two 1-hour sessions

Class fee: $20

Fridays, 11:00am: 2/19 and 2/26

Golden Gate Scarf

Anthroplogie-inspired knitted trellis with felted flowers

Two 1-hour sessions

Class fee: $20

Saturdays, 10:00am: 2/20 and 2/26

Upside Down Daisy Hat from Itty Bitty Hats

Two 1-hour sessions

Class fee: $20

Thursdays, 11:00am: 3/4 and 3/11

Tuesdays, 5:00pm: 3/9 and 3/16

Bunny Beanie:

Two 1-hour sessions

Class fee: $20

Thursdays, 10:00am: 3/18 and 3/25

Saturdays, 3:00pm: 3/20 and 3/27

Felted Bunny Slippers:

Two 1-hour sessions

Class fee: $20

Thursdays, 11:30am: 3/18 and 3/25

Saturdays, 4:30pm: 3/20 and 3/27

Felted Flip-Flops (Child or Adult):

Who's ready for summer? :)

Two 1-hour sessions

Class fee: $20

Saturdays, 3:00pm: 3/6 and 3/13

ANNOUNCEMENT: Because of the busy upcoming class schedule, drop-in FREE HELP will now be available every Friday evening from 4:30-6:00pm.

PHEW - That is quite a schedule! We hope that you'll join us for some of these awesome upcoming classes! Happy Knitting from The Nest!

January/February Projects & Classes!

Hi Everyone!

There are a few updates to post today, so this will be a long post! We have decided which classes will be offered during January & February, but we won't be setting the schedule until the weather agrees to cooperate. In the meantime, you can find class descriptions and photos below. We will send out an email and post the schedule on here once it is set in stone.

BUT FIRST.... I wanted to talk about the FEARLESS KNITTER groups forming now at The Nest. Through the winter, we will be taking our knitting to the next level using Stitch n' Bitch and the Fearless Knitting Workbook. We will begin with basic construction, learn how to fix mistakes, and be introduced to cables and lace knitting! Registration is free when supplies and books are purchased at The Nest. For all others, cost will be $10 per hour. Stay tuned for more information as we iron the details out.

Okay, on to classes and pretty photos.

Infinity Scarf (aka Gary's Snood)

This modern scarf pattern provides lots of practice knitting and purling in the round. It is buttery soft (knit out of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran) and very stylish. This scarf is knitted as a moebius, so it's perfect for those of you that love a good puzzle!

Snowman Hat

This adorable pattern, from Itty Bitty Hats, is just too charming for words. You'll learn tons of new knitting techniques with this project, and end up with the perfect gift!

Baby Surprise Jacket

This classic baby sweater pattern, by none other than Elizabeth Zimmermna, is simple and adaptable to many sizes. Because of the unique shaping, it is the perfect project for trying out creative color combinations and striping. If you don't want to take the class with the group, we have the class DVD with detailed instructions available at The Nest.

Cozy Cowl

This project is perfect for beginning knitters. Learn to knit in the round with big yarn on big circulars. Can be worn as a cowl or pull the hood up when the wind blows... just what we need with this weather!

Felted Slippers

Aren't these just adorable?! These lovelies are worn by Krista when she is working at The Nest. This is an easy project, that will teach you how to increase and decrease, and introduce you to felting!

Happy 2010 from The Nest!

Hello everyone,

Happy new year! 2009 was quite a year for The Nest! We celebrated our 5th anniversary, knit hundreds of chemo caps for our 2nd annual Knit for Life, and made lots of new friends. We hope that 2010 is just as exciting, and we're planning lots of great events and classes to get the year started off right! :)

Myself, I've been quite busy with the holidays and life in general. Luckily, I've been doing lots of knitting to keep myself sane the past couple of months, so I have tons of great projects to share with you! One of my New Years Resolutions is to update this blog on a regular (i.e., weekly) basis, so keep checking back for more projects and ideas.

The project I'm featuring today is a sweater vest I knit for my sister for Christmas. It is the Heather Hoodie pattern , by Debbie O'Neill, published in the Fall 2009 Knitscene. It was so much fun to knit, and turned out beautifully (if I do say so myself). I used size US 10 needles (32" circulars), and 14 balls (994 yards) of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky in color # 17034. (NOTE: The pattern calls for US 10.5 needles, but I was trying to size down the 38" size a bit, so I made my gauge a smidge tighter than called for in the pattern.)

The fat needles and chunky yarn - combined with a simple, but entertaining, cable pattern - make this a really fast and delightful pattern! Without further ado, photos!