Looks Like Someone Else Discovered the English Garden Bag

More CPY on the blogs!

Crafty Bernie!

Gelsominalucchesi made a Big Net Shawl!

Vickie Howell Guest Blogs on Shelterrific and showcases a pillow using Deco Ribbon and Shag!

what a way to find new blogs to read...

Angela

Did Somebody Say Bunny Hop???

Clara Parkes gives Bunny Hop the Knitters Review test -and it passes with flying colors!!!


Here's the scoop on Bunny Hop's availability:

The truck arrives next week and we will ship immediately to our vendors. Stay tuned for photos of us unloading the truck!

Your Local Yarn Shop will have it in stock by mid-August!







Any questions? email angela @ straw . com

Crystal Palace on the Blogs

Hey it looks like Angel Hair yarn likes the new Sequoia.

And Strickanfall knitted a flower-shaped washcloth in Cotton Chenille.

And Wave_of_Atla knitted the Asymetrical Cable Hat from One Skein with Iceland in Icestorm (my favorite colorway!)

And here from a while back is a comprehensive review of double pointed needles, and Crystal Palace Bamboo comes out on top!

If you see another blog that mentions Crystal Palace, go ahead an email me at:
angela at straw dot com

Angela

A Little Birdy Told Me...

That we might be introducing some sock yarn for Spring 07. Can you imagine that? I would love to see some of the cpy colorways for socks. Code Pink, Fall Herbs, Irises, Walnut, Strawberry-Limes, Icestorm, Sandstorm... I've only been knitting socks for the last year and I was surprised how easy it was. If you can use dpns, if you can knit a hat, if you can decrease and follow a stitch pattern, you can knit socks.

But be careful. It can be addictive.



You may not know that doubling up on kid merino works as a luxurious sock yarn. Check out this lacey ankle sock pattern created by Cathy Campbell. It only requires two balls of Kid Merino, and if you use one solid color and one variegated color, the results are stunning! Or try the striped socks if ribbing is more your thing.


If you'd rather knit something with a larger gauge, check out these cozy slippers.

Happy Knitting
Angela of Crystal Palace Yarns.

New Patterns Are Up!

Hello Friends!

A bunch of new patterns have been posted to Straw.com!



The Shetland Lace Scarf is a new favorite and it only requires 2 balls of Kid Merino. It's on my holiday gift list. It's a simple pattern that packs a lot of punch. It's knit lengthwise, which means you have to cast on a ridiculous quantity of stitches, but you only have to knit a couple of rows before you're finished. I recommend using stitch counters as you cast on so you can keep track of your stitches more easily. I usually don't do that b/c I'm lazy, but I'm not going to waste my time counting and recounting 177 stitches. Aside from that lengthy cast-on, it looks like I could knit one of those in a week -and I've never even tried knitting lace before!


We also have a new Merino Stripes vest. I know you're not thinking about it now because it's so darned hot outside, but winter will return, and it will be cold, and this vest is just the thing to warm you up. It takes 4-6 balls of yarn and depending on the colorway you use, it could be suitable for the lady or gentleman in your life.

So what are you knitting right now? I just brought home a bag of the new Creme in periwinkle to make a clapotis for someone this Christmas. You remember the clapotis don't you? It's that beautiful shawl on knitty that's knit on the bias with dropped stitches. The pattern calls for a silk wool blend so I thought that Creme might do the trick. I'm also hoping that if enough people try Creme for a clapotis that we may be able to get printed colors made...

Photos to come soon!

Happy knitting
Angela of Crystal Palace Yarns

Knit Night

Hello All,

I went to my regular knitting group last night and I brought the English Garden Carpet Bag with me and there was quite a response. One lady wanted to buy the yarn immediately. Another woman had seen the bag online and thought it looked even better in person. There has been some concern on message boards about the availability of the new yarns, but rest assured! Taos, Aran, and Creme have been shipped to many of our participating vendors.

Bag felting has become especially popular of late, which can be attributed to the work of Nicky Epstein and Beverly Galeskas. Also I've found that it's a great way to grow out of scarf knitting. Making felted bags is a fantastic way to learn shaping -it's less expensive and less time consuming than knitting a sweater. One of my first big projects was the Nicky Epstein Flower Market Bag, which can be found in her Fabulous Felted Bags book. It was so adorable -I absolutely HAD to knit it despite the fact that I had only knit simple scarves. The idea that I could shrink the bag and hide any potential mistakes made me fearless in my attempt. If you think you're ready to felt your first bag, check out many of the free Crystal Palace patterns available here and here's a little tutorial on felting. The books listed above have much more comprehensive instruction. Try using Crystal Palace Fjord or Iceland for your next felting project. It has a soft and pliable finish.

Seriously once you start felting, you'll start using it to fix any design challenge in your house. Need coasters? Use your felted test swatches. Need more baskets? Use your extra balls of wool fashion rectangular boxes (one pattern can be found in the Mason-Dixon Knitting book).

Here are some basic shaping tips that would have helped me when I was figuring out the shaping of handbags with increasing and decreasing:

1) Many patterns say simply "decrease 1 every other row". While the pattern doesn't specify what type of decrease to use, it is important to use the correct decrease method. How you decrease will dictate how the bag shapes and if you use inconsistant decreases your bag will turn out a little lumpy.

*On the right side of a bag:
-knit 2 together slants to the right
-slip slip knit slants to the left

*On the purl side of a bag:
(slip 1 kwise) twice, return the two stitches to the left needled and purl 2 together through the back loops = right slant.
purl 2 together = left slant.

*(reference: The Reader's Digest Knitter's Handbook, 2001, pages 116 and 117)

Say for instance the bag you've chosen to do is knit from the top down and tapers a bit towards the bottom. On the knit side you would knit 2tog for the first decrease in a row, and ssk for the second decrease at the other end of the row.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Angela of Crystal Palace Yarns
PS: Oh yeah we've started distributing BAG HANDLES! Available in stores in late August. Check them out!

Welcome!

Welcome to the official Crystal Palace Yarns Blog. We're hoping to create an interactive experience for all of the knitters out there in blogland. We want to know what you're knitting and why. We want to know what you love about our yarn, which colors you like and what... you may not like so much. We want you to share your finished objects. Send us photos and we'll post them!

Photos can be sent to angela at straw dot com (spelled out to prevent spam)

We're going to discuss the new yarns (the beautiful new Arans, the silky Creme and the colorful Taos) and any yarns currently in development. We're going to give you breaking news of any new patterns. We're going to have contests, warehouse tours and knit-alongs.

The big pattern this week is the English Garden Carpet Bag designed by Terry Ross, our resident bag felter. Made with Aran, Taos and Deco Ribbon, it is a fabulous bag for fall. With a felted body and appliqued flowers, it will certainly turn heads for any of you heading back to school.



We hope you find this a valuable knitting resource. We're going to include the blogs of those local yarns shops that carry Crystal Palace Yarns. And we have links to the color cards for all of our yarns to assist you in choosing the colors for your next project.

Stay tuned to this spot!

Angela, of Crystal Palace Yarns

Coming Soon

Coming Soon to a computer near you, the official Crystal Palace Yarns Blog