Sally Cuts!

Sunday was a follow up session for our Focus on Fair Isle class. At the point of this “reunion,” three sweaters have been begun and Sally’s was ready to be cut in preparation for the sleeves to be knit on. Thanks to being without wheels for several weeks, Sally had more time than normal to devote to her project and made it a goal to be able to cut the steek with us in class. Needless to say, she was more than a little nervous. Her hands quivered with the first cut, but she gained momentum and a steady hand rapidly. True, it is only a 9 inch cut, but try it after you’ve knit 350 stitch rounds on size 3 needles and see how you feel! Thankfully, the class really does teach that cutting your knitting is “safe” as students work practice steeks in class. Also pictured are some of the hats knit in the class, made by Lisa, Keith, Sally and Lynn. In the FFI class, hats are swatches! If this all looks interesting to you, you may want to join the next class that starts in September.

The first weekend of the month is always special at Heritage. It’s Girls Nite on Friday and the Spinning and Weaving Groups meet on Saturday. That means everybody brings their projects in so we can see them! Sharon knit the blue shawl (the wool peddler shawl from Folk Shawls) from our Handpainted Bloomfield yarn. She says she “blocked the heck out of it” and it is gorgeous. This pattern is an easy “first lace” as it is easy to see where you are in the pattern and it isn’t all-over lace. The lace pattern itself is usually called “horseshoe lace.” The socks were hand painted by Sharon at Knit Michigan in Christel’s dye class. They are simply stunning (and finished already – we are all impressed!).

Finally, I promised you a photo of the lace I was weaving for my parents for placemats and table runner. This is a close up of one of the placemats. They wove up quite quickly and I found it very easy to keep my place in the pattern. They were woven on an 8-shaft loom using 6 shafts.