We’ve managed to come up with a Yarn of the Month before too much of August has flown by. This one will help you prepare to knit super-warm, high quality sweaters and jackets for the winter.

Donegal Tweed, from Tahki/Stacy Charles, is a high-quality, heavy-duty, heavy-worsted yarn full of beautiful tweed flecks in many colors. We have several colors in stock in sufficient quantities for sweaters, so come in and clean us out while it’s 10% off!

In honor of August and its chosen yarn, Matt has written a haiku:

Lovely Donegal

Oh how thou art so tweedy

August is your month.

We have an update on the Yarn of the Month for July,

Rock Creek Yarn

is 10% off for the rest of the month!
And the better news is that we JUST got a shipment of their yarn in on Friday.

And of course I’ve got to end with a terrible haiku

Hooray for sock yarn!

Rock Creek Yarn is on Sale now

Come to Cloverhill!

I am the class fiend! I am here to remind you of awesome classes coming up that you should check out! Highlighted today is the Mitered Square Vest that will take place on Monday evenings, July 13th, 20th, & 27th from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Does this look really hard to you? Well, I bet you can do it.

Mitered squares are neat little blocks made out of knitting, purling, decreasing, and paying attention. This particular pattern has you put them together as you go, so you don’t have to cut the yarn at all until the armholes! That means minimal end-weaving-in. I would categorize this pattern as “adventurous beginner through intermediate.”

The sample is knit in a hand-dyed DK-weight yarn. This pattern is ideal for showing off variegated yarns, and I think it’d look incredible in the Shibui Knits Baby Alpaca DK we started carrying after Sheep & Wool. Don’t forget that you get 10% off yarn purchased for use in a class.

Give us a call to sign up, and check our class list for the rest of our upcoming offerings!

I can’t tell you how many people tell me they don’t knit during the summer, or ask me what I’m going to do about my knitting in the summer, or just generally look at me like I’ve got three heads and a dirty word printed on my chest when they see me in public with needles in July.

Well let me tell you, it is NOT too hot to knit. The key is to pick the right project for your situation. Got great air conditioning? You’re more or less unlimited. Small unairconditioned house with black roof and large south-facing windows? You’ll need to be a little more discerning. But never fear - I’ve made a list of ideas for you to choose from. (Borrowed (with permission; I wrote it) and cleaned up a bit from my blog.)

General idea #1: Small stuff. If it’s not a big heavy thing on your lap, there’s much less chance that working on it will overheat you. Small things (especially small things on small needles) are also very practical vacation knitting. Like, for example, socks! (Duh. There are a muzillion sock patterns and yarns out there, they are portable, small, thin, and entertaining. If you don’t know how to knit them, we’ve got two basic sock classes. You should learn.)  Scarves (try scarves for kids if the regular ones are too woolly for you), cowls, hats, gloves, mittens, fingerless gloves, wristlets, slippers, belts, and of course shorts! You know you want them.

General Idea #2: Baby/Kid stuff. In the same vein as #1, clothes for smaller people will be smaller.  Try baby sweaters, rompers, jumpers, and dresses; shorties & longies to cover those diapers; booties & baby socks; baby bonnets (OMGSOCUTE); baby blankets; and the endless category of stuffed animals & toys (talk about cheap entertainment).

General Concept #3: Random semi-useful stuff. These things (also called the “you can knit that?” category) are usually also kinda small. Summer is a good time to search for randomly random stuff on ravelry and go crazy. A little browsing brought up these examples: Washcloths, Napkins, Potholders, and other Useful Squares. A small purse. A wallet. A beer cozy. A pillow. A wall hanging (i’ve done it! Not like a gigantic banner, but something you can fit in a picture frame).

General Concept #4: Choose the right material. Use cotton, or a cotton/acrylic blend, for something relatively lightweight and non-sweat-inducing. Believe me, we at Cloverhill know about this – we’re so well stocked up on cotton that even if you don’t like cotton, you’ll probably find one you like. Silk blends & tencel blends are in the same category, and are very soft and shiny. Even superwash wool, as it’s a bit slicker and is lacking all the fuzz that can start you sweating, might be a good choice for you.

General Concept #5: Choose the right weight. Any project becomes less of a sweatfest if you knit it in fingering weight. It takes longer, but not as much longer as you might think. (Though if you really try to knit an afghan out of fingering weight yarn,  your knitting friends might try to take you to the funny farm.)

General Concept #6: Knit big things in smaller pieces. Knit a blanket that’s made of blocks you can sew together later. Knit a pieced sweater - not a top down or one-piece to the armholes – one with seams. Then all you need is a couple hours in AC to finish it up – or to procrastinate the finishing until November.

General Concept #7: Lace! Oh Lace! Of course lace. There is a whole universe of knitting out there to explore just in the category of lace. There are triangle shawls, square shawls, circular shawls, half-circle shawls, rectangle shawls, lacy scarves, tablecloths, and curtains. There’s Estonian lace, Shetland lace, Orenburg lace, and the list goes on. The shipwreck shawl class, starting at Cloverhill in August, is just one example.

General Concept #8: Seasonal Patterns. Pattern designers, yarn companies, and local yarn stores know that you don’t want to wait to show off your knitwear until you have to put a coat over it. So there are TONS of designs out there just for wearing - and knitting - in the summer. Summer tops are the biggest category:  Camis, tank tops, T’s; they are all great. And a normal enough part of your wardrobe that you’ll really shock some non-knitters. You will hear  ”I never would have thought of knitting that!” until you are sick of it. Ask me how I know.

All this to say - you’ve got no excuse! Come knit with us all summer long.

The 2010 World Cup started yesterday, and many of you are probably at home gearing up for the US v.s. UK match at 2 p.m. Matt & I will have to do what we can to follow along at the store, but there’s another way to play along with this incredible quadrienial festival of fútbol. That is, participate in the Knitting World Cup!

You remember the Knitting Olympics? It’s the same idea, except you have a whole month, and it only happens every 4 years instead of 2.

For me, I’ve decided on my project:

I will be knitting the Basic Hoodie, Bonita’s sample shown above. I’ll be knitting it in [a yarn very similar to] Plymouth’s Superwash Merino Worsted in a dark green. I think this’ll be the perfect throw-on, anytime cardigan that I will adore come fall. It’ll also be the perfect time to actually perform a top-down sweater, which I know all about but haven’t actually done.

I still haven’t decided whether or not to do the lace border, shown in the sample in the top picture but not in the front pattern picture. Opinions? I kind of like the look of the plain hoodie better, but I kind of want to knit the lace to add a little more interest to the knitting.

Matt is the real World Cup obsesser between the two of us, but he hasn’t picked anything out yet. What should we make him do?

If you’re a little hesitant to start a brand new project to have to get done in a month, you can participate in the WIP Cup. There’s a special group on Ravelry just for those who are committing to finish a hibernating project during the World Cup, which is June 11th - July 11th.

We have lots of very interesting classes coming up. Now that they’re online, you should really click on one of these links to check them out, if you haven’t done so already.

Today I’d like to highlight one of them that is coming up in a scant week and a half - double knitting.

What is double knitting, you ask?

I’m so glad you did.

Double knitting is when you create a double-sided fabric with two colors on which the colors on each side are the opposite. You get to create something that looks like this:

Get it? You are making a completely reversible piece of double-thickness fabric. I won’t tell you how - you have to come to the class for that.

For the class, you can choose between three free patterns: the belt above (by Iris Schreier of Artyarns), a geometric scarf (by fellow raveler Laurita from España), and a simpler patterned scarf (by Monica Steinbauer). But don’t feel limited - if you find a double knitting pattern you like, bring it along! Or if you’re feeling adventurous, chart an image out of your brain and you can learn how to put it into a double knitted scarf.

There are plenty of things you can make with double knitting - I’ve seen belts, coats, hats, dishcloths - anything that would be useful as a double-thickness fabric.

The class is on Sunday, June 13th, from 1-3 p.m. and costs 20$, which includes a pattern. Call and sign up for double knitting or one of our other classes today!

Hello Knitters!  Anyone watching the blog might have thought we didn’t make it out of MDSWF alive but no fear, we’re all well and recovered, enjoying our new treasures.  We hope you all had fun as well — you certainly kept us busy!

In the interest of moving on, a new month means a new Yarn of the Month!  We’ve chosen the ever-popular and useful Tahki Cotton Classic — a lovely smooth yarn with rich, saturated colors and a nice sheen.  Perfect for your summer tops, bags, and other light, washable items.

Tahki Cotton Classic

We also got in a pattern book with some very cute sweaters and accesories.  Do come look!

New class listings have been added, in case anyone reading this didn’t get an email.  They’re listed on the Cloverhill website here.

We’ve put up existing samples and others are in production (by us!  as fast as we can!) and will be added soon.  Come in and find some inspiration.  We’re looking forward to seeing you!

Class Wall

Look at the gorgeous colors from Pigeonroof Studios!  Can you believe it?  We’ll have a selection at Sheep and Wool!  Soon!  Very, very soon!

I haven’t been around Cloverhill much lately, mostly because it’s just that time of my family’s life that I need to be focused on the kids and home in the evenings and weekends. I’m still here though, for private lessons, custom classes and other things. I’m grateful to Jolene and the staff for always making me feel welcome when I can come and teach. I just got back from Stitches South and all my classes there went really well. Many of the vendors that were in Atlanta are making their way up the Eastern Seaboard toward the fairgrounds at this very moment. So, even though OF COURSE you’ll be shopping at Cloverhill, check out Ellen’s Half Pint Farm (gorgeous hand-dyes), Sassafras Creations (Awesome jewelry made from old aluminum knitting needles) and Sheep Incognito (Fabulous sheep-themed fine art). This weekend I’ll be teaching two classes at Sheep and Wool: Using Stitch Dictionaries to Design Socks and Reading Patterns. The second one is sold out, but there are still a few spots left in the Saturday design class. I’m very excited to be there as a grown-up teacher (I’ve been teaching kids classes there for years) and if you’re looking for something to do at the festival on Saturday  morning, I hope that you’ll consider a class.

Handmaiden is one of our favorite brands at Cloverhill yarn. The insanely luxurious fiber, the rich hand-dyed colors… it’s practically swoonworthy. We have Sea Silk, Swiss Mountain Sea Sock, and Mini Maiden right now, and Casbah (Jolene’s favorite yarn, as she is fond of saying) is on the way.

I was a little worried that my love for Handmaiden was just a matter of hype getting to my head, when an accidental test last week proved otherwise. My husband and I moved into a new apartment last Saturday, and as moving is a little traumatic, we wanted to do something to establish it as our new home. So the night before the big move, we had brought over a few boxes, including one with all of our fingering and laceweight yarn. We took all of said yarn and laid it out on a prominent shelf in the middle of the apartment… you know, the kind that separates an open kitchen from a living area.

Exhibit A.

So, the next day, we had about ten people helping us move, and there wasn’t any missing this oasis of neatly stacked yarn in a desert of boxes and mess. Our friends know us pretty well, so they weren’t too weirded out. But what shocked me is that everyone who commented on it - everyone  without exception - picked up and admired the one skein of handmaiden in my collection. “Ooh, this one’s pretty,” or “So soft!” or “look at this color.”

All that to say: Handmaiden is like the yacht of yarn. Buy it so you can impress even your non-knitting friends.