June: it’s a sock thing Socks for every member of the family This month we’re all about socks. Why? Socks are a perfect summer knit: small and portable, you can take your socks on the plane and work on them between marshmallows at the campfire! We’ve got sock ideas for every member of your family—from babes to dads (Father’s Day is June 17). And we have a pair of RCY project kits to tell you about: for the wee ones, try our Baby Socks. Our RCY pattern gives you instructions for baby socks in three sizes: newborn, 6 months and one year. We’re packaging up our kits with tried and true baby sock favourites. Or, go big! If you’re new to the joy of making socks, we Sock Books We love our sock books! This month, we’ve brought in four new titles to inspire you: Sock Knitter’s Handbook: Love knitting socks but sometimes hit a snag? Carry this handy answer book in your knitting bag! Well-known experts Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott demystify all aspects of sock knitting. You’ll find clear instructions for both toe-up and cuff-down sock knitting, multiple techniques for casting on and off, working heels and toes and making size adjustments. Use the built-in stitch dictionary to create your own unique socks. recommend that you try our Fuzzy Foot Socks (felted slippers) as an intro project. Just like socks, only knit on BIG needles with fat yarn, these giant socks are made foot sized by felting (shrinking) them in your washing machine. Baby Socks in three sizes See page 2 for details on both of these exclusive River City Yarns project kits. Fuzzy Foot Socks: Cozy! Knitting Circles Around Socks: Why knit one sock and then start all over again to make a match? Instead, knit two socks at the same time on two circular needles! Author Antje Gillingham gets you off to a great start with one basic sock pattern. You can hone your skills with seven more designs. Discover how easy it is to convert any sock pattern for double-pointed needles to this ingenious method. Knitting More Circles Around Socks: Continue the two-at-a-time adventure with Gillingham’s new collection of fun sock patterns! Now learn to knit two at a time on two circular needles, from the toe up! This book features 12 all-new sock patterns in a range of skill levels (both toe-up and cuff-down designs). Provides patterns in men's, women's, and children's sizes. Crocheted Socks! by Janet Rehfeldt and Mary Jane Wood: If you thought handmade socks were just for knitters, think again! This wonderful collection of sixteen crocheted socks range in style from fun to fashionable and are given in a variety of sizes for both women and men. Try ribbed, cabled, or lacy designs, or give your socks a blast of color and learn how to crochet socks that mimic the luxurious look and feel of knitted socks. These titles are available at both RCY locations. June 2012 Page 2 Pick up a pair… of RCY project kits! Each month, we feature an RCY kit that you can purchase online through our website. This month, because socks come in pairs, so too do our project kit offerings. “house slipper”. But we were totally captivated by the colour combination you see pictured here. We call them our Canadiana version. Our online kit will feature the Canadiana colourway for the month of June. First up, Fuzzy Foot Socks (aka Felted Slippers). Made just like And who can resist little socks, only on bigger feet? We have a neat little needles with 100% wool, Baby Sock pattern that these slippers knit up fast gives you three different and are custom sized by cuff styles for three baby shrinking them in the foot sizes: newborn, 6 months and one year. washing machine. These miniature socks are We’ve made several Fuzzy Foot Socks: the pairs, combining wool just like their adult counter“Canadiana” version with mohair for an even parts in technique and confuzzier look, wool with struction but require much less stitches (and time)! You’ll have a pair novelty yarn for a fun, playful take on the knit up in no time at all and be the hit at your next baby shower. We’ve Oh-so-cute baby socks! paired up our pattern with our current favourites for baby sock yarns: Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino (100% merino wool) and SMC Egypto Cotton (100% cotton). A DK weight yarn will work too; we used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino (55% merino wool, 33% microfiber, 12% cashmere); you'll just get a slightly bigger sock. Want to order a kit? Just click here: www.rivercityyarns.com/kits Brand new from Regia: pairs of pairs Regia Twin Color Sock yarn comes in matching "his and her" colourways - one with narrow stripes and one with wide stripes. Made in Italy, each 100g/400m ball of sock yarn will make one adult pair of socks. Machine washable, this 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon combination is very durable. Suggested gauge is 30 sts/10cm on 2.0—3.0mm needles. Regia Nautica Sock yarn has a semi-solid, tweedy effect in its colour line. With the same wool-nylon composition, you’ll get durability and machine wash ease but with a heavier gauge. These 6-ply, 150g/375m balls give you 22sts/10cm on a 3.0—4.0mm needle. This yarn is perfect for Sock Boot Camp (see page 3). Regia Twin “His & Hers” Sock Yarn Just a little different... Lang Jawoll Color Aktion. These fun, bright 100g/420m balls include 10g of reinforcement yarn in same colourway. Beautiful wide stripes in compelling colours, this yarn knits up on 2.0-3.0mm needles. Lang Jawoll Aktion Mille Colori "Socks and Lace" can be used for any fine-weight project. The softly changing colourways are always in big demand. Each 100g ball has 400m of 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon, Mille Colori “Socks and Lace” Above: Noro Taiyo Sock Yarn; Below: Noro Sekku Lace Yarn working up to 28 sts on 2.5-3.5mm needles. Taiyo and Sekku by Noro. Both of these fingering weight blends of 50% cotton, 17% wool, 17% nylon, 16% silk are incredibly soft and can be used for socks, shawls, gloves—you name it. Choose a color palette and go! June 2012 Page 3 June Workshops & Events Drop-in Knitting Circle: you’ll find us sittin’, knittin’ and chattin’ at RCY South on Sunday, June 3 from 1:00—3:00 pm. Please call ahead at 780-450-9276 to RSVP (we’ll set out chairs!). This is a free, social event. Knitting 101: we have four, fabulous sessions of Knitting 101 in the month of June! Our most popular workshop runs once a week for four weeks and you can start on Sat, June 2 (downtown) or Sat, June 9 (southside) or take our evening class starting Thu, June 7. Sign up now… these sessions fill up fast. Registration: $95. 2-Hour Project Tutorials: are available for booking at our Southside location starting Fri, June 8. If you prefer to stay north of the river, check out the Monday One-on-One Tutorials with Jane-Anne. We’ll help you with your project questions and teach you the techniques you need to be a self-starter and finisher! Registration: $15 - $25. Baby Hat: want to learn how to knit in the round? Take our short & sweet baby hat class and we’ll have you working comfortably on dpns in no time. Registration: $35. Attention! Sock Boot Camps: another very popular class, so sign up asap! We’ll teach you how to master the ins and outs of cuffs, legs, heels, feet and toes in this two part workshop. Registration: $45. We’re holding three Blockbuster workshops at our southside store this month. Blockbusters are short, onetechnique, workshops. You learn a lot, practice on one block to hone your skills and move on to tackle bigger Jayne’s sock-in-progress, a projects on your own. This month gift for her dad, made from we’ve got Domino (modular knitting) Regia Highlander and Fair Isle 1 (knitting with both hands) and Fair Isle 2 (both hands, stranded colourwork). Registration: $0 - $25. For all the details, visit our website at www.rivercityyarns.com and click on the workshops button. New Free RCY Patterns Check out our new free patterns at www.rivercityyarns.com. You’ll find two for the month of June: make a pair of thicker “boot” socks with our Boot Camp Army Ankle Socks pattern. This pattern gives you several sizes to try out and uses bigger double pointed needles (3.75—4.5mm). If you like the sock pictured right, try Adriafil Knit Col—it comes in several different selfstriping colours. Make a pair of thicker socks using our free Boot Camp Army Ankle Socks pattern Or try a pair of sporty socks in a cotton yarn with our free Sport Socks pattern Or try your hand at using a cotton yarn with a built in elastic for summer weight sport socks. Our Sporty Summer Socks are one size only (ladies) and use smaller, 3.0mm needles. The foot pictured above belongs to Robbi and she’s sporting socks made with Needful Yarns Dubai. Cynthia’s working on a pair in Katia Cotton Comfort. You’ll find the free patterns for both of these fun socks on our website at www.rivercityyarns.com. Just click on the patterns button. Special Days: Celebrate Dad and WWKIP There are a couple of important events coming up in June. The first is WWKIP (World Wide Knit In Public) days from June 9—17. To get in the spirit of WWKIP (and enjoy our local public places) we’d like to get photos of you knitting in public up on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RiverCityYarns. We think it would be so cool to see you, your knitting and your favorite public places! And who knows? Maybe the curi- ous bystanders who come to see what you’re doing? You can post your pictures up on our facebook page or send them in to us and we’ll do it for you. Barb and Cynthia will be travelling during this time and they’ve promised to post pics up as well. Sunday, June 17th is Father’s Day and we don’t want you to forget the man in your life! Start now and give him the gift of handmade love. We think he’d like a pair of slippers or socks, don’t you? Want to learn how to knit socks on 2 circular needles? Cynthia thinks it’s the only way to knit socks! If it’s something you’re curious about and you’d like to watch an entertaining and educational video, we recommend watching Cat Bordhi’s Youtube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RybPvCNfrT8 Learn the tricks of casting on to 2 circular needles, joining, and knitting around. You'll learn about the "udder needle," napping and resting, that it doesn't matter whether the inside or outside of the knitting shows, how to find your way if you put your knitting down, and more. Cat is the author of three sock books: New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters, and her original book which started the entire 2circular needle knitting craze, Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. For more of Cat’s videos (there are several and you should have a look), visit her website at: http://catbordhi.com/videos We have two locations! River City Yarns Downtown #107, 10106-111 Avenue Edmonton, AB T5G 0B4 Phone: (780) 477-9276 Email: [email protected] River City Yarns Southside 3438-99 Street Edmonton, AB T6E 5X5 Phone: (780) 450-9276 Email: [email protected] rivercityyarns.com Check out another great (and free) online pattern, courtesy of local Edmonton designer, Liz Pankratz. Liz designed these Simple Summer Socks to use only one skein of Koigu (50g). You’ll find a copy of the pattern on Ravelry: www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simple-summer-socks RCY Gallery Updates You may recognize Sue T. (pictured above) from our southside store. Sue recently completed this beautiful black & white poncho using Baby Alpaca Sport (a chunky, 100% Sue’s Poncho is made from Baby Alpaca Sport alpaca yarn) and a pattern from Cabin Fever called the 50 x 50 Poncho. The pattern is available online at www.patternfish.com/patterns/90 and we have more yarn for your particular design. Cathy J. found a unique and intriguing way to use up little bits of leftover sock yarn. She knit it into a shawl utilizing short rows. It’s being called the Quinterra Shawl. We believe this is a pattern of Cathy’s design. Cathy is away on vacation right now— when she gets back we’ll share the pattern story. We couldn’t resist the opportunity to show you her beautiful work, even without full details. Cathy’s Quinterra Shawl uses leftover sock yarn Friend and kntter, Ruth S. recently finished a stunning beaded shawl in a lace weight yarn. When she came in to the downtown store to show us, we asked part-time employee, Liz, to model it. It’s hard to see the beads in the close up photo, but Ruth painstakingly added small sparkly beads to the shawl. She may not make another one for quite some time… but we think she did a wonderful job! Our friend Donna L. has been busy knitting for her grandchildren. This latest project showed her ingenuity. Donna used Cascade Pacific yarn in seven colours and a pattern called the “Buttons” cardigan to make this beautiful sweater for her grandson. The pattern required some Donna’s striped “reinventing” as “Buttons” Cardigan it needed to fit a bigger boy (than the largest size on the pattern) so Donna used a bigger yarn, bigger needles and knit a bit longer in the shoulders on this neckdown pattern. We think it’s smashing! Donna says her grandson loves to wear his sweater and we can see why! Have you got projects you’d like to share with us? Send a photo and a short note to [email protected] and Ruth’s lacey beaded we’ll add your pic to shawl is modeled by Liz our gallery.
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