Another issue lately is choosing the best rate class for your order. These days everyone is rushed and also wants to save some money–I know that. Our website is set up so that the shipping drop down box will not show unavailable rate classes. But it can be confusing, so here are some suggestions to help you choose wisely.

1. Media Mail is only for books, magazines, DVD’s, and flat patterns. This is a USPS regulation. If you choose Media Mail for anything else, your order will be delayed while we recalculate the price and contact you. Media Mail is usually the least cost option, but it takes 7-14 days, depending on how far away you are from us in Arizona.
2. First Class Package is ok for any package up to one pound in weight. If your package qualifies, this is the rate class that combines the least cost with the fastest delivery.
3. If your package is over 1 pound in weight, you may choose Standard, Priority, or Priority Express. The Standard rate class usually takes between 4-8 days, Priority usually 2-4 days, and Priority Express takes between 1-3 days. Be aware that USPS does not “guarantee” delivery times, ever. For example, if you choose Priority and the service offered is “2 Day Delivery” it may still take longer than 2 days.
4. In many cases, you might find that the difference between rate classes is relatively small. This can happen, for example, if you are buying a lightweight booklet; the First Class rate may save a lot of time for a small increase over Media Mail. The same can happen with Standard and Priority rates. Only you can decide if the faster method is worth the money to you.
5. Finally, if your order qualifies for and you choose free shipping, your order will be sent the least-cost method. It is our choice.

As always, we refund excess shipping charged because of rounding errors in weight. This happens mostly for overseas shipments, but sometimes it can happen for domestic shipments too. If you have any questions or comments, please email me at laurel@handknitting.com.

But after a lifetime of knitting/crocheting, and more than 10 years owning our business, I have learned a lot from manufacturers., Of course, they cannot intercept every flaw while putting up the balls of yarn. So some will always get through; the standard for knots is 1) no more than one per ball, and 2) a knot in less than 3% of all balls. So this is a very small probability of getting a knot, but at the same time most knitters have experienced this at least once. I have had manufacturers recall yarns because of knots as a defect, so I know they do keep track of this as a quality issue.

This is how I deal with knots that occur in the ball: If it happens near the first part of the row, that’s great. Just unknit back to the beginning of the row and then start that row after the knot, leaving enough extra on the edge to weave in. If you don’t want to do that (let’s say you’re knitting a 48″ wide afghan and you have gone across most of the row) , you can weave the ends in within the fabric by allowing about 6″ on either side of the knot. I usually take about 6″ on either side of the knot and create a slip knot with those tails very close to the needles. When you’re finished with the piece and ready to do your sewing, pull out the slip knot, clip off the manufactured knot, and weave in the ends.

I know it’s annoying, but it is unavoidable over a lifetime of knitting. I hope this helps.

One of the great things about Lopi yarns is that it is a quick knit.  One of the great things about this KAL is that you can use any pattern and any weight of Lopi:  Lopi-Lett, Alafoss Lopi, or Plotulopi un-spun yarn.  All projects are welcome and there will be opportunities galore to connect with other Lopi knitters, from first-timers to experts.

We know how fun this is, because we held a KAL last year on our Handknitting.com Ravelry group for Audna  in plotulopi, which was a huge success.  So many beautiful sweaters.

Handknitting.com has been carrying Lopi yarns for almost 20 years.  No matter what patterns, books, colors, or weights of Lopi you want we have them, and of course  I am always available for questions and individual advice by email laurel@handknitting.com or by phone 307-200-0733.

Happy Knitting!

Almost the entire town of Yarloop was destroyed.  See the effects of the wildfire here.

The quilt is meant to symbolize life, recovery and rebirth.  The mandalas incorporated into the quilt were made by over 100 needle work practitioners (like you!) in about a month.  There are knit, crocheted, quilted, and embroidered mandalas, of all sizes.  Participation was generated by word of mouth.  It was inspired by the yarn bombing activities of a nearby town, Waroona, where the yarn bombing has become an annual event.

The part of this story that really impressed me was that these wonderful fiber craftists have recognized that even 2 years after the event, there is still need for support for the survivors.  Even symbolic support is critical to all trying to rebuild.

Of course the current wildfires in Southern California came to mind immediately.

While the rest of us are celebrating the end of year holidays, so many, many thousands of people from Santa Barbara to the south will have dreadful memories of the destruction that is occurring right now.   And after all the assistance from the government agencies and the disaster relief charities have gone, there will still be an empty hole in the hearts of so many people.  And that hole will need mending too.

  late spring.  What you cannot see here is how incredibly steep the slope is on both sides of the road.  That’s what the goats like, because predators don’t like the steep.

See the little ones that are about 1/2 the size of the adults?  Those are the kids that were born last spring.  Merry Christmas to the mountain goats!!

Read more about these amazing animals here.

The fiber itself is very rare– there are not many animals, they are wild and have to be gently caught to be sheared. The fiber itself has to be manually picked over to remove the guard hairs, which is very labor intensive.

Naturally, this means that Vicuña yarn is quite expensive, and we were quite surprised to see some available.

1) Choose a size. A large hand towel is about 11-12 inches wide by 22-24 inches long. This is the size most often found in a 3-piece terry towel set including bath+hand+washcloth. It will take about 100g of sport weight linen. A smaller guest towel is about half as big, about 6-7 X 15-18 inches and takes about 50g. These measurements have a lot of leeway, so you can fit the size to the stitch pattern you want to use.

2) Choose a stitch pattern you like, but make sure it is a combination of only knit and pearl stitches. You need a flat fabric to make a functional towel that will launder well.  No lace, cables, bobbles, slip or tuck stitches.  Take note of the number of stitches in the pattern repeat.

3) Choose the number of stitches to cast on.  Figure how many whole repeats of your chosen stitch pattern will fit into the width you want. Your towel needs a picture frame of a non-rolling stitch such as seed stitch or garter stitch to help it stay flat.  Your picture frame needs to be 5-8 stitches on each side and 5-8 rows on each end, so you need to include these stitches in the total to cast on.  Examples:  Let’s say you want the big towel, 12 inches wide, and 6 st/inch = 72.  Your pattern is 15 st, and 15 X 4 = 60.  15 X 5 is 75, which will be too many.  So you have 4 repeats plus 6 st on each side.

That one was pretty easy.  Here’s a slightly more complicated example.  Your pattern is 8 st plus 5 (those extra stitches allow for centering and so forth).  1 repeat only is 13 st, but 2 repeats is 21 st (not 26) because the “plus 5 st” is only counted once in each row.  So if we are aiming for about 72 stitches across, we might choose 6 repeats, which is 63 st (6 X 8=43+5=63).  That leaves only 9 st to get to 72, but we want the picture frame to be the same on each side, so we add a stitch and settle on 73 st to cast on.  It doesn’t matter how many repeats or stitches in the borders as long as you get close to the size you want.  So cast on however many stitches you have figured out–72 in the first example, 73 in the second.

4) Remember you are making a picture frame around the rectangle, so if the picture frame is 5 st on each side, you will start by knitting 5 rows of your non-rolling pattern for the beginning border.   After the beginning border, you will work that many stitches in border, X repeats of your main pattern, and at the end add border st.  When you get to the length you want  (I try to make it at the end of a full repeat) you will work the ending border same as the first.

So here are some stitch patterns to get you started, and every one will make a gorgeous towel.  Blank squares are knit, dashed squares are purl.  All charts are read right to left on odd rows, l to r on even rows.  All of these patterns look great on either side.This is a simple stripe pattern of stockinette and seed stitch, that only requires any even number of stitches.  It’s very flexible, and if you use seed stitch for the border, the seed stitch stripe will come floating out of the border if you make the border an even number of st on each side.

This is a simple garter block.  The repeat is 10 st, and the last 5 are to balance the pattern.  That is, this pattern has a repeat of 10 st plus 5.

This is a simple basket weave.  It is a multiple of 8 st, plus 5, but not easy to see in the chart.  So in the first 4 rows, the repeat returns from st 12 to st 6, and in rows 5-8 (WS row) goes from st 12 through st 6.

This is a pattern that is harder to “see” in a chart than in the knitting.This is a diagonal pattern, 4 st of knit or purl overlapped by one.  This is easy to see in the chart, even though the repeat is a multiple of 8 st plus 6, which seems complicated.   But it isn’t at all–once you have knit 3-4 rows, it will be a no-brainer.

So why not go for it?  You’ll find these small towel projects are fun to knit, easy to carry around, and so appreciated if you gift them.

Right now (May 17-25, 2017) we have the Universal Flax sport weight linen on sale for 4.99/50g.  Go see it here.

Download the free pattern here.
Return to Bamboo Pop page at Handknitting.com.

Save

About a month ago, Westminster Fibers Inc. announced that it would no longer be importing and distributing any yarns in North America. The brands that you will recognize are Rowan, Regia, SMC, Schachenmayr, Schachenmayr Select (aka Gedifra), Istex/Lopi wools, and Butterfly Super 10 Cotton.

Of course this doesn’t mean that these brands will no longer be available to you– not at all! There are quite a few established companies interested in providing the import and distribution of these brands.

As for Handknitting.com, you already know that we are committed to all 5 Lopi yarns, and also to Butterfly Super 10 Cotton, and we promise to continue to provide them to you if at all possible.

While we wait to hear about the possibilities for future importers, we are working on a plan to make sure we will have enough of all these yarns to fulfill your orders for the coming season.

We think it is important for you to have accurate information, not rumors. As children we all played the game “telephone line” where a message is passed from one to another and by the time the message reaches the end of the line it has changed dramatically! Well, the internet accelerates and magnifies this effect. If you have any questions at all, please contact us directly by emailing Laurel@handknitting.com.  Please do not rely on speculations on the chat and comment threads of the various social media sites for your information.  We will do our best to answer all your questions honestly and in a timely manner.