Each year, our knitting group picks a “house color”, a lovely hue that we will keep in mind when choosing a yarn to knit a project that will be premiered at Rhinebeck. Last year’s color was blue, which we each took some liberties with.

Here’s my project from last year’s Rhinebeck, worn again just last week:

Hmm. I didn’t really like that whole outfit together. Let’s focus on the top portion:

Much better! You can read more about my work-through of this on my Ravelry project page.

This year, our color is orange, and I’ve got a very wonderful Malabrigo worsted in “Sunset” that I bought out of my friend K’s stash. Cadence is my project this time around, and after a few false starts on the sleeves, I’m finishing up the body this week! So far, gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. I will post all about it when I’m done, and I’m sure we’ll have some nice photos of our adventures next week.

Social Knitworking attended the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival this past weekend in Rhinebeck! While a more thorough write-up will come soon (I am now on vacation this week, after my first trek to Rhinebeck) we have this little video. The sheep were quite talkative! We met a lovely new friend.

In this episode, recorded in Jenn’s basement with a coffee table full of alcohol, we drink many beverages of an adult nature, we contemplate hymens of different mammals, Connie calls in to discuss her evening without us (our fault!), Andrea recaps 5 seasons of Supernatural for Jenn and Joanna, we sing along to late ’80s and early ’90s hip-hop, and… oh yeah, we talk about our knitting projects and what we’ve been working on over the past month. With or without alcohol involved.

If you’ve got any comments or questions for the podcast, call our feedback line! The number again is 215.839.6373 (215.839.NERD), or use the handy little Google Voice widget we’ve installed on the blog.

So a few good things do come out of this: you, dear reader, get to see a bunch of quick and cute patterns that you may not have seen before, as they were hiding on my site; and I get to cross this to-do off my list, so I can make sure the latest podcast upload doesn’t fail (again!) tonight.

It’s a win-win!

View this pattern on Ravelry

I’ve found it best to put the cozy on the cup before filling it with coffee. I may modify the pattern to accommodate this issue.

Materials

• KnitPicks Swish Lemongrass Heather
• set of 4 US size 6 DPN (or 40″ circ for magic loop)

Gauge

6 sts + 9 rows = 1″ on US size 6 needles

Sizes

Stretchy enough to fit one to-go coffee/tea cup

Directions

Cast on 46 stitches and join in round.

Knit 4 rounds in K1P1 rib.

Knit 2 rounds.

Next round: K1 K2tog [K to last 3] SSK K1
Next 3 rounds: K

Repeat the above 4 rounds 4 more times.
(There should now be 36 stitches on the needles.)

Knit 1 more round.

Knit 4 rounds in K1P1 rib.

Finishing

BO all stitches and weave in ends. Enjoy your coffee!

View this pattern on Ravelry

Materials

• 1 ball Cascade Fixation 2706
• 1 ball Cascade Fixation 3794
• set of 4 US size 5 DPN (or 40″ circ for magic loop)

Note: I used about half the blue, and way less of the red. I’m sorry I didn’t figure out exact yardage.

Gauge

Approximately 5 sts + 10 rows = 1″ relaxed (unstretched) on US size 5 needles

I had a bit of a time with gauge on this project, because I’d never worked with yarn so stretchy before! Must be all the elastic in the Fixation. I’m a tight knitter, so keeping the yarn slack and relaxed was quite a chore.

If you knit this pattern, find your gauge and use this pattern as a guide. Work with the guage that works for you, remembering to not tighten up that yarn!

Sizes

Stretchy enough to fit one medium sized head—mine is 21″ around.

Directions

Cast on very loosely 75 stitches and join in round.

Knit all arounds in the following color pattern:

• Rnd 1-12: Color A
• Rnd 13-14: Color B
• Rnd 15: Color A
• Rnd 16-17: Color B
• Rnd 18-23: Color A
• Rnd 24-25: Color B
• Rnd 26: Color A
• Rnd 27-28: Color B
• Rnd 29-40: Color A

Finishing

BO all stitches very loosely; I followed Wendy’s variation on a Russian bind off. Weave in ends. Leave a very long tail, about 6-8 times the length of the band, to use to seam the piece. Your piece should look something like this:

Now fold the cast-on and bind-off ends together, and seam together:

Adjust the folds on the band so the seam is in the middle of the inside, and the stripes at the top and bottom of the front/outside:

You may want to block lightly; check Knitty’s reference on blocking cotton. Wear proudly and worry-free!

View this pattern on Ravelry

Materials

• 2 skeins Color A: Red Heart Super Saver Economy Gold (321)
• 1 skein Color A: Red Heart Super Saver Economy Black (312)
• 1 skein Color A: Red Heart Super Saver Economy White (311)
• 1 16-inch circular US size 8 knitting needle

Sizing

Gauge: 5 sts + 6 rows = 1″ on size 8 needles
Dimensions: 8″ x 84″ without fringe

Patterns for Each Block

Pattern for Block 1

Rnds 1-36: Knit all rows with Color A.

Pattern for Block 2

Rnds 1-3: Knit all rows with Color B.
Rnds 4-9: Knit all rows with Color C.
Rnds 10-12: Knit all rows with Color B.

Pattern for Block 3

Rnds 1-3: Knit all rows with Color B.
Rnds 4-9: Knit all rows with Color C.
Rnds 10-12: Knit all rows with Color B.
Rnds 13-18: Knit all rows with Color C.
Rnds 19-21: Knit all rows with Color B.

Directions

With Color A, cast on 80 stitches.

Follow the rounds for each block in this order:
Block 1, [Block 2, Block 1, Block 3, Block 1] x4, Block 2, Block 1

(Note: To make the scarf longer than the length listed here, just repeat [].)

Finishing

BO all stitches. Turn inside-out and weave in ends. Turn right-side-out, wash, and block.

To add tassels to the edges of the scarf, follow this article at eHow for a great explanation of creating fringe for tassels. Make enough fringe for 9 tassels on each edge of the scarf, 5 in Color B and 4 in Color C.

At the bind-off edge, attach one Color B tassel to the middle of the scarf, through both layers of knitting. Then attach two more Color B tassels on each end. Using the middle and ends as a guide, eyeball the locations of the remaining tassels.

Repeat this on the cast-on edge. Wear!

This may happen occasionally—the risks of being on the internet, sadly—so if you ever find yourself locked out of the site, don’t take it personally. Shoot us an email or call the hotline, and we’ll fix you up right good.

In this episode, recorded unfortunately too close to the speaker at our local coffee shop, we discuss going back to school, taking classes, knitting during lectures, and the sexiness of professors.

If you’ve got any comments or questions for the podcast, call our feedback line! The number again is 215.839.6373 (215.839.NERD), or use the handy little Google Voice widget we’ve installed on the blog.

But what happens at knit night when you’ve got no knitting? Me, I take photos.

I am such an amatuer photographer that I wonder if amatuer is even too strong a word for what I do. I love taking photos, but I know nothing of composition, aperture, level settings. I take pictures because I like having something interesting to look at long after the moment’s passed.

I get a little silly sometimes. I pretend that I’m a great photographer, and attempt to get really artsy shots with my simple point-and-shoot camera, a Kodak EasyShare M530. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But it’s a fun camera and I’ve taken over 500 shots in one weekend before.

I’d like to go back and take better photos of my finished knitting, but many of those items have already been gifted to their intended recipients. (I tend to do mostly gift knitting.) My plan is to make this DIY photo studio, so my FO photos look much better than this.