Moving

Tonia and I have decided to move to Wordpress. You can find us here from now on.

New Art Festival

Twiss & Weber will be located at the 38 North Pathway. Come and visit us and see what fibred items you can acquire for your home and wardrobe.

Hintonburg Arts Park

Twiss & Weber will be at the Hintonburg Park, beside the Parkdale Market, sharing a table with Wabi-Sabi - our favourite yarn store.

From 10am to 4pm Mother's Day, Sunday, May 9th, 2010.

It is said the weather will be cold tomorrow, possibly going down to 1º C! So, Twiss & Weber will have our felted hats, scarfs, bowls, and other fun accessories to keep you and your family warm.

See you there!

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Ottawa Knitter's Guild

Tonight, April 19th at 7:30-9pm Tonia will be presenting a 45 minute talk on Felting at the Ottawa Knitting Guild. This is going to be a thorough and very creative talk and I strongly suggest checking it out.

Banquet Hall

Woodroffe United Church

207 Woodroffe Avenue

Ottawa, ON

60 Quick Knits, a review

60 Quick Knits, newly published this spring by Sixth & Spring Books, is a 160-page knitting book dedicated to the very popular Cascade 220 yarn. The book contains patterns for twenty hats, twenty mitts, and twenty scarfs, with each pattern being suitable for every level of knitter. As I write this review, there are aleady, on Ravelry, a website dedicated to knitters and crocheters, close to 50,000 completed projects that have used Cascade 220 Wool. The yarn has a rating of 4.5/5 stars and is, at present, the most popular yarn on the site. The yarn is affordable, the yardage is good and the colours are many. The heathers alone are wonderful. And now there is a book written just for this yarn.

Laura and I always seem to have a small project on the go. Something quick to knit, one we can complete between our larger projects. When we were asked to review 60 Quick Knits, featuring Cacade 220, we were thrilled.

Flipping through the pages of the book we are pleased to see that there are many small projects that can be easily finished in a couple of days: fun kid animal mitts and hats with tiny pockets; masculine scarves and hats; and plenty of feminine mitts, scarfs and hats.

The pattern that caught my eye is the smart Slip Stitched Hat, by Alexandra Tinsley. It's a pattern for a simple hat with a gartered brim and a body of fabric containing a collection of stitches which are worked in 8 rounds of knitting creating a vertical zig-zag pattern. Laura's favourite is the charming Starfish Hat, by Anne Farnham. Laura loves her bobbles and any left leaning/right leaning shaping she appreciates. But we both agree that there is one striped and ruffled wrap which is not a strong pattern. The fact that the model in the photo is wearing a floppy hat does not highlight the scarf well. Perhaps if the scarf were solid, if the ruffle were knit in stockinette and on much larger needles, the ruffle would flop and be airy instead of appear stiff and awkward, at which point the scarf might be salvageable.

The patterns feature different techniques for a beginning knitter and are interesting enough for more experienced knitters. Cables, bobbles, reading a chart, and slipstitch colour work are classics and 60 Quick Knits covers the gamut. Learning different techniques on a smaller scale allows a beginning knitter to try something new on a project that is attainable. The book features a project-rating meter that lets you know the skill level needed for each project. We have the Basket Weave Scarf for our readers to download. Simply e-mail us and we will post you a better quality file.

We are surprised to see there are not any felting projects. Cascade 220 has proven an excellent and standard felting yarn. So, here are two free patterns (Ravelry links are here and here) for our readers to experience.

In sixty patterns we agree there are more than 3/4 worth knitting. Twiss & Weber recommend 60 Quick Knits.

-Tonia Weber

TwissAndWeber@gmail.com

On the Sticks

Tonia is almost finished knitting up the Leah sweater. A next step project for the knitter who is comfortable with Easy patterns. She chose the Berroco Inca Gold Silk and Merino yarn in Granate (6423). Funny, Leah happens to fit me really well!

It is knit vertically (from side to side) instead of the classical horizontal (from top to bottom or vice versa). It has shaping from the stitch work and it is easy enough for an Easy knitter to take on and graduate to Intermediate. If I do say so myself, this is a really smart pattern.

I will be test knitting the sweater this week in Cascade's Ultra Pima cotton. I can't wait to knit this piece! It is going to look fantabulous on T.!

We'll put up some photos of our progress shortly.

***

update April 15, 2010

This morning Tonia chose the colour she wants. It is a very dark navy, #3723 -- I left the paper label with Tonia so I can't reference the colour. But, it sure is dark. Not black. Not black.

Off to knit a sampler with the company of a hockey play off game. Yup. I said it.

Free Felted Hat Pattern

This is a great hat for winter and makes a fun gift.

Two ply is carried in our favorite yarns for felting this project: 2 skeins of Cascade 220 or 2 skeins of Brown Sheelp Lamb’s Pride Worsted.

Depending on how you block your finished project you can end up with a variety of styles: photos show a Fedora or Cloche.

Tonia has taught many Felted Cloche classes as a second step knitting class at Wabi-Sabi in Ottawa and it has always been a big hit.

The increasing and decreasing become “washed out” and if you make a wee error remember… “a lot comes out in the wash”.

DO NOT USE SUPERWASH FOR THIS PROJECT!

Have fun felting!

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Sweater No.2, by Twiss & Weber

This is our best selling pattern to date!

Sweater No.2 is our second design Tonia and I developed together. Originally knit with two ply of Wabi-Sabi Shetland Tweed, the sweater shown to the left, here, is two ply of Cascade 220 in Navy and Turquoise. The woman (who wishes to remain nameless and eyeless in our photos) was a new knitter when she started this project last fall. She ended up knitting five, yes FIVE, of these sweaters for all her fashionable family members for presents. Lucky them!

In three steps, it is knit in Stockinette in the round, Knit flat in Garter stitch, and then seamed to create the armholes. This is a good “next step” project for beginners and the result ha plenty of style for every degree of knitterly experience.

Here the seam is shown deliberately to create texture and define the yoke at the back.

For Size Medium 6 Skeins of Cascade 220, 6 skeins = 1320.0 yards (1207.0m)

Size Medium is shown

New to Ravelry and Etsy

Tonia and I are very excited to announce our latest leap into the world of the Internet. We've joined ranks with the crafters of the world on Ravelry and Etsy and have three of our first of many patterns listed. Please pass the word!

It is our commitment to create interesting, stylish, economical and clear patterns. Your constructive criticism is always welcome. (Please, a little honey with the vinegar)

Free Slipper Pattern

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Finished measurements are Child's size

Knitting with two strands of yarn the slipper is worked flat, from the heel to the toe. It is seamed, shrunk in the wash, and then formed to wear comfortably for each recipient.

The slipper is rated Easy skill level.

Size
Child (Adult)

Gauge
11sts and 15 rows with two ply yarn makes 4” / 10cm in Stockinet on US11/ 8mm needles

Materials
100 grams Cascade 220
US11 / 8mm Needles

Pattern Notes
K2tog Knit two stitch together. Decrease one stitch.
Kfb Knit front, and back into the same stitch.
Increase one stitch.
SSK Slip, Slip, Knit two together. Decrease on stitch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Step No.1
Cast on 30 (32sts).
Knit Stockinet for 4 rows.
*K1, SSK, knit to last three stitches, K2tog K1. (28, 30sts). Purl row*.
Repeat between * until 22 (24sts).
Knit stockinet for 8 (10) rows.

Step No. 2
K1, Kfb, knit to last two stitches, Kfb, K1. (24, 26sts)
Purl row.
K1, Kfb twice, knit to last three stitches, Kfb twice, K1. (28, 30sts)
Purl row.
Knit stockinet for 8 (10) rows.

Step No.3
*K1, SSK twice, knit to last five stitches, K2tog twice, K1. (24, 26sts)
Purl 1 row*.
Repeat between * until 16 (18sts).

K2tog 8 (9) times.

Cut long tail of yarn and thread through loops.
Sew up top of foot slipper, tie up loose ends and cut yarn. Sew up back and bottom of heel forming a T shape.

Sewing up the Slipper.
Note the upside down t-shape at heel.

Felting
Place your slippers in a pillowcase and close. For the first round of felting, toss the package into the washer. Use a Tablespoon of liquid dish detergent. Put your washer on hot water wash with a cold rinse.

After the spin cycle, take slippers out and check the size. You may need to repeat this process if your slippers have not shrunk down enough. If that is the case, continue cycling your package through the washer until you are happy with the size.

If you notice that your slippers are wonky, it is easy to reshape any bumps or lumps out by hand.

Throw on a couple of rubber gloves, with a little soap submerge your slippers in hot water and rub the fibres together briskly between your hands. Repeat this process in cold water. Then, run through the spin cycle to get all the water and soap out.





























When you are happy with the size and shape of your slippers, stuff each of them with a hand towel and leave them to dry overnight. It may take a little longer to dry depending on the thickness of the fibre and the effectiveness of your spin cycle. If the slippers dry and you still think they need to be smaller, just repeat the washing cycle instructions.

These slippers are going to keep someone very warm and snuggly.

Stuff slipper to mold shape and let dry.

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