Tag Archives: wip of the week

WIP of the Week, week 6

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WIP of the Week

We’ve still got a few salient matters to discuss for the #fringeandfriendsknitalong — this whole thing has gotten more in-depth than I imagined! — but nevertheless, today is the last of the WIP of the Week prizes. This one is going to Tracey Alice Cox, aka traceyalice on Ravelry and @knittertraceyalice on Instagram. Tracey is knitting an Alice Starmore pattern called Na Craga, and has posted a slew of the most beautifully lit photos, week after week since this all began. She’s also making a slew of interesting mods — turning the boxy, late-’90s, drop-shouldered men’s pullover into a saddle-shoulder cardigan for herself, by way of a steek. I can’t wait to see the transformation!

And what has Tracey won? Well, Purl Soho’s Worsted Twist — the yarn at the center of my personal peak knitting experience — got even better this week, when it was released in softly heathered colors. It’s called Worsted Twist Heather, and Tracey has won 10 skeins!

Congratulations to Tracey on the win, and to Purl Soho on the release. And thanks again to all of our generous prize donors: Purl Soho, Tolt Yarn and Wool, Tonofwool, Fancy Tiger Crafts, Kelbourne Woolens and, of course, Fringe Supply Co. This may be the end of the weekly prizes, but I’ll be continuing to spotlight the incredible garments that are coming out of this knitalong, as I continue to be blown away by you all.

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RIVETING NOTES

— Don’t forget I’ll have a booth tomorrow at Fiber in the ’Boro, in Murfreesboro TN. I’m hoping to see some of you there!

— It’s official: I’ll be at Tolt Yarn and Wool’s Stitch Night on Thursday Nov 13, in Carnation WA, from 6-8. Come knit with us and ask me whatever you want and check out Anna’s amazing store.

— There are some very sweet new buttons at Fringe Supply Co today, and I’m happy to report than the beloved little red row counter is back in stock! As are a few sizes/colors of the narrow-rim buttons and the concave horn buttons. So pretty! If the size or finish you’re wanting in these latter two buttons is out of stock, never fear — there are more being made just for us!

Have a wonderful weekend, everybody—

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PREVIOUSLY in #fringeandfriendsknitalong: Joining sweater parts at the underarm: Here comes the fun!

WIP of the Week, week 5 (and other juicy bits!)

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WIP of the Week, week 5

This was by far the hardest round for picking the #fringeandfriendsknitalong WIP of the Week. I can’t even tell you how much time I spent going through the Ravelry images and the Instagram hashtag — scrolling back and forth and forth and back and back and forth. Again, if I had three or four prizes to give it still wouldn’t be enough! But the image I kept coming back to was @idafwl’s WIP, above. Ida’s been a contender every week. She’s one of two known people frogging a sweater and turning the reclaimed yarn into a Hawser. (She’s frogging her Beatnik; Erica Smith is frogging her Stonecutter. And my utmost respect to the both of them.) So it’s been a joy watching Ida’s Hawser grow. But I just love this photo, captioned “Getting big enough to fold”, because that’s a tipping-point moment I think we can all identify with. We start every project with a skimpy little slip of stitches, and we turn those stitches into rows, and eventually those rows start to look and feel not just like a piece of fabric, but like a thing. You have that, “Hey, this is about to be a sweater!” moment. (Or hat, or sock, or whatever.) And if you’re like me, that’s when the adrenaline really starts to kick in. So this photo got me excited for Ida and for myself and for everyone who’s got a WIP on the needles that’s soon to be an FO.

Congratulations, Ida — you’ve won a $150 gift certificate to the freshly launched Tolt Yarn and Wool webshop! And huge congratulations to Anna and company on the launch of that shiny new web presence. Y’all should go check it out!

OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS AND DEVELOPMENTS:

– If you are going to Vogue Knitting Live in Chicago this weekend, don’t forget to show me your tote on Instagram! Since I don’t get to go. Take a pic of yourself at the event with your High-fiber or Knit and Let Knit tote, tag it #fringeinthewild #vklive, and mention @fringesupplyco @karentempler. Some lucky person(s) will win a gift certificate from Fringe Supply Co. If you don’t already have one, or you do and someone asks you where they can get such a wonderful tote bag, they are for sale in The Yarnery’s booth, #221/223!

– The following Saturday, November 1, I will have a booth at Fiber in the ’Boro in Mufreesboro TN! If you’re anywhere near Nashville, hie thee to the show! You’ll get to meet my trusty sidekick, Amazing DG. And shop the movable Fringe shelves, of course.

– After that, I am headed to Seattle/Carnation WA for a little business and then a visit to Tolt Yarn and Wool. Anna and I are planning some kind of Q&A/meet-and-greet sort of thing, where you may ask me anything you want — about my background, the blog, knitting, blogging, whatever I actually know anything about — and I will do my best to be interesting and/or informative. It will most likely be Thursday evening, Nov 13, but I will confirm that date (and time) when it’s pinned down. Just wanted to give you a heads-up! I’d love to meet any of you who are in that beautiful area.

– And last but not least, there are some marvelous new gems to be had at Fringe Supply Co today: the prettiest little Italian scissors and the ever-popular Doane notebooks, now in striking colors! Go get’em.

New at Fringe Supply Co.

Have a great weekend!

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PREVIOUSLY in #fringeandfriendsknitalong: The button band conundrum

WIP of the Week, week 4

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WIP of the Week, week 4

One of my favorite #fringeandfriendsknitalong moments last week was the day @rhiowens and @clairemueller posted back-to-back photos of their twin Ondawa WIPs on Instagram (here and here). Not only did they happen to post them in sequence, they appeared to be on the exact same row of the pattern. It was a little spooky! And both were so beautiful they made me take another look at that pattern. Claire’s caption was about having organized the multiple charts into one plastic sleeve to keep it portable, but it was hard to imagine anyone actually taking this on public transportation. This week, I chuckled at this picture of her with her sweater and her page protector on the train. Have yarn, will travel indeed, Claire! So congratulations, you’ve won this week’s amazing prize, which is 3 hanks of delicious, cream, 10-ply Cormo from Tonofwool at the birthplace of Cormo in Tasmania. There’s a reason it’s called @tonofwool: those skeins are huge! Can’t wait to see what you make of it. And thank you, Ms. Gusset, for the lovely prize!

I also want to say congratulations to Audrey, who as far as I know is the first knitalonger to complete her Amanda (which coincidentally happens to be knitted from Tonofwool). Great job!

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IN TINY SHOP NEWS, a few big baskets and big totes arrived this week!

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone! If you need a good chuckle, read through the hilarious responses on yesterday’s Q for You. I love you people.

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PREVIOUSLY in #fringeandfriendsknitalong: Amanda panel progress report: Let’s see these sweaters!

WIP of the Week, week 3 (plus new buttons!)

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WIP of the Week, week 3 (plus new buttons!)

Oh, you guys, it was SO HARD to pick a #fringeandfriendsknitalong WIP of the Week this week. I wish I had at least four prizes to give out, and I’m certain it’s going to keep getting harder every week. But in the end, I decided this week’s prize goes to Catherine Wendland, who goes by “wendlandcd” both on Instagram and on Ravelry. Catherine’s Amanda has become a Flat Stanley of sorts, and I’ve been enjoying seeing it at the hardware store and on a city bench and, in the case of the above photo, at what does appear to be a very lovely park. So Catherine, you’ve won a $150 gift certificate to the brand new Fancy Tiger Crafts online store! Please let me know how we can get in touch with you about redeeming your prize.

Congratulations to Catherine and to the wonderful Fancy Tiger ladies on the launch of their beautiful new site! (Make sure you update your bookmark or RSS for their blog, by the way.)

I want to make sure everyone knows how to see all of the amazing sweaters that are happening as part of this knitalong. Photos are mainly appearing at Instagram and Ravelry. If you’re in the Instagram app, you can search on the hashtag #fringeandfriendsknitalong. Otherwise, it’s been brought to my attention that there are third-party websites that will allow you to see hashtagged Instagram pics (since their own website does not), e.g. Websta. (It ain’t a pretty page, but at least you can see the pics.) And for Ravelry, you can see all of the tagged project pages right here. If you’re blogging about your WIP, please remember to link to it from the comments here!

Keep those photos comin’! There’s another awesome prize to be awarded next Friday.

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NEW! Buttons worty of your handmade garments

In Fringe Supply Co. news, I have a bunch of buttons that have been patiently waiting for me to photograph and post them, so this week I picked out four varieties that happen to come in Amanda-appropriate sizes. I know none of us are anywhere near the buttonbands-and-buttons stage, but I love having buttons picked out in advance — it’s like the carrot on the end of that stick! Clockwise from top left, they are: concave cream bone, a beautiful tea-stained looking bone; soft concave corozo, in ivory, navy and black; concave horn disc in horn (obvs), bleached horn and extra-bleached horn; and narrow rim grommet corozo in navy, crimson, black and plum.

I’m thinking of pale buttons for my ivory Amanda, and am debating between the concave cream bone and the soft concave corozo in ivory, both of which would be gorgeous. But it would also be amazing with the contrast of the horn or the black with the gold grommets! Right? So many great choices.

And of course, lots of options there for all the other projects of the world, as well. I also received a few baskets this week — natural and patterned. And the cable needles are finally available in ebony again.

Have a stellar weekend everyone! I’m planning to get my clothes out of the suitcase finally, hopefully look for a couch, and then I shall KNIT!

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PREVIOUSLY in #fringeandfriendsknitalong: In pursuit of sleeve perfection

WIP of the Week (and other fun stuff)

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WIP of the Week, week 2 — #fringeandfriendsknitalong

Last week, the knitter known as “waldorfmanufaktur” (on Instagram, Ravelry and Flickr) was a veerrrry close runner-up for the #fringeandfriendsknitalong WIP of the Week. I was crazy in love with her simple, beautifully lit photo of her swatch for Ondawa. But this week you might say she wins the prize for sheer enthusiasm. She is working on two sweaters and a scarf all at once! All cable-y goodness, and all of them promising to be gorgeous. (Specifically: Amanda, Ondawa and Guilder.) Congratulations, Simone, you’ve won a prize package from Kelbourne Woolens including a cable-print project bag, knit check and keychain knit check, and three skeins of Knightsbridge in the color Black Pool.

Keep those photos coming, friends — next week is another killer prize! And I have to say, while this week’s winner didn’t wind up coming from that pool, I loved all the shots of what you’re doing, listening to, and drinking while knitting — including the multiple Amandas at the beach. So plenty more of those, please! (By the way, Kate helped me figure out how to see all the tagged photos on Ravelry — if you tag your project page fringeandfriendsknitalong we’ll all be able to see it in the tag search results, seen here. Really wish web users could see the hashtag results on Instagram — it is an awesome sight to behold: over 200 photos and counting.)

IN OTHER NEWS: There’s a little interview with yours truly on the Madesmith blog about Fringe Supply Co. and how it came to be. (I swear I got my hair cut since then! Blame that rat’s nest on the move. And the heat.) And speaking of Fringe Supply Co., another big bunch of your favorite things got restocked this week: Cable Fashion Drama and Macrame Pattern Book, repair hooks, bone DPNs, rosewood crochet hooks, bonsai scissors and a bunch of sizes/colors of bento bags. Go get ’em.

Happy knitting this weekend!

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PREVIOUSLY in #fringeandfriendsknitalong: The secret to a truly great-fitting sweater

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WIP of the Week winner, week 1

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WIP of the Week, week 1 — #fringeandfriendsknitalong

So like I said earlier, it has been immensely fun to see all of the sweaters getting started for the #fringeandfriendsknitalong, and just like with that whole Rhinebeck sweater idea, I totally underestimated how hard it would be to pick a favorite project! But it’s time to announce the winner of this week’s prize, which is a $150 gift certificate to none other than Fringe Supply Co.*

There were so many great contenders — please keep ’em coming! — but when I closed my eyes and asked myself which one stood out in this whole warm-up phase, it was @dxlcarson’s side-by-side sleeves photo. In describing this challenge on the knitalong page, I said, “What I’ll be looking for is beautiful/funny/interesting/informative pics …” and I would put this one under the informative header. Linda is knitting Amanda (which is not a requirement!) and had embarked on a second sleeve-swatch, changing both her cast-on and needle size, and I just loved seeing them together and how different they are. Plus it looks amazing in this camel colored Madelinetosh. Can’t wait to see the rest of the sweater.

Linda, I’ll be in touch re collecting your prize!

Have a great weekend, everyone — happy knitting! And keep those WIP shots coming. Next week’s prize is another doozy.

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*Full disclosure: the winner of this week’s prize happens to be a Fringe Supply Co customer, but everyone participating in this knitalong is a Fringe reader and just about everyone is also a customer (thank you!), so there’s really no way around that. The remaining prizes are coming from other entities and I will have no idea whether or not the winner is a patron of the contributing business.