It’s hip to be square!

Take it from me (or Huey Lewis), it is hip to be seen in granny squares! Especially if it is this cute tank top in Interweave Crochet designed by Theresa Schables.

Made from Firefly (one of our favorite summer yarns), the vertical squares outlined by solid squares to give the illusion of waist shaping. The linen and rayon blend gives the granny squares the perfect amount of drape and stability at the same time. Joining the squares as you go gives the tank the added bonus of having minimal finishing.

Wear with flower power jeans and wedge sandals for a bohemian look or with a pencil skirt and kitten heels for a hip city look. Either way, you are sure to be hip!

Photos courtesy of Interweave Crochet. Matt Schodorf Photography.

Meg's Rocky Pond

On one of my first days in the office at Classic Elite Yarns, I was given a sneak peek into the spring line. We weren't ready to introduce it to the world yet, but it was almost ready to show to yarns stores. There were so many things that I couldn't wait to put into my queue. One of which was Rocky Pond.

One of the women in our office was going to California in February and wanted to wear something hand knit.  She wanted something that was simple, not too boring to knit, and only about two weeks work from start to finish. Rocky Pond was a perfect choice! The lace pattern in the top is intuitive, and can be easily memorized, eliminating the need to look at a chart every few stitches.

Meg used Provence, a 100% Mercerized Cotton in a DK weight, in the color of the year – Emerald (the official Provence color name is Laurel).

I love the boat neck on this top, a flattering look for most women.

Knit in two pieces with minimal finishing, it was a quick knit for Meg. She managed to finish it in just under her deadline (I understand that she may have been weaving in ends on the plane and blocking in the hotel room, but she finished it before her event – which is all that really matters).

Now that spring is here – and hopefully to stay (fingers crossed) – I suspect that I'll be seeing this pretty top around the office quite a bit.

I have plans for my own Rocky Pond, but I'm planning on using Soft Linen. There is a lovely shade of green called New Fern that I can’t wait to cast on. I have a few things in my queue that I need to work on first (including my Sugar and Cream Lace Wrap for the Shawls,Wraps and Scarves Knit-Along that we will be starting shortly.), but I'm not sure if I can wait.

Are you planning on making a Rocky Pond top – or have you finished one already? We would love to see it!

New Knitscene

I admit it - I'm kind of a girly-girl. Pink is my favorite color, I love skirts/dresses and I can’t help but oohh and ahhh over anything with a ruffle on it.

So when the new issue of knitscene arrived on my desk, I just about passed out. Right there on the cover was a super cute tank top with ruffles! The best part? The ruffles are on the back of the racer-back tank, so you don’t feel like an overgrown doll.

The Mackinac Tank by Danille Chalson is knit with Firefly, a linen and rayon blend, perfect for summer layering pieces. The ruffles are knit as part of the back and are made with simple decreases and a clever use of joining-as-you-go to reduce finishing.  

I also really love the Lindell Tee by Cassie Castillo.

Knit in Classic Silk, it's a short sleeved tee with a deep scoop neck and a slightly flared peplum, highlighted by a garter band at the waist. The body of the tee is knit in the round, so it's sure to be a fast and flattering knit. With its classic style and simple construction, this tee will take you from early spring to late fall.

At some point I'm going to have to learn to knit in my sleep, so I can make all the great designs that keep being published!

Photos courtesy of Interweave Knits. Photographer Nathan Rega of Harper Point Photography.

Knit along with us!

We are so excited to announce that we are going to be doing a knit-along from the Shawls, Wraps & Scarves book.

Rules for the Shawls,Wraps & Scarves Knit-A-Long

1. Item must be made from CEY yarn and from the Shawls, Wraps & Scarves book.
2. Open to US and Canadian residents only.
3. Cast on date for knit-a-long is April 15, bind off date is June 15. You may do a gauge swatch and any other prep work (i.e. winding your yarn, getting copies of your charts, etc.) prior to the cast on date.
4. To be considered for the knit-a-long, your project must be listed on Ravelry with the tag SWSKAL. You may enter your project on Ravelry prior to April 15, but please no casting on until then (I know it will be difficult).
5. You must upload at least one in-progress photos and a FO photo to be eligible for the prize.
6. By entering the knit-a-long, you give permission to Classic Elite Yarns to use your photos, first name and Ravelry project links on their social media sites (Ravelry, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest).
7. There will be 2 categories to enter – Shawl/Wrap (over 600 yards) and Scarf/Cowl (0-600 yards).
8. Prizes will be enough yarn (current CEY) to make another project of your choosing from the Shawls, Wraps & Scarves book in the same category you entered.
9. Winner will be drawn at random.
10. Void where prohibited by law.

There are so many great pieces from Shawls, Wraps &Scarves, the hardest part of this knit-a-long might just be choosing your project. It was a difficult decision for me, but I have settled on making the Cream & Sugar Lace Wrap (of course, I am not eligible to win, but I thought it would be fun to knit-a-long with you guys).  I decided to use Vail in Parchment.  I am sure this will become an instant classic and something that I reach for time and time again.

What are you going to make?

And the winner is...

I am overwhelmed by the response we got to the giveaway for Kristin Nicholas’ book and yarn. We got almost 400 entries. All I can say is “wow!”

Everyone’s name and email address was printed out and put into a ‘hat’ (I didn't have a structured hat nearby that would have worked …so I used a knitting basket instead.)

We had Betsy draw a name from the basket (with a little help from Heather) -

And the winner is...drumroll…

Anita from WY! Congratulations! Your book and yarn will arrive shortly. We would love to see your finished sunflowers - send some pictures!

Zigzag Tank

There are two things that I have been enamored of lately...stripes and mitered squares. So you can only guess how excited I was when I saw this tank from Susan Mills in the new knit.wear.

Susan used a new spring yarn, Canyon. It is a sport weight yarn made from pima cotton with a hint of alpaca, which makes a smooth and silky summer blend.

Normally, to get a zigzag look, you would need to do color work or a chevron stitch pattern. But Susan was very clever and  used the combination of mitered squares with stripes to achieve this look. 

She was also able to construct the garment by picking up and knitting along the edges of some of the squares, which means less finishing (always a good thing!).

Tanks are always a great addition to any spring/summer wardrobe. I can envision this one under a jacket, or just as is with jeans or a long skirt. 

knit.wear is available now as a digital download here and will be on newsstands April 2nd.

Photos courtesy of Interweave Press, photographer Joe Hancock.

One Sweater...Three Ways!

Convertible garments have always intrigued me. I love seeing those hang tags that have illustrations on how to wear a garment more than one way. But more often than not I can never get them to look the way they should (or at least the way they look in the illustration).

The Star Lily top from the Canyon booklet has three ways to wear it (that we know of). We put together a little video on the different ways to style the garment.

What could be better than knitting one garment, and getting three?

   

Have you knit the Star Lily and found another way of styling it? We would love to see photos! Send them to blog@classiceliteyarns.com.  

Spring has arrived!

I have been waiting with bated breath to show you guys our spring line. There are so many great things to share. I hope your high speed internet is working, because this is going to be a picture heavy post!

We have 16 (16!) new pattern booklets for spring. Below I've picked a few pieces from each booklet, just to whet your appetite, but be sure to check our website for ALL patterns in ALL designs. There are 65 for you to choose from!

Canyon
four designs in Canyon

Mesa
four designs in Mesa

 

Atlantis
five designs in Classic Silk

 

Color by Kristin: Book Three
six designs in Color by Kristin

 

Bird’s Nest
four designs in Cricket

 

Domino
four designs in Firefly

 

Maple Hill Farm
four designs in Provence

 

West Garden
five designs in Sanibel

 

Plum Island
five designs in Seedling

 

Meadow Melody
four designs in Soft Linen

 

Boardwalk
four designs in Solstice

 

Fun in the Sun
four designs in Sprout

 

Surf’s Up
six summer crochet designs

 

Year Round: Perpetual Favorites
six designs in our favorite wool/cotton blends

 

Handmade Los Angeles I
five designs for the urban knitter

 

Handmade Los Angeles II
five designs for the urban knitter

 

Make a visit to your local yarn shop to see each beautiful booklet - you'll want to look at all the details, figure out what sizing works best for you, pick which color to use - you know the drill. Or download any individual pattern through Ravelry. I dare you to just pick one!