I’ve had a dreadful cold for the last week and haven’t had it in me to do much, and I feel bad that I haven’t been posting fun projects and stuff. So, to make it up to you, I’m EXTENDING OUR SUMMER SALE TO AUGUST 10th. hopefully that will help us both catch up!
Can’t make it in? No Problem! It’s all in our Online Store, which offers a Free In-Store Pick-Up option at check out. Can’t make it in at all? That’s ok too, you can have your order shipped – plus Orders over $150 ship forFREE!
Keeping your hands warm is one of the best reasons to know how to knit! Mittens and fingerless mitts are one of those great projects that knit up quickly enough to make great gifts out of a small amount of yarn.
Using the same tools and yarn we will use for our adult mittens, this class begins with working a mini-mitten to cover all the steps including casting on for a small diameter in-the-round, working ribbing, placing and shaping a thumb gusset, using stitch holders or waste yarn, shaping with decreases, closed bind-offs, picking up stitches and darning ends. Students will work through a cuff and thumb gusset of a mini-mitten in the first class and will have an opportunity to work the same stages on an adult mitten as homework. The mini-mitten will be completed in the second class, and students will have all the information to complete their adult mitten on their own time. Students will have the option of making fingerless adult mitts or full mittens. Students are provided with a multi-size pattern for worsted-weight mittens and may choose to use either double-pointed needles or two circulars in class.
Prerequisites: Students must be able to knit and purl independently, to distinguish knit and purl stitches in their fabric, and should have some familiarity with basic knitting terms.
Skill Level: Advanced-Beginner/Intermediate
Total Hours of Instruction: 5
Materials: see website for details
Homework: see website for details
A KnitHow Class with Lynne Sosnowski
Lynne specializes in helping students grow their “sock literacy” while making adult-sized socks in fingering weight yarn. This class is of interest to brand new sock makers, those who have only knit top-down socks, and those who wish to learn the Two Circulars method.
In the first session, students jump right into learning a bi-directional cast-on (Turkish/Middle Eastern), several options for increases, and how to create sock toes and feet. Throughout students are taught not just the “how” of executing their instructions but the “knithow” – the effect those instructions have on the fabric and how to read their stitches to find their way. Along the way, we cover how to custom-fit socks to any feet. Students are expected to work their sock to a specific point prior to the second session.
In the second session, students work through a short-row heel and how to create sock legs and cuffs. Throughout students are guided with diagrams, waypoints, and even sing-song to find their way by reading their own fabric. Instructions on custom-fitting and altering socks are discussed. Students complete the sock cuff on their own time. Learn how to make the most of your sock yarn by starting your socks at the toes, and knitting up until you run out of yarn!
Prerequisites: Students must be able to knit and purl confidently and without assistance, and should have some familiarity with basic increases and decreases.
Skill Level: Advanced-Beginner/Intermediate.
Homework: There is no homework prior to the first class. There will be some knitting expectations to meet to be best able to participate in the second class.
Scheduling: This class is held 2 weeks apart to give students plenty of time to work on their socks and bring questions and problems back to the second class.
Materials: see website for details
A KnitHow Class with Lynne Sosnowski
There’s nothing under earth and sky that will keep us from making mistakes, it’s just
part of human nature. But when it comes to knitting, there are lots of things we can do to prevent mistakes in the first place and then other tricks we can use to keep small mistakes from becoming big disasters.
This KnitHow class starts with learning how to read your knit fabric – we first brush up on how stitches should look and line up so we can prevent a mistake as we’re knitting. We then look at pattern reading and understanding, so we can know what we’re meant to do before we do it. We have lots of strategies to explore to help us stay on pattern. We will practice counting stitches and rows, and get a working understanding of gauge. Once we’ve done some actual knitting (small homework requirement), we will look at diagnosing our mistake, and we will talk about cosmetic versus structural remedies. Then we will work our way through fixes for the most common mistakes including: dropped stitch, slipped stitch, twisted stitch, accidental hole, split yarn, purl instead of knit and vice-versa. We will continue with “disaster management”, including learning how to unknit small amounts as well as when and how to rip out sections of a piece.
Skill Level: Any
Materials: see our website for details
Homework: see our website for details
Class Cancellation Policy
Class deposits are non-refundable. Knit-O-Matic requires at least 72 hours notice of your cancellation before the start of the class in order to transfer your class deposit over to another class. Students who cancel less than 72 hours before the start of class or do not show up for the class will forfeit their class deposit.
We are looking for people to join our creative team. Knit-o-matic is a small, midtown local yarn store located at 1382 Bathurst Street in Toronto. If you are interested in working with a variety of clientele from across the city, please contact us at info@knitomatic.com and send us the relevant information.
I’d like to thank you in advance for your time and energy!
Best,
Haley
We are looking for new part-time staff starting in the Fall. Please send us your resume and a cover letter. We’re looking for the following skills:
We are looking for sample knitters/crocheters. If you are interested in crafting as a side hustle please contact us at info@knitomatic.com, including the following:
We are looking for new classes and instructors for the upcoming fall, winter and spring seasons! We are looking for knitting, crochet, needle felting, and possibly introductory weaving and spinning classes. If you’re interested, please submit a proposal to info@knitomatic.com, including the following:
So you’ve likely seen Andrea Mowry’s “Shift” series of patterns by now .. they’re beautiful and awesome and gorgeous and … yeah, stunning. The only thing is they are made with an excruciatingly expensive yarn that’s also hard to find and hard to substitute … NO LONGER! Schoppel’s line of self-striping, marled yarns are an excellent sub. So I am going to make a Shift neck-thingy (see picture above) and try my hand at being shifty.
Schoppel Edition 3 is a very soft and very pretty merino wool that knits up in a marled ombre striping colourway (it’s a shifty kinda yarn). It is very reasonably priced at $15.97 a skein (compared with $44 per skein, it’s a very civilized price). Schoppel products are made in Germany, so there’s no child labour, undue polluting or other kinds of suffering associated with the yarns manufacturing. It should only take 3 balls of Schoppel Edition 3 to make “The Shift” (based on the numbers from other knitters on Ravelry), so it isn’t a massive investment of time or energy … a nice little summer project.
The only problem with “The Shift” and Schoppel Edition 3 is the yarn is balled, not skeined, so its hard to visualize what the colours will look like. I’ve trolled the projects on Ravelry and picked out some of the more successful and beautiful colour combinations that other knitters have come up with for the project (the colour codes are below).
I haven’t decided on which colour combo I’m going to go with … maybe the top-left, or maybe I’ll come up with something all my own. I like the dark, moody, warm colour inspiration above on the left, so maybe 2299, 2328, and 2361. I also like the cool colours on the right with the blues, neutrals, and orange, in which case I’d do 2329, 2349, and 2362. If I wanted to go for the full cool palette on the right I’d try 2298, 2333, and 2349. Or combine the two, go for the reds and pinks from 2361, the leafy green and orange from 2328, and the neutrals from 2349. I’ll have to let it marinate.
Since you’ve read to the end, what do you think? Should I be safe and go with one of the combos in the project samples from Ravelry? Or should I blaze my own trail, come up with something of my own, but risk making a smelly fart of a colour combination? What would you do? What would you want to do? Let me know in the comments!
We finished up a new store project, our Beach Wrap pattern, but this time we did a little experiment and made it with a bulky cotton yarn, Berroco Estiva. Estiva is a new yarn this year, so we’re still playing around, putting it through it’s paces, but I think it’s definitely reorder-worthy for next spring. It’s soft, 100% cotton, bulky, and not heavy or ropy like most bulky weight cottons. That ticks a lot of boxes for me. It’s also made in Italy (ie. not made by slaves) and is machine washable on cold, which is are features I didn’t expect but please me.
The wrap came out significantly smaller than our original version in linen, so if you want to make a larger wrap you can cuddle into you should get an extra cakes of Berroco Estiva. I thought it was a teachable moment (at least I got teached), so I’m going into it in more detail in a follow-up post (I actually drafted that post first, so I PROMISE it will come).
