What's On Your Needles Part II

Deloris: Deloris knits more sweaters than anyone I know. I would venture to say that she knits 10 sweaters a year! She loves to knit in the round which can be a pain since she's a lefty. Deloris is forever adjusting patterns, but her perserverence is absolute. Deloris’ career was in retail so she has lots of helpful tips for me; she loves to challenge me, sometimes scold me, but she takes very good care of me. Deloris just finished this Oat Couture sweater using Cascade’s beautiful variagated Butterfly.

Linda: Deloris’ dear friend, Linda, is also a huge sweater knitter. She’s making the famous Tahki Cat Sweater. Speaking of the eighties, this funny little sweater was featured in the 1986 Vogue Knitting Holiday issue and I'm told that it's been Tahki's most popular pattern ever! The original calls for Donegal Tweed, but sadly, Linda can’t knit with wool. Her alternative was the spectacular King Tut cotton. The sheen of this cotton is beautiful.


Therese: Therese knits like crazy for her family and I’m constantly trying to get her to knit for herself! Finally, she’s making this Plymouth Rimini Poncho for herself and is finishing it right now.

Mae: Mae too usually knits for her family and as long as I’ve known her, she’s stuck to scarves, belts and other small projects. She says she knits too slow, but the truth is, Mae is far too busy to knit bigger projects. At 94, her dance card is fuller than mine has ever been. She is taking the plunge, however, and is knitting the Rimini Poncho with Therese and making serious progress!


Kathy: Many, many months ago, Kathy bought S. Charles’ Ritratto yarn in a beautiful shade of green to make the ‘Evening in Eden’ shawl by Cabin Fever. This mohair blend variagated yarn shows off the pattern beautifully. Kathy’s now making some great progress after we spent some time together going over how to know what’s what with lace knitting. Just a wee bit of confidence is all it takes.

Abby: Abby is a high school art teacher and her
talents seem to be limitless. She took the Lady Eleanor entrelac stole class and is the first one to finish before the end of the three week class! That is some fast knitting! She’s now making this incredible sleeved poncho from Dale of Norway out of Bollicine’s Dolly, an extrafine Merino.

Connie: Speaking of ponchos, since the very first day that Connie came into the Shop, we’ve had poncho issues. She came in with a pattern that just wasn’t working with the yarn she had chosen. We found another pattern, but it required some serious adjustments and I believe she scrapped this second poncho as well. She finally made this Fiber Trends poncho using Filatura de Crosa’s 127 Print yarn (I made it too to keep her company), but alas, her row gauge was a little off and it ended up being too short. After a lot of blocking, I believe it now is wearable. I don't for sure because we don’t really talk about ponchos anymore. Connie, you're a terrific knitter and you make beautiful things. Ponchos will be out of style soon anyway.