Stitches With Sass

Celebrating Brown

2011-07-29T01:08:00.000-07:00

It's hot as heck around here, and with the lack of rain, all that was green is turning brown :-( Brown is another one of those colors that brings on a number of different feelings for folks.

At times, when I think of brown, I think of fall....as everything starts to die off and ready for the hard winter ahead. Come January, brown makes me feel warm and toasty, as it brings on that cozy feeling you get when sitting by the fire and knitting with your favorite wool. Hot chocolate, coffee, chocolate truffles, all among my favorite "browns".

Here's just a sampling of what's to come for August, as we celebrate the color brown.

Becoming One With My Sketch Pad

2011-07-07T01:15:00.000-07:00

Recently, we published what was our first sock design, Angelic Lyrics. This sock was designed in 2008, as part of our Toe-tally Ewe sock club. Before publishing, I attempted to add some design elements to this pattern, that in my mind were so clear, yet I wrestled with making them work with this simple lace pattern. I must have ripped this sock out at least a dozen times before I decided that the simplicity of the pattern, as initially written, was probably best left as is.

In the meantime, I took to drawing all of these ideas into a sketch book I purchased. It was a bit difficult to get started, fear I think, that I won't be able to get onto paper what's floating around in my head. I over came that fear! I have found that now that my ideas have been unleashed, I cannot put the design book down. I've been working on what I think will be a very beautiful lace shawl pattern. It's gorgeous on paper, but now I must sit and make it work with my stitches. Now to make time to knit it :-)

Getting Lost In The Green

2011-06-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

May was the month for green around, in many more ways than one. Our new green colorways proved to be a big hit, so the dye pots were kept busy. At the same time, we have been diligently working on our garden, and before we knew it, May had come and went.

Like many other families across the nation, we are trying to cut back on our expenses, for fear that the economy has NOT hit rock bottom yet, and the real suffering has yet to begin. Put the economic circumstances together with the recent, and very scary E. Coli outbreak in Germany and threats of biological warfare and it's made for a very scary environment. One in which you don't know who to believe, especially coming from those that grown/package our food.

We've had a garden for a number of years, but this year we are trying to go as organic as possible, and increase the harvest potential. I have tried to plant vegetables that are freezer friendly, like broccoli and green beans, and/or vegetables that I can jar. While the cost of establishing this garden was more than mere pennies (we had to bring in a load of top soil and a load of compost, not to mention the cost of building the raised bed), by and far, it will save us oodles at the grocery store.

With all of this business, we've not had much time to blog. I might also add, that the office is very hot and not conducive to sitting and writing a blog post. However, we have updated our shop, with our June Color Of The Month - Purple. Burgundy Grapes (left) quickly became a favorite for many, and we couldn't be more excited.

I've Joined The Army

2011-05-05T02:27:00.000-07:00

If you followed my old Knittin' Diva blog, you know that I have long been an advocate for raising breast cancer awareness. My mother is a 15+ year survivor, and I have calcifications that have been "on watch" for more than 10 years. As a 40 something women, I am in awe at how many women still do not get mammograms or do self exams. So many women survive breast cancer now, because they are getting early screenings, but there are still hundreds of thousands that do not.

While a lot of attention over the last 3 decades has been given to the "cure", there is still still not a lot known about how breast cancer is caused in the first place. Scientists have been able to identify the BRCA1 & BRCA2 genes that may increase the likelihood of getting breast cancer by 80%, but that only pertains to about 5-10% of those who develop breast cancer. So what about the other 95%?

Dr. Susan Love, a long time breast cancer educator and advocate, launched a groundbreaking initiative, called the Army Of Women, that connects breast cancer researchers with real women who are willing to participate in wide variety of research studies. All women are encouraged to join the Army of Women, including breast cancer survivors and those who have never had breast cancer. The goal is recruit 1 million women, and thus far, we are 350,000 strong!

Since declaring “war on cancer” more than 40 years ago, the scientific community has made great strides in some areas. However, the number of women diagnosed with and dying from breast cancer is virtually the same as it was in 1969. Currently, the vast majority of resources for research are focused on early detection and treatment of breast cancer. More resources need to be spent on determining the cause of breast cancer, which isn’t just going to take more research – it’s going to take a different type of research. Studying mice and rats isn’t enough. Mice and rates do not get breast cancer. More studies must be done with actual women. The Army of Women is jumpstarting this type of research providing quick access to a diverse group of women for various studies.

For the sake of my children, my grandchildren, and my great grandchildren to come, I'M IN! How about you? Learn more by going to http://www.armyofwomen.org/.

Going In Reverse

2011-04-20T02:13:00.000-07:00

I have a tendency to do things ass backwards….often. While learning a new concept, I have difficulties with being patient, while I read / learn about the concept…I often just want to get my hands in and play. Fiber dyeing is a case in point. Five years ago when I started Beyond Basic Knits, I simply played. I envisioned a color, sometimes changed that vision while the yarn was in the dye pot, and I applied. Most times my colorways would come out just as I had anticipated, but there were times when I got a bit over zealous with the color, and hated the outcome. My husband (who is an engineer) would look into the dye pot, and then look at me like I was crazy. I didn’t measure anything. I simply went by eye shot. I do this in my cooking too, so you next to never get the same exact dish twice. When I started hand dyeing, most people felt the same about their yarn purchases….they liked the fact that they would never get the same exact colorway twice.

Once I started knitting sweaters, this all changed. I can now appreciate the value of getting colors that don’t scream, but that sing a happy melody together. Of blending colors that compliment one another. This all brought me to the study of the color wheel, in which we are doing this year. I’m taking a step back, and playing with semi-solids, to try to learn more about tones, tints, shades, hues, and now, color value.

So what is color value anyway? Simply put, it is how light or a dark a color is. It is a comparison of a given color, to a scale of grays that range from white to black. (see scale below)

The numbers on the scale represent a percentage of black that has been mixed with white to form that particular gray.

We played a bit with this concept last month, when our color of the month was blue. We took our blue, which had a color value of about 10, added a bit of gray, which changed the value to about 30, and then added black, which changed the same color’s value to about 60. If you look at our Storm Surge Colorway, a colorway we introduced about 2 years ago, you can see this same concept in play, where we combined all 3. This is, by far, one of our best sellers. Only now, have we begun to explore these colors by applying each shade to a single skein, and the outcome is gorgeous. (As I said, ass backwards) By knowing what a colors value is, you can better plan how to compliment or contrast them, when planning a design or project. I see another sweater coming with this shade of blue.

Let The Fun Begin

2011-04-01T01:36:00.000-07:00

In January, February & March, we explored the 3 primary colors (red, blue and yellow) as part of our Celebration of Color. We also learned about the differences between shade, tint, tone and pure color.

April is when the real fun begins, as we start to play around with combining the 3 primary colors, to create our own secondary colors. With warmer temperatures, the change in season giving us warmer, brighter days, and watching all of our vegetation come to life, we've decided to make April the month of orange.

Be sure to watch the blog, as we explore the color orange over the next 4 weeks, and the bad rap it gets. Maybe our exploration will help you see orange in a new way.

Drawn To Blue

2011-03-14T08:10:00.001-07:00

Right from childhood, I have had a thing for blue. If you look in my closet, you will see that most of my clothing is some shade of blue. (I'm a blue jeans and t-shirt kind of gal!) Many of my knitting projects are some shade of blue, a majority of my quilting projects have included blue, and if I thought my husband would let me, I'd paint a number of the rooms in our house, some shade of blue. I have boys that have blue eyes (Thank you God!) and a pair of Blue Jays that come and say hello every morning.

If you know me, you know that I can't swim. Yet, my favorite place to be is near the water (that's right - blue!). Blue skies that hold the promise of a new day, a fresh start, growth and a breath of fresh air. Blue waters, that while the waves gently beat along the shore, hold the power of both comfort and destruction. This same water scares me. That one day it will take my life, or that of my kids. Yet, I'm drawn to it, like a fly to fruit. Is it the power of blue?

Blue is the Color of the Month for March at BB Knits. A celebration of spring. The season that promises blue skies, blue birds and blue bells.

Learning to Paper Piece

2011-02-20T02:29:00.000-08:00

About 4 years ago, I sewed my first stitch, after having protested the idea of sewing for much of my life. It's amazing, really, how kids will transform you. After a series of events with my boys, that landed them in the hospital, and realizing during this time, just how much comfort their blankies provided to them, I decided I wanted to learn how to quilt. At the same time, I started our local Project Linus chapter (we provide hand made quilts to seriously ill children). My mission, to make quilts for other children in need.

In the beginning, my quilts were simply patchwork quilts, and I did really enjoy making them. Over time, these have become a bit boring to me, and seriously, how many patchwork quilts can one person have? That said, I went on a hunt....I needed a challenge. I joined a number of quilt guilds, and a few online quilting groups. Both offer a lot of learning opportunity from some of the most skilled quilters. Some of these groups also offer exchanges. While I was reluctant to join at first, worried my skills were not up to par, I have found that it's a great way to try new techniques, without committing yourself to an entire quilt. This month, to go along with our Celebration of Color, I opted to try a little paper piecing with some red fabrics I had in my stash. I must admit, I'm not a real "heart" person. A little too "cutesie" for me. However, with these rich reds, I rather liked them. I found that paper piecing is a great way to use up those little scraps of fabric that I have been collecting in a box. Now I'm stash diving for the next paper piecing project :-)

February Reds - A Little Lesson

2011-02-05T01:48:00.000-08:00

If you follow our blog, then you learned about pure color, tone, shade, and tints last month. We had a little lesson in this exploration last week, and the gorgeous reds you see to the left were the result.

The 2nd from the left, is our pure red. Reds can be very tricky, as many times they either have orange/brown undertones, or blue undertones. This red is gorgeously pure! As you may recall, a tint is created when adding white to a pure color. Tinkly Cocktail, on the far left, was our result. Next, we added a little gray, to create a tone, and come up Sangria, a sort of smokey red. Lastly, was creating a shade....adding black to our true red. The result....heavenly! We called it crushed velvet as the richness in colors makes us think of velvet. It appears, that it quickly became a favorite! We posted our update on Facebook on February 2nd, and it sold out almost immediately. Not to fear though, we've restocked! Remember that these glorious reds are on sale this month at 15% Off!

The Meaning of Yellow

2011-01-28T09:52:00.000-08:00

Yellow evokes a number of different feelings for people. For some, yellow is the color of the warmth. For others, Hope. And yet for others, it means danger. These meanings can change, dependent on our mood, and yellow can take on many different forms, all at the same time. I find yellow to be a stimulating color. When I seen the bright yellow sun in the morning, I feel chipper, ready to take on the day ahead. I feel bold; free. I admire artists who use the color yellow so freely. To me, it speaks volumes about their view of the world and their aura. However, yellow can very easily be overused. When I am surrounded by yellow I feel overstimulated, anxious and long to escape to a more calming color like blue.

Yellow is one of those colors that many of us so wish we could wear, but it just doesn't look good on most. (I so envy people who can wear yellow and look good in it!) There was a time, during the Elizabethan Era, that yellow was symbolic for wealth and social status, and so it didn't matter how it looked on you. Thankfully, times have changed and for those of us who craft, we find other ways to use yellow. Yellow fiber, yellow fabric, yellow paint; you get the idea.

Now, go take a look in your closet......Find one item that is yellow. Come back here and share with us what it is that you find, and what kind of feelings it evokes in you.

Cookie A Never Disappoints

2011-01-27T14:47:00.000-08:00

Admittedly, when I started knitting socks, I was quite intimidated by so many sock designers, but Cookie A was at the top of the charts. I love that so many of her sock patterns are assymetrical. They are interesting, from the cuff to the toe, never a boring stitch. Some of her patterns are chart heavy, and it scared me. My first Cookie A pattern was BFF. An easy pattern and a great little nibble on cables. When Sock Innovations came out, I was beyond excited, and for the first time ever, I actually knit up several patterns from that book. It was at a great time in my life, when I actually had a little time to focus on the pattern, and learn to read the charts. I was hooked! Imagine my excitement when Knit. Sock. Love. came out! There are sssooo many gorgeous patterns in this book, that it was hard to decide on which to start first. Thankfully, I found a KAL on Ravelry, and the choice was made for me....Pointelle it is!

At the same time, I decided that this is the year to spend a little time studying the colorwheel, and opted to start with yellow. A happy, cheerful, warming color. Well, a marriage made in heaven, for sure. Look at Pointelle, knit up with one of our January colors, Lemon Cream, on the BFL base. Need I say more? The pattern is so well written, the charts are easy to understand, and not once was I bored knitting this sock. Now on to the 2nd sock.

A Celebration Of Color - January

2011-01-12T10:14:00.000-08:00

The start of 2011 begins a year long celebration, if you will, and exploration of the color wheel. As you may have guessed by now, color makes me happy. VERY HAPPY! I'm always stumped when my boys try to nail me down and ask me favorite color, because the truth is, they all are. As a fiber artist, just like any other type of artistry, it's easy to get stuck in a rut. I was feeling a bit "stuck" this past fall, and decided I was going to spend this coming year studying. Playing with a variety of color combinations, and exploring each colors beauty unto itself.

I have gathered a few tools to help me along the way and will share them with you over the coming year. One of which is the 3-in-1 Color Tool (image to the right). This is printed by C&T Publishing, and it's a great tool for someone who is always dabbling in color. Whether it be with yarn, roving, fabric or paper.

To begin, let me share with you a bit of information to pave the way for our studies. There are 3 primary colors in our color wheel. Colors that most accurately reflect the colors of our world. The blending of our 3 primary colors, offers up limitless possibilities in new color. Add in white, black and grey, and it's sheer magic.

Each color on our color wheel can be categorized within 4 different categories:
Pure Color
Soft Tints - created by adding white to the pure color
Shades - created by adding black to your color
Tones - created by adding grey

A sampling of an experiment with the above would be our colorway Green Mountain. We took a beautiful green and dyed a section of the skein, added a little grey to the green and dyed another section, and added yet another color, black, to the green, to dye the third. GORGEOUS!

During our color wheel studies, we will explore a new color each month, starting with the primary colors of yellow, red and blue. Since January can be so cold, dark and gloomy, we've decided to start with yellow. Yellow is warm, sunny, happy, uplifting.

In the coming months, we will explore shades, tints and tones of each color. Through the year, each color of the month will be offered at a 15% discount in our shop, to encourage you to explore the world of color with us.

In the meantime, we'd love to hear from you. How would you describe yellow?

Labors Of Love

2010-12-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

Whew! It's all I can say. It's been a mad dash since Thanksgiving to finish Jake's Log Cabin blanket, and it is finally finished, washed, wrapped and under the tree. This gift was truly a labor of love. The fact is, I hate knitting blankets. BORING! The project that seems like you will never get it off the needles. Now, here it is, all in it's glory. Can't wait to see his face when he opens it.

Then, off to the next. My mother-in-law apparently spent several years knitting all of the little squares in this blanket. My father-in-law brought it to me, in a box, after my mother-in-law passed away in 2009. It was knit as little 4 inch squares, and the squares had been stitched together to make 3 large strips. Assembled, this covers my king size bed. I crocheted the 3 strips together, with plans to give it to my step-daughter for Christmas. After getting this done, I wanted to wash it, given I didn't really know how old the blanket was. This is what happened......

She sewed all those little squares to together, and they all came apart in the wash. Guess I know what Miranda is getting next year for Christmas.

Holiday Gift Making Madness

2010-11-29T00:31:00.000-08:00

Each year, I find myself more interested in giving hand made items. When I started knitting, I was a bit selfish, and would only gift hand knitted items to a few, carefully selected people. Times being what they are, and needing to cut back on spending a little bit, this year, I decided that most everyone on my Christmas List was going to get handmade. After all, I have all that yarn, and fabric, just sitting there, haunting me. It's time to let some of it go. My goal was to knit my husband, myself and the 2 boys stockings. Well, I got stockings done for the boys, but hubby and I will have to wait.

Jake has been asking me for his own knit blanket (He likes to scoff mine) for 2 years. I decided to make him the Log Cabin, to use up some Encore stash that I need to move. While I love the way the blanket is turning out, and I'm nearing the last round of knitting, oy, I AM NOT A BLANKET KNITTER!! The rows have gotten so long, it takes me 2 days to get one block of color done. Not to mention, that the blanket that was intend to eat up my stash, has actually added to my stash. If I stopped when I ran out of yarn, it would have been too small. I've since had to purchase 8 more skeins, and I'm knitting this thing until the Encore is gone!

Then comes socks for hubby. Size 0 needle, 80 stitches, with a 5x3 ribbing. Enough said. I've pierced my finger more times than I can count knitting these socks, and I'm only about 60% of the way done.

There are other small items on the needles, hats, fingerless mitts, and bath mitts. With just over 3 weeks until Christmas, I'm up at 3am, trying to get knitting time in and get these done.

The list goes on with sewn/quilted items, and it seems this year that I am making more gifts for others to give than I am making to give. I've got several quilts in the work, (I'm not hitting panic mode because 2 of them just need to be quilted and binded, but I have to get them shipped by the 15th. AGH!), finished my granddaughter's stocking, and few other little surprises that I cannot post about here, just yet.

All of that said, I'll be in hibernation for the next 3 weeks, trying to get all of these project done and out the door. December 26th, I'm knitting for ME!

Sweater Knitter Wannabe

2010-10-25T00:38:00.000-07:00

I have knit alot of things in the 7 years I've been knitting. Toys, washcloths, towels, socks (socks, socks and more socks), lace, hats, mittens, etc. The one thing that I have to actually finish, and be able to wear proudly, is a sweater. Not for lack of effort, for sure. I currently have 3 sweaters on the needles. Nice, easy patterns, straight knit or stockinette. I thought when I cast them on, that my first sweaters should be simple, so that I might actually complete them. Did I set myself up for failure? While I have these 3 sweaters on the needles, I also have about 5 pairs of socks on the needles. 2 of which are stockinette. 1 of these pairs has been on the needles for about a year and a half now, while the other 3 that are patterned area all coming along nicely. Stockinette.....boring! That said....why an entire sweater in stockinette?

During the late summer, I cast on for Iced by Carol Feller. Knit in a bulky weight yarn, I knit the body of this sweater in something like 4 days. Then there was the knit collar. Here, I got stuck. Seemed like it took me forever to knit this 6 inches. Once I cast off, I was tickled, all I have left are sleeves! Until I try it on. The 6 inches of knit is about 4 inches longer than the sweater (I couldn't tell while on the needles, since it was on a circular needle). OUCH! I obviously picked up too many stitches along the edge of the body. Now I have to go back and rip the blasted thing out. My tendency in the past would be to just put this aside and try a different sweater at another time. However, I love this yarn, and the simplicity of the pattern, and if I'm every going to knit another sweater, I really should be able to Ice this baby!

My First Design!

2010-10-03T00:11:00.001-07:00

When I started knitting 7 years ago, my ambition really, was to design. While I've made several attempts, truth be told, I hadn't knit enough to really learn how to manipulate the stitches to design. While there is still a long way to go to become a well versed designer, I did just publish my first design, Hope Grows. It's a breast cancer awareness sock pattern, knit from the toe up. As was the case with cable and lace knitting, I was quite intimidated by the toe up construction initially, and looked at it from afar for about 2 years. Now that I've done it, I think it's my sock knitting structure of choice. Much less waste!

Proceeds from the sale of this pattern thus far, will be going to the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For The Cure. I'm thrilled to say this pattern has been well received, and has already contributed $100 to my fundraising goal!

I've got several more designs floating around in my head....feeling particularly motivated now to finally get them on paper :-)

Felting Frenzy

2010-08-16T01:54:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the new books that are coming out this fall for fiber lovers, and you'll see there has been a shift in the tides. You will find an overwhelming number of books coming out about felting and spinning. Both have been on my to do list for quite some time, but with 2 little ones, it's been a bit of a challenge to get the time to do them.

A few months ago, I decided to do a project with the kids, in which we tried to make felted beads. Seams simple enough....take some roving, add a little soap and water, and work in the hands to make a ball. For the life of me, I could not make these things into balls. They are oval, and there are places where it just wouldn't felt together. I'm okay with them being a little uneven, off centered if you will, and once they were beaded, it made a pretty bracelet. Will definitely be spending more time practicing this, once the kids have started school.

On the same day, we made a different kind of bead. One that to me, seamed much easier. I had a sampling of brown rovings, and layed them out in thin layers on a bamboo window blind (on the counter of course). I wet the roving, added a little soap and then rolled the blind up, rolling up the layers of felt with it. I then applied pressure to the blind, and rolled it back and forth, checking the roving every now and again to see if it was felting. Once it started to felt, I unrolled the blind, rolled up the layers of fiber, and rolled them back and forth (like shaping a play dough snake) until it felted to my liking. I let it dry, and once dry, I cut the roll into pieces (beads). LOVE THEM!! Not one of them is exactly the same as another, some are larger in diameter than others, and when strung, they look awesome!! I've ordered more roving to make more of these types of beads. Guess what the teachers are getting as gifts this year? Unless, of course, I find something better in all those new felting books out there.

A Taste Of Fall

2010-08-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

New colorways coming August 15th!

Knitting With Human Hair....Really?

2010-08-02T01:51:00.000-07:00

We knitters have definitely been know to do some crazy things at time, all in the name of getting a fiber fix. Not only do we knit with wool, alpaca, silk, yak and possum but we've been known to knit with our pet's hair/fur. I've seen it all now.....the Twist Collective fall issue has an article in it about an artist who knit this entire gown using human hair. Suddenly, the Habu lace I'm currently knitting seems awfully bulky!

Sweet Little Knits

2010-07-12T03:01:00.000-07:00

I have been on a crazy shawl knitting craze this year. Not sure how I got bitten by this bug, especially since I rarely go anywhere to wear such beautiful hand knits (socks are way more practical). However, my closet is filling fast with a variety of shawls. The latest, the Emily Dickinson shawl by Keiran Foley. This is an incredibly simple shawl (that I somehow made complicated - just for me), and knits up quick with only 300 yards being used.

There are 2 charts for this pattern, and they are very simple charts, yet, somehow, I couldn't follow them. You have to cast on 545 stitches and decrease down to 197, within the first dozen rows. What you should get are very defined points for the edging of your shawl. Somehow, I missed those decreases, and didn't catch it till later. Rather than frog and recast on 545 stitches, I opted to modify. I am quite pleased with the result, but it's definitely not the same shawl. I also decided to knit it in stockinette, rather than the called for knit all rows. I really wanted the beads to pop, since this will probably be a wedding gift for my step sister. I love it! (more pictures can be found on my Ravelry page here.)

This pattern is so beautiful, and now I want so badly to go back and "get it right" that I've cast on a 2nd Emily, using some Habu Stainless Steel that has been in my stash for years. This stuff is like thread, and it's black, so it will take me some time to knit (since my knit time is typically at night, and not in the best lighting). I'm determined to get it right, to prove to myself that I can read simple charts. We'll see how that goes.

Time To Celebrate!!

2010-07-02T03:15:00.001-07:00

4th of July is always a big day around here! We don't forget for a minute, how fortunate we are to have our freedom and independence. Our country may not be as "great" as some would like, but to us, it's the best! It allows me the opportunity to run my own business, be home with my kids, and enjoy life to it's fullest. In honor of our great country's independence, we are having our 4TH ANNUAL CHRISTMAS IN JULY SALE over at BB KNITS! Hurry on over and check it out!!

Ready For A Change

2010-06-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

Almost 4 years ago, we started BB Knits, and at the same time started blogging with Xanga. While it served it's purpose when we started, we've learned a lot along the way, including some things we need to change. The key to running a successful internet business is to, of course, be on the internet. This has not been one of our strong suits, as our old blog was not incredibly user friendly, so it really bogged us down with updates. That said, we've obviously moved here to Blogger, which is much more user friendly, and will hopefully help us stay motivated to be online more.

We also felt it important to change the name of our blog. The fact is, this blog is not only a knitting/business blog, but we frequently blog about family life, our quilting endeavors, and whatever suits us along the way (although it's primarily knitting and quilting related). While we've heard from many how much you like that we've put a "human face" on our company, we've also heard from several that they wish our blog was focused more on knitting. While I'd love to commit to that, I know better. I do like to write, and I write to what suits me at the moment. Some of our best customers have been loyal customers for almost the 4 years we've been in business, and have become dear friends along the way because they've come to know who we are.

While our Xanga site will still be up and available for several more months, we are going to try to see what, if anything, we can move to this blog. If we can't move it, we just start anew.

In the meantime, go ahead and subscribe, so you can be the first to know about new colorways, patterns, yarn clubs and various other additions coming to the shop. Here's looking forward to the change :-)