Sheila Joynes

New Beaded Shawl: Sgiach Shawl by britt schmiesing

Loved making this shawl. I added 1000+ cube beads. It took me exactly two weeks from start to finish. Yarn is Madelinetosh Sock.

Inishmore

I finally finished Inishmore and I am pleased with the results. Alice Starmore is an incredible designer and it was a joy to knit. The charts were easy to memorize which it was great to not rely on the charts constantly. There are 7 charts total including the ribbing design. I used Cascade 220 heathers in color # 9326 with a size 5 & 6 us needle. I knit the entire sweater from the front side using backward knitting on the wrong sides.It is size 48 and it is for my son, Todd.

Knitting Alice Starmore's Inishmore (Still a WIP) 2/15/2012

I have finished the back and front and will start the sleeves next. Inishmore designed by  Alice Starmore has been in my queue for a number of years. It is a beautiful sweater and I wanted to knit it from a yarn that did it justice, but was affordable. I ended up choosing Cascade 220 (nine skeins for the medium size) in a light denim blue to show off the cables. My gauge was right on using the pattern size 5 & 6 US needles. I knew when I started Inishmore that it would be a long term WIP (work in progress). Organization needed to be important for success. I made working copies of the numerous charts, cut and pasted them in order on the inside of an index file. The back of the index file was a perfect place to keep needed notes. As you can see my file got lots of use. I wanted to preserve them, so I used clear plastic tape  over the entire file. The the reusable colored tape marks my place on the charts. I used a piece of tape on each chart, moving the tape every two rows and taping right above the next two rows. I knitted the wrong side rows using the backward knitting technique, because I want the front of the work always facing toward me.   

Spit Splicing ends of your yarns together when adding new yarns or colors to your project!

Spit Splice for adding new yarn!!! (wool): (1). separate the plies, (2). fray the ends together (3) spit on the ends (4) rub the ends together in the palms of you hands just as if starting a little fire. :)

I have tried this with other natural fibers with some success.

Book Signing at "Debbie Macomber's A Good Yarn Shop"

Book Signing event, 01/24/2012 "I Can't Believe I'm Fair Isle Knitting" a step by step instrucions and techniques on Fair Isle.

NEW BOOK Alert: "I Can't Believe I'm Fair Isle Knitting" by Sheila G. Joynes

My new book just arrived! I was so excited I was shaking when the post brought it to my door! I am very pleased with the final product. It is now available through "Leisure Arts" and Debbie Macomber's A Good Yarn Shop, Amazon, Feral Knitter.  It will ship to all Joann's stores on January 4th, 2012. If you know of other shops and places to buy this book, please email me and I will add them as a source.

Details

With this thorough guidebook from Sheila G. Joynes, you can easily learn Fair Isle knitting and gradually expand your skill level while making a colorful cowl and hats for the family. Everything you need to know about Fair Isle knitting is here. As a special feature, you can personalize the color keys, making it easy to use the yarn colors of your choice. To inspire you, we've shown two color versions each for five of the six fun projects: Garden Cowl, Columbia River Ear Flap Hat, Autumn Beanie, Little Sophia's Hat, and Ginger's Slouch Hat. The final and most advanced project is Cranberry Rose Hat. Just think how thrilling it will be to say, "I can't believe I'm Fair Isle Knitting!"

 

Peninsula Knitting Guild Post

Our meeting for June will host a guest speaker, Sheila Joynes, from A Good Yarn in Port Orchard. Sheila is both a designer and a teacher--she has been published in Vogue, and her new book of Fair Isle is due out shortly. She will be lecturing on Fair Isle--a bit of history, techniques, samples, etc.--one of the topics about which many members expressed an interest. Join us at Liberty Shores Assisted Living facility in Poulsbo at 6:30 for socializing and 7:00 for the meeting on Monday, June 3rd. Remember to bring any baby hats you have made to contribute to our charity knitting project for May, and I’ll get all those delivered as soon as possible. And check out May 26th’s Kitsap Sun--there is a front-page article on teaching children at a local elementary school to knit, and our own Lorene Klamke was one of the main volunteers interviewed--way to go, Lorene! Hope to see many of you at June’s meeting, Best, Terri Major

Fair Isle Cardigan with Steeks

This is an Alice Starmore design called Abalone" from the book "Pacific Coast Highway". The Design is  available at "Virtual Yarn" .   I will continue with the steeks and cut them open when finished. I have found that doing the two center steeks stitches in the same background color makes it easier when it comes to cutting the steeks. It gives a definite cutting area to follow. A great  advantage of using steeks ( besides being able to knit the entire project in the round) is to join yarn in the steek area and you won't have all those ends to weave in when finished.

 

Knitting Backward Part 1: Step 1 Knit Stitch

Step 1 Knit Stitch Yarn is held in left hand and with right side of work facing you, insert tip of left needle into the back (left to right) of the first sitich on right needle.
Originally uploaded by sheilaluvs2knit.

So, you usually knit your front side rows from the left to the right needle. Well at the end of the row instead of turning your work over and knitting back on the wrong side, (in which case you would be knitting from the left to the right needle again)you reverse knit by knitting from right to the left needle. Knitting backward or reverse Knitting is a very useful technigue for a couple of reasons. ( I hope this makes sense)1. You usually get a very accurate and even gauge in your knit and purl stitches.
2. When you are working a pattern you always have the front of your design facing and you can see exactly what is going on with your pattern stitches. This is especially useful in texture and cables designs.

Part 1: Step 2 Knit Stitch(Knitting Backward)

Step 2 Knit Stitch

Wrap yarn counter clockwise over the left needle (from left to right over left needle)
Originally uploaded by sheilaluvs2knit.