Bella Knitting

Avoidance

Laura

I’ve got a confession. I have been avoiding you. I know, impossible to believe but true.  You see, Sarah and I have worked really hard at making this a positive blog and we succeeded beautifully with one notable (but highly justified) departure for a rant about the Harmony Guide Eyelets and Lace.

So when I was hit at the beginning of the summer with some health issues resulting in a major case of vertigo and double vision I kind of just swept it under the rug and ignored its impact on the blog. After all how long could it be before I was back on my proverbial feet? My previous bought last October and November ended as quickly as it  began so certainly this one would as well. And after all if I told you about it wouldn’t that just jinx it? But it has not gone away and since I hate it when bloggers simply disappear off the face of the Earth leaving me wondering what in the world happened I write to say hello and I miss you.

And so what does a knitter do when she can not knit, read knitting magazines, or write blog posts? Why she explores her new home town. In my case the sunny and lovely San Diego area. I’ve discovered the peaceful and beautiful Quail Gardens in Encinitas just a mile from my home. The perfect place to take a stroll, meandering through the brilliant colors and textures of nature.  As a gardener raised in the northeast there is much for me to learn about warm weather gardening, however, as much as I love these lily pads and their little friend I think I’ll just visit them often while I wait to resume my knitting compulsion. It may be a while longer yet but at least my new yard will be beautiful.

Graduation Time

Laura

It's that time of year when parents wonder where the time went. Even those of us not prone to sentimentality can't help but shed a tear or two when looking back at the progress of our children's lives and our role in shaping them.

Yesterday was our daughters 8th grade graduation. It's a very interesting time for these young men and women that we've all been watching during the three years of Middle School. They enter 6th grade as big kids and graduate as young adults. It's the first time we get a glimpse into what they will look like as adults. Jaclyn ran up to get dressed yesterday afternoon, a rag tag thirteen-year-old in her Old Navy shorts and tank top and descended the steps thirty minutes later looking four years older.

Parents with babies and toddlers often want to keep their kids at that so cute 'perfect' age. As my kids have gotten older I have found that each age is the perfect one. Having older kids means there's no more Barney on the TV, they put them selves to bed and most importantly they have interests that you can share. It's been a delight, but then again high school starts in just a few months.

Moving on Down

Laura

I seems both Sarah and I have travel plans this summer. Mine are a bit more permanent. It looks like the family will be moving in a few weeks to San Diego! Yikes!  This is the third leg of our westward migration over the past ten years; from New York to Chicago to San Francisco and now to San Diego.  Since we couldn't go much further west I guess San Diego is the last place left to go before we start circling back. I think we've been pretty lucky to live near all these fabulous cities.

My family is thrilled. I've got my parents, two brothers and their families in the area. The kids are thrilled they will be living near grandparents and cousins for the first time. There is a lot to be said for living near family as long as you all get along as well as we do. And who can complain about being transferred to San Diego?! This is how we spent the day last weekend when we went down house hunting - on my brother's new boat. You can see the kids waving at me on shore (I took the quiet time to knit). Good time had by all.

There won't be any visible changes at Bella, we are an online store after all. I' hoping to make some new knitting friends in Southern California (hello Yarnhog!), Sarah will be guest blogging from San Fran. So with only two weeks to pack up and go I'll be busy organizing and de-cluttering. We're good at this by now.

Life is ever changing and so here is one more opportunity for us to try new things. Each change seems to lead to others, I can't wait to see where this brings us.

Bon Voyage

Sarah

Writing for the blog this past year and a half has been a great experience. I've gotten to know (virtually, anyway) so many great knitters and bloggers, and I hope I've managed at least occasionally to entertain you. Don't worry, I'm not leaving forever -- I'll still pop in with an occasional guest post -- but life (ahem-Measure-cough cough) has been keeping me so busy that it is just time for me to take a break.

Laura will, of course, continue to hold down the fort here at the Bella blog, and keep you supplied with regular doses of inspiration as well as updates on the doings in the world of BellaKnitting.com. One of the reasons I am stepping back from the blog is to give myself a little more of my meager spare time to work on the many knitting designs which are rattling around in my head, clamoring to be knit up and written into patterns. You'll still be able to find me at my personal blog, Nibbling Along, on Flickr where my username is (caryatid), or on Ravelry as Caryatid.

For the next few weeks in the real world, though, you won't find me at home -- Jason, Measure and I are all going on a trip to England and Ireland. Jason has to go to the London area for work, but when he's done with that we're going to take a little vacation, and spend a few days in Dublin and Cork as well.

Because I don't have enough to do already to plan for a trip that was sprung on us really short-notice (imagine I said that sarcastically), I sewed up a couple of passport covers from this cute little tutorial by Bunnybum. I think this will make them a little easier to keep track of, and it was a fun, quick little project -- it would be a cute way to cover a plain notebook, too.

Here's hoping I manage to get some knitting time in on vacation! I'm bringing bamboo sock needles for the trip, since they tend to be most likely to get the OK from security, though I hope anyone doing any air travel remembers to bring an SASE with enough postage to send their needles home, just in case. Bon voyage!

Design in Progress: Heritage Sock Yarn

Sarah

I was really excited when Laura said she was going to start carrying the Cascade Heritage sock yarns a while back. I mean, who doesn't love sock yarn? It sent my mind reeling with design ideas, although for me, nothing really firms up until I have the yarn on the needles. You can buy the yarn a la carte from Bella Knitting here; the color card is here.

I've been working on a sock pattern in the yarn using the "Forest" colorway (#5619) and I figured that since I now have some experience with the yarn, I should share some of my thoughts on working with it.

First off, the yarn has four plies, so it has a nice roundness to it, creating tidy, even stitches. I'm using a multicolor, and I was pleased with the way the colors stack up -- the colors don't pool in big blobs, but I've got a zippy little almost-stripe thing going on. Of course, these variegations are all pretty much in the same color family, so you'll get a different result with a shade like Londonberry, which combines green and purple hues for greater contrast. Overall, I think that the way the colors shift as you knit suggests that this yarn will work great in a pattern which makes the stitches move. That's what I'm doing, anyway, but the design isn't ready for the big reveal just yet. To give you an idea of what I mean, look at Cookie A's Monkey sock pattern -- the increases and decreases create a pleasing movement in the fabric which shows off yarns like these quite nicely.

I know that I haven't seen this yarn in any of my LYS yet, so you may not have had a chance to see it in person. If I were to compare it with other yarns in my stash which you may be familiar with, I'd say it is most like Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock and the Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett yarn by Schachenmayer Nomotta. Both of those are constructed of 4 plies as well. Based on what's in my stash, it looks like the Regia yarn may have the most loosely-spun plies and the Lorna's Laces the most tightly spun, but I think I'd need a microscope to be certain. The Heritage sock yarn certainly seems to be of comparable quality, will stand up to a machine wash and tumble dry, and is definitely a good deal at $16.50 for a 100 gram, 437 yard skein -- enough to make a pair.

Ouch: the Diagnosis

Sarah

Just a quick update: I went to see the doctor yesterday about my arm, which, as I said in my last post, has been hurting me. The good news is, knitting was not the cause of the problem (though my poor knitting posture may have contributed) and I don't have to give up knitting.

The bad news is, I have something called "Impingement Syndrome" which means that some of the soft tissues in my shoulder are getting pinched by the bones when I make certain movements, and it could take a year to heal. Ugh. I wasn't happy to hear that, but at least the treatment is just a simple series of exercises -- stretches, really -- which I'll have to do several times a day in order to "retrain" my shoulder muscles to work together harmoniously again. I'm not happy about it, but hey, at least I can still knit!

Oh, and by the way -- sorry for the non-working link to the brown sugar cookie recipe in my last post. I've edited it, and have linked instead to my version of the recipe on my food blog. You can now find it here, and again, I highly recommend you try these; they may be my new favorite cookie!

Ouch!

Sarah

I am sorry to report that I have sustained a knitting-related injury. Pity me! My right upper arm muscles are in pain. I don't think it's anything really serious, but it's hobbled my ability to knit. So, hey, you get a photo of brown sugar cookies on one of the placemats I sewed recently instead. The cookies are from America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated though you can go to my food blog for my version of the recipe, and I definitely recommend you try them -- the warmth of the brown sugar flavor, with its molasses-like undertones, is not to be missed. The placemats were another fun, quick project. The fabric, which I purchased from Reprodepot, is a Kaffe Fasset print. You can't see the back side, but it's also a Fasset Print -- deep red, with black dots forming organic oval shapes. Both fabrics look to me as if they might have been inspired by Australian Aborignial art, and I think the warm colors are appropriate for something which will be used in the dining area.

At least I can use this knitting downtime to wash and press some of my fabric stash, and maybe start on a little quilt. I'm not totally sure how I injured my arm, but I know it's just been strained more than usual lately since Measure seems to be going through a growth spurt. When I'm loaded down with him in one arm and groceries in the other, I can definitely feel the burn! I probably exacerbated the problem on Saturday, when I powered through a big chunk of the sock I'm working on (a design project, so sorry, no photos yet). Hours of knitting tightly on tiny needles was not the best way to treat my already sore muscles. I've got to agree with the Yarn Harlot -- knitting must be a sport, because I acted like a total "no pain, no gain" jock! At least knitting won't give you shin splints, like running, or a concussion, like rugby, and hey -- I've never seen knitters body-slam one another like hockey players (although I can imagine yarn sale scenarios in which it could happen). What kind of knitting injuries have you experienced? I'm sure I'm not the only one who has pushed herself too hard, or accidentally sat on a DPN!

A Conversation With Adrienne

Sarah

I was interviewed by the lovely and talented Adrienne recently for her podcast, "Conversations with Adrienne," and the interview is now up! I think I sound dorky -- I always do -- but you should listen anyway, because Adrienne's charming southern accent totally makes up for it.

Connections

Laura

We're in a book! A real book, on Amazon, and in your book store today . . .  but no it's not a knitting book. Huh? The book is titled "The Million Dollar Idea in Everyone" and much to the chagrin of my husband it's not about companies that have made a million dollars (sorry honey) but about people having an idea and going for it.

Why, you might ask, is Bella Knitting in a book and how did we get there? It's all about connections and a bit of luck. A friend of my husbands whose wife knows an author who was writing a business book ... you get it. They were looking for small companies who were trying something in a new way. They liked that I 'walked away from an eighteen year career at IBM" to start a knitting company. I guess most people (non-knitters obviously) don't think of computers when they think knitting - they must not know about Knitty, Ravelry or all you fabulous bloggers out there. They're still thinking rocking chairs, that's all right, we know better.

They wanted to hear about how Bella Knitting was different, what it is we offer our customers. So I talked about the convenience of the total project, offering more than just yarn but also the purse feet, magnets, some fabric and the leather straps too as an example. The interview took place over a year ago so I didn't even get to tell them about winding all that color coordinated thread winding for the Buddy Bags!  I explained the virtual but real friendships bloggers form and their influence on popular patterns like our rampaging baby Vikings who are now crawling around on six continents! 

And it gets better! We're in the very first story of the book - we're on page two of the first chapter and you know the saying ... location, location, location!

But wait there's more . . .  Harvard Business Online reviewed the book on their web site referring to just two stories  -  guess who?!!!  Yup, us! With a direct link to the Bella web site too (do you think Harvard Business people knit?). If your a small business owner it doesn't really get more exciting than this. With all this luck I think I should go out an buy a lottery ticket.

Bella Web is Up and Running!

Laura

We are really (really) thrilled to announce the grand reopening of the Bella Knitting online shop! And while you might be rolling your eyes just a bit (wow, yet another yarn store) we hope to be so much more.  A place where designers can unleash their creativity and knitters can find and modify interesting projects conveniently.  That means unique projects with multiple options and if it calls for fabric, buttons or a magnetic snaps we'll find them for you so you don’t have to run down to the local craft shop or hunt all over the internet for them.  There is more about our philosophy in the About Us  and FAQs sections so just come on in and hang out with us for a bit.

It means we will be working with amazing blogger - designers like Anny Purls to bring her creations to life. We've even joined in her charity campaign to support Doctors Without Borders. We think (being totally and completely biased) that adding her projects to our own gives us one of the cutest baby collections around (and there is more on the way!).

This also means that finally the pattern for that ever popular and absolutely adorable baby Viking hat that Sarah designed is available for easy downloading. Can you believe that we have sold that hat to knitters on six continents!! I am not telling you which one is missing, I think you can figure it out. :)

Since there is just no possible way that we published hundreds of pages and thousands of files without some blips, typos and missing links we would love to hear from you when you find them.  Other types of feed back (helpful hints, things you like or would like to see more of) are totally welcome too. We've tried to make it warm and friendly - let us know what you think. Send to  laura@bellaknitting.com.

Scavenger Hunt!! We’ve hidden a few of these Bella Knitting buttons in the web site. The first person that sends a comment back here with the location gets a prize! There are three buttons so three winners – first one for each location. I’ll be sending out a Purse Hook (worth $20) to each winner. They are simply one of my favorite things to keep my purse and knitting bag off the floor.