Even though the KAL is officially over, I still wanted to introduce Sairy and Sharon from Stitches ‘n Rows!

Please introduce yourself; Tell us about who you are, and what are you donating.

Stitches ‘n Rows is the brain child of two crazy jersey girls: Sharon and Sairy. Here’s a little bit about each of us:

Sharon: My name is Sharon Burket and I am Holyknitballs on Ravelry and Plurk. I share Stitches ‘n Rows with my partner in crime, Sarah Paretti. You will rarely find one of us without the other, hence our nickname, “the wonder twins”. We share so many things in common as friends, knitters, fellow dance instructors, and now shop owners. We really compliment each other as partners in this business.

My love affair with needle arts started at 6 years old when my mother put a crochet hook in yarn in my hands to occupy me while she cleaned the house. Being an only child and constantly under her feet, crocheting turned into quite a hobby. Almost 20 years later and an exploration of Aran sweaters on my first trip to Ireland, so began my approach to knitting. I’ve been obsessed with tweady yarns and cables ever since. With knitting and crocheting being what we consider a gateway drug to spinning, we were blessed to have some really amazing spinners in our lives that opened the door to so many possibilities with our craft. It did not take long for us to expand our love of all things fibery and colorful into a business that we feel is a true expression of our unique personalities.

Stitches ‘n Rows was a bit of a dream that became reality for us. We like to work with high quality fibers and blends, some of our favorites being superwash merino, BFL/silk, and merino/cashmere/nylon. We are focused on saturated, vibrant colors and, for people who know us, this marries well with are personality and style. I often say that I am irreverent when it comes to color. The more bold a statement we can make in a color run, the more we like it. We strive to give our customers the type of beautiful fibers and yarns that we like to use in our own projects.

Sairy: I’m Sairy – I’m a market data analyst by day, and a knitter/spinner/dyer by night. I’m also, like Sharon, a certified Les Mills BODYJAM instructor at our local gym. When it comes to myself and Sharon, we are a package deal – we seem to share a brain! We met 3 years ago at our local knitting group – the NJ Skein Mavens – and have been two peas in a pod ever since. I have a really understanding husband and a super awesome cat named Haley.

We are donating a skein of our dyed Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend in the “Citrus” colorway.

Tell us about your shop. What kinds of products do you sell and what makes them awesome?

Our fiber shop is usually stocked with several different kinds of spinning fiber and some yarn at all times. We love bright, vivid colors and unusual combinations of colors. Saturation is key for the two of us.

Which is your favorite sock in the Crafty Detour CSI collection and why?

Sharon: Dawn Gnot is clearly a favorite of mine since I saw Sarah’s version. “A criminal passion for knots”…..that is so me. I hope to make my own pair in the near future.

Sairy: I was a test knitter for the CSI series and I loved knitting Ken Phelz. They came out so nice and knit up super fast!

What do you think is the most heinous of knitting related crimes?

Sharon: *Looks around*. Muppet pelts. If it looks like you might be wearing an Oscar the Grouch pelt and think it might be a mistake, it probably is. Put the novelty yarn down and just walk away. Just walk away. Not to mention the thought of being near an open flame and lighting up like a roman candle makes me shudder a bit.

Oh and two more words, gauge swatch. Always swatch, period. You’ll thank me later.

Sairy: A lying gauge swatch for sure.

What was the last knitted project that you completed?

Sharon: The last knitted project that I completed were a pair of Halloween socks that I might for my sister-in-law, Tammy (WickedStitchWitch) on Ravelry. I was lucky enough to get her as my swap partner for our Halloween swap and no one in that group knows how much she loves Halloween better than I do. I used a semi-solid dark purple and alternated blocks of stripes with a self-striping yarn that went from yellow to orange. I fair-isled “Hocus” and “Pocus” on the top of each leg so it reads “Hocus Pocus” no matter if you were standing in front or back of her. My first after-thought heel was done on those socks with Sarah’s help and the method from Heather Zoppetti.

Sairy: Oranje – my Rhinebeck sweater!

What is on your needles now?

Sairy: Dark and Stormy – a neat little cardigan that I can’t wait to finish. Haruni will be on the needles soon too!

Sharon: My Rhinebeck sweater that I fret may not be done in time, but I’m trying. It’s Hallett’s Ledge by Elinor Brown and the yarn is a bright green and tweedy Harrisville Highland that I purchased while on a day trip with Sarah visiting our very own Heather Zoppetti.

Thank you, Ladies!

The CSI KAL is now officially concluded! I hope you all had a good time snagging your own knitting criminals. We didn’t have many finished projects, so instead of random drawings I’ve decided to do the prize allocation a little differently. Here is the run-down:

phoenixfire completed Ken Phelz and Olivia Fey
Luliriisi completed Dawn Gnot, I.B. Footsie, and Ken Phelz
yrallee completed I.B. Footsie
mslindz completed Luz Mojito

7 completed projects…but we have 8 prizes! So, what I’ve decided to do is to award 1 prize for each project completed. Luliriisi will receive an extra prize for having completed the most projects. For each project I randomly picked a prize from a hat (seriously, I actually got out a hat to do this).

And here are the results:

the Flying Fibers prize (sock yarn) goes to phoenixfire
the Stitched by Jessalu prize (project bag) goes to Luliriisi
the Ever After Yarns prize (sock yarn) goes to yrallee
the Alpaca Yarn Company prize (sock yarn) goes to mslindz
the Zarzuela Fiber prize (sock yarn) goes to phoenixfire
the Jellyfish Knits prize (sock yarn) goes to Luliriisi
the Stitches ‘n Rows prize (sock yarn) goes to Luliriisi

and my personal prize donation (bag of goodies & yarn) goes to Luliriisi for having completed the  most projects!

I will be contacting all prize winners via Ravelry to get mailing information.

Thank you to all the participants and to all our wonderful prize donors!

This week I’m introducing Jess from Stitched by Jessalu!

Please introduce yourself; Tell us about who you are, and what are you donating.

Hi! My name is Jessica and I am the one-woman force behind Stitched by JessaLu. I make project bags for knitters and spinners and sell them at craft shows an in my online shops at Etsy and Artfire. I am donating a project bag!

Tell us about your shop. What kinds of products do you sell and what makes them awesome?

I sell box bags, spindle bags, bucket bags and notions pouches – they are awesome because I make them on a 1936 Singer 15-91 sewing machine in my home that was built around the time of the Revolutionary War in Western Massachusetts. I line all my bags with coordinating fun fabrics, too! For example, the pig bags have bacon inside!

Which is your favorite sock in the Crafty Detour CSI collection and why?

Desi Myna – they just look so soft and squishy!

What do you think is the most heinous of knitting related crimes?

Acrylic yarn? ;o)

What was the last knitted project that you completed?

My Abigail Sweater – I’ve worn it since but need to do pictures to update my Ravelry Queue!

What is on your needles now?

A Girasole blanket that I am knitting out of yarn dyed for me as a wedding gift from Karin of The Periwinkle Sheep – now I just need to find more time to knit so I can finish it before winter!

Thank you, Jessica!

Well…okay, here’s the deal. I hate to be a flake. Really HATE it. I was really excited about CDU and all the cool things we could do with it. But life has gotten too chaotic and Sarah and I just don’t have the time to put into this project just now.

What I hate more than flaking is producing something that isn’t as well done. I think it’s maybe better to postpone this feature rather than put classes out there that are just meh. I want to do something fantastic and exciting, not just some posts about stuff that might be a tad bit interesting…ya know?

So for now, we have decided to postpone CDU classes until life settles down a bit.

A Reminder: Have you been working on your CSI socks? The KAL ends soon! remember to get your entries on the Ravelry group for a chance to win one of several awesome prizes

Welcome to class! As the very first class in the very first semester of Crafty Detour University, this will be something of an experiment. I am planning weekly lessons and hopefully I can keep that schedule. At this time I have 5 lessons planned (not counting this introduction). This first class is Socks 101, where we will be talking all things socks.

The syllabus:

• Sock Anatomy
• Heels
• Toes
• Tips & Tricks
• Yarn & Patterns

Who this class is for:

• Knitters that want to learn how to knit socks
• Knitters that already know how to knit socks but wish to advance their sock knitting knowledge
• Knitters that don’t necessarily care about socks, but might like to check out what all the hype is about anyway

Prerequisites:

• To gain the most from this class, you should be familiar with knitting and knitting in the round. These topics will not be discussed.

Are there assignments/homework/projects? Not formally, but feel free to try out various techniques as we go along. Have fun and feel free to participate in the comments. Ask questions and I will answer them in my next lesson.

This week I’m introducing Jessica from Zarzuela’s Fibers!

Please introduce yourself; Tell us about who you are, and what are you donating.

My name is Jessica and I’m the owner of Zarzuela’s Fibers in Manchester, NH. I began my shop in 2008. Being an avid knitter and spinner part of the inspiration for my business was having more interesting colorways to use for my own work. I had more ideas than time to knit and spin them all myself so Zarzuela’s Fibers was born! My little business has grown at a steady pace since that time and I recently made a major life change that allows me to dedicate more of my time to helping my shop continue its growth.

I’ll be donating a skein of Chromatic, my 100% superwash BFL sock yarn.

Tell us about your fiber shop. What kinds of products do you sell and what makes them awesome?

My shop is mostly focused on spinning fibers but I have started to dabble in yarn again recently. I sell hand dyed top in a variety of types of fibers as well as mohair locks, batts and even a bit of angora locks from my bunny Stitches. So far I have yarns in superwash merino in a worsted weight as well as Chromatic and Mighty Feets, a wool/nylon blend. Both Chromatic and Mighty Feets are fingering weight. I hope to have another blend of fingering weight yarn and lace yarn in the future.

I think what makes my products awesome is two things. The first is that I’m a spinner and knitter myself and I make sure to only sell things that I would want to work with myself. Hopefully that helps my customer know that they are going to get a quality product. Second, I take the majority of my color inspiration from mother nature. While I use acid dyes (some day I hope to have the ability to use natural dyes for at least some part of my work) I do try to stay close to the colors of nature. I can’t think of anyone that uses color better and she’s an unending source of inspiration for me. I also do my best to be kind to her as well so I don’t use a lot of extra packaging or labeling in my products and try to conserve water as much as I can while dyeing. I’ve recently begun to blend my love of yoga and the fiber arts with some yoga themed colorways as well and that has been an interesting intersection of my two main interests.

Which is your favorite sock in the Crafty Detour CSI collection and why? Desi Myna. I have a thing for cables and the color blue. What do you think is the most heinous of knitting related crimes? Knitting something you don’t like or you have lost interest in. Knitting should be a pleasure and make you happy. If it isn’t making you happy? Let it go! What was the last knitted project that you completed? A pair of hand spun socks from my Sock Stripes line of fiber. What is on your needles now? A pair of socks in Chromatic for a shop sample, some other miscellaneous socks and a long neglected Dale of Norway sweater that I’m sadly realizing may not be finished in time for Rhinebeck AGAIN this year.

Thank you, Jessica!

This week I’m introducing Hillary from Jellyfish Knits where she sells gorgeous hand dyed yarns in a variety of blends and top for spinning!

Please introduce yourself; Tell us about who you are, and what are you donating.

Hi, I’m Hillary of Jellyfish Knits. I’ve been a knitter for over 10 years and a spinner for almost 3 years. I took up dyeing yarn in the Spring of 2010 when I got some ideas for sock flats. Since then I’ve moved into skeins of yarn as well. The sock yarn I donated is a lovely Superwash BFL/nylon blend in tonal blues.

Tell us about your fiber shop. What kinds of products do you sell and what makes them awesome?

I sell sock yarn in a variety of blends as well as silk top for spinning. The colors are often inspired by characters or places out of Science Fiction with names like Companion (a rich tonal red inspired by Inara from Firefly), First Prime (a golden yellow drawing inspiration from Stargate SG1), and Leela (a vibrant tonal purple named after the character from Futurama). Aside from the colors the yarns themselves range from a basic wool/nylon blend to a Merino/Silk/Nylon/Silver to Blue Face Leicester/Nylon to Merino/Nylon/Stellina.

Which is your favorite sock in the Crafty Detour CSI collection and why?

I’d have to say I.B. Footsie. I like the combination of stitch textures and what can I say? I’m a sucker for puns and love the name! This will be on my needles very soon and hopefully before the KAL ends.

What do you think is the most heinous of knitting related crimes?

The most heinous knitting crime is telling yourself that you can’t do a certain technique or knit a certain type of garment. It’s all just a combination of knit and purl stitches. All you have to do is put your mind to it!

What was the last knitted project that you completed?

The last project I just finished was my Stripe Study shawl.

I was in a yarn store in June and a customer came in with one that she had just completed. I fell in love with the asymmetry. When I got home, I pulled a skein of dyed-by-me Bugga in blues (the Sanguine Gryphon base) and matched it up to a grey skein of Cascade Heritage sock. Didn’t stop knitting until it was finished!

What is on your needles now?

I’m currently knitting the Vivian sweater. It’s been on my needles for a while, but it’s really taken off this last month when I decided it will be my Rhinebeck sweater. It’s a quite a bit further along than this photo from the other day shows.

In addition there’s my purse stockinette sock, a pair of Skew socks, and the Misselthwaite shawl.

Thanks, Hillary!

This week I’m introducing The Alpaca Yarn Company. As the creative director, I’ve taken it upon myself to fill out this form

Please introduce yourself; Tell us about who you are, and what are you donating.

Hello, I’m Heather, the creative director at The Alpaca Yarn Company. We are a small company comprised of only 3 people. Beth, Tasha, and I do it all. Beth is owner and the brains of the operation. Tasha is the rock star dyer. She does all of our hand-paint yarns from her small dye room right inside the warehouse. We are donating a skein of Paca-Peds sock yarn. Paca-Peds is a blend of alpaca, merino, and nylon.

Tell us about your fiber shop. What kinds of products do you sell and what makes them awesome?

We carry all weights of alpaca and alpaca blends from lace to chunky. Again, many of our colors are hand-dyed in-house. I have no idea how Tasha keeps up with the demand! Paired with luxurious alpaca, our beautiful colors inspire you to create exquisite projects.

Which is your favorite sock in the Crafty Detour CSI collection and why?

For us, Dawn Gnot – the sample was knit with Paca Peds

What do you think is the most heinous of knitting related crimes?

I think the worst crime committed by knitters is failure to swatch. I really think that so many sizing problems would never happen if knitters would learn to knit and block their swatch.

What was the last knitted project that you completed?

My last knitting projects are all secret, but Tasha just finished a cute pleated skirt, and Beth just finished a lace scarf.

What is on your needles now?

We are all working on something or many somethings all the time. At the moment I am working on secret things (of course) and Tasha is finishing a cardigan.

This week I’m introducing Tiff, owner of Ever After Yarns.

Please introduce yourself; Tell us about who you are, and what are you donating.

Hi! I’m Tiff! I’ve been knitting for 6 years, spinning half that long, and I am really terrible at these “about” type questions. I am donating an exclusive custom skein of Cashmere/Mulberry silk lace yarn.

Hello Kitty Cat

Tell us about your fiber shop. What kinds of products do you sell and what makes them awesome?

I own Ever After Yarns. I dye mainly yarn and have two bases, Classic Fairytale, a superwash/nylon mix perfect for shawls and socks, and Princess Locks, a 100% BFL lace weight. What makes my yarns awesome? Well, I try to name my yarns after fairy tales or things of whimsy to go along with my shop name. Even my yarn bases follow that theme.

Seven Dancing Princesses

Which is your favorite sock in the Crafty Detour CSI collection and why?

Just one? I wonder if I can plead the 5th? I would say I really like Ken Phelz because it’s lace and I am a total lace-a-holic.

What do you think is the most heinous of knitting related crimes?

That is a tough question; I would say anything involving fun fur.

What was the last knitted project that you completed?

The WendyKnits KAL shawl.

What is on your needles now?

How long of answer do you want, I have so many? LOL, I have two projects that are active right now, one is a pair of plain vanilla cuff-down socks in Cherry Tree Hill semi-sold sapphire, and the second is the Purple Rose of Loopy toe-up socks in… well, I have no idea what the yarn is, it’s a pink colorway and it was given to me by my BKF (best knitting friend)

Pittsburgh Steelers – only available during football season

This fall Crafty Detour is launching Crafty Detour University!  We will be hosting two classes: Socks 101, taught by Heather, and Advanced Techniques: Steeks, taught by Sarah. Posts will be semi-frequent; we are aiming for weekly. Socks will be early fall, and Steeks will be late fall. No registration is required! If all goes well, we hope to make the University a regular gig around here with new classes popping up throughout year.

Have an idea for a class? a topic you want us to explore? Leave a comment and let us know.