I have been motoring along on my Rhinebeck sweater!

I am just thrilled to death with the progress and the way the sweater is knitting up. In a paranoid move I requested some extra roving from Carrie…just in case. The timeline is so tight and this sweater is just eating up yardage. The sweater is knit flat, which I love because finishing is almost as fun for me as swatching!

There is about 9 inches here so far, I am working the increases for the bust and should be done and working on dividing up for the arms by the end of the weekend providing that I find some time to spin more yarn as my giant ball is getting pretty piddly.

Right now I am feeling pretty sure I will have this done for Rhinebeck, but I am also aware that I need to sew in a zipper, which I have never done and my sewing skills leave something to be desired to say the least.

It has been wonderful to see what you all are working on over at the Flickr group…what is everyone else knitting right now? Are you working on a winter project?

Thank you all so much, we are so close to our goal of $1000.00. Currently we are at $970.00.

The prizes we have had so far have been wonderful, but here is the grand prize…

From top to bottom left to right: All things heather, Signed copy of No sheep for you, zen yarn garden, yarntini, Sundara yarns, Seacoast silk and ivory, Perchance to knit CASHMERE, Zen strings, Sundara silk lace and worsted.

To be included in the draw which will take place next Friday Oct 5th, a $10 donation HERE will have your name added once and each additional $10 donation will have your name added again.

Thank you all so much for making the Run for the Cure at The Sweet Sheep a success!

Also as mentioned in the last post, we have started a flickr photo sharing group for  you all to post photos of your projects using sweet sheep yarns! Come on over and take a look! 

Big Sweater Update coming tomorrow!

I have been mulling the idea of starting a flickr group for the shop over. Having a place where any of you can go and post photos of your projects and yarns that you purchased from the shop and talk to others about…whatever you want!

In speaking with a few of you I received really positive feedback so I decided to go ahead.

Here is the flickr link  

For those who are unfamiliar with flickr, it is a wonderful photo sharing community that is free and easy to sign up for. You can also create disscussions and comment on other people’s photos. I have found it a great resource for yarn and knitting eye candy and inspiration.

If you are working with some yarn you have purchased from the store we would love to see your photos! You will also notice that we do not have members..we have “sweeties”

Come join the fun!

Lisa H is the winner of this weeks Run For the Cure prize! Photos of the Grand Prize this week and the draw is on Monday.

The Rhinebeck Sweater is on the needles! After only 7 swatches (yikes) I finally got gauge. I was planning on just modifying the pattern to make it fit me and then I realized that it is knit flat with a lot of business going on up top and to be honest, my brain looked at all the work that needed to be done..and left.

So I struggled from a recommended 10.5 needle down to a 6 and got gauge (whew!) The Sweater is obviously knit tight, but is coming along beautifully.

I have knit a few rows since then and switched to my second ball of handspun. As many of you may know (or not) I hate swatching, but when you are working with handspun there really is no option. I have more sweater yarn on the bobbins and just about ready to be plied! We are moving along.

This upcoming Sunday is the Run for the Cure! So let’s make sure we give out a fantastic prize this week. This will be the last prize before the grand prize. Here she is:

One skein of Zen Yarn Garden in Minty Fresh, One skein of Yarntini Merino/Tencel in Hope and one skein of Brooklyn Handspun sport weight in Springs Return.

The Draw will take place Wednesday. If you have not donated and would like to do so you can here.

We are at $960 of our $1000 goal, THANK YOU ALL SO SO SO MUCH and a wonderful thank you to all of our hand dyers that have donated their beautiful yarns.

In shop news I was very busy this weekend:

Great Big Sea Silk is updated and fully stocked!

Sea Silk is updated and Fully Stocked

Funky Carolina Rovings are up with over 30 amazing new rovings!

We also have: Brooklyn handspun coming soon and Sknitches self striping coming soon and I promise I am working hard on the Tulip kits!

I am continuing on with my sweater progress. As suggested by Amy in this very helpful Knitty article, I have created a card to remind myself as to what I am aiming for when i sit down at the wheel. My biggest fear on this project is having a different gauge with every skein. Talk about an ugly sweater!

I had spun a little sample to to a swatch:

I rarely work with anything above a fingering/dk weight so I was pretty astonished at how fast this knit up! Starting to feel like I can for sure do this thing in 31 days…yikes! I spun my first bobbin last night, and will be carrying on to my second today. My bulky flier has still not shown up and I am really hoping it gets here before I am ready to ply!

I will not bore you with the daily full/half full bobbin shots, so cross your fingers for me until the next sweater update.

In shop news, Sheepaints is going up sometime this afternoon/evening…stay tuned!

A few weeks ago Carrie and I got the crazy idea to spin a sweater for Rhinebeck this year.  We have exactly 32 days.  I am fully aware, that knitting a sweater in 32 days might be a bit of a feat for someone who works as much as I do, let alone spinning the yarn, but I am also fully aware that I may be a little insane, and i’m ok with that.

I am going to chronicle the whole process here so you can all share in my success or not . 

Yesterday I received the stunning fiber that Carrie had dyed for us

2 beautiful pounds of Merino/Tencel in the Bitchin’ colourway. Carrie and I designed the colourway together and she took our vision and made it so much better. I quickly ripped everything else off the wheel and spun up a sample to make sure I got the right weight.

The sweater pattern is from Dominknitrix and calls for a bulky weight yarn. Those of you who have followed the blog for a while will realize that I only spin sock/sport/dk weight yarn. So this in itself was a tricky thing, I have been practicing some worsted/bulky in the week that I was waiting for the roving to arrive.

I plied and soaked the sample last night and will be knitting up a small swatch today to make sure that I can get gauge before I start spinning.

My Bulky flier has yet to arrive, but I have no time to waste so I will be making smaller skeins while I wait, should be here soon. I will keep you updated!

Cross your fingers for me friends!

Who else is going to Rhinebeck and are you wearing something knitted?

I am so sorry to report that Canada Post’s shipping website is down. Anyone who is waiting for an order to ship will unfortunatly have to wait until tomorrow. I will continue to check hourly for updates.

What a bummer!

Packages will be packed and ready to go the moment Canada Post is back up!

Manon Charpentier-Simon is the happy winner of these beautiful yarns!

Congratulations Manon and thank you so much for your wonderful Donation. We will be doing one more drawing next week and then the week after that will be the grand prize basket! I will get photos up of both prizes as soon as I can.

I will have a proper blog post shortly, I am a little under the weather and a lot under the orders (thank you).

Tulip kits and shespaints yarns coming this week!

ETA: There was a little of an uproar when the self striping sock club sold out so I have added 5 last spots! 

The Run for the cure is coming up fast and furious and I can’t wait! We have raised $875 so far! I am thrilled thank you all so SO much! We will be doing the much promised prize drawing this Monday for 2 fantastic skeins! The First is TEAM KNITTY from Mama E a Ceyeberfiber yarns and the second is Yarntini in the Hope colourway!

Everyone who has already donated will be automatically entered into the draw and anyone who would like to donate can do so here.

A $10 donation gets your name entered one time and each additional $10 gets you another entry! My goal is $1000.00 and we are SO CLOSE! Thank you all so much for your generosity!

I have also been tagged for the Rockin Girl Blogger…that’s so cool! Thanks so much to Anne-Marie!

I will be tagging 5 of my favorite blogs:

1. The Yo Yo

2. Mama E

3. Funky Carolina

4. Alison at The Blue Blog

5. Anne At Knitspot

I hope you all have some time to sit down and plan some fall knitting while still enjoying the sun!

Oh…did I forget to mention Sheepaints is going up next week?? Whoot!

All Dream in Color Yarns are up.

Worsted and Smooshy! 

Tulip kits are coming next week!

I have recently had a lot of requests for sweet sheep swag and am in the process of having some created for the shop. I wanted to give my fantastic customers some more options so I opened a Cafe Press shop! 

I am really happy with the products availible and the pricing. Here are just a snipet of what’s in there

There is also a really fantastic track suit that you can get in pink! I just may have one of those coming my way and I also ordered a bunch of Christmas presents there for my mom and sister, because who doesn’t love a cute sheep!

Sweetie is so honoured to have her face on so many fantastic items…take a look and check her out! 

The knitter’s fair was a BLAST! It was wonderful to meet so many of you…thank you for coming out.

My power cord for my camera is MIA so photos will come later.

We have a TON of new yarns to put up in the shop.

Coming this week:

Dream in Color Classy worsted weight

Tulip baby kits

New Booty knitting bags

Ceyeberfiber project bags

A Huge New line from Ceyeberfibers

Alpaca Plus sock yarns

Shelridge farms DK weight yarn

So I really need to find that missing cord for my camera!

If you cannot wait to hear my weekend stories check out Mama E’s Blog for her account of the weekend.

We will also be having a Run For the Cure prize drawing this week. We have so many beautiful prizes that it is time to give some out! This week will be a skein of Yarntini’s Hope colourway. (photo’s coming)

Every $10 donated gets your name entered once! 

The weekend was much more busy then I had planned. I was supposed to be at the house by myself, knitting, filling orders and…well knitting. At the last moment I was convinced (quite easily) to set off to the cottage with C. I did however sneak away for some knitting time between all the fun and made some progress on Bee

I am about an inch into the second section and doing my best to move along. This shawl is certainly NOT without mistakes! The pattern is incredible, I am just having some difficulty with my stitches are always ending up short or too many on the one side only. I think I have it figured out, however I have decided not to rip back. At this point I don’t think I could have survived it.

And because I am insane, I cast on for another shawl!

I simply couldn’t resist the Dream in Color Smooshy! Although the bee shawl is my main project I think I will just run a few rows here and there to keep me sane. I am just so in love with this colour!

This week will be a total whirl wind for me as I am getting ready to go to the Kitchener knitters fair on the weekend. I am very excited as this is my first fair and even more excited that Mama E is flying down to tend the booth with me! If any of you are going to be there, please stop by and say hello.

I will also be taking some products from the shop including the Knitting Bags, so if you see something  you want please grab it now!