We’d like to meet some knitters and feature them on our blog and podcast! If you’re interested in being a part of this, we’d REALLY like to hear from you!
Respond to the following questions in a Ravelry form post or email with a picture of yourself knitting and we’ll feature it on our blog!
If you’d like to go a step further and record a sound byte of yourself answering the following questions that would be INCREDIBLE and we would love to include it in our podcast! You can email it to us relentlessknitting at gmail dot com or use the same email to share it with us over google drive.

​Name:
Raverly alias:
Other Social media?
When and how did you first learn to knit?
What was your first project?
What is your biggest knitting disaster?
What are you most proud of as a knitter?
What are you favorite items to knit?
Are you a process knitter or a product knitter?
Do you have any knitting goals? Projects? Techniques?
Why do you keep coming back to knitting?
Do you do any other fiber arts other than knitting?
Do you have any other super powers other than knitting?
Anything else you’d like to tell the world? (shameless self promotion!)

The Lake Country Food Bank works with local grocery stores and restaurants to reclaim food that would otherwise end up in the landfill. A group of dedicated volunteers retrieve the food then dry, preserve or freeze the food for distribution within the community and satellite communities who don’t have the facility to store large amounts of food. ​

Tiffanie from @beyond_swatches on Instagram put out the call for a printable organizational sheet for projects and I could not resist. This is not a new idea and there are some good ones already created (pinterest) but after some chatting with Tiffanie and looking at what's already out there we decided to create our own. 

I loved this idea and am trying more and more to lessen the amount of patterns I print. I have been using the free version of knit companion, which is great for keep track of where you are in a pattern, but there's no where to keep notes or do any of the set up maths and prep when starting a new project. So, we came up with this set of printables with the idea to print what you need. 

For example, I just started the Autumn League Pullover by Two of Wands and instead of printing the 10 page paid for version of the pattern, I loaded it into knit companion and only printed the first page and the notes page of the template we built (1 page, back to back). 

Now, I know I could use a notebook for this and that there are some great knitters notebooks out there but, if you're like me and have 20+ wips (no shame), said notebook gets tucked into one of them and then it's not good to you for any of the other 19ish projects because now it's lost. What works better for me is to have all the information necessairy for the project with the project. 

We're loving this idea and proud of what we created and would like to share it with you all!

Download, print, share! 
​~Karla

Finally, we all knit differently, there’s no right or wrong way to do it, the fabric you create is a personally expression of who you are and what is currently happening in your life. Gauge reported on a pattern is a mathematical representation of that designer’s time and space. Yours will be different, therefor,  we need to test and collect data by knitting a gauge swatch. There’s really no way around it and, really, it’s just more time spent knitting so enjoy! ​

We got a sweet little email from the folks at YarnCanada.ca asking us to help them promote a contest they're having. YarnCanada.ca, in partnership with Bernat & Patons Yarn, are offering $2000 worth of yarn to some yarnworthy folk. There are 12 prizes up for grabs and it could be you, or your knit group. The idea is to give to people who give back. So if you or your knit group have a cause that you support and you'd like some yarn support you should consider entering. The contest is open to fellow Canadians and has also been extended to our neighbours to the south. You can find all of the details and fill out the entry form here

Good luck! 

I've been meaning to do this for a long time, months in fact. The lovely people over at YarnCanada.ca generously provided us with a hefty ball of Red Heart's it's a wrap and asked us to do a review. Needless to say the fall has been BUSY. The holiday season is almost in full swing so I thought I'd better get down to business!
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​I'll admit that I've got a pretty robust stash and when I do go hunting for a little something, something to add to my collection Red Heart doesn't usually cross my mind. I was skeptical about this review. The 50/50 cotton, acrylic blend had me wondering how this yarn would knit up and what it would feel like. My experience with cotton is limited to dishcloths, and I don't use a lot of acrylic so I was pretty in the dark about how this was going to play out. 

So even thought life has been crazy busy these past few months, I did do a swatch immediately. The yardage in this ball is ample enough (seriously ample, 1100 yards of ample) to knit up a sweet summer t-shirt so I picked up my 3.5mm needles and swatched for Edie by Isabelle Kraemer. This swatch is AMAZING. It's soft and has drape and is feather light. The yarn is rated as #1 - super fine, and super fine it is. It's classified as a light fingering weight on Raverly and there are lots of patterns that would lend themselves well to this yarn. I picked the Comedy colour way to try to get out of my comfort zone. I am in love with the bright, bold colour combo that this colourway provides. If I hadn't already fallen in love with Edie, the ball band offers a super cute colour blocked shawl called Asymmetrical Knit Shawl. 

So the second I finish my #committoknit2018 (you guys, I'm soooooo close) I'm casting this on, and you should too. Red Heart's it's a wrap is available on YarnCanada.ca for an easy $11.95. Seriously. Buy a few or check out some of the other great yarns available, because after you spend $45 you get free shipping. 
Now, go forth and knit (and shop), relentlessly! 

If you've been listening to the podcast lately you'll know that both Karla and I have been looking into increasing our knowledge by taking a tech editing course for knitting. Karla is looking at trying the course offered by the Knitters Guild Association, and I was looking at doing The Tech Editor Master Class offered by Joeli Kelly.  If you're wondering what a tech editor does check out this explanation.

Well folks, I've taken the plunge and I'm hoping to make a go of it. I have been trying to figure out a way to earn and income in the knitting industry. I thought that designing would be the ticket, but I really just enjoy knitting other peoples designs so much that I never made time to ddesign for myself. What I am good at is math, and knitting. So, I think this will be a good fit. I have a deep rooted love for spreadsheets and I intend to put it to good use.

Starting next week I'll be taking the Joeli Kelly course for 8 weeks! I'm so excited to be embarking on this new adventure that will hopefully allow me to have the flexibility our family needs. If you are a designer who needs tech editor come and check out my website www.emilywakeling.com, or shoot me an email at Emilythetecheditor@gmail.com.  I'd also love to hear about your experiences working as a tech editor or with at tech editor. So hit me up! 

Happy Knitting!

Emily

You're knitting and vacationing anyway, might as well make a game of it! We were inspired by Andi Satterland's Heatwave Bingo from 2015 and wanted to do it again! Post your dabbed squares on instagram with #summerknittingbingo so we can follow along! If you get a line (or even a black out!) make sure to post photo evidence in the our Ravelry Group! There will be a draw for prizes at the end of summer. Summer knitting bingo runs June 21st to September 22nd! Happy Summer Everyone!!

I was recently given the opportunity to review yarn for Round Mountain Fibers (US Customers use this link) Monica was so generous she sent me three hanks of yarn, so we'll give some away in our ongoing KALS.

First off, the Round Mountain has a super clever way of classifying their colourways; there are ornithology, entomology and botany collections. All of them are spectacular and hand dyed in Vermont. I particularly love the Atlantic Puffin colourway, along with Cecropia Caterpillar and Wild Mustard. All of the colourways come in your choice of 50g or 100g skeins in either fingering or worsted weight so you can pick your poison. Just a heads up, the international site is still priced in USD. The website also has kits and some pretty amazing patterns. Not to mention their Drunk Yarn dyeing kits. You seriously need to take a look. Go on now, I'll wait right here. 

You're back. They are delightful aren't they? I opted to use the fingering weight 100% merino in the Succulents colourway that was sent our way to make my first (but not my last) pair of Rose City Rollers. I did opt to use a contrasting colour with nylon in in it for my heels and toes. The merino has a good twist to it so I felt comfortable enough using it for socks, but I do like to have a little bit of extra strength in the areas that will see more abrasion. I found that the yarn was rougher on my hands than I'm used to while I was working with it. That being said I think it's softened since blocking and wearing.  I've been wearing my socks for about two weeks and they're holding up well. They're comfortable and haven't lost their shape despite multiple wearings between washings.  

Final thoughts, I think Round Mountain Fibers is definitely worth checking out. Monica is friendly and efficient to work with. The colourways are, frankly, spectacular and unique, and did you see the mini skein collections? Besides, if you've been working hard on your #committoknit2018 you're going to need to replenish your stash, right? You can get your stash enhancement on for 50% off right now with the coupon code 'ocanada' at check out. SWEET!

Keep knitting relentlessly, 

Emily

The shawl is knit back and forth, where when working on the right side, you work the four increases and on the wrong side no increases are worked.

Crescent shaped shawls are similar to triangular shawls in that they start with a garter tab but are different because there are more increases placed only at the beginning and end of the rows on both sides of the work. Crescent shaped shawls generally have two increases on either end of the row on the right side of the knitting and one increase on either end of the wrong side of the row. These six increases produce rapid growth in fabric along the edges and the crescent shape. ​

Asymmetrical and Side-to-Side shaped shawls are similar in that they both start at a long edge point with very few cast on stitches. Because they are knit from point to point width-wise instead of center out as in the first three shawls, they don’t require a garter tab.

The side-to-side shawl construction requires one increase every other row. When you’ve reached the desired shawl depth the increase changes to a decrease. ​

Although there are five different shawl shapes covered here there are many others, such as pie shaped which is a full circle starting from the center out or a hap which can be triangular or square where the interior is knit first and a border is applied after. Also, the above shawls have many modifications on their basic mathematics that create new shapes. For example, two triangular shawls attached edge-to-edge create a parallelogram or connected along the top edges to create a rectangle. A more central placement of the right side increase in an asymmetrical shawl creates an arrow shape.

Below are Ravelry links to some good examples of the different shawl shapes that I’ve favorited.

Crescent Shawls - http://ravel.me/K-Rae/cssos

Asymmetrical Shawls - http://ravel.me/K-Rae/assos

Semi-Circular Shawls - http://ravel.me/K-Rae/sssos

Side to Side Shawls - http://ravel.me/K-Rae/stsssos

Triangular Shawls - http://ravel.me/K-Rae/tssos


If you’re interested in further exploring shapes and construction of shawls I recommend this free online course by Aroha Knits. http://www.arohaknits.com/5-shawls-5-days-challenge-sign-in/ Or check the local LYSs for shawl classes.

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