Buy Local!

Welcome to the latest additions to the Momogus Knits patterns family! Yarn It in Deal, New Jersey, Yarns R Us (love the name) in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, and Unwound in Blowing Rock, North Carolina (first NC yarn store for MK!) are all now carrying Momogus Knits patterns. Thank you! Remember, it's so important to support your local yarn shop! I know it's easy to go to Michael's or A. C. Moore, but who will help you figure out pattern directions or help you fix a mistake in your knitting or spend an hour picking out the perfect yarn for your first grandbaby's sweater? Your friendly local yarn store helper, that's who! If we don't put our dollars there (and buying local is always a great way to go), they'll close and we'll all be out of luck.


Speaking of spending your dollars locally, are you familiar with The 3/50 Project?

Go ahead and click on the link and poke around and then come back please. It's a great easy way to stimulate the economy and keep our neighborhoods and small businesses vibrant and flourishing. Spend $50 a month at 3 locally-owned businesses and be amazed at how much good you'll do for your neighborhood and small businesses.

I personally support the 3/50 Project by eating lots of cupcakes from The Night Kitchen, which unfortunately for my waistline is now 2 doors up the street from The Tangled Web. I also spend approximately $1,000,000,000 annually at Lewis Paints in Glenside. I get to talk about the Phillies, and debate eggshell vs matte finish and gossip with the local painting contractors whenever I go in. You can't get that at Home Depot. Finally, my third favorite local business is Joe's Meat Market in Ardsley. When we moved into our house, the mover said to us, "You're so lucky! You're only 3 blocks from Joe's!" We had no idea what he was talking about, but soon learned that Joe's is the heart and soul of our neighborhood. It's a father (Heinz)/son (Ralph)/daughter (Monica) business, and it is the best. If I come in without Gus they will ask me where he is, how his baseball team is doing, how school is going. I love them, and I am so thankful that they're near. Nobody at Genuardi's asks me how Gus is doing.

What are your favorite local businesses? Think about what you love about them - how near they are to your house, how friendly the atmosphere is, how high the quality of the product is. That's what we can work on keeping.

Now go buy some cupcakes.

Another Yippee!

Sorry to interrupt my fascinating knitting musings, but it's time for another champagne picture. Congrats to the Phillies for winning the pennant!

Wednesday Musings....

First this:

Beloved Phillies finally (dare I say "phinally"???) beat the Rockies and advance to the NLCS to face the Dodgers. Cross yer fingers!

Then this:

Talk about PHINALLY! The Child's Chestnut Hill Gansey finally got finished this weekend. I can usually knock out a child's sweater in a week or so, but this one kicked me around the block a couple of times. I feel like it took me months to finish it. Oh wait, it DID take me months to finish! Those sleeves..... But it's done! I can get the pattern in final form.

I'm also knitting this:

Because I can't knit enough Chestnut Hill Ganseys! This is the Adult version. The yarn is Cascade 220, which is severely underrated. I think of it just for felting (even though it doesn't really felt very well in my machine), but it's soft and wooly in a very pleasing way. I'm really enjoying this knit. I'm knitting a 38" version, which might fit Gus in a loose way when I'm done. I deliberately chose a denim blue that would not be objectionable to a way cool 9-yr-old boy. I still need to fudge the numbers a little bit, and of course there are the sleeves to knit (sigh), but this pattern should be ready pretty soon as well.

And last, but very much not least, a very warm welcome to the newest member of the Momogus Knits Patterns tribe, Jessica Knits in Scottsdale, Arizona. Seven years ago, when I started working at the Tangled Web, Jessica was already a veteran presence there, and she made me feel so welcome it started my whole career there on a happy note. She left to open her own store back home in Arizona, and I missed her keenly. She is a delightful person - funny, warm, talented and a good businessperson to boot. I'm thrilled that we're working together again, even though we're 2,500 miles apart.

This and That...

A shout out to my 88th and 89th Momogus Knits Patterns customers, Electric City Yarn Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania and The Yarn Shoppe in Aventura, Florida. I have a special soft spot for Scranton, because that is my mom's home town. I'm going to try to keep you apprised of new local yarn stores that carry my patterns, because you gotta support your local yarn store, folks! If you need to find one in your area, go here! Eventually, stores that carry my patterns will all get highlighted, but they're coming so fast and furious right now that my poor webmaster can't keep up.

I hope you all got to take advantage of the special FREE download offer and downloaded your copy of NS21 Easy Cable Mittens. (Facebook fans and Twitter followers will always get the news of these offers first - hint hint). Mittens are one of my favorite things to knit, and these were fun to design and make. But don't do what I did! After making many pairs as samples, I picked up some apple green Berroco Ultra Alpaca to make a pair for myself and happily knit away. When I was finished the pair I looked at them and thought, huh, something's wrong:

Yeah, I made 2 right hand mittens. DOH! Though I felt like kicking myself around the block, I did get a good laugh out of it, and proceeded to make a left hand mitten.

That's better.

Free Cable Mitten Download!

I posted this to my Facebook page (are you a Facebook fan of Momogus Knits? You should be! Look what you get!). This link is good until tomorrow October 6.

Go and download for free a copy of my Easy Cable Mittens pattern. This classic, simple mitten knitting pattern is a great introduction to cables. Knit in either worsted or chunky weight yarn, these beautiful mittens make a quick and easy gift for everyone on your list (don't forget yourself!) Instructions are also included for cabling without a cable needle, which makes knitting these fun mittens go even fast. Sized for toddler up to adult.

And don't forget - you can make a matching Cabled Hat or Ear Flap Hat or a Cabled Scarf!

We Interrupt Our Regularly-Scheduled Programming....

....for this:

Congratulations to my beloved Phillies for clinching the NL East Division title.