Event: Jody Long Next Tues Sept. 26th

Jody is Back! 

 Tues Sep 26th  3-7pm

Join us for a another meet & greet with designer and yarn guy, Jody Long. It's the final leg of his year-long US Tour "Cables Across America." He'll have a new fall trunk show with tons of new garments and yarns. Theme is warm, cuddly and cables! 

Bring any of your problematic/finished Jody Long projects or wips . Now's a great time to ask the designer specific questions about his patterns, process and choices when churning our patterns. Hope he can give us his future trend predictions too (seeing he's already at work on Spring/Summer 2024 line). Excited that our weather looks lovely autumnal! Relieved it's not the usual too, too warm Sept for Jody. 

Light treats and drinks provided. We'll have giveaways and a specially designed Cables Across America pattern book for all attendees. Jody literally designed these as he made his way across the continent last spring. He'd have an event and go back to hotel to design! 

We're still waiting for a couple of the new yarns, but big order just arrived with more Ciao, Coastline, Andeamos and Albas.  Jody will have all new samples to fondle and examine so you can preview the yarns still on order. 

Join us 
Next Tuesday, Sept 26th  3-7pm

New Jody Long Fall Collection

Fall means there's new yarns, colors of favorites and lots of new pattern collections. Here in shop we love Jody's yarns. They've become staples and year-round yarns since introduced many years ago.There's a new siblings in the Alba and Andeamo lineup: Alba Aran, Andeamo Twist, Andeamo Lite Paints. Plus new colors in our fall favorite lines Alba, Andeamo, Andeamo Lite. 

Alba and Alba Aran

Alba, a lovely tweedy blend of merino, superfine alpaca in a dk/sport weight. Works up beautifully in a rich palette inspired by the Scottish Highlands. It's an awesome soft tweed and works up great held double to create unique marled items, or  single for lovely lighter weight-yet warm-garments and accessories. Great yardage each ball (382yds) with 21-25st 4" on US #5-7. Hook size F (3.5mm).

Below are a few patterns Jody designed for Alba. A mix of terrific pullovers. Larisa and Charmaine are brand new and highlight the trend towards intarsia bubbling up lately. 

Alba Aran is the same gorgeous tweed blend yarn in a bulkier weight. "Aran" is between worsted and chunky weight. It's a true aran gauge of 11-16sts = 4" on US #9, or #I hook with 11-14sc = 4". 

I'm in love with his newly designed patterns, especially Genevieve! It's a perfect Irish Cable Cardi!

Andeamo Collection

There's now a bunch of yarns in this wooly lineup: Andeamo, Andeamo Twist, Andeamo Lite and Andeamo Lite Painted  All are a blend wool/alpaca in super bulky to worsted weight. The Andeamo uses a #15 for fast work. 

Makes great quick gifts and he has perfect one-hank hat patterns.Grab 3-5 hanks for fast garter stitch lap blankets. Big cozy shawls or ponchos take 4-6 hanks. 

Here's the lovely marled colors of Andeamo Twist. The two-tone twisted colors elevates any pattern. Megan adores Enya. Actually we both do! And these hats are fast work for holiday gifts. 

Andeamo Lite is worsted weight, great yardage (437yds), super lofty and warm wool/alpaca. Fairly fast work on #8-9 at 16-20sts 4" and I repeat....a whopping 437 yds per hank! A perfect work-horse, staple wool to have for any winter, warm and cozy projects. Wide range of colors. 

New is Andeamo Lite Painted, a lovely soft multicolor palette. Same gauge range as it's solid sibling so patterns all interchangeable. 

Sneek Peek: Next Sweater KAL 

Brighton in Coastline

After last spring's Jody Long event we fell in love with his Coastline yarn. It's a heavier aran weight cotton/rayon/linen blend. Gradually we've added more colors with each shipment. Just finished swatching for this sweater and even in seed stitch...it's a dream to knit!

We have a sample of the Angela sweater and the drape, feel and weight is just amazing!  A perfect year-round yarn for our climate. We've picked Jody's Brighton pullover as our next shop sweater KAL. Nice pullover in seed stitch with flattering lines, boxy shape with very little shaping. 

KAL starts November. Meet Thursdays 12-2pm. Watch our blog for details.

 

2023 Summer Sweater KAL: Jody Long's Verdi

Want to make a summer sweater? 

Join us for our Jody Long Verdi KAL starting April 28th. Verdi was the most popular pattern during Jody's recent US LYS Tour and proved same for our customers. Hence the KAL!

Meet-ups are during our regular Friday sessions12-2pm. Come pick out yarn, get your pattern, choose size etc. Then cast on your swatch (yes....swatching a must!), knit up your sweater and (hopefully) you'll be wearing it by June! Join us when you can make it, or need help...or encouragement...or as an excuse to just sit and knit for a few hours. Weather finally turning warmer so patio table ready and waiting for us to work away at on our Verdi sweaters! Might try to get a zoom session with Jody to show off our finished sweaters if his schedule allows. 

Verdi uses a new yarn Lino Moda, a perfect DK linen/cotton blend. The strength of linen pairs beautifully with soft cotton for a yarn that holds it shape and wears well over time. Great for all things baby, kids and garments.

Colors are delightfully tonal. This is achieved since each fiber takes the dye differently. Creates a tonal marl effect.  This imparts a rich depth to finished items, be they garments, baby blankets, tote bags, crochet projects..... all are wonderful. It's a great 

KAL are great way to work collectively with others on same pattern. It helps to have others in same boat, as we all work our way to the finish line. We can help each other with the tricky bits, offer tips and tricks along the way, and provide encouragement when the knitting gets boring! Kim's got swatches made and will help initiate you to the joys of swatching! Can't avoid that crucial step when making garments. Our Lino Moda order arrived and already a reorder on it's way (few colors sold out fast!). Come by the shop to see pattern and yarns to see if you're up for the challenge. 

Join us for the Spring Sweater KAL

starting April 28th from 12-2pm! 

Jody Long Event Recap

Our Jody event in March was a blast and super informative. We learned all about Jody's personal background, his attention to tailoring details of his patterns (thanks to his Grandmother....a Royal Tailor to Queen Elizabeth!) and his love of designing flattering garments with little modern touches. How he'd skip school to knit in the woods by his house. His career trajectory and shocking ability to crank out a finished sweater in just a few days. 

Grateful for our lovely model, Brig! She's now ready to tour the world with Jodi as his fit model. Our handsome sales rep Joseph happily played dress up as well, in addition to escorting Jody around on the tour. 

Having piles of Jody's hand knit garments to see and try on was awesome. Makes a huge difference. As a result of this event we brought in Coastline, an aran weight cotton blend we hadn't brought into shop before. After seeing how great it works up, we said "yep! we need this yarn too!" 

Another important fact: Jody prefers to sweaters in pieces, not top down. This allows for a better constructed garment that is more flattering to wear. I know...I hear the groans of "I hate seaming," but if you're wanting sweaters to fit and flatter....rethink avoiding seams. He's not totally averse to in the round patterns....but only when the fit of the final garment is enhanced by this method. Think of knitting in round like a pole, with the rounds slanted up as you go. When put on a body there's a subtle twist to the garment that can be less than flattering. Hence his preference for pieces vs. "tubes". 

We also learned Jody is one of world's fastest knitters! He clocks in just behind the official world champion. We hear they're going to have knit off one of these days and he hopes to become #1! It was mesmerizing watching how fast his fingers fly! No wonder he can design so many patterns each year. He can finish a sweater in 3 days or so, a shawl in 2 nights. Truly impressive! 

Despite the very stormy, windy, blustery, wet, wild day.....we have perfect turn out. About 20ish total. Thank you everyone for braving the elements! Jody loved it! His future plans next year's tour involve classes and workshops! Thank you Mom for making your awesome Clam Chowder and tons of cookies! 

Most importantly we learned he never uses this typical pattern writing shortcut "just reverse shaping"  when it's time to make the right or left fronts. Instead he writes all the parts of his pattern out so it's easy to follow!! That "just reverse shaping" is one of our pet bugaboos (Jody's too) and a real PITA. Now we foresee many Jody Long sweater patterns being knit at maisieblue in the future! Yippee!....Kim can cast on more sweaters!!! But don't hold your breath she'll finish them any time soon..... LOL 

More Jody Long Highlights Before Shop Event Mar 14th

One more long yarn-post before our Meet Jody Long Event this coming Tues Mar 14th at the shop. We hear through the customer grapevine he's awesome and lots of fun! 

A favorite customer hear from her friend from down South USA that her local event was terrific. This made us even more excited. I've ordered up an Ikea Garment rack (I've always wanted one!) to hang up his trunk show samples. It'll be wonderful seeing and trying on just a tiny portion of his 698 patterns (yep....doubled because KFI updated his entire portfolio, 20+ years worth to Ravelry). 

At bottom of this post more specific details about event. That's my hook to get you reading (or scrolling quickly) the whole post! LOL 

For our non-yarny-customers: I promise to do a nice big, fat, long book and gift posts once we get past the event. There's been a ton of new stuff arriving practically daily it seems. Bear with me....I promise fun things next post.

Right now trying to beat the Pineapple Express Atmospheric Weather Storm #2...or is it #4? Hope power stays on so I can get this post up. 

Jody Long Spring 2023

New Colors of Favorite Lines

Andeamo and Andeamo Light 

These two yarns highlight Peruvian wool blended with touch of alpaca. It's Jody's homage to the Andes, hence their names. Amo = I love you in Spanish + Andes = Andeamo. Both yarns are harvested and made in Peru. 

Andeamo if the super-bulky blend, lightly spun 2-ply that is 9-10 its = 4" on #US15! This is the yarn to grab for fast projects. Super warm but not as heavy as other super-bulky wools. Kim cast on a new car coat pattern and it goes incredibly fast. (For those playing Kim's Cast On Bingo....we're up to 3 wips now....)

Andeamo Lite

For worsted weight projects, grab a super generous hank of Andeamo Light. A whopping 437yd lightly spun blend of 85% Peruvian wool with 15% Alpaca, which provides a softness and lovely halo effect when worked up. 

Jody is a prolific designer with a knack for highly wearable, functional garments. Usually with a special design touch or interesting stitch patterns. Winter Forest booklet has several great sweaters. Our Sadie shop sample is a favorite (below). Simple moss stitch but in two colors! Makes a great house cardigan or car coat. Super warm and cozy. 

There's lovely range of colors too. The blend of highland wool makes for a lovely palette of heathered shades. A go to yarn for accessories and blankets. The stitch definition is amazing with cables. See below this past KAL sweater, Matthew. It was super popular zoom-KAL last fall. 

 

Read previous blog posts about Andeamo and Andeamo Lite here. 

Ciao was the first Jody Long yarn we brought in many  years ago. It's a workhorse yarn or 100% superwash Italian spun extrafine merino. DK weigh (#3) with gauges: knit 21-24st = 4" on US #5-7; crochet 12-17 sc = 4" on US #F-7 hook.  

Great patterns too! Martin hat and scarf set awesome. The stitch definition of wonderful. By far my favorite is the Stripe It! Scarf. Our shop sample is usually around my neck (and even got to see San Luis Obispo on a recent visit!). Generous size and takes 1 ball ea of 11 colors. 

There's a ton of pattern support for Ciao ranging from adorable babies, children's' and adult garments. His books are excellent if you're making kids projects or baby blankets:

He has several booklets if you're looking for just a few patterns instead of a big book. Winter Breeze full of adult garments and accessories. Ciao Baby tons of adorable toddlers...and the garments are pretty cute too! 

Find his books and patterns in our online shop

Ciao Carnivale

Due to arrive any minute.....the brand new multicolor Ciao Carnival. Same great bouncy yarn but inmulticolor palette. Say it how I hear it in my head, with a Brazilian Accent "Ciao Car-nee-val-eh"! Great addition for those wanting multicolor and a little fun but the Ciao yarn. Check our website for colors. So new I don't have a pretty collage for colors or patterns made yet! 

Alba

Alba another one of Jody's first yarns. This means lots of colors and tons of patterns! It's a wonderful soft tweed blend 50% merino/25% superfine alpaca/25% rayon. It's a DK gauge. Inspired by the Scottish Highlands in colors and patterns.

The subtle soft tweed is exact sub for Rowan Felted Tweed. Great yardage (382yds) but the firm balls love to roll off the shelves! But we love Alba anyways. 

The Seaforth booklet has lovely patterns as usual. Classic, timeless and perfect wardrobe staples. 

This fall he created Tino, a perfect Lounge Around Weekend Pullover for Alba. I adore this pattern. Similar to others but more straightforward knitting, with many special shaping techniques included. Love when you learn as you knit! 

Jody Long Summer Yarns

Won't go into the summer Jody Long yarns we stock yet. Let's wait until we have summer weather (yes....we will have summer weather sooner than we think). For now you can find these yarns in our online shop: My Little Sunshine, Summer Delight. New lines are Flora and My Little Sunshine Stripes. 

Older Jody Long yarn blog posts: here, here and here

Patterns on Ravelry (there's now 698 total!) 

Our website: Jody's patterns and yarns

Save the Date! 

Meet Jody Long Event 

Next Tuesday

Mar 14th 

12-4pm 

Here's Jody's Event Agenda! 

• A seminar of my experience in the hand knitting industry, including owning my own shop in the UK, and how I came to be to design for KFI. 

• A Q&A session. "What's your favorite seaming trick?" "How the heck do I do a flipping short row!?" "What's your favorite place to travel?" 

• An hour “Knitting with Jody”, including minimal technique and knitting help.

• A Jody Long “yarn tasting” and patterns and other goodies! Includes an exclusive Jody USA Tour Design for attendees. 

• A garment trunk show representing multiple Jody Long yarns and designs.

• An opportunity to purchase an exclusive Jody Long kit available only to attendees. Kit limited so grab because gone when they're gone!

Nibbles and libations provided by Mom! Come by and help us welcome Jody to Gold Country! 

Hope we have some hearty souls able to row their boats to the shop come Tues! I was doubting the hype....but just now a huge gale wind slashed rain against my window.....Yikes! My husband texted weather report for us: Anticipate 14.5" rainfall from now until Wed..... Gulp...... better go get more sandbags....