The Proper Care and Keeping of Circular Needles

Hi guys! Today I want to write you a quick post about how to store your circular knitting needles so you can get the most use out of them. Often I see people pull needles out of their knitting bag and they have kinks and bends in them that can hinder the ease of your knitting, so I want to share a couple pictures of how to avoid ruining the nice needles you have invested in!

So, you have just gotten yourself a nice new pair of needles, and they come packaged like this:

You can see the cord of the needles is looped around twice, this is good! When you store your needles, try and store them in this same way, it will help keep them from becoming too curly and help retain their shape. Some longer circular needles are looped around 3 times, and that is fine for a needle that is 47" or 60" long.

You can also store your needle in the package with one large loop:

Try and avoid storing your needles like this:

Wind your needles back into one or two loops, try not to just jam them back in the package. You want to try and retain the shape of the cord as best as possible.

Also, don't wind the cord up too tight. If they live like this for a while, it will make them curly and hard to knit with.

When you are knitting, take care to not bend this joint here.

If you bend this joint as you knit or when you store your project, it will kink the cord there and make for a difficult transition between cord and needle, and that's not fun to knit with!

Good circular needles can be an investment, but if you take care of them, they will last you a long time!

Get that hair out of your face!

It's been warm and muggy here in Ventura these last few weeks, and I can't stand having hair on my neck and in my face when it's been so hot! To make it worse, I cut bangs in my hair last week, so there's even more hair in my face than usual! If you were to look at my Ravelry pattern browsing history, you would see pages after pages of headband patterns, and I thought I'd share some of my favorites here for any of you that are suffering along with me :)

Twisted Turban Headband:

 Bandana Bow Tie:

 Bow Headband Tutorial:

 Knotted Headband:

 Hot Mess Headband:

 The Single-Twist Headband:

 Rosie Headband:

 Unisex Dread Wrap Headband:

I hope you guys enjoy, if you make any of these, let me know, I'd love to see how fabulous you look in them! Happy Knitting!
-Kaity

Tote-ally

Hello faithful readers! Sorry it's been a while since I've posted here, we've been bust with our 10th Anniversary Celebration and lots of other fun here at Anacapa Fine Yarns!

It's finally summertime, and I thought today I'd share with you guys some ideas for totes and bags you can whip up quickly for hauling around your swim gear, farmer's market finds, picnics, and more!

If you are into crocheting, here's a few  FREE patterns I've found

Summer Squares Beach Tote:

Spring Blossoms Market Tote:

4 Ball Market Bag:

And for you knitters, I found a few FREE patterns for you, too!

Everlasting Bagstopper:

Elisa's Nest Tote:

Grrlfriend Market Bag:

We've got lots of great cotton and linen blend yarns that would be great for any of these bags, swing by the shop soon!