Prolific knitter, sometimes designer, and co-founder of Butterfly Boxes Adrienne Enriquez shares some of her knitting favorites with us for the second installment of Member Spotlight!

Why do you knit?
I'm among those who find knitting relaxing. It's also how I justify binge-watching Netflix or listening to hours and hours of podcasts ... I'm being productive while I do it!

What got you started knitting?
A family friend taught me how to knit when I was 5 years old, and I worked on that olive drab, bulky, misshapen scarf for a few years. When I was 12, I asked my grandma to "really teach me" how to knit. She was a believer in both making the thing you wanted and in ripping out all mistakes. So my first "real" project was a forest green, heavily textured - cables, bobbles, and more! - sweater that was perfectly executed under her eagle eye. After that, I was a fairly intermittent knitter until just after college. In the past 20 years, it's become a regular part of my daily life.

Favorite place to knit:
On my couch - best place to binge-watch Netflix!

What’s currently on your needles?
So many things! I'm not a monogamous knitter. Not even close. Right now, the top three in rotation are a Wool & Honey sweater for me, a narwhal stuffie for a friend's baby (which will likely be accompanied by a harbor seal stuffie for his older sister), and an Apex scarf.

What’s your biggest knitting victory?
I've designed a couple colorwork baby blankets that I really loved. But my biggest victory might actually have been a rather simple project that just took forever. And bored me to tears. But I finished it.

I made my niece a queen-sized striped "sky" blanket (pictured above). Over the course of her 16th year, I took a photo of the sky everyday around noon and then knit those colors into a blanket for her. Biggest surprise? I was astounded that I had to reorder blue yarn twice. And I'm STILL making my way through the leftover gray yarn (using it for the narwhal, in fact!). Portland's skies aren't gray as often as we like to think!

Oh! I'm also pretty proud of an ocean-themed baby activity book I made for a friend a couple years ago. Most of it was pattern-based, but I designed a couple of pages to go with it because my friend loves crabs and clearly needed a crab page, right?

What do you want to learn more about in knitting?
It's probably about time I do something in brioche, right?

What other hobbies do you have?
I bought myself a spinning wheel about 6 months ago, and I've loved every time I've used it. Same for the rigid heddle loom I bought a couple years ago. I've recently re-picked up counted cross stitch for when I need a change of pace. Outside of crafting, I'm a reader.

Colorwork or cables?
Colorwork.

Describe your ultimate knitting project:
I like projects that teach me something new.

Follow Adrienne:
adriennepdx on Ravelry and Instagram
Want to share your love of knitting with the guild? Email us at puddletownknitters@gmail.com with subject line Member Spotlight. 

Members beat the heat by enjoying the a/c and lots of cozy, cozy knitting at our August meeting.

Keep Up with Events

We want to make sure you're in the know! In addition to announcing events at our meetings (thank you, Margaret!), we maintain our Community Events page regularly. If you use Google Calendars, you can add events we publish to your own agenda--easy-peasy. Just scroll to the bottom of our Community Events page, find the Google Calendar, click on the event you don't want to forget, and select "Copy to my calendar." 

Member Tip

Kate Cornelius shared with us a tip for helping with hand and finger pain. To ease pain from general inflammation or arthritis, she suggests compression gloves, specifically the design without fingers so that you don't have to put down your needles. You can find her pair here on Amazon. Find out what is meant by compression.

By Hand Serial
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By Hand Serial, created by Andrea Hungerford with photography by Karen DeWitz, is on its 6th issue. Upcoming features include Vancouver Island and Nova Scotia. Andrea had a preview of a gorgeous handmade leather pattern and needle holder. Look for the pattern and potentially even kits to make your own.

Program: Change the Gauge with Nele Redweik

As a knitwear designer and resident tailor at Portland's Wildwood & Company custom shop, Nele is a pro when it comes to changing the gauge. She walked us through the various ways you can tailor patterns to fit your unique vision.

You want to use the perfect yarn of your dreams for the perfect sweater of your dreams, but somehow the two just won't work together. Don't give up. You may be able to make it work.

Start Easy(ish)
If you've never knitted a sweater or gauge-changing before, perhaps you'd want to start with experimenting on simple projects like scarves and hats. Adding/reducing rows, pattern repeats, and stitches per inch isn't as vital to fit when working with hats and scarves as it is when working with sweaters. 

Jump Into Intermediate
If you've made a few pullovers and you're ready to start experimenting with your own designs, start with a simpler crew new, perhaps something knit flat or in plain knitting in the round. 

Go Pro
A seasoned gauge swatcher with no fear of maths? You're ready to play with unique shaping and advanced techniques. 

How To Make Your Sweater Fit You Better

What is it that you want to achieve? A longer hem? More contouring? To use a bulkier yarn? Determining your objective can help you decide what kind of modifications you can start making should you be working off of an established pattern.

To demonstrate the kinds of changes you can make, Nele walked us through an exercise.

Start with your pattern and gauge swatch (blocked). Determine your stitch and row gauge (both the horizontal and vertical stitch count in a 4" section). 

Then, grab your pattern's schematic or finished measurements for the size you choose. Compare your own gauge numbers to the pattern's and do a bit of math to determine the new cast on number, how many rows to knit before the armhole shaping, the rate of decrease for the neckline, etc. If you end up with fractions (3.32 stitches for example), round down to the nearest whole number. 

How Do You Know How Much Yarn To Get?
When using a different weight of yarn than what the pattern calls for, Nele recommends using the handy pamphlet Yarn Requirements by Ann Budd. Knitty also has a wealth of articles on going beyond the pattern with sleeves.

If you have questions for Nele, she's easily found on Ravelry!

Show and Tell

We had an impressive Show and Tell, including snowmanknitter’s trek on the Tour de Sock! Finishing 20th out of about 1700 (!!) on her first FO, Tour de Sock 2018 - Marvin, it took her 20 hours and 5 minutes to complete the socks. We’re cheering her on as she continues!

Sunshine Division Hats

We are still collecting hats until the October 11th meeting. Free yarn is available at the September meeting if you need some (and love to work under a tight deadline). We're up to 91 hats, so keep them coming!

September 13th - Next Meeting
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See you next time with ​Parna Mehrbani, local knitting teacher and an intellectual property lawyer, who will present "The (C) Word:  Copyright for Knitters."