Category: knitting
Winter Half Pipe KAL
If you’ve been reading this blog you know that I am starting a KNIT ALONG this Friday, in just 4 days. This is in honor of the Winter Olympics and the Ravellenics event. The objective of Ravellenics is to start and finish at least one item in your preferred craft whether that is spinning, knitting, felting, etc. So what could I actually start and finish in 3 weeks? Well a hat. So I’m inviting you to join me in this KAL. There is still time to stop by and get a kit in you are local. And of course with priority mail you can get it pretty quickly if you aren’t local to us.
So that got me thinking.., What are my favorite Winter Olympic events? I like the ice dancing and really all figure skating. I do like the snowboarding and I like the event where they cross country ski and shoot rifles too. What is that called? Biathlon, maybe? I think that is fascinating. Oh and speed skating. I think speed skaters are so graceful and they are so cunning too. What are your favorite events to watch?
I must decide on my own hat to make this time. Maybe I will do my own pattern (the Cabla hat) and I will make it longer than I think I should. And I’ll make it a Fibershed hat as well. So what will I chose to use? I can chose a madder one or walnut or a natural color. Maybe I make a white hat and then dye it in something local after it’s knit? As I sit here working in my studio store, I look at all my choices. I think I’ll use my Cacao yarn. It’s a mohair yarn that is a lovely brown color, the color of weathered driftwood. I have a sweater made a similar mohair but in a more grey rather than brown tone. And I do think that will go well together. And I can always natural dye the hat after it is knit.
So that’s my choice! Now just to cake it up and be ready to cast on Friday. Oh and if you join our group we’ll be having a cast on party Friday cocktail hour. You can find the kits here.
Cabla Hat for the Winter Hat Half-pipe KAL
This is the third and last kit option for the Winter hat KAL. It is a simple cable hat that I designed for my Livily or Trasna yarn. Each kit comes with a skein of yarn, the pattern and a cute pompom.
Hat KAL for the Winter Olympics
Let’s do a Hat KAL during the Olympic Games!! The rules for the Ravellenic Games are to start and finish a project during the Olympics. So starting Feb. 4th and finishing Feb 20th. I will have 3 hat kits for sale.
- Cabla Hat using our worsted weight LiViLy
- Correlation Hat using our Synergy yarn (sport or worsted)
- Rhinebeck Hat (wooly wormheads design) made with our worsted weight LiVily or Synergy.
I’ll post a link to the sales page when they are up for sale.
In the meantime, reply here to tell me if you are IN!!
You can also come by Saturday (1/15) to pick out a kit for yourself.
New Fall Yarns for your Collection
We have 2 new yarns this year and I’m dyeing up A LOT of it.
The first yarn is called LiViLy Bounce. It is a sport weight. Each skein has 330 yards in each 4oz skein. And it feels so great. It is made from our Cormo fleeces. I haven’t yet put any on the needles and I need to get to that. I know it will be amazing. You can find our available colors here.
The second yarn is Trasna Fingering. It is a fingering weight with 400 yards in each 4oz skein. It is made from our Cormo X fleeces and again so nice to the touch. I have knit a swatch of this one and it has amazing stitch definition. You can find some of the colors here. More colors to come within this week.
I know you will love these yarns that are sustainable, climate beneficial and beautiful to boot!! Remember that when you buy farm yarn you support our sheep and goats through the winter!
Small, Quick Projects for the Dog Days of Summer
It’s hot. I think it’s hot just about everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. My friends in LA and Oregon have been talking about trees becoming sunburned and the forests dying. And we here on the East Coast are stuck in the heat and humidity of summer.
Knitting becomes more of a chore in summer. Even so, I feel like I need to have the rhythmic motion of slip, wrap, slide of each stitch to let my mind get into a flow and to let my mind wander. I don’t want a big project that is sitting in my lap. I want something small and light.
I have some perfect little cowls that fit the bill. They are quick. They are smallish. The yarn is Oh-So Soft and gives your fingers joy just touching it.
What are they? They are my Zephyrette Cowls. Zephyrette is our signature yarn. It is made from soft baby alpaca fleece with long, strong silk and the king of all softness: Cashmere. Alpaca is cool to the touch. So it is a good choice for summer knitting.
There are 3 choices of pattern: Lacy Cowl, Interlaken and Rivulet.
Here’s how you get a kit for a project. First, go here and pick a color of zephyrette. There are so many choices. You just need one skein. Then go here and pick a pattern. Click on the shopping cart and check out. Your new project will be out in the mail to you and you will get it within days.
Thoughts on Summer Knitting
This summer has been really weird, right? No matter where you live in the US and probably even in the world. There have been crazy heat waves, crazy storms and early hurricanes and even historic droughts in the West.
Here in the East we have had the hot and muggy days for a couple of weeks now. It is hard to think about knitting, but even so my fingers are itching to pick up the needles and my mind really needs the “down time” that knitting provides. The quiet space where I am making and I can stop thinking. Does that happen to you?
So I was thinking about what I would like to knit or spin in this heat. And what jumped into my head is alpaca. Alpaca is cool to the touch. I don’t quite know what causes the phenomena. But it is true. Our Zephyrette yarn is baby alpaca, cashmere and silk. It is perfect for summer knitting. I have designed 4 cowls with this yummy yarn. The patterns come in a variety of skill levels and all take just one skein of yarn! These cowls make great, quick gifts too!!
I was also thinking that small projects that wouldn’t cover my lap would be a nice thing to make during the summer. So I’m thinking a cowl or mittens or a hat even socks could fit the bill.
Let’s make some great alpaca based projects while the summer is hot!
A Look at Two of our Shawl Kits
Here are quick looks at two of our shawl kits: Strisce Shawl made with Zephyrette and Raddiant Shawl made with Corrie Sock. Each of these shawls comes in various colorways. You can find the Strisce kit here and the Raddiant kit here.
WIP Wednesday: Always Socks on Needles
I always have a pair of socks on the needles. I finished my last pair about 2 weeks ago and I’ve been stitching along on these. The yarn is my Perendale Sock yarn that has mohair for strength instead of nylon. The colorway is an experimental colorway… (let me know if you like it). I’m really liking the way this is “flashing” and “pooling”.
I’m at my favorite place right now. I’m working on the heel flap and will probably get to turning the heel tomorrow or Friday…That is my happy place!!
What’s on your needles?
Tip of the Day: Deciphering Mystery Skeins
In this video, I walk you through what to do when you have a mystery skein that has lost its ball band. Yes you can eyeball the weight….you can tell the difference between worsted and fingering. But I show you 2 tools that will help you to determine the size and almost more importantly how many yards you have in that little ball.