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new marled yarns in the shop

Light and dark Majesty colorway of Synergy yarn 230 yards in 4oz heavy DK weight

I have added these yarns into my webstore here. Before the skeins were one of a kind skeins, so I only sold them in person at a show or in my studio. But now I have 5 new colorways that I can list online. There is still some variability within the skeins, but they are very consistent. And I’m just about to take 5 more colorways to the mill and they will be available in the next few weeks and hopefully at the fall shows.

What can you do with them? First of all they are made with really fine merino. Not superwash, just plain merino. And they are within the DK to Worsted weight. They are next to the skein soft, so you can make a lovely pullover or cardigan. They are great to use in a 2 color brioche pattern. And of course a hat or mittens or fingerless mitts would be perfect. In a stockinette stitch these yarns will look tweedy and wonderful. Here are some of the available colors:

blue green marled merino yarn
Carribean colorway (this one is 370 yards in 4oz sport weight yarn
blue marled merino yarn
Lapis colorway 230 yards in 4 oz heavy DK weight
brown marled merino yarn
Mushroom colorway 230 yards in 4oz in a heavy DK weight
red marled merino yarn
Ruby colorway 230 yards in 4 oz in a heavy DK weight
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sock blanks to knit or crochet

trio of warm color sock blanks

This week I added a whole bunch more sock blanks into the web store. Sock blanks are the serendipity of knitting. They are fun to pick out and you really don’t know what the end product will be. Of course it all depends on what you are going to make. Are you making socks with a 60-70 stitch round? Or are you making a cowl that has a 150-190 stitch round? Or of course if you are making a shawl that increases with each row you will get another different look.

sock blanks reminiscent of Jackson Pollack

Are you wanting to know more about sock blanks and how to use them, click here to a blog post that I wrote last year.

trio of cool colored sock blanks

And if you are ready to dive in and try making something that will be surprise, click here for all the options. They are all one of a kind, so be sure to grab your favorite before someone else gets it.

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another beautiful shawl to knit with zephyrette yarn

Zephyrette Pi Shawl

I love this Pi shaped shawl. It is knit with 3 skeins of Zephyrette yarn in the Jade colorway. This is one of 6 shawls designed using the principles of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Pi shawl. The lace patterns are in a camping theme with the top being paw prints, slanting leaves, willow twigs and with an edging of waves and droplets. You can find this FREE pattern here on Ravelry. It was knit for me by Lois Geer, who whipped this up and declared it an easy pattern! She notes the the increases are between the lace motifs which makes it easy. Of course I would be using a million stitch markers in order to keep track of where I was. You can make it in any color you would like. Zephyrette comes in multiple colors here.

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new colorway on 2 yarns for the fall

yarn for knitting and crochet
Cardinal in Snow on Zephyrette yarn

Here’s the next installment of fall colorways. These are inspired by cardinals in snow. These yarns along with other nature and autumn inspired yarns will be available at the fall fiber festivals: Shenandoah Valley Fiber Fest, Fall Fiber Festival at Montpelier and Rhinebeck. Come and grab a skein or two for lovely socks, shawls, hats and mitts!

sock yarn in fall colors
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working the nightshift with synergy yarn

Nightshift is another one of Andrea Mowry’s innovative shawls. It is worked with a XXX stitch that leaves floats of contrasting colors. It is a triangular shawl that has icord edging for a really stable edge. Our Synergy yarn is perfect for this shawl. It is a DK weight merino yarn that has a tweedy handspun look. Within each skein there are subtle color changes. For the shawl you can choose anywhere from 4-8 skeins. The shawl calls for 7 different colors, but everyone’s aesthetic and knitting style is different. I’m happy to help you pick out great colors to work with. Here is a photo of a customer’s shawl that she made with Synergy.

Nightshift by Andrea Mowry

Here are some of the awesome colors available. To pick your own, join our email list to hear about when we will be in your area at a fiber show.

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modern graphic colorwork cowl

Suburban Warrior Cowl designed by Tanis Gray

Last fall, Tanis stopped by my booth and picked up some of my Cormo farm yarn in 2 colors: Agate and Granite. She designed this modern graphic cowl. It is stunning visually and next to the skin soft. You can use Trasna or LiViLy yarn for this cowl. Here are some other colors you might use to make this cowl. Grab a set in the online store.

Agate and Cherry Blossom
Agate and Clear Skies
Agate and Slate
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beachy blanket shawl

It is totally OK to change up a published pattern. Really? Yes! I wanted to make the Waiting for Rain shawl, but I wanted to use my worsted weight LiViLy yarn. It is so soft and squishy and has wonderful stitch definition. It is made from the wool of my Cormo sheep. So even though the pattern by Sylvia McFadden calls for fingering weight, I increased my needle size to match the yarn size and got started. The result is that this shawl is really large. I can wrap myself up in it. It is perfect for sitting by the campfire on a beachy weekend, when the nights are starting to get chilly. Another great aspect of increasing the size is that the knitting was quicker. We have kits available here in our online store.

If you don’t want an extra large, blanket type shawl, you can make this shawl with our Corrie Sock yarn and follow the instructions as written in the pattern. We have kits for the fingering weight yarn as well.

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don’t wait! Use it now!

wool roving to spin or felt
Polwarth Silk Top for spinning or felting

When I first started spinning, I found some cheap wool that I could practice on as I worked to perfect making a nice yarn. I was new. I was teaching myself. I struggled…oh boy, did I struggle. I couldn’t draft it. I made lumpy, bumpy yarn that fell apart or pulled apart at inopportune times. There were times that I just couldn’t get it started. But I continued nonetheless. I did learn how to spin. But the more important lesson was this. Use the good stuff! The good stuff will be easier to spin. It will be more fun to spin as you go from color to color that you actually picked out. You will want to spin more and then you will become a better spinner.

The same is true for knitting. As many of you know, I’m a relatively new knitter and when I, again, was teaching myself to knit. I went to a big box store and bought cheap yarn. I didn’t want to waste the good stuff. Instead the garment I made was all wrong. And so it was time and money wasted.

So just like your nice china and crystal, get out your nice stuff whether it is spinning fiber or knitting fiber. And work with it. You will be happy that you did.

If you need some “good stuff” to replace the “cheap stuff”, you can find beautiful yarn and roving in my web store here.