Tag: knitting

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yarn spotlight: Cacao

This is a 100% mohair yarn made from the fleece of our mohair goats. The leader of that pack was a lovely goat named Cacao. That’s because she was milk chocolate when she was born. She faded throughout her life. This yarn is a 2 ply that is DK weight. It is a light tan color with lots of sheen.

This is a great yarn to use for outer wear. You really won’t want to put this next to your delicate skin on your neck. But a hat, mittens, sweater and even slippers would be a great use for this yarn. You can grab some for yourself today here.

Corstorphine Sweater using Cacao and Puck
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yarn spotlight: Puck’s Choice

Puck’s Choice yarn is a farm yarn made from the fleeces of our beloved Puck, our first sheep. She was a BFL cross, a typical lustrous longwool sheep. I took her fleeces and blended them with charcoal mohair from Twilight and her babies as well as a black alpaca fleece that I purchased from an alpaca farm in Virginia. The blend is equal parts of these 3 yarns. The result is a wonderful dark charcoal yarn that has varying saturations of color.

This yarn is a 2 ply that is a DK weight yarn. It is soft and durable. Is it next to the skin soft? No it isn’t. But it will make a great sweater. I imagine an Icelandic inspired yoke sweater that is all the rage. You can add beautiful color for the colorwork and have Puck as the body of the sweater. It will make great hats, showing off cables or even lace. And it will make good socks and slippers. It is really versatile.

If you are local, in Maryland, you could use this yarn for the garment competition at MD Sheep and Wool Festival. There is a special award for those using a Maryland yarn. If you are within our fibershed, you can call this local to you and make a garment for your #oneoutfit100days. You can be sure that these animals were treated well and even spoiled. The yarn was made from animals with names. You can get the yarn by clicking here.

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what do you want to make in 2020?

It’s a thing….The Make Nine Challenge… I’m not sure who started it. But you can see all kinds of plan by your friends and people you follow on Instagram and Facebook. Here is my Make9:

4 of these are WIP’s. I want to finish those 2 pairs of socks. As well as the Ursa sweater and the Conflagration scarf. I will work on those first.

Then on to new projects: a shifty pullover with my Synergy yarn.

Some quick slippers with some of our Stratus farm yarn.

A Ruffles scarf using Zephyrette, I think….

The Anemone Hat with some handspun. And the cowl with 2 colors of Alto I think.

Alto DK weight yarn

What do you want to make? Will you take the challenge? Comment on the blog to let me know!

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fun and easy knit for the new year

shawl for alpaca wool blend yarn
Camau Shawl

This is a really fun and easy knit shawl. It is a flat triangle shawl that can be worn in a variety of ways. It is primarily a garter stitch shawl with intermittent short rows of eyelet (k2tog, yo). The yarn is a 3 ply farm yarn that is a sport weight. There are 2 plies of wool and one of alpaca. So you have a slightly heathery look to the yarn. The yarn will keep its shape because of the wool but add some lovely softness from the alpaca.

Each kit is one of a kind and they are on sale to!!! So be sure to grab one here while they are still in stock.

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curated shawl trios for your new shawl

So many people feel overwhelmed when trying to make color choices for the next new shawl or sweater. Helping shoppers pick out colors is one of my favorite things, so I thought I would put together skeins that will make your next new thing.

All of these threesomes are fingering weight, but some are Corrie Sock, some are Really Fine and some are Sparkly.

I searched Ravelry’s patterns and there are more than 4300 choices of shawls that use 1200 yards of yarn. The choices are immense. Lots of A-list designers have shawls that use this kind of yarn in this amount: Stephen West, Melanie Berg, Casapinka and Andrea Mowry just to name a few.

Which will you choose for your next project? Click here to find the triad that knocks your socks off.

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when yarn and pattern come together

A couple of years ago, a knitter came into our festival booth with a gorgeous scarf that was full of flame shapes. Of course I asked about it and came to find out that the yarn needs to be specially dyed for it. I put the scarf into my Ravelry queue. It is called Optical Delusion: Conflagration. See it here.

Then I forgot about it, as one does, right? So I finally tackled dyeing up some Sparkly yarn to make the scarf. Here is an in process photo, because I have yet to finish it. This pattern is full of short rows and I must count every row, so it’s only something I can work on when I’m alone and totally alert.

So I’ve dyed up 2 colorways for this project for you. You can buy a kit that includes a skein of yarn and the pattern here. Your order will be individually hand dyed once you order.

If you want to see it in person, come out to the Holiday Fiber Art Studio Tour this coming weekend.