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a tale of 2 shawls

Well, it’s a strange, strange world right now. The repetitive motions of knitting, seeing the colors change and watching a shawl grow can be just what you need for your mental health. This weekend is big for us around here. First it is our first Virtual Fiber Art Studio Tour. This is actually our 4th year of having the tour. Each year we have a featured shawl that is made with hand dyed mini-skeins. In years past, our tourists could pick up a skein here and there and then make a souvenir of the weekend. This year, since it is virtual, and we will have to mail all your purchases, we decided to ask our indie dyers to make packs of 5 mini’s.

This shawl is called “Ticket to Anywhere”. And I sure would like a ticket somewhere right now!! It is an asymmetrical triangle shawl that uses ten 100-yard minis. When you purchase a set from me or any of our dyers, you will recieve a code to discount the shawl pattern to $0. The code will be active from Saturday, June 6th to Monday, June 8. Do you have to wait until Saturday to buy the yarn? No! It’s up on my website right now. Click here to see what I have. I’ve added a few other choices as well. So go and take a look.

The second great shawl is called “Hug Shot”. It is designed by Casapinka. This shawl takes 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn. I have 8 different choices. And if you find a combo that you like better, just say that you’re buying this for the Hug Shot shawl, and I’ll send you a code. The code gives you the pattern for free. This code will be active from June 6th to 11:59pm June 14th. Casapinka says that this shawl is very soothing to knit. And it looks like a lot of fun, for sure!! Click here to see the combo’s that I have for you. These combos will be dyed to order when the current stock runs out.

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9 days until the Fiber Art Studio Virtual Tour

June 6th will make our 4th annual FAST tour. This is our first year as a virtual show. So what does it mean to be virtual? Well, we are having a “show” on Facebook in our group. Click here to join. During the show hours we will be posting live videos from each vendor. It will be like going from booth to booth in real life, only you get to be in your PJ’s, sitting on your couch, drinking your prefered beverage. You don’t have to carry anything around. You can sit back and have the packages delivered by your friendly USPS carrier.

Just as in years passed, we will have a featured shawl and you can collect mini’s for it. The shawl will take ten 100yd skeins. So we asked each vendor to have sets of 5 minis. So you can buy from more than one vendor, just like before to have a souvenir type shawl, but not get hit with a lot of shipping fees.

The shawl is called “Ticket to Anywhere”. I don’t know about you, but I really want to get a ticket to somewhere, right? The color theme this year was **Neutrals with a pop of color**. So I made a gradient of 4 grayish, brownish spreckled minis. I made 5 different “pops”. So there is *Greek Isles (blue), *Mexico (gold), *Morocco (magenta), *Juneau (salmon) and *Caribbean (turquoise). My wanderlust got the better of me when thinking about the names and colors of these pops. I decided to give you another choice too. You can choose a pop in Sparkly or a pop in the Corrie Sock base. When you purchase a set of minis you will receive a discount code for the pattern. You can get these here. I will be dyeing these to order, fresh yarn just for you.

And just like in years passed, there will be prizes given out throughout the day. So I hope you join our group and visit with us in 9 days.

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terrific threesomes!

Yesterday was my first “Thrifty Thursday”. I showcased my shawl triads. These are sets of 3 skeins that can be used for a myriad of shawl patterns that are available to knitters and crocheters. This is a service that I typically provide buyers at in person shows. I help you pick out yarns that go together. Right now that isn’t available.

I have 12 unique sets. They are all one of a kind. Once someone grabs a kit, it is gone forever. All the sets are made with fingering weight yarn. Each skein is at least 400 yards. So the full set is 1200 yards or a little over depending on the bases involved.

Do you want to see them up close? Click on this Facebook Live video that I recorded yesterday during our event.

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WIP Wednesday

Well, I think we all have a lot of time to knit. Even if you are working from home, you can now knit through those meetings because they are conference calls and no one can see you. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been changing from night pajamas to day pajamas. It’s hard to actually put on real go out in public clothes, right?

So my WIP today is a new shawl that I’m working on. I’m using my Chinook yarn which is a blend of Superwash merino , cashmere and nylon. It is soft and has a great drape to it.

A while back, I asked my Instagram followers to pick the set of skeins for this shawl. These grey, green and purples edged out the blues and the pinks.

When I design a shawl, I have to make it something that I can knit. And I’m not the most skilled knitter. So this shawl is great TV knitting so far. It is mostly garter stitch with some eyelets thrown in for some spice. I do plan on adding some lace bits, but they will also be something that I can handle. And not too difficult for people. Because the yarn is so pretty, I want it to do the work.

What are you working on? Add a comment to let me know.

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FO Friday–Shawl Edition

So here is a snapshot of the shawls that I have knit in the last few years. I know it’s not a lot. But you also know that I’m the slowest knitter in the world and maybe in the universe.

Shawls that I’ve actually knit in the last couple of years.

All of these are available on Ravelry. Front left to right: Striche, Shard, Camau, Raddiant, Conflagration and Maryland, my Maryland. Some of these are available as kits in our webstore: Strisce, Camau, Raddiant and Conflagration. You can find them here.

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curated skeins for your next shawl

At shows and even here on the studio tours that we do, I hear people saying that they have a hard time picking out skeins for larger, multiple skein projects like a shawl or a sweater. That is part of what I love about my job. I have an entire room of color and it is so much fun to pull together skeins. Here are a few of the trios that I pulled together today. You can shop for your own curated skeins by clicking here

Three different bases but the same fingering weight: Golden Mosaic, Golden splash and Agate
Hyacinth Mosaic, Violet, and Forest Violet
Carnival, Fiesta Sparkly and Fiesta Chinook
Barn Door, Crushed grape and Stormy Mosaic

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Next Shawl?

What shawl is in your queue? What shawl will you be knitting next?

One of the steps that is so hard for knitters is to put together skeins that will make a great shawl. Skeins with enough differences to be interesting but have enough similarities that the shawl will be gorgeous. I’m helping with that problem by putting together curated trios of skeins that are fingering weight that are perfect for many, many shawls.

All you need to do is pick a pattern, grab some needles and cast on. You can see all of the options in our web store here. These are all one of a kind. So if you see something that thrills you, it would be good to snatch it up.

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new shawl using Alto DK yarn

Kira Wharton just published a new pattern using our Alto DK yarn. It’s called Verdant Pines and is available on Ravelry here. It is a really ample shawl that has great drape and luster. This yarn is a blend of Blue Faced Leicester wool and silk. You can wear this with a dress or jeans.

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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.