Category: yarn

  • the yarn wants

    I’ve been window shopping tons of yarn lately and thought I’d share – some Canadian yarns, some not, but all totally beautiful and covetable! This season I’m all about round, squishy, bouncy wools (when am I not, though?), single breeds, and both rich colours and natural ones.

    I don’t have any affiliations with any of these yarn companies or shops. Consumerism ahoy!

    Canadian Yarns

    photo: Colorsong yarnPhoto: Colorsong

    Fleece Artist Coraline (via Colorsong) – bulky Corriedale, dyed in Canada by one of my longstanding favourite Canadian yarn companies! The colours are always amazing, and this yarn looks so squishy and warm.

    photo: gala woolPhoto: Gala Wool

    Gala Wool merino – pretty *ahem* old-school website, but the yarn looks so squishy! Wool raised in Saskatchewan, naturally dyed in BC.

    photo: Roving Winds FarmPhoto: Roving Winds Farm

    Roving Winds Farm cashmere – Canadian cashmere? Yes please.

    photo: Sweet FiberPhoto: sweet fiber

    sweet fiber cormo – this was a limited edition yarn and I don’t think it’s even available (sorry!) but I can still enjoy the photos and idea of it! Cormo is one of my all-time favourite wool breeds.

    Non-Canadian

    photo: TONOFWOOLPhoto: TONOFWOOL

    TONOFWOOL cormo – Australian cormo, spun in New Zealand – it was available in the US at Woolful Mercantile but is sold out. Drool.

    photo: ElsawoolPhoto: Elsawool

    Elsawool woolen spun, worsted weight cormo. All the things I love.

    Photo: O-WoolPhoto: O-Wool

    O-Wool Classic Worsted – 100% certified organic merino wool, tightly spun and plied for both durability and softness! I’ve used O-Wool’s Legacy DK for my Tiverton cabled pullover and it was awesome.

    photo: Dirty Water DyeworksPhoto: Dirty Water Dyeworks

    I’m actually knitting with Dirty Water Dyeworks Johanna right now – and I want more! It’s Targhee wool, which is soft and squishy but still with body and heft. Plus it comes in huge skeins! Lovely, lovely.

    photo: Sincere SheepPhoto: Sincere Sheep

    Sincere Sheep Equity Fingering – a bouncy, semi-woolen Rambouillet wool from Wyoming.

    photo: knit purlPhoto: Knit Purl

    Have you heard about Woolfolk? The fiber is harvested from “Ovis XXI Ultimate Merino” sheep in Patagonia and given 2 different treatments – Tynd (fingering weight, standard ply) and Får (shown above), which is a worsted weight chainette. I love chainette yarns and hope to actually try this one soon! My friend Olga designed the inaugural collection and it is all so beautiful.

    photo: YOTHPhoto: YOTH

    Last but not least? YOTH yarns, merino/cashmere/nylon blend in two weights, dyed in a food-inspired palette.

    Whew, that’s a lot of pretty yarn to look at! What yarns are you coveting these days? A knitter can dream…

  • sexy yarns

    What do you think, can yarn be sexy? I think so.

    New handspun – polwarth/silk.

    springy-yarn

    This one’s more fun than sexy, but I made this little magic ball awhile back and decided to swatch with it. It’s quite short lengths of Koigu (probably 12-24″), Russian joined together to make a scrappy ball. (What’s a Russian join, you ask?)

    magic-ball

    I swatched with some gorgeously bouncy, round Targhee from Dirty Water Dyeworks, Johanna in colour Pond. Swoon. Itching to cast on for this sweater!

    swatches

    Sexy yarn samples! I think my favourite is Hat Box (superwash merino, silk, cashmere, fingering weight) but Steamer Trunk (plied superwash merino, worsted weight) would make an amazing sweater! I love the colour of this Satchel sample, too. Thanks Mrs. Crosby!

    mrscrosby

    Sexiest of all? Handmaiden 4ply cashmere. Started a new cowl project that I’m quite excited about – it looks like double crochet but it’s actually knit!

    faux crochet

     

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    P.S. The Indie Gift-A-Long sale ends tonight at midnight! If you’ve been eyeing any of the patterns in my gift-a-long bundle, now’s the time to get 25% off with code “giftalong2014”! Make sure you join the Indie Gift-A-Long group with whatever you’re making this holiday season – there are SO MANY PRIZES!

  • Happy Equinox!

    This weekend we spent some time cleaning out the garden a bit – too bad a dying garden isn’t very photogenic! We harvested lots of green tomatoes and carrots, and cut down the dead plants. The herbs and beans are still going okay, so they’re left in for now.

    carrots!

    green tomatoes

    Do I need to peel the cherry tomatoes if I want to make some chutney or relish out of them? Because that would be super tedious.

    I joined the sleeves to the yoke of my Candlewick sweater, knit about half the yoke, then realized I screwed it up. Ah, well. It’s all fixed up now.

    candlewick yoke

    I had some time in the car to knit as well, so I brought this brown cardigan along. It’s not getting much attention right now, but I’m sure it’s going to be one that I wear a lot! The yarn is really soft and smooth, it’s lovely to knit with.

    field cardigan

    I’ve also added some new skeins to my tiny handspun yarn shop!. This one is a really squishy Polwarth, dyed by Woolgatherings on Etsy. Check out my handspun page for more!

    watersedge2-web

    Lastly, some exciting links to share! Robin Hunter interviewed me for her blog last month, and it’s just gone up.

    Patternfish has also made me the Designer of the Month, and I’m so honoured! You can read their September newsletter here.