Category: knitting

  • Wool and the Gang Crazy Sexy Wool

    Wool and the Gang recently wrote me asking if I would like to try and review some of their yarn! I chose Crazy Sexy Wool. This yarn was sent to me for free, but all opinions are my own. I will not receive compensation for links in this review.

    wool and the gang yarn

    wool and the gang yarn

    Crazy Sexy Wool is a Peruvian wool, super bulky, with 87 yards per 200g ball – they’re huge! I rarely knit with such bulky yarns, but they do appeal to me – the chunkiness of the stitches, the thickness of the fabric, the speed! For the curious, this yarn is 5 wpi.

    I’ve decided to knit a simple cushion cover, knit diagonally like a washcloth, on 10mm needles. The yarn is a nicely spun single, which holds together well (no breaking) but it’s a touch splitty on these Denise needles. I’d suggest using a blunter needle if you have them.

    wool and the gang yarn

    The colours I chose are “zoot suit blue” and “sand trooper beige”. The blue is really lovely and rich, and the beige is just the kind of neutral, warm colour I crave in the fall. A fall jacket made from this yarn would be amazing.

    wool and the gang yarn

    Wool and the Gang has a pretty awesome story and mandate, to produce high-quality fashion (both yarns and finished products) that is made sustainably. They have quite a few items that you can choose to buy finished, or instead purchase a kit with everything you need! It’s a great way to get people thinking about where their clothes are coming from, and I think the high-fashion tone of the brand helps reach people who might otherwise think of knitting as stodgy.

    Plus, Natalie works there! Hi Natalie!

    Thanks to Wool and the Gang for giving me the opportunity to try out your yarn! What are you planning to make with bulky yarn this fall?

  • Happenings

    yum!

    We went up to my parents’ house in North York for a family birthday lunch – my 2 sisters and I all have our birthdays in August. Mmmmm, tiramisu cake!

    madelinetosh prairie

    I wasn’t feeling very well yesterday, so I spent most of the day in bed with a book. If you’re into sci-fi, I loved the Spin series from Robert Charles Wilson! I borrowed the books from the Toronto Public Library system and read them on my ipad. I think I might need to get a new e-reader, as I gave my old (and crunchy from iced tea being spilled on it…) one to my little sister. Does OverDrive work well on Kindle? Kobo? It’s pretty annoying to use even on the ipad!

    Why hello, peach cobbler!

    We made this peach cobbler last night and it is very yummy indeed. The recipe was interesting to me because you get a bit of a head start in baking the peaches – you mix them with sugar and lemon and cornstarch, but then bake them naked (without a topping) for 10 minutes before putting the topping on. Yum. I think it would be really awesome with plums, too.

  • Giveaway Winner and a knitting update!

    The Random Number generator has picked Timiae as the winner of my On My Way ebook! Congratulations Timiae, I’ve sent you an email :)

    comment-winner

    I was nearly done this sweater back that I started in Vancouver, but it was apparent that I didn’t have enough of this Anzula Haiku to finish the project so I ripped it out. I’m not giving up on the wrap sweater concept though!

    anzula haiku

    I cast off and blocked this new shawl design and I am so in love with it! I used 2 skeins of Alisha Goes Around fingering weight yarn, and I’m starting another in laceweight so you can see how that looks.

    new shawl design!

    I swatched for a new sweater in Tosh Vintage. It’s so squishy, especially after all the very rustic wooly yarns I’ve been knitting lately. Gosh I love knitting sweaters. Too bad I don’t have bionic wrists or something though, because my wrist has been pretty grumpy lately.

    swatchy swatchy

    I’m also jonesing for a nice plain sweater in a cozy brown, so I dug up this interesting yarn that’s been in my stash for ages.

    more swatching

    It’s a very round, multiplied yarn similar to Zara, and I knit up a swatch to 6 sts/in on 3.75mm. I didn’t get this yarn in Japan, but rather from a now-defunct yarn shop in a Chinese mall in Markham!

    Japanese yarn label

    Japanese yarn label