Sundowner

I was updating the website this morning and one of the yarns was Erika Knight Studio Linen. I wondered if Erika had new patterns and she has a great cardigan.

The pattern for Sundowner can be purchased on Ravelry.

Sundowner by Sarah Hatton  

An edge to edge bracelet length sleeve cardigan knitted in three different eyelet stitch patterns. It is worked from the bottom to the top with K1,P1 rib edges, shaped under the arm to give an elegant extended sleeve and short row shaping at the shoulders. The fronts meet at the centre back neck. The sleeves are picked up from the armhole and worked towards the K1,P1 cuff.

Studio Linen is a beautiful yarn to work with. It wears very well and gets softer with washing.

An ancient fibre recycled for a modern maker

Linen is an ancient, sustainable, natural fibre spun from the flax plant. Flax itself is naturally resistant to pests and therefore practically no pesticides nor herbicides are necessary to grow these eco-friendly stem fibre plants. Flax plants produce large amounts of usable fibre per acre and do not require irrigation.

Linen is durable, soft, lustrous and flexible and will naturally soften with wear and washing.

Studio Linen is 100% linen: 85% is recycled rayon-linen fibre, sorted from selected wastage and regenerated using the eco-friendly hydrolysis method. Blended with 15% premium natural linen, these fibres are twisted and dyed by a specialist Italian spinner in Biella to produce a unique yarn with a dry hand feel and subtle sheen.

Cool to the touch, and with a delicate drape Studio Linen is the perfect yarn for summer. With a refined palette of colours that will work with everything you wear and a clear stitch definition, Studio Linen crafts beautiful garments both in knit and crochet.

Made in Italy.

There will be a new fingering weight yarn coming later this summer. Meadowcroft Dyeworks (the maker of Rockshelter Sock) is introducing Donegal Cottage Tweed Sock.

The superwash merino wool is invitingly soft and luxuriously squishy, and the Donegal neps add flecks in neutral hues.

• Fingering weight
• 14 wraps per inch
• 85% merino (superwash)
• 15% polyamide Donegal neps
• 100g / 3.5oz
• 400m / 438 yd

I can't wait. Think of all the new fingering weight colourwork sweaters that are on Ravelry right now. This will be perfect. There will be 15 colours in all.

I wound my ball this morning and I'm ready to get back to Slow Curves. The new ball (on top) definitely has more purple. I've been knitting tonight - pictures tomorrow.

Dad was out for dinner with friends so Lucy came for a visit.

Please don't tell

I made it to the second colour on my shawl last night. Small problem. The first and second colours fade nicely but they are too close.

There is a large jump between the colours in the second and third ball so I have to change colour two. It is a potluck and I am going to go through our skeins and find one that is darker. Then what?? I am working short rows now. And the rows started out very short - only 10 stitches and now each one is getting longer. I could rip out the 6 rows that are complete. I could but I'm not going to. I'm going to join in the new ball now. I don't think anyone will ever know. Please don't tell 😘

Brian Smith has a new pattern out. I love the honeycomb!

Brian used 2 skeins of Cascade 220. You can mix 220 with 220 Heathers.

Woolstok would work or how about two skeins of Woolstok with two skeins of Dream State?

My Alliums are starting to bloom. In the next few days we should see bright purple flowers.

Dad and Lucy brought Lynn and I tea this afternoon. Lucy got up to say hi and then went back to sleep. Going to work every day is very tiring.

Stunning!

The pattern for the Odyssey Shawl is free on Ravelry. This would be a great project for our KAL. Here are a few older posts about the KAL.

Photos ©Joji Locatelli

Odyssey is a crescent shaped shawl in 3 colors of medium-weight yarn. Medium weight means DK, or worsted, or even Aran! The good news is that you knit it up super fast. Each color section ends with a lace band that features striking big eyelets and wavy texture.  

It works with MANY yarn weights, and with ANY yarn! You don’t need to buy any special yarn for this design. Check your stash and see what inspires you! 

As we were unpacking the box from Primrose we put together some combinations for Odyssey using Vintage DK.

Salted Pearl
Sweet Dreams
Dusty Rose

5th Ave
Silent Film
Morticia

Glacier
Tempest
Highlands

Doreen came in today to show off her latest project. It is stunning!!! This is Andrea Mowry's Rose Cardigan.

It was raining when Doreen came in and she was willing to stand outside while I snapped pictures. Thank you Doreen.

Doreen used four colours of tosh sport.
-Night in Chile
-Wellwater
-Undergrowth
-Dubrovnik

This open cardigan is a true adventure in knitting! Combining unique sideways construction, cables, fading and exposed seams to create a flattering oversized dolman style sweater that looks great on all types of figures! Knit in one color or four, to suit your style! This sweater has a beautiful curved underarm that creates a lot of drape for an oversized look, with long, slim cuffs that give you different styling options. You can either wear them long, to accentuate the slender portion of your arm, or cuff them for a shorter sleeve!

Did I mention that it is stunning??

Doreen commented that she was apprehensive about knitting the cardigan after she purchased the pattern. It is a lot of pages and at first glance it looks very confusing. After you start knitting it makes perfect sense. Andrea writes a great pattern.

The sizing is very large. Doreen knit the XS.

FedEx is delivering a box of books tomorrow.

We have been out of Laine #6 and a few copies are coming tomorrow.

Strange Brew will be back in stock as well.

My second ball (on the right) is wound and ready.

I'm finishing early before our guests arrive. Dad's job is cutting the beans. He swears that when he cuts them they taste better.

Meet Rachel

Rachel is one of the owners of Spincycle Yarns. She just finished Koivua and it is beautiful. I borrowed a few pictures from her Instagram page.

Koivua is a top-down circular yoke sweater that features stranded colorwork and texture created with simple knit and purl stitches, making this an engaging yet not difficult sweater to knit. The sleeves balloon gently and are finished with a simple, classic i-cord. The body and sleeve lengths are easily adjustable, keep in mind changes will alter the yardage required.

You can purchase the pattern for Koivua on Ravelry.

You need two different colours of worsted weight yarn for the sweater. Rachel used Dream State in the colour The Family Jewels as her contrast colour. Our shipment from Spincycle has left Washington State and should be in the store tomorrow. The Family Jewels will be in our box - 20 skeins of the beautiful colour.

Rusted Rainbow (above) and Mississippi Marsala (below) are also in the box.

What happened to the weather? Oh my goodness. Yesterday I had to put the air on in the store and today I put the heat on.

I started Slow Curves last night. Joji writes an amazing pattern.

This morning I made a new banner for the front page of the website. I know that you aren't supposed to be proud of yourself but I think I did a good job. I am starting to understand the program that I bought to make banners. There is a bit (a very large) learning curve. Yes, I love Cathy's pictures!

One of the specialties of my dad's construction company is arena floors. They go into older arenas and redo the pipes and concrete pad. Lucy had fun running through the sand this morning.

She walked through freshly poured concrete as well. That didn't make anyone happy. Thankfully it was in area that no one would notice.

We are having dinner guests tomorrow so I washed the floors and cleaned the kitchen. Now I'm tired. It's time to watch The Amazing Race and then bed. Of course I'll knit a few rows. I won't make it to the next colour on Slow Curves tonight but I'll make a good effort.

Bloom

Vintage DK from Primrose is a dream to work with.

Guthrie is growing. I am obsessed. I forgot how much I love fair isle knitting.

More colours of Vintage DK are on the way and should be here tomorrow afternoon.

Glamping

Morticia

Succulents

Sweet Dreams

This is Hedgehog Skinny Singles in Bloom. It will be my first colour for Slow Curves. I started the shawl in the store today and then there was a knitting needle problem. Somehow it got caught in the zipper pull of my backpack. We had to take the stitches off to free the needle. Think Dumb and Dumber - that was Lynn and I.

After dinner we went to the store to plant flowers.

We had a long rope so that Lucy could run around the parking lot while we worked. She didn't even get out of the truck. She is three going on 10. That dog likes to sleep.

Happy Victoria Day

Dad and I braved Terra today. Boy was it jammed.

The colours are always so inspiring.

When you shop with my dad there isn't a lot of stopping to smell the flowers. Get in and get out. We did a lot of damage in a short period of time.

My planters at the door have pretty flowers.

We bought plants for under the tree in the island as well as for the planter box on the shed. There are a few plants for the huge planter that Beth plants. I don't think we bought enough so there will be another trip (or two).

I have five more planters to fill but we didn't have enough room in the truck.

Noro Kureyon is now on the website. I am fairly sure that we have a few more colours in stock but Lynn and I will confirm and add to the website this week.

If you are thinking about making the Log Cabin Afghan, please don't get too caught up in the colours. Every ball has a lot of colours in it. There could be one colour in a ball that you don't like but when the whole afghan is finished you won't notice it.

I did some shopping for the store this afternoon. We are going to have shawl cuffs in the store

These gorgeous, one of a kind leather cuffs add a little something extra to that stunning shawl or cowl. The cuffs are handmade in British Columbia by the Knox Mountain Knit Co. and no two will ever be the same. The cuffs are made by upcycling leather belts. 

These cuffs are a must have for your knit wardrobe! 

Knox Mountain Knit Co gave me permission to use some pictures from their Instagram page. We don't know what will be coming - I ordered 30 so that we can get them in the store ASAP. Some will be plain and some will be fancy. 

We will have two new magazines in the store on May 31.

I received an email from Tiffany at Twill & Print and the next set of enamel pins should be shipped to us later this week.

Now it's bed time. The fireworks have kept me up this weekend. Our neighbours thought it was a good idea to start setting them off after 11pm the last few evenings. Hopefully they have run out and it'll be a quiet evening.