Joy

We have new colours of Alegria from Manos.

Alegría means "joy" in Spanish, and that's just what this hand-painted yarn is, a true color celebration!  

Easy-care with a rich, cushy hand, Alegria is perfect for socks, baby gear, or fun accessories.

Everyone who knits with Alegria comments on how soft it is and how great it is to work with.

There was another fun yarn in the box. Uneek Worsted from Urth Yarns.

100% Extrafine Merino
200m/220 yards in a 100 gram skein
machine washable

Beth scooped a skein and cast on a hat last night. She said the yarn is super soft and is very nice to knit with.

I am excited about something very little on the new website. (Sorry - I know you are hearing a lot about this lately but it is exciting. I like new and shiny and that's how the website is going to look.) Companies like madelinetosh, Hedgehog, GarnStories, LITLG and most companies who hand dye yarn don't add numbers to their colours. It is just names. For the old website we had to assign numbers. Back when we started adding tosh we didn't put the colours in alphabetical order and when I realized our mistake it was too late. That won't be the case on the new site. All tosh colours will be in alphabetical order. It will be so much easier for ordering.

When I arrived at work this morning it was cold in the store. My furnace wasn't working properly. It's 5:30 and I'm still here waiting for a repairman. The store isn't as cold now but I don't want to leave it overnight. Thankfully he arrived just after 6.

Did you watch the Masked Singer last night? I knew who the Unicorn was from the moment we were given the first clue on the first episode. Beth and I have a list of our guesses. I have two correct. Beth doesn't have one yet.

I'm home now. We had a quick dinner, the fireplace is on and we are both knitting. It'll be an early evening. Dad arrives home from Honduras late tomorrow night.

Brothers

New colours of Manos Serpentina arrived today.

Handspun from handpainted merino tops, Serpentina is a truly artisanal product. Each skein is unique, and the colors are totally random -- they will not stack or pool. The ultra-soft superwash merino in a quick-knit gauge calls for next-to-the-skin wear like cowls and hats.   

We've named each colorway of Serpentina after an accomplished woman in history, whether she's made headway in the arts, education, navigation, human rights, medicine, and on. 

Joan of Arc
Rigoberta Menchú
Georgia O'Keefe
Gabriela Mistral 

This easy to make shawl takes 2 balls of Serpentina. The pattern is free on Ravelry.

Churchmouse Yarns used one skein for this easy hat. The pattern is free on Ravelry.

Here’s a simple hat that’s all about the gorgeous yarn. With the subtlest of details and simplest of shapes, the Minimalist Hat is all about the way you feel when you wear it. Its clean lines—no visible edging treatment, no cuff, and nearly no visible shaping—are perfect for sublimely soft, squishy yarns that produce dense, delicious fabric. It just feels good. 

It’s designed in three gauges: worsted, heavy-worsted and chunky weight; and with two lengths for more or less slouch. 

We have knit seven (yes seven!) different versions of this wonderfully versatile hat from one single spectacular pattern!

There is a free pattern for these fun mittens.

This is a pattern you can purchase on Ravelry. The cowl takes 2 skeins and the Infinity Scarf takes 4.

We received a text from Honduras this morning. Beth and I sent back very different messages.

This was the text this afternoon. Beth and I might have a brother or brothers when dad arrives home Friday night 😉.

Timeout

I cast on Nightshift tonight. My Throwback is in a timeout. I finished the colourwork and still hate it. The second and third colour are too close even thought I thought there was enough contrast. I am going to wait for our next order. If you are picking colours I suggest three very different colours. Like Sarah's.

Andrea Mowry posted this on Instagram today.

Hello everyone. I am actually writing this from a hospital bed. Due to this unfortunate turn of events, and my inability to post everyday right now, I am going to end the sale by offering 25% off of all my patterns with the coupon code MAKE2019. Offer is for Ravelry only. Sale ends 1/31/19 at midnight EST, and discount cannot be added retroactively if you forget the code.

I hope she's going to be okay.

More yarn was added to the new site today. Freia Super Bulky looks awesome.

Woolstok from Blue Sky (the background yarn from Sarah's Throwback). 

Namaste products are ready to go as well.

It's almost 9pm and I'm ready for bed. We were up early to shovel the driveway - we had a lot of snow. And there wasn't much sleep last night. Between stupid dreams and Roko sleeping in my bed but not really sleeping because he has an earache, last night was more like a nap.

Progress

Mr Canada Post dropped off a box of pretty yarn from Fleece Artist this morning. The Thrum Mitt kits are awesome. These kits use 100% wool for the main yarn and are $40.

And here are the kits with Wool, Cashmere and Nylon as the main yarn and these are $50.

I wonder which Soft Mitt kit I want? These kits are $54. Cathy has knit many pairs of these mittens and they are so warm.

I haven't talked about the new website because work on it had stalled. Korey is able to work on it again and we are getting close to launching. All colours of GarnStories have been photographed and will be on the new site. We decided not to add to the old site since we wouldn't be using it for much longer.

I like how the yarn is displaying. There will be tweaking after the site launches but I think you'll like it when you see it.

Now when we put a pattern book on the website we can add pictures of garments from the book.

Small things make me happy😘

We had the weirdest weather today. There was a lot of snow this morning. Then it was clear for most of the afternoon and just before 5 it started coming down. Really coming down and the wind is crazy.

The fireplace is on, I have a fresh tea and it's time to knit.

Finished but needs blocking

I present Chevron Shenanigans. It still needs to be blocked and the ends sewn in. Hi Alex. I highly recommend this pattern - it was a fun knit.

Select a palette of fading colors to knit this top-down garter stitch shawl. Short rows with chevrons create the unique aymmetrical shape. The small size features four colors and the large size uses five colors fading from light to dark. I-cord edges decorate the clean lines of this classic Westknits shawl.

Sarah sent pictures of her beautiful new The Shift. Cathy knit it for her. Sarah can knit - I've shown her work but she can't knit fast enough for everything she needs/wants. Cathy is a very good great mom who knits for her.

The colours of Dyed in the Wool are
Narcissus
Cataclysm
Shades of Earth

I'm working away on my Throwback. The colours are looking much better. I never rip out my knitting but I'm glad that I did.

Now an hour of knitting before bed. Or maybe longer. I want to see how the colours work together.

Stephen West

Stephen West has new shawl patterns out. (All pictures ©Stephen West). Purchase the pattern for the Cozy Corner Shawl on Ravelry.

Collect a colorful array of yarns to knit this easy garter stitch chevron shawl. Start with a small cast on and watch as the fabric gradually grows into an expansive wingspan. The sideways construction drapes beautifully and provides a large canvas for you to play with stripes and color pops. Four skeins of yarn will yield the large shape, but use as many colors as you like to create a vibrantly striped landscape. 

This pattern is written using MC & CC for staggerd two row stripes throughout the entire project, as shown in the Gray/Blue sample. If you prefer to knit a solid version with occasional accent stripes, as in the Light Gray Color Pop sample, follow the pattern as written and create your own colorful striping sequence.

Choose four colors of worsted or aran weight yarn and fade them together for this simple top-down shawl. Textured stripes flow into a wavy border that is easy and quick to knit. 

You can purchase the pattern for the Slumber Shawl on Ravelry.

I was working by myself today so Beth brought me an afternoon tea. It was the most expensive tea I have ever had. It cost me 2 balls of Zauberball Starke 6 and an Addi circular needle. Beth is going to knit another scarf. I'm not sure if she can find the Addis she used before so I sent a new set. She will only knit with Addis - we created a needle snob. (She's a yarn snob as well 😉.)

Chevron Shenanigans is finished. I'll take pictures tomorrow. What was I going to knit next? I decided to pull out The Throwback. Literally pull it out.

I ripped out the colourwork section and am redoing it. I didn't like how the colours were working. When I finished the colourwork I had lots of each skein left over. I am winding off part of each ball to the colours I like and am restarting.

Our friends are very comfortable. Dad called from Honduras tonight to make sure everything was okay at home. We keep telling him that Lucy is doing well. She's been well behaved and no crying. He doesn't believe us. I think it might be upsetting him that Lucy isn't missing him more.