Roan

We just restocked Organic Cotton Worsted from Blue Sky Fibers.

Environmentally friendly and naturally soft making it ideal for baby knits and your favorite sweater. A worsted two-ply yarn in a robust line of colors.

A lofty Fisherman’s Rib tank knit flat in two pieces from the bottom up, joined at the shoulders and seamed along the sides. This top is an appropriate project for the brioche-curious knitter and will be a delight to wear during the warm weather months.

There are many great patterns (including the pattern for this top) on the Blue Sky Fibers website.

This afternoon Lynn and I tried to get pictures of the new colours of Roan.

We tried on the cash desk, outside in the sun, outside under the tree, on the floor in the front room and on the floor at the door. These pictures are all the same colour but none of them are like the actual skeins.

I brought the skeins home and tried on my kitchen counter

This is closer to the colour but it’s still off. The skein looks a bit blue green but it’s more green. I’ve added pictures to the website and will have proper pictures from Primrose on August 10th.

The new colours look great.

Romance

Passion

Serenity

Omen

These came home with me for a shawl. I know - I said nothing new - it’ll be a challenge to finish it before the Rowan arrives. The challenge will start tomorrow because I don’t want to start a new project at 9pm.

Now to watch the Olympics. There isn’t much knitting because I’m flipping from channel to channel to see as many events as possible.

Copper

Sarah finished her Log Cabin Afghan and it looks amazing! I wasn’t sure about the purple border but now that I see it I like it. I think that you could use any colour for the border and it would work.

Sarah made 25 squares for her afghan. I like it with the extra squares and am going to make 25 for mine.

I talked to our supplier and there should be new colours coming in August.

The kits for the Color Play Mohair Wrap were popular at our outdoor sale. More yarn just arrived and kits are back on the website.

This wrap is a fun knit. I think I made it 5 times when the pattern first came out. It is mindless knitting. You are holding 2 strands of the mohair/silk together on larger needles. 

My Rowan order is finished and we will have the books and yarn for September 1. I can’t wait to show you pictures. I am not starting another project until it arrives because there is a scarf that I have to knit. It is fairisle and is stunning. It is something that people will be stopping you on the street to look at.

Here’s a sneak peek at new needles coming from Lykke this fall. The needles are made from 100% copper and will acquire a lovely soft patina with continued use.

Someone needs to have his bangs cut.

Stephen West

Lynn finished her Vertices Unite. I’m proud of her - this is her first Stephen West shawl. Lynn chose 5 colours of tosh merino light. There are 2 sizes to the shawl - small and large. Lynn read up on Ravelry and a few people made a medium - Lynn followed their adjustments.

Now that she has knit a Stephen West shawl Lynn is looking at Stephen in a whole new light. She enjoyed the pattern and said that it was easy to follow. Her favourite part? The I-Cord bind off. 

You can purchase the pattern on Stephen’s website.

Vertices Unite is a playful geometric shawl exploration filled with fun shaping techniques and lots of color. Increases, decreases, and short rows form the simple shapes. Each section is picked up and knit from the last section or worked as it is being joined to the other pieces like a puzzle so it is completely seamless. An I-cord border adds a crisp outline to the finished shawl. Grab a collection of fingering weight yarns and choose the sweet small size or a lusciously large wrap.

Meet the Dustland Shawl - new from Stephen West.

Photos © Stephen West

This top-down shawl features several easy knit purl textures for an entertaining and soothing project. Four skeins of DK weight wool like West Wool Tandem create this large cozy shawl. Garter stitch frames the wingspan edges and a crisp I-cord bind off finishes this top-down shawl for a crisp clean look.

You can purchase the pattern on Stephen’s website.

Mr. UPS brought us a big box of Roan. Brand new colours. These are not on the website. Primrose hasn’t taken pictures yet so I need to. We took skeins outside for pictures and the colours were so distorted in the bright sun. We’ll try tomorrow in the shade.

I think that I might try Stephen’s shawl in Roan.

I couldn’t post last night because I was afraid to touch my iPad. I was a menace yesterday. The first thing I did was knock over a full XLarge Tea from Tim’s. I soaked an upholstered bar stool as well as the kitchen floor. The chair was cleaned first and then I had to wash the kitchen floor. Then I made brownies - no problem. After brownies I started on muffins. I dropped an egg on the floor. Yup - I had to wash the kitchen floor again. After this I didn’t touch anything breakable.

There was a lot of work happening at our house today.

It’s almost finished. No, it doesn’t slope, I took a very bad picture. We need doors on the cabinets. The vent hood has to be finished. There is a ceiling fan to be hung. Then we can starting cooking.

Meet Jackson - we picked the name before picking the puppy. Now we’re thinking Jackson Brown. Beth is flying to Calgary to pick him up in a few weeks. He is part St. Bernard and part Bernese Mountain Dog. 

Beth assures me that he isn’t going to shed 😘 And he isn’t going to be very big.

Maker’s Canvas Bags

We have a shipment of Della Q bags coming soon (maybe this week) including two new shades - Petal and Light Grey. 

The bags will be available on the website tomorrow afternoon - I’m guessing around 1pm. It was my job this afternoon but… Then dad and Lucy came for dinner. While we were eating we put on the Olympics - the ladies Triathlon. We watched the men’s last night as well. These athletes are amazing! Swim, bike and then run.

 

Our first shipment of the Maker’s Roll Top sold out fast. The other colours in the shipment are

-Blue

-Mustard

-Olive

-Red

Lynn has a Mini Messenger and loves it. Also coming are

-Blue

-Mustard

The Canvas Backpack

I have a Canvas Saddlebag and love it.

Laura Aylor has a new pattern. 

It seems my design work is often shaped by what’s going on in my own life. The past few months have been difficult for my family and I just could never find the mental energy to design the cardigan that I had planned. This pattern was just what I needed. Super easy, practically mindless, and so much fun to watch the shape and the color variations interact! Originally my plan was to use my large stash of leftover Pashmina but even planning the color changes was too much so I pulled out a couple of balls of Noro Akari and let the yarn do all the work. My testers used variegated yarns, leftovers, and planned stripes and the shawls are amazingly different! 

This shawl can be knit at any gauge and to any size. 

Photos © Laura Aylor

You can purchase the pattern for Rickle on Ravelry.

Shown in Noro Akari at a gauge of 4 stitches per inch - estimated yardage at that gauge is 900 yards for a 64-inch wingspan. For different gauges/sizes, obviously your yardage will be different. There is a checkpoint where you can see if you need to make adjustments to avoid running out of yarn, but you will need a scale for that.

Boscoe had fun at daycare.

Now a bit of knitting.