Color Play Mohair Wrap

One of my favourite all time projects is the Color Play Mohair Wrap. The pattern is from Churchmouse Yarns and the yarn is Kidsilk Haze Stripe from Rowan.

We have copies of the pattern in the store or you can purchase on Ravelry.

This colourway is Bird of Paradise.

From Churchmouse

We played with four self-striping colorways of our favorite mohair and silk blend. The colors really do mix, mingle, sweep and swirl in unexpected and wonderful ways! No two pieces will ever be alike. Stretch your color horizons by choosing even just one colorway that you wouldn't normally choose—you'll be amazed at how it plays with your favorites!

Herb Garden

Hydrangea Hedge

Pansy Patch

Royal Botanical Gardens

This was my fifth wrap. We named it Iris Garden. Yes, I'm a bit addicted to the yarn and the pattern.

From Churchmouse

Each of our original Color Play Mohair Wraps combined four colorways of Kidsilk Haze Stripe into eight different sections. We noticed that we kept falling in love with certain sections, and wanted to spend more time with those two colorways.

Intrigued, we decided to try a whole wrap using just two colors of Kidsilk Haze Stripe from the Herb Garden colorway held together throughout.

A more subtle color shifting revealed itself as we worked -- still gloriously unpredictable -- and more watercolor-like in the blending, without a noticeable beginning or end.

It's also simpler to knit, and because each skein stripes differently, each wraps final colorway is utterly unique. We're hooked!

If you'd like to create your own combination, consider stretching your color horizons by pairing one Kidsilk Haze Stripe color that you wouldn't normally pick with one that's more familiar. You'll be amazed at how the resulting combination complements your favorite colors.

The wraps luxurious size lets it envelop your neck like an oversized scarf, or grace your shoulders with plenty of length left over for a lovely vertical drape.

Either way, we think you'll love the feeling of wrapping yourself in an artful fiber palette.

This sample is Avocado and Khaki

Golden olive and willowy greens, navy, and smokey teal.

Here are a few suggestions if you want to use two colours

Lush and California Sunrise

Hot pinks and corals, tangerine, magenta, dark boysenberry, lavender and orchid purple

Vivid and Nightfall

Medium to darkest violet, turquoise, greens from grassy to olive, denim and navy.

See all the shades of Kidsilk Haze Stripe.

Why am I writing about these today? We recently received news from Rowan that Kidsilk Haze Stripe has been discontinued. If you were thinking that you'd like to make one of these beauties then you might want to act fast before the yarn is gone.

We have kits in the store and on the website.

We're Home

We had a great time at Camp. This morning there was rain but it stopped in time to pack up to come home.

Kate had a large class so it was easier to demonstrate some things with people surrounding her.

I said that the food was good. Everyone morning we had custom made omelettes. Yummy!

There wasn't time to knit this weekend but I'm going to start a new project tonight. After a weekend with knitters, I'm inspired to pick up my needles tonight.

These are the brand new colours of Kidsilk Haze Stripe that should be arriving in the store next month. I'm going to start another Color Play Mohair Wrap using four of them - not the off white and not the darkest navy/purple.

Yes, this will be #5. It is very addictive!

Box from Ann

Mr. Canada Post came in this morning with a box from Ann.

Pattern: Sonoma Scarf - we have patterns in the store or you can purchase on Ravelry

Yarn: 1 ball of Freia Handpaint Ombre Lace

This is a blend of 75% wool from Colorado spun with 25% nylon for added strength. Our lightweight, soft lace yarn is a superwash but we recommend hand washing for longevity.

Colour: Blue Velvet

From Tina at Freia

We source our fibers as much as we can from within the USA. We look for the best quality and price combination. We look for a soft hand, a lofty yarn that retains nice stitch definition. By sourcing directly from a mill we are able to keep our costs down and our environmental footprint small.

To achieve the long color runs in our Flux and Ombré yarns we have developed our own dyeing process. Though labor intensive, the hands-on nature of the process allows us to ensure an even consistency in the yarn and colors over multiple dye lots.

And a Color Play Mohair Wrap. This is another colour combination that I made up.

It's kind of like Birds of Paradise. I changed one colour for a totally different look.

Take note of the shawl pin-I will be blogging about it in the next few days.

It's a busy TV night. Big Brother. Master Chef. And if we get really bored there is America's Got Talent and the Blue Jay game. I think I might wind some yarn tonight and start on my Colinette throw.

Rearranging

As promised, here are some more pictures of the Color Play Mohair Wrap.

Lynn came in to help me move yarn around today. It's getting there but I still want to sit down on the floor and cry because the store really looks like it has been vandalized but next week things will be better.

 Bags of yarn are thrown everywhere .

I'm not sure how everything fit in before. All the yarn was on shelves and it seems that it won't fit now. Kind of like packing when coming home from vacation. You got it all there so it should fit to come home.

One of the shelves in the front window filled with chunky yarns.

The other shelf in the front window filled with bulky yarns. There is a plan for the empty column but right now that yarn is out of the way so we don't need to worry about it today. I'm trying to get everything that is in baskets on the floor onto shelves.

It's 6:30 and I decided to add the new Rowan Fine Art Collection to the website. Not the smartest time to do it. I messed something up and the website is down. Hope to have it back up soon.

Color Play times 3

It's been an early start to the day. We were up at 5am so that Beth and dad could head to North Bay. There was no sense trying to sleep while she and the dogs were up.

My wrap was dry so I sewed in the ends (while watching an episode of Elementary) and then took pictures in different locations at home. This is over the fence at my neighbours. I had to go quick before their dogs saw me because they bark like crazy and it was 7am. Didn't want to wake the neighbourhood.

It is amazing how different the colours look in different light. 

In our front garden where the sun isn't shining yet. The flowers are starting to bloom which makes it feel like summer.

On my back fence.

I did a few rows on my Summerspun cardigan and then started my blog post.

We received Fino from Manos del Uruguay a few weeks ago and I keep looking at the beautiful colours.

Elegant and refined, Fino combines the softness of merino wool with the lustre of silk in a lightweight yarn that’s perfect for heirloom accessories or luxurious garments. Fino features a new dye process that yields complex, subtle, tonal colors.

70% extrafine merino wool, 30% silk

approx. 490 yds / 450 mts per 3.5 oz / 100 g

You can see the shades on my suppliers website...

I'm bringing this up today because I just saw some great patterns on Ravelry that use one skein of Fino

Eternidad Scarf 
Pluma Shawlette
Fino Circle Scarf
Martine Hat

And the best part-all the patterns are free.

I didn't get to work until 8:30. Sometimes when you have too much time to get ready you go at a slow pace which I did this morning. Now I've been trying to figure out if the yarn is going to fit how I envisioned it. So far it isn't but I'm going to look at it again when I'm done writing. Maybe it will magically work now.

It's later in the day and Anne just left. She came in to see the Rowan Fine Art. If you haven't visited Anne's blog I suggest that you take a look. Life LackaDaisiCal... Anne is what I would call a Rowan fanatic - and that isn't a bad thing. She been in love with Rowan since she saw her first Rowan magazine.

While she was here we got talking about blogging and I asked how she got her cool pictures. She told me a neat trick on my mac. Now I can make neat pictures too. Thanks Anne.

Mr. Canada Post brought in a parcel from my knitter Ann. Two more Color Play Mohair Wraps. I have a few pictures for you but watch Anne's blog because she took some pictures too.

They are beautiful.

I will show more pictures tomorrow. It's 8pm now which means the day has been long and I'm a bit tired. I want to make some fun pictures but my body says it wants to relax. Kim and I got a lot of yarn moved today. It's not working how I wanted so we are improvising and I think it will great when done.

Color Play Mohair Wrap

I just finished casting off the Color Play Mohair Wrap. The ends need to be sewn in and I will be blocking it tomorrow.

There was a small panic attack as I was knitting last night. I'm merrily knitting and then I remembered that I had to finish with 10 rows of moss stitch. Did I go too far?? Did I have enough yarn to finish?

When I was finished with the cast off I had this much left. OOPS. Cutting it a bit close.

Then I had another panic attack at work. The Wrap is cast off and I totally forgot to bring other knitting with me. Beth to the rescue with 4 more balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe so that I can start another one in different colours. Why didn't I just take new yarn off the shelf and replace it next week? There is a ball at home that I started something else with that I'm going to use. I want to start and end with that colour so I needed my bag.

Someone asked me today what my favourite yarn is. Usually it is what I am currently knitting with. I like a lot of yarns. :) Then I started to download the next pictures and I remembered that Liberty Wool Prints from Classic Elite is very near the top of my list.

Two new colours of Liberty arrived on Friday

7829 Floral Hallucination

7830 Sugar Spun

Another Inspira Cowl??

Modern Wrapper

I just found this free pattern from Rowan on Facebook. The colours are stunning! Great job Martin.

Knit this beautiful fairisle cardigan, the member’s monthly exclusive free pattern for May. Designed by Martin Storey and using the stunning yarn Felted Tweed (merino wool and alpaca). With a gorgeous colour stitch pattern, short set-in sleeves and contrasting bands, this knitting pattern is for the experienced knitter

Download the pattern...

I love fairisle knitting. Somehow knitting with two colours in a row makes it seem to go faster (and less boring) than knitting with a single colour. I have the pattern printed and pulled the colours off the shelf. Lynda and Ann are both going to need knitting projects next week. This might be put in the mail to one of them.

Mr. Canada Post brought in the box of patterns from Churchmouse Yarns this morning.

The Modern Wrapper pattern was in the box

The Modern Wrapper walks the line between cozy and chic, snuggly and sleek; an oversized piece designed with thoughtful details to fit well and stay on the shoulders in a softly draping fabric to flatter every body. Wear it around the house, or dress it up a little for town. We mixed a strand of tweedy wool or smooth alpaca-blend fingering-weight yarn with lace-weight mohair on nice big needles for luxurious drape and a quick knit. Customize the fit by adjusting sleeve length.

Approx. 1350 yds / 1234m of an equivalent fingering-weight yarn and a lace-weight mohair yarn, held together. 

Depending on what fiber combination you choose, your finished piece will sport unique characteristics. 

You'll learn a new short-row technique too! We chose to mark the working strand of yarn as we turned, rather than the more familiar wrap & turn method. Later, you'll use the marker to lift the turning strand onto your left needle so you can work it together with the next st to close the turning gap. Give it a try — it's easy!

Color Play is almost done. I think there is about 11" to go. Normally my phone gets the colours pretty true outside but this one is off. The gold around her neck is really lime green.

Dinner out tonight at the Keg. YUMMY!! The only bad thing about it is that dinner isn't quick and it will cut into my knitting time.

Who is going to make it to the Survivor Finale? It is going to be interesting tonight.