Spring Cleaning

Lynn and I started spring cleaning today. It's time to say goodbye to some products. We need room for exciting new things coming in the next few months.

All in stock Lykke Needle Sets are on sale until the end of March. 20% off. This is in the store and online (the discount will automatically come off).

All Freia Fine Handpaints yarns are on sale for 20% off as well until the end of March, 2020.

We used one Yarn Bomb to make Espe.

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. Our method also means that though our yarns will match very well from one dye lot to the next, no two balls of yarn will ever be the same.

I love Freia yarns. Tina's colours are amazing. It's just time for you to hoard it at your house. 

Alex knit Stripe Study with 2 Shawl balls and one skein of tosh merino light.

Minikins are part of the sale as well.

Blue Sky Fibers is also on sale until the end of the month - 20% off. 

More skeins of Dyed in the Wool are on the way to us and could be here tomorrow.

Heart Sigh

Neveruary

Shades of Earth

The Family Jewels

I can't wait until tomorrow morning. A new pattern from Jenn Steingass.

You can see some finished sweaters (test knitters) in Jenn's Ravelry group.

This prompted me to set aside my Throwback and bring out Hinterland.

It's time for Survivor so I need to finish my post. I'm not sure how much longer Beth will wait before starting.

Family Day

Today was Family Day in Ontario so the store was closed. We had lots of family time. Beth and I had breakfast with dad and Lucy. Dad made bacon and eggs - his specialty. This afternoon was spent knitting.

I worked on Love Note for most of the afternoon and then I ran out of yarn so I moved on to Hinterland. This never happened when I lived above the store.

Tonight we went back to have dinner with dad and Lucy. It's too early for dad to leave her alone. She is doing really well. There is swelling and bruising but that is normal for the surgery she had. You'll notice that she isn't wearing her cone. She wears it at night but during the day dad takes it off. He watches her diligently and she hasn't looked at her leg.

She loves to lie in the snow. The weather was nice this afternoon so he let her lie there for half an hour. She was so happy!

According to UPS our order from Harrisville Design is coming tomorrow. I can't wait!! There will be a new project started soon. I need to knit with the yarn so that I can recommend it 😋😋

Alpaca Boucle

I was happily knitting away on New Leaf and my skein of Le Petit Lambswool ran out. I was too lazy to wind another skein so I went back to Hinterland. I threw it on the chair last night before heading to bed. The pattern asks for 11" after dividing for the sleeves and I am at 6.5". Now I'm having an internal debate. Which sweater do I want finished first??

Hinterland wins for tonight. I got home late and don't feel like winding yarn. That's why you should always have more than one project on your needles 😋

The self-patterning sock yarns from Opal make amazing socks. This is Fairytale. Opal is continually bringing out new collections but don't delay. Once a collection is sold out it is done and a new collection is brought out.

We have a new yarn coming from Hedgehog Fibres.

A wonderful alternative to kidsilk/mohair yarns! We hear a lot from our customers that not everyone can tolerate mohair, some due to allergies, and others due to skin sensitivities. However, everyone loves and wants a yarn with a lofty, fluffy texture and look - we developed this beautiful new base with that in mind! 

Our new Alpaca Boucle is 66% Alpaca and 34% Silk, with delicate tiny boucles, which creates a yarn that is a great substitute for any mohair lace, whether used alone or as a carry-along yarn.  

Similar to our Kidsilk Lace base, this yarn is fluffy and has a brushed look when knitted, however this one does not shed! The tiny loops hold fast the fibres and keep them attached.

Our next shipment should be here by the end of the month and I have ordered
Boombox
Budgie
Concrete
Juniper
Kelp
Method
Nutmeg
Oracle
Pinky Swear
Purr
Raku

Lucy wants to play with Boscoe in the worst way. She wants to run with him but we can't let her. She is having surgery on Friday to repair her ACL. It's major surgery and we will have to keep her quiet for a month until the plates in her leg start to heel. The good news is that after she has heeled she can't hurt it again. Dad made a ramp to get her in and out of the pick up truck and there is a ramp to get into the house from the garage that we built for mom. Dad's bed is very low - of course Lucy sleeps in bed with him. We're all set.

Tasteful in Teal

Mr. Canada Post dropped off a box from Lynda this morning. I am in love. This is a new pattern coming from Rowan for spring. There will be fade kits with 6 balls of Felted Tweed. My shawl took 2 kits (12 balls).

Since the kits from Rowan won't be in the store until March, we are going to make our own kits tomorrow. They won't be in the pretty packaging but we'll make them as pretty as we can. I'm going to put together some combinations that Rowan didn't do. They didn't do a mauve/purple version. Seriously??

The yoke of Hinterland is finished and I'm onto the plain, boring knitting. Jenn Steingass writes a very good pattern and I highly recommend her designs.

When I looked at Jenn's pattern page this jumped out at me.

PATTERN SALE! Receive 30% off all knit.love.wool patterns! This discount is valid for pattern quantity of your choice and applies automatically at checkout. Happy Knitting!

I don't know how long the sale is on for but it's a great time to stock up.

Bleach

Five more rows and my yoke is finished. After that there are ten rows of teal before dividing the body from the sleeves. Then I am going to block my sweater like Sarah suggests. While it is blocking I will finally cast on Love Notes. The Frolic is at the end of April and Love Notes must be finished.

I have more pictures to share from TNNA.

This shawl is knit with Recycled Linen from Trendsetter Yarns. After the shawl is knit you use bleach to create the design. Yes, bleach. Barry who owns Trendsetter Yarns has been teaching this technique for years. It is so much fun. When the warm weather arrives we will designate a Saturday as 'Bleach Day' and we will demonstrate this outside.

We will have the pattern for this in February.

The yarn is hand dyed and the colours are great.

I have better pictures of the Atenti bags that are coming in February.

We should have new colours of Noro Akari late next week. They are shipping from the US on Monday.

I can't wait. There are visions of more Nightshifts dancing in my head.

Dad, Beth and Lucy took a trip to Mississauga this morning to visit the vet. It is confirmed - Lucy tore her ACL. She will have surgery in 3 weeks. We've been through it before so we know what to expect.

Selbu Mittens

Lynn has beautiful new mittens. The pattern is Selbu Mittens (purchased on Ravelry) and she knit them in Loch Lomond. She used less than one ball of each colour.

This is an ideal beginner’s pattern for Norwegian mittens, or colourwork mittens in general. It has row-by-row instructions not typically offered in most colourwork mitten patterns. Once you have made these, you should be able to knit colourwork mittens from a chart. 

Hello fellow knitter! I designed these mittens for my classes on Norwegian Selbu mittens. For that purpose I needed a pattern that would be easy to follow and quick to knit up, whilst also incorporating the techniques that defines a Selbu mitten. The result was these mittens, which only have a short rib so that you can get straight into the colourwork! Although, traditionally, women’s mittens only had rib or lace cuffs. Many thanks to Anne Bårdsgård for putting together the masterpiece ‘Selbuvotter’, which greatly informed and influenced the construction of this pattern.

The Story of the Selbu Mitten

I was going to try them on but couldn't get my hands into them. They fit Lynn perfectly. The mittens are quite narrow - if you have large hands you might want to use a thicker yarn.

Yarnuary
Day 11 - what keeps your mojo going

Being around yarn all the time. We are always receiving new yarns that I want to try. Also Ravelry. Take a few minutes and look at the site. You will find one, two or twenty things you want/need to knit.

A new project gets my mojo going. I wound skeins this morning to start Hinterland. I'm using Donegal Cottage Tweed Sock in Green Elf Cup with Dyed in the Wool in Heart Sigh.

©Jenn Steingass

My Newleaf is dry and I like how it fits. There are a few ends to sew in and then pictures. I am going to sew the ends in and then I can say that I made the sweater - knit, blocked and sewed in the ends.

We were outside this morning just before the rain started.

Boscoe likes his outdoor toys.

Dad put up some snow fencing so that Boscoe can't get into the garden. He loves digging.

Why the long leash? Boscoe got under the fence at work yesterday. They got him back right away but we aren't taking any chances.

He is a very busy puppy when he is awake. He is go, go, go and then all of a sudden he is tired and lying on someone's feet. Usually mine.