Earth Stripe Wrap

Today was about unpacking boxes. Ms. UPS brought in 4 first thing this morning. Then Mr. Canpar brought in a big box. We also received a shipment of boxes that we use for mail orders. The store is in a bit of chaos tonight.

Rockshelter Sock arrived and looks amazing. The colours look good online but wait until you see them in person.

This is 86 Gifting and 99 Bequeathed Treasure. Beth is going to combine them for a scarf.

Find Your Fade
146, 144, 65, 38, 98, 122, 133

A box arrived from Rowan with Felted Tweed and Kidsilk Haze.

A multitude of distinct tones are blended, combined, striped, and fully united in the extraordinary Earth Stripe Wrap. Designed by internationally renowned textile artist Kaffe Fassett, it was first released by Rowan in 2007. A decade later, we’re still in awe of the masterful use of color—all hues aligning to create one outstanding vision.

Fourteen skeins in ten different shades of Rowan Kidsilk Haze knit up into this generous, fringed wrap. Over the years, several of the original Kidsilk Haze colors have been discontinued (sigh!). However, the good people at Rowan have found just the right substitutes! If you made it before, you may find yourself wanting to make it again. 

Two different colors of Kidsilk Haze are held together in multiple combinations throughout, creating a lofty DK-weight fabric. And the super kid mohair/silk combination has that warm glow we’ve always loved. A truly timeless piece.

 

The pattern is a free download on Ravelry.

We are well stocked in Kidsilk Haze right now. Don't forget - I love to play with colours if you want to come up with a different combination.

The finished shawl is stunning. People will stop you as you are walking down the street - it is that beautiful.

Kim knit the Earth Stripe Wrap and loved every minute of the knitting. It is so much fun to see how the colours are going to work together.

That leaves a few more boxes to tell you about. I'm going to save that for tomorrow. Now I'm going to sit down and write a newsletter. We've moved from Constant Contact to Mail Chimp. Hopefully this means that everyone will receive the newsletters.

New Colours

We've had a bit of fun with our shipment of Rockshelter Sock. Someone wasn't paying attention when they filled out the brokerage documents at Meadowcroft Dyeworks and they valued the shipment at over $2,000,000. Yes, you are reading that correctly. Two million dollars. That is either a lot of yarn or very expensive yarn. Things were straightened out today and hopefully the yarn will be here late tomorrow afternoon. The website will be updated tomorrow evening.

My Find Your Fade so far. I'm supremely jealous tonight. Beth has a new iPhone 7. We did picture comparisons and her phone takes better pictures than mine. Whenever I can, I'll be borrowing her phone for photos from now on.

We unpacked some new colours from Sirdar this afternoon.

Sirdar Snuggly Baby Crofter Dk is a gorgeously soft yarn with an incredible Fair Isle colour effect that appears as you knit. Inspired by the gentlest colours of the Scotland Highlands, Snuggly Baby Crofter Dk is the same wonderfully soft blend of 55% nylon and 45% acrylic as Snuggly Dk, and is machine washable and easy care. This yarn will also knit to all Sirdar double knitting baby patterns.

 

Baby Bamboo has been a favourite for baby and adult knitting since it's release.

Specially developed to be incredibly soft, gentle and smooth for Baby, this yarn is a new blend with natural bamboo and wool fibres. It will keep its quality through gentle machine washing.

If you're ready to start thinking about your summer knitting, two new colours of Sirdar Cotton DK were in the box.

We have created this fabulous cotton double knitting yarn for hand knit and crochet projects – it can be used to create designs for all the family from babies to adults and looks equally gorgeous in projects for the home. The yarn is made using mercerized cotton to create a subtle sheen and incredible stitch definition so it’s the perfect yarn for lace knitting, cables and crochet work. This Cotton DK is a classic double knitting yarn that will knit to all Sirdar’s DK designs and is machine washable.

Now it's time for tea, Love it or List it and Find Your Fade.

Stashbust Time

Happy Family Day! My morning has been spent adding to the website. Rockshelter Sock is on the website - you to see all the awesome colours that are coming. Rainbows in the Gorge kits are on the website as well.

Now it's time to knit for the afternoon.

I finished Clue #2 of my Ambah MKAL yesterday afternoon. I'm ready for the next clue when it comes out on Friday.

Then I moved onto Find Your Fade.

This is going to be fun!!

Stephen West has a new Mystery KAL starting in March. This one is a bit different - it's about using up your stashed yarn.

Each week starting March 3, you will receive a section of the mystery shawl pattern until the final design is revealed on March 24. Get a group of your knitting friends together and enjoy this brand new Westknits adventure!

Join on Ravelry...
 

I'm including some pictures from Stephen. This might give you some ideas for yarn groupings when you go through your stash.

Sizes: Medium & Large.
You don’t need to decide a size now. Sizing information and options will be revealed towards the end of the KAL. If you love big shawls that venture into shlanket (shawl + blanket) territory, then there will be a large size for you. If you like a more “standard” shawl size, then there will be an abbreviated Medium option for you. The overall shape and dimensions are part of the mystery.

Yarn: Fingering weight held double. Lace weight mohair yarns are also recommended to add some texture.

Recommended Yarn: Stash bust! Use all kinds of fingering weight & sock yarns from your stash. I recommend using several speckled colors for a fun painterly look.

Yardage: 700-800g & 7-10 colors minimum. These are minimum suggestions for you to work with, but I always encourage you to have more colors and amounts ready to knit. More options = more color/contrast variety!

This shawl is designed to use several colors from your yarn stash. Gather a big pile of yarns to work with for your palette. Gather more yarn from your stash than you think you may need because you can always edit your yarn selection later. It’s best to have a broad range of colors and yardage amounts so you have more options to choose from while you knit each section.

I took this from Stephen's Instagram. What a great hint to see how the colours play.

There's a new video. Stephen is very entertaining :)

Rockshelter Sock

There is a new fingering weight yarn on the way from Meadowcroft Dyeworks (it should be in the store late Wednesday afternoon).

Meet Rockshelter Sock. There are 37 colours coming - 116 skeins in all. They aren't on the website yet - that is my job for Monday. Speaking of Monday, don't forget that it's Family Day in Ontario and we are closed.

Palenque

Old Lace

Belltower Vespers

Haberdashery

Harold's Crayon

 

Gifting

Hedgerow

Broiled Lobster

Cranberry Bog

Chris-Craft at Dusk

Malachite

Chilly and Cold River Jordan

Fingering weight
100% merino (superwash)
100g / 3.5oz
366m / 400 yds

Meadowcroft Dyeworks is run by a father and son team. Dave, the father, knit this Find your Fade with Rockshelter Sock.

I can't wait to open the boxes and start playing.

Linen

Can you believe the weather? I went to work today without a coat. It's amazing.

So I'm working away on my Ambah MKAL and started to wonder why I haven't received the next clue. No one seems too worried that it didn't come out yesterday. Then I looked at her page on Ravelry. It isn't coming out until the 24th. She gave us an extra week of knitting time. Thanks Ambah - now I can be ready.

I decided to show mine so far. If you're working on the shawl then you have the pattern and know what this section is going to look like. If you aren't working on the shawl then maybe my pictures will help you decide to join.

I have 18 rows to go and then I'll be ready for the next clue.

Next week is going to be crazy. There are many shipments coming.
-Frabjous Fibers
-Rowan
-Classic Elite
-a company that is new to us - I will reveal this in the next few days - we'll be the only store in Canada carrying this yarn

We have new colours of Studio Linen from Erika Knight.

We have collaborated with London based Shibori designer Rob Jones who has created bespoke backdrops and bags for us, and inspired our new colours.

Rob says “Shibori is a slow craft, often with many hours of stitching, binding, clamping and pole-dyeing followed by more hours at the indigo vat or mordanting, dyeing and over-dyeing fabric”. Rob’s creations demonstrate his love of fabric and the time spent to produce something original and lovingly handmade, with care and thought put into it.

Like knitting and crochet, Shibori represents slow crafting, tradition and modernity combined and Rob shares with us “a desire to bring something beautiful and different into the world.”

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 made from 100% linen.

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

408 Kanoko

409 Pyjama

410 Pigment

411 Kumo

Wannietta knit this amazing cardigan and raved about how nice it was to work with the Linen. There will be new patterns coming in a few weeks.

We have many great colours in stock.

The Leafs are on and I'm getting back to my knitting. Maybe I can get a few more rows knit tonight.

Rainbows in the Gorge

The pattern is finished. It is called Rainbows in the Gorge and the designer is Sarah Keller. It won't be available to purchase on Ravelry until next weekend. But I've worked out a deal to get advance copies. If you purchase the yarn we can sell you the pattern.

The cardigan is pictured in a So Fond of Rainbows kit. We are out of this colourway but it will be back in stock on Tuesday or Wednesday. 

 

We have one of the Enchanted Woodland kit in stock right now. This is the colourway that Lynda is knitting. More of these will be in the shipment as well.

Order the yarn and pattern and we will hold for you to pick up or ship to you later this week when the kits arrive. There will be free shipping on the kit.

You need 20 Cheshire Cat mini skeins for the cardigan. From Sarah

Arrange your 20 rainbow colors in the order of your choosing; sweater is worked from cuff to cuff, from C1 at cuff to C16 at center back, then in reverse from C16 back to C1 at opposite cuff. C17-20 are used in the shawl collar. Cut each yarn after changing color.

I have thought of something different if you aren't fond of these colours. Use 2 mini skein kits (2 of each colour).

You can fade light grey to dark grey and then dark brown to light brown. This gives you 10 colours. Then you will start again at light grey and work to dark grey and then use the dark brown. That is your 16 colours. Your shawl collar will be 4 shades of brown. This is just one suggestion - I can come up with many more ways to combine these kits.

Or you can do something a bit more daring. Take 4 different kits and combine them. Here are 2 different options I came up with this afternoon. I didn't open the kits for fear of getting them back in the wrong package. Imagine throwing the skeins on the table and rearranging them. I think both of these combinations would make a great cardigan.

Lynn tried the Linen Stitch Scarf on this morning and never took it off. It looks grey with her Remy Poncho.