Big Wool

Mr. Canada Post came early this morning with our Shawl Cuffs. They are amazing! I have photographed them all and they are on the website. I haven't taken one yet. Yet.

Mr. UPS brought in a big box from Rowan including more books. As we were pricing the books I realized that I hadn't shared the awesome patterns from the new Big Wool book.

Six designs by Quail Studio using Big Wool, ideal for everyday wear.

I want this sweater.

I need this sweater.

Big Wool takes the knit ability of a super chunky and transforms it with pure Merino wool, raising the bar by which all other 'beginner' yarns are measured. Big Wool is not just for new knitters though. With a super light spin and paintbox colour palette, it's the perfect choice for speedy accessories and dramatic garments. Make a statement with a giant cable, get creative with colour combinations or cast on a super cosy accessory in the ultimate yarn for winter.

This small booklet that has four patterns for Big Wool is free when you purchase the yarn.

Day 8 of #KnitAugust - enjoy 50% off Aziz Shawl for the next 48 hours, no code needed 

Purchase the pattern on Ravelry.

Aziz full of fizz! Embark on a playful experiment with colour and create a beautiful shawl with a fizz of something fun. The asymmetrical triangle shape is always fun to knit and so easy to wear. Stripes form the background to the fizzing bobbles that play through the shawl. Stripes are kept to a subtle contrast in the sample, allowing the contrasting bobbles to shine. Make this your invitation to play; your stripes could be worked with a gradient, a bold contrast or neutral tones, then have fun choosing a colour to make your Aziz fizz and pop! 

The bobbles are worked with simple German short rows making this a fun project to master these if this is a new to you technique.

Beth came after work to add plants to the island.

 A little bit of colour for the end of summer.

Rowan 66

It's 9 days until the release of Rowan Magazine #66.

There will be two sections to the magazine. The first is called Bookbound.

A collection of classic yet modern, timeless knitwear. Photographed in the historic university town of Cambridge and using Rowan’s best loved yarns, using a tran seasonal palette of greys, blues, browns and greens, with a colourful mix on highlighted garments.

Rowan has produced a Lookbook for the garments in this section of the magazine. Take a look.

Fingers crossed the next shipment of Shawl Cuffs will arrive tomorrow morning. We will get them photographed and on the website as fast as we can.

Don't forget to take advantage of Andrea Mowry's birthday sale on patterns.

Save 30% with code LEO until 8/7/19 at midnight EST

Photos ©Andrea Mowry

I have knit a lot of Andrea's patterns but I still need to make What the Fade (purchased on Ravelry).

Quadruple your fading fun!! This shawl starts off with back to back fades thanks to beautiful, bouncy two color brioche! We then end with an epic band of all 6 colors faded together with some relaxing garter stitch! To celebrate this amazing fade, we’ll finish it off with faded tassels, and then wrap it around and wear it all year long! Included in the pattern are links to helpful video tutorials! 

Take a look at the more than 2500 projects on Ravelry. There are some amazing colour combinations. Colours you would never think about putting together and they look fabulous.

It's Amazing Race evening which means a few more rows on Guthrie. It's almost time to figure out how long I want the sweater. I'll go through my closet and measure the length of my favourite finished sweaters. I find this is the safest way to get the perfect length. A little trick that works because I am knitting on Addi Turbo needles. This won't work for wooden needles. I won't cast off the sweater when I block it. Then I can put it on when it's dry and decide if I need a few more rows of ribbing or if I need to take a few out. If you are working with wooden needles put the stitches on a piece of wool. You can put it back on the needles to cast off.

Happy Monday

Dad and I went to my happy place today. Terra. The Hydrangeas are for our house garden. The other flowers are for the store. We planted Dahlias in the island at the store and they were finally ready to bloom. Any day. And then we had visitors. Deer came and took them all out. Most bulbs and all. We're going to add a bit of colour for the rest of the summer.

I totally forgot about Ambah O'Briens #knitAugust. This is from Ravelry.

Welcome to my fourth year of Knit August.  

Every day in August I feature a pattern from my pattern catalog, the featured pattern of the day will have a 50% automatic discount (no codes needed). There’ll also be two brand new releases, so stay tuned for those extra special specials!  

There are a few ways to keep track of the daily featured pattern; follow this thread in my Ravelry group, follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook group.  

Each day I’ll share the newly featured pattern - it is always a surprise - I often don’t know until the day which will be next featured pattern!  

To allow for international timezones each Knit August day will last for 48 hours.

Day 6 of #KnitAugust - enjoy 50% off Bambara Wrap for the next 48 hours, no code needed

I have knit this pattern (purchased on Ravelry) and love it. Diana also knit one as a store sample. The pattern is well written and fun to knit. I will definitely make it again!

Bambara wrap was inspired by a walk in my local bush. The greens of the landscape were translated perfectly into yarn by Primrose Yarn Co, who dyed the amazing colours based on my forest walk inspiration.  

Bambara is a generously-sized wrap, knit on the bias with simple shaping and alternating sections of lace and garter. The colours and patterns weave together like the layers of a melody, calling to mind the iconic sound of The Cure’s A Forest. It’s the perfect opportunity to play with colour – use a 3-skein gradient with a coordinating contrast colour, mix speckles and solids in 4 different colours for a fun, bold look, or keep it subtle with neutral solids.

Guthrie is growing. There are instructions for a cropped version and then standard length. I've made it to the length of the cropped version but I'm not a cropped sweater kind of girl so I'm continuing on for a few more inches. The Jays are playing and I should get a few more rows done before bed.

I totally forgot some pictures.

Guthrie

Another job I was supposed to do yesterday was unpack a box of Noro. We have a brand new colour of Ito - this is #21.

There are so many combinations of Ito that I want to put together for another Nightshift.

Here are the two that I've already made. The new colours are brighter.

This is why I haven't done any 'work'. I've been knitting. I really like how the colours are working out. Making Guthrie has reminded me how much I like fair isle knitting.

Now back to my non-work. I can get a few more rows knit before bed.

Printed Organic Cotton

This is the Leafy Baby Blanket (pattern free on Ravelry) knit in Blue Sky Fibers Printed Organic Cotton.

Diana knit the blanket in one week - you gotta love a quick and beautiful baby blanket. She used 3 skeins on 4.5mm needles. The pattern asks for sport weight double stranded but we used worsted weight single strand.

A quick project on larger needles, using two strands of yarn. I was inspired to make it as my good friend was having a baby, and the nursery theme was “In the Woods”. 

It’s a lace pattern that uses left and right slanting decreases on both right and wrong side rows. The pattern has both charted and written instructions.

My job today was to rearrange the Hedgehog Kidsilk Lace. It wasn't speaking to me so I knit instead. It was necessary - I still have a lot of knitting to do on Guthrie if I'm going to be wearing it at the Knitters' Fair. Please ask for cool weather that day. I love my sweater but it is going to be warm.

There is another shipment of Shawl Cuffs on the way to us. I don't know if we will be receiving all of these but I hope so.

Now it's bed time. Tomorrow I need to do some actual work - no knitting all day.

Cashmere Haze

Taking inspiration from our ever-popular Kidsilk Haze, Cashmere Haze is an exquisite blend of 40% baby alpaca, 30% cashmere and 30% silk creates a fluffy, lightweight yarn which is available in a timeless range of neutrals. The white core also creates a beautiful mélange effect in our darker shades.

Cashmere Haze is one of the new yarns from Rowan for fall. We have all the colours in stock and yarn has been shipped to Lynda to make a store sample. She is going to make Birch (pattern free on Rowan's website).

Timeless and extremely elegant, this shawl was designed by Sharon Miller using the stunning Kidsilk Haze yarn, a blend of 70% mohair and 30% silk. Featuring a triangular shape and a beautiful lace pattern, this accessory is the perfect addition to any wardrobe.

Rowan also knit Birch in a pure wool lace weight. I've added this picture to show you the pattern - Rowan's picture in Kidsilk Haze doesn't show very well.

Speaking of Rowan Kidsilk Haze

We did some rearranging today. Kidsilk Haze and Kidsilk Lace from Hedgehog have a new home. Kidsilk Haze is in numerical order.

We were rushing to get the Kidsilk Lace hanging. I'm going to rearrange tomorrow with like colours together.

Alex finished her Tegna (pattern purchased on Ravelry). It is beautiful. She used Uschitita Singles and the yarn is perfect for the pattern. I asked her to turn around for a picture from the front but she wasn't feeling it today 😀

Tegna is knitted seamlessly from the bottom up, starting with the slightly flared lace hem, then working up to the armholes, where you separate your work and work the front and back flat.  

Knit in fingering weight yarn, this design works equally well in wool, a wool/mohair blend or linen. Instructions are given to customize the body and sleeve lengths to your preference.

Here is a great video showing the garments in Mode Collection One and a video from Rowan talking about Mode.




Now it's time for a bit of knitting and Big Brother. Some mindless TV before bed.