Author Archives: Julia

Back in stock: Knitter’s Pride needles.

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Our Annual Inventory Sale left us with some big holes in our supply of Knitter’s Pride needles, so it was with great relief that I unpacked an absolutely enormous shipment of needles this past week. Now they’re all here: circular and double pointed Dreamz, Cubics, and Karbonz needles. We even got a set of the new Karbonz interchangeable circular needles, which boasts the smallest interchangeable needle points we’ve seen yet, with a range from US #2.5 – #10.

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All three needle types have different qualities, which make them better suited to some tasks than others. Every knitter seems to have a favorite or two, usually depending upon what kind of yarn or project they’re using it for. The right tool can make a huge difference in the process of knitting. Sometimes it’s the difference between frustration and joy, or the difference between giving up and finishing a project.

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We’re always happy to hear knitters’ feedback on different needle types, as it helps us to advise other knitters as they’re choosing the right needles for any given fiber or project. What are your favorite needles, and why?

New colors in Berroco yarns.

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This week brought big boxes of yarn from Berroco. The yarns are familiar–Ultra Alpaca Fine, Ultra Alpaca, and Lustra–but the colors are brand new, just introduced by Berroco for Fall.

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Ultra Alpaca Fine is a fingering weight blend of wool, alpaca, and nylon. Its fiber content and gauge suggest socks, but Ultra Alpaca Fine is equally at home in larger garments, and especially shines in openwork scarves and shawls. The alpaca content gives it a bit of a fuzzy halo, something to keep in mind if you’re planning a project that requires sharp stitch definition–those fuzzy fibers can obscure delicate texture patterns a bit. That said, those fuzzy fibers also give the finished fabric softness and warmth. These 9 new colors really brighten the Ultra Alpaca Fine palette, and beg to be combined; perhaps a Stripe Study Shawl, or Selbu Modern tam.

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Ultra Alpaca is a staple around here, an affordable worsted weight blend of alpaca and wool that comes in a multitude of colors. It’s a warm and wooly yarn, great for sweaters, hats, shawls and scarves. One of our teachers, Katherine, recently picked up some Ultra Alpaca to make the Guernsey Wrap, a happy pairing of yarn and pattern; I can’t wait to see how it comes out.

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Many of the best-loved shades in Ultra Alpaca are heathered, colors which read solid from a distance but on closer inspection are subtly mottled with fibers of different hues. The latest shades in Lustra are all heathered, adding depth to these shiny, fuzzy skeins.

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Lustra is a single-ply aran weight yarn, a 50/50 blend of wool and Tencel, a plant fiber derived from tree bark. It’s the Tencel that makes Lustra so lustrous, a quality that has drawn knitters and crocheters to this yarn for as long as we’ve stocked it. Like all single-ply yarns, Lustra is a little delicate, and will pill or shed fibers more quickly than plied yarns. That makes it ideal for garments that don’t get a lot of hard wear, like a cowl, scarf, or shawl; a Honey Cowl, Saroyan scarf, or Springtime Bandit shawl would be lovely made up in Lustra. Arm yourself with a Lilly Brush and you can better care for your cuddly soft single-ply garments.

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Come by the shop to see these favorite yarns in brand new colors, and begin planning your next project. See you there!

Hello, Frolicking Feet.

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Along with all the favorite sock yarns we’ve reordered, we also picked up a brand new sock yarn: Frolicking Feet, from a small yarn company out of Maine called Done Roving.

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Done Roving is a family-run business based on a farm, and they make a point of sourcing their fiber domestically when possible, and processing it in a safe and thoughtful way. Frolicking Feet is their 100% superwash merino sock yarn, a fingering weight yarn with a tight twist to create a sturdy fabric. Some skeins are hand-painted, for vibrant variegated colorways, and some are kettle-dyed, for monochromatic colorways that show the full range of a single hue, from light to dark.

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Frolicking Feet, like many variegated yarns, will not stripe, but may pool in unexpected ways, depending upon how many stitches are cast on. Letting the colors fall where they may is one of the pleasures of variegated yarn, but if you’d rather have a tangible sense of what that beautiful skein might look like in a finished garment, you might search on Ravelry for projects made in Done Roving’s Frolicking Feet. You’ll find all manner of garments there, from socks and shawls to sweet baby sweaters, and see how the colorways can play out in knit and crochet projects.

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Come by the shop to greet our newest sock yarn, and see these vivid colors in person–my camera just can’t capture the depth and intensity of the Indigo Purple colorway, it must be seen with one’s own eyes. See you at the shop!

Crystal Palace Merino 5: now on sale!

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UPDATE: As of 11/19/2014, we are totally sold out of Crystal Palace Merino 5!

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We have many machine-washable, worsted weight wools at the shop because they’re good for so many things. Knitters and crocheters alike often turn to machine-washable, worsted weight wools for blankets, baby things, sweaters for children and adults, toys, and accessories that get lots of wear, like hats, scarves and mitts. One of the many machine-washable, worsted weight wools we carry is now on sale at a 25% discount: Crystal Palace Merino 5.

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Merino 5 is a springy superwash merino wool that suggests a gauge of 5 stitches to the inch, and comes in both solid and variegatd colorways. The yarn is plump and round due to its many-plied structure, which gives it excellent stitch definition for texture and cable patterning. Crystal Palace offers a variety of free patterns for Merino 5 on their website–click here to see a list, then scroll down to the Merino 5 section. Myself, I’m eyeing this basket of yarn with colorful crocheted blankets in mind. A simple granny square or even hexagons, maybe a ripple stitch… Come by the shop to snag some Merino 5 at this great price while it’s still in stock!

 

A reminder: all sales are final on discounted yarn. There can be no returns or exchanges, nor special orders–the discount applies only to what we currently have in stock. Thanks!

Interweave Knits.

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In the midst of  a muggy summer week, the Fall 2013 issue of Interweave Knits has arrived, just in time for cool-weather daydreaming. What garments and accessories will we knit in anticipation of the seemingly-distant sweater weather?

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This issue features garments and accessories in lacy drop-stitch patterns, cables, and texture patterns. I noticed one sweater made in a familiar yarn: Kauni Effektgarn, a self-striping yarn with long color repeats that this dolman-sleeved sweater shows off well.

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There’s also plenty of stranded colorwork patterning in this issue. Though some of these patterns use many colors, only two are in use on any given row, making this classic technique much less complicated than it first appears. If you’re eager to try stranded colorwork for the first time, consider signing up for our Inspira Cowl class for some guidance along the way.

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The Rheinfels Mittens call for Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, a fingering weight shetland wool that is perfectly suited to colorwork. It’s not merino-soft, but neither is merino wool shetland-sturdy; shetland wool yarns typically have little fibers sticking out that want to grab onto one another, helpful for keeping tension in stranded colorwork, and keeping cut edges stable when steeking. I used Shetland Spindrift in my Stasis Pullover last winter, and it has stayed in great condition through many wearings. I picked a few high-contrast color combinations in the Shetland Spindrift that I thought would make nice mittens, though there are plenty of other yarns that could be substituted, like Jamieson & Smith 2-ply Jumper Weight, Isager Highland, or Cascade 220 Fingering.

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We were also delighted to spot this profile of Clara Parkes, a hero of ours that we were lucky enough to meet in person at TNNA.

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We have all of her published books on our shelves here at the shop, and her yet-to-be-published book, The Yarn Whisperer, is on order. Let us know if you’d like us to save a copy for you! 

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Come by the shop to browse the yarns, books, and magazines, and pick up a copy of Interweave Knits. See you there!

Back in stock: Smooshy with Cashmere.

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Another luscious fingering weight yarn arrived this week: Dream in Color’s Smooshy with Cashmere.

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Smooshy with Cashmere is an aptly-named blend of 70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon. It’s hand-dyed in variegated and semi-solid colorways, deliciously soft and squishy, perfect for next-to-skin wear.

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We first ordered Smooshy with Cashmere about a year and a half ago, and it quickly found its following. Some knitters have used Smooshy with Cashmere for socks, for which it’s plenty hearty, but many more have used it for openwork shawls and scarves–a Multnomah or Holden Shawlette would be perfect, and both of those patterns are available as free downloads from Ravelry.

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It would be equally an lovely yarn for a special baby gift–think Purl Soho’s Little Baby Sweater or one of the sweet, simple garments from Susie Haumann’s booklet All You Knit is Love.

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Come by the shop to pet the Smooshy with Cashmere and plan your next project. See you there!

Hello again, Bearfoot.

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Mountain Colors is a small yarn company in Montana that has been hand-dyeing yarn for almost twenty years. We’ve stocked their sock yarn, Bearfoot, in the past; in fact, I’ve written about it here on the blog before. Recently we found ourselves with only four skeins in stock, which seemed a sad and lonesome number–time to reorder.

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Bearfoot is a sturdy, fuzzy combination of 60% superwash wool, 25% mohair, and 15% nylon, hand-dyed in vivid colorways that are sometimes semi-solid, sometimes variegated. There are 400 yards on each 100 gram skein, enough for a pair of socks or fingerless mitts, a hat, scarf or shawlette.

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The label recommends machine washing finished projects in Bearfoot with vinegar to prevent the bleeding that sometimes comes with richly saturated colors like these. That little bit of special treatment is not too much to ask, I think, for a handknit garment that has already had hours of needlework poured into it before it’s washed.

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By all accounts, Bearfoot is worth it, especially for socks; designer Cat Bordhi highly recommended Bearfoot in a sock-design class I took from her at last year’s TNNA. I have a skein in my stash that I’ll likely pull out for my next pair of socks, enticed as I am by the combination of fibers in the yarn, which promise a warm and wooly fabric.

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Come by the shop to see our new selection of Mountain Colors Bearfoot, and consider it for your next pair of socks!

Back in stock: String Theory sock yarns.

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We’re pleased to announce the arrival of an armful (or two) of String Theory sock yarns. Our supply of Caper Sock and Bluestocking sadly diminished, we placed an order with the lovely Karen and Tanis, who dye these vibrant yarns in Blue Hill, Maine. We picked some new colors and some old favorites, and the result is a very tempting cubby full of colorful yarns.

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Bluestocking is a lustrous sock yarn, composed of 80% superwash Bluefaced Leicester wool and 20% nylon, for durability. Because of it, Bluestocking makes a great pair of socks, but it is equally at home in a scarf or shawl, at a slightly larger gauge.

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Caper Sock is a plump and springy sock yarn, composed of 80% superwash merino wool, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon. The tight twist and the nylon content ensures that Caper Sock is sturdy enough to withstand the kind of wear that socks put up with, but, like Bluestocking, it’s great for other garments, as well. I’ve used Caper Sock to make a scarf, my North Arrow, because it’s so soft, I wanted it wrapped around my neck all winter.

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Come by the shop to check out both of String Theory’s excellent sock yarns, as well as their Selku and Merino DK, which we also stock. See you there!

 

Back in stock: books.

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Our Inventory Sale put a dent in our supply of books, especially some of the most exciting recent publications. By the end of the month, we had a lengthy list of titles to reorder, old and new. Yesterday a 48 pound box of books arrived at the shop, and now the teacart is newly decorated with fresh stacks of the latest knitting and crochet books.

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All of them have been introduced here on the blog, so click on their titles below to get a closer look at them:

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We also paid special attention to our stash of books by Ann Budd, knowing how handy they have proven themselves over the years. Budd’s “Knitter’s Handy Book” series offers basic patterns in a range of gauges, allowing one to construct any number of knitted garments in whatever yarn one happens to fall in love with, no matter the stitches per inch. We filled in the gaps we found on our shelves, including one longstanding gap where Getting Started Knitting Socks should be.

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Ann Budd’s Getting Started Knitting Socks is a great introduction to the addictive world of sock-knitting, showing how to construct a basic sock and giving patterns for a range of gauges. It also offers guidance on sizing, fit, stitch patterns, and yardage requirements–a topic on which we always defer to Ann Budd and her Handy Guides.

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If you’re seeking knitting or crochet inspiration, come by the shop to peruse our books. From the practical to the beautiful, and often both at once, there are all kinds of patterns and projects within. See you at the shop!

The Unofficial Harry Potter Knits.

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A special issue of Interweave Knits has arrived at the shop: the Unofficial Harry Potter Knits.

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Lovers of the Harry Potter books or movies will find plenty of references to familiar characters in this issue, along with patterns for sweaters, socks, hats, mitts, and scarves inspired by those characters.

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Look for it on the teacart, among the latest books and magazines. See you at the shop!