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Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Coming soon: new Addi Turbo LACE circulars. I just read about these last night, called the supplier this morning, and have some of each size in the 24” length on order (they’ll be here end of the week or early next, by the sounds of things). What’s the difference between these Addis and the old ones? Sharper tips. Yup. The ability to knit or purl a few stitches together by being able to actually get under the stitches with a nice, sharp tip. Hurrah! They are available in 5 sizes, from 2.5mm to 4.0mm, in 3 lengths: 24”, 32”, and 47”, and will have a different colored wire to denote the sharp ones from the blunt ones at a glance. You don’t have to be a lace knitter to prefer a sharper tip, of course…let me know if you’re interested in any! I plan on giving the 3.75mm ones a try with the Flower Basket Shawl…it’s sitting there, staring at me with puppy dog eyes, right now. |
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 Spring 2007 Interweave Knits magazine |
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Saturday, February 24, 2007 It’s finally here: Sugar Snow Stole and Scarf, with Ruffled, Fringed, or Garter Edges. Named quite appropriately, I think, both for the Sugar Maple shade I used on the scarf and for the time of year that is finally approaching. For those of you who are Laura Ingalls Wilder aficionados, you may recall the section in Little House in the Big Woods where an extra big dump of snow in spring prolongs the sap running in the maple trees and makes for a bumper crop of syrup. Hence, the snowfall is dubbed a “Sugar Snow”. 
Sugar Snow Stole and Scarf is a combination of two lace rib patterns, an alternating or “wavy eyelet” rib and an ultra-linear lace rib. The scarf has one centre line of lace rib flanked by the wavy eyelet, and the stole has four sections of the wavy eyelet, each separated by the lace rib. The outside vertical edges of each are simply a couple of stitches of garter stitch, and for the short ends, you can choose either a simple garter stitch border, a garter stitch border with fringe, or a lovely little ruffled edge (my personal favorite, and shown on the scarf). Both garments are worked in a fingering weight yarn…I used Lucy Neatby’s absolutely gorgeous Celestial Merino Dream in Sugar Maple (as mentioned above) for the scarf and solid Scarlet for the stole. Even the solid isn’t solid, having been hand-dyed, and the subtle fluctuation in tone from dark to lighter just perfectly suits the almost 3-D quality of the wavy eyelet rib, enhancing the texture beautifully. These pieces have to be felt to be fully appreciated…so soft, and light with just enough weight to give them “substance”. Can’t you just see yourself in “The Lady of Shallot” or some such romantic verse, wearing the stole? (Or perhaps on the deck of a cruise ship, if that’s more to your liking?) The scarf’s finished dimensions (blocked) are 12” wide by 59” long, and the stole’s are 31” by 59” (this is of course without any fringe). The scarf takes either ONE of the variegated Celestial Merino or two of the solid (they are half the size), and the stole takes either 3 of the variegated or 6 of the mottled solid. This is wonderful yarn, hand-dyed in Nova Scotia, and it should really stand up to the test of time…the scarf was reknit SEVERAL times in the course of deciding upon the final design, and still looks impeccable (a true test of a yarn…how many times can you rip it out before it looks horrible?). I have 7 different shades of the variegated Celestial (shown below) from which to choose, and 3 shades, so far, in the mottled solids: Scarlet (as shown), Pansy (which scanned horribly…just think a nice jewel purple, like the dark purple on pansies), and Bottle, a beautiful dark hunter green. On order are a light pink, light olive, and light blue. Interested in having a look at the shade card and special ordering exactly what you’d like? Let me know! LUCY NEATBY “CELESTIAL MERINO DREAM MOTTLED SOLIDS” 100% Merino Hand-Dyed in Nova Scotia Fingering weight Tension: 28 sts = 4” on 3.0 mm needles 50 grams = 140 metres PRICE; $12.50/skein 
Scarlet, Pansy, Bottle LUCY NEATBY “CELESTIAL MERINO DREAM” 100% Merino Hand-Dyed in Nova Scotia Fingering weight Tension: 28 sts = 4” on 3.0 mm needles 100 grams = 280 metres PRICE; $24.50/skein 
From top to bottom, left to right: Honeypot, Fiery Fuchsia, Fiesta, Seashell, Sugar Maple, Aquarius, Blue Vesuvius. Also just in hot off the press, are the three new books from Interweave Press this spring! First is Favorite Socks, a lovely collection of socks of all types and skill levels. Most are popular sock patterns that have been published previously in issues of Interweave Knits magazine, but there are several new ones, too. (The second photo shows my cabled green “Uptown Boot Socks” from the Winter 2003 issue of Interweave Knits, my first pattern published in a magazine.) There are toe-up socks, Austrian twisted stitch socks, knee-high socks, fairisle socks, you name it. Nicely done in a ring-binding format for easy lay-flat use while knitting! 
The next book is No Sheep For You, edited by Knitty’s editor, Amy Singer. This book is dedicated to showing you just what non-animal fibres can do (including silk, linen, hemp, cotton, etc.). Lots of great garments: socks, bags, hats, tanks, shawls, pullovers, cardis, etc. 
Finally, Lace Style: yes, there is a shawl, but mostly the book is full of other uses for lace. It is very beautifully photographed, and there are some really stunning garments in here. Don’t you just love the red hat below? I think the cover cardi is a gorgeous use of the traditional “feather and fan” lace pattern. 
Call me toll-free (North America) at 1-866-690-WOOL or send me an email to order anything you see here, or to request more info. I know I don’t post comments on the site, but I’d love to hear your thoughts…send me an email! Friday, February 16, 2007 The Spring 2007 Interweave Knits magazine made its way to the shop this week…some really fabulous sweaters in there! Not sure I’m such a big fan of their new layout. I do like the nice full page photos of the garments, but it’s hard for me to tell what’s a pattern and what’s an ad. And is it just the layout, or is this issue absolutely overloaded with advertisements??? Thing is, I was perfectly happy with the old layout. Oh, well. Think I just don’t like change? Mebbe so. Take a look for yourself and let them know what you think!
I have added another webring on my About Us page…this one is for knitwear designers who self-publish and sell directly to the customer (that would be me). It’s called Imprint…some interesting members on the list…why don’t you have a look? By the way, if you’re in a spring knitting mode, keep in mind the wonderful Mandarin Petit fingering 100% Egyptian cotton by Sandnesgarn! I’ve brought in two new shades for this spring, both variegateds and lovely! Great for baby garments, kids’ stuff, ladies tanks, you name it! I made a summer top out of this last year for my youngest…and it looks brand new, even after all the fun in the sun and elsewhere for an entire year! Love it. Here’s a sort of pathetic shade card…I promise to clean it up and get this yarn posted on the Yarn page soon. Price is $5.99 CDN/skein. New Shades: 
#2406 Yellow/Green/Orange/Red and #5200 Blue/Green/Purple/Turquoise
MANDARIN PETIT by SANDNESGARN (Norway) 
#4418 Red and #6705 Turquoise. Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Finished up my Knitscene vest, which is on its way to Colorado today…here’s a little sneak peek: 
This was a fun knit…can’t wait to see it in the mag! Just typing up instructions today and cleaning up schematics and that project will be off my plate till proofing time in a few months. As for NEW stuff, Interweave’s Favorite Socks book, as well as Lace Style and No Sheep For You (all new titles) are on their way here as we speak…I haven’t gotten my copy of the sock book, so I’m excited to see it. My first design published in a magazine (Interweave Knits) was the “Uptown Boot Socks” pattern included in this collection. (Very similar to my Socks a la Campagne leaflet, but in a lighter [sock] weight yarn.) Very thrilling to have my sock pattern in this book. Oh, and the Spring issue of Interweave Knits magazine should be here hopefully today…I’ll keep you posted. Oh, you may have noticed I’ve added my site to the Independent Knitwear Designers Webring…see the About Us page (down at the bottom) for the link. This webring is devoted to (well, I guess it’s obvious) Independent Knitwear Designers…those of us who don’t have sponsorship from or a regular job with a yarn company or some such thing, and design knitwear for our own collections or as freelancers. (This basically means that all our revenue is dependent on the sale of our own patterns.) When you have a moment, why don’t you have a look? Thursday, February 08, 2007 FIVE new shades of Rio de la Plata Hand-Spun, Kettle-Dyed 100% Uruguayan Wool are now in stock. Available for purchase on their own, or in kit form with either Gena or Rio Arriba. Check them out! Monday, February 05, 2007 The new issue of Crochet Today! should be on the stands…their preview of the issue is up, and so is a little photo of the cropped jacket I made back in October. (You can see my “sneak peek” photo I took of it on my October 27, 2006 entry, otherwise known as “The Day the Snow Began”.) The jacket has now been dubbed "Swingy Coat" . . . it was lots of fun to make with its three-quarter sleeves, and finished very nicely to easily look professionally made. I don’t stock this magazine in the shop, but it is available on most newsstands. Got in lots of new colors of the Austermann Step sock yarn with aloe and jojoba…trying to keep up with the insatiable thirst by sock knitters for this stuff! I fully understand…it truly is the nicest of the “sock yarns” that I’ve knit. I haven’t given it the torture test, yet, though, so I can’t speak to its ability to hold up over time…but man, it sure is nice for the knitter’s hands! Please send me an email for more shades, and I’ll email back a quick shadecard for ya. Don’t forget this yarn comes with a free!!!!! sock pattern, printed on nice quality paper with color pictures and sizing from toddler shoe size 3-5 to men’s size13. One skein makes a pair, even of the largest size. I finished one sock out of some water-wicking sock yarn (it has polypropylene in it, so it’s great for active use), in a shade that just doesn’t sell. I wanted to see what it would look like all knit up. I still can’t tell if I’m really fond of the color, but it ain’t all that bad. As my oldest daughter said, “Well, it’s not my FAVORITE color, but I do like it.” That pretty much sums it up. If you’re a fan…I have lots of stock in this shade! 
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THE WOOLLEN EARTH, PO Box 2530, Vanderhoof BC V0J 3A0 Canada Phone: (250) 690-7777 1-866-690-9665(WOOL) Email: |