Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Making Things Up As I Go Along

In the spirit of making things up as I go along, I offer you three, count 'em THREE ways to shop for yarn around here.

Way #1: Go to the store link and see what's there. The items posted in the store are dyed, dried, and ready to ship. They are special items, samples, limited quantities of yarns that I happen to have, new colour skeins, small batches of stuff I've cooked up. No guarantee that any of it will be repeated.

Way #2: Use my handy menu here to put together your own winning combination. Choose a colorway, and then choose a yarn to go with the colorway, and email me your heart's desire. Just like getting your pasta and your sauce at the local Italian joint. I will add new colours from time to time, and will update available yarns as I receivethem.

Way #3: You have your own idea. Email me with your grand scheme, and I'll see what Ican do.

THE COLORWAYS:
These are colorways that I can repeat on most yarns. Keep in mind that each skein and batch will differ slightly. The colorways also perform with variations on different fibers.

CANADIAN MAPLE


Variations on Canadian Maple: Lighter and Darker


LILAC: I can only do this effect on this particular yarn for now. It's a new basic yarn I'm offering. 100%wool that has been mercerized (the process that removes hairy fibers to make yarn smooth and machine washable). The yarn is merino soft, and has a lovely hand and drape. It's worsted weight (20st on 4.5mm needles). Handwash recommended or machine wash on gentle and lay flat to dry.


BEARDED IRIS: Darker tones of the colours in LILAC. I can do this one on superwash sportweight sock yarn.


APRICOT: (I can also do PEACHY by adding in some extra blush of the darker colour. See photo below).


FUZZY PEACH(second on left beside APRICOT. The two to the right are BUTTERSCOTCH)


Somebody emailed me the other day and asked what I thought was a perfect yellow. I suppose that is a highly subjective thing, but to me, this is the perfect yellow. I'm calling it BUTTERSCOTCH.


Here I've posed BUTTERSCOTCH next to APRICOT to show the difference. The colours of each are a bit richer in real life, and they glow more, but the photos are not bad.


HYDRANGEA


TWILIGHT


PANSIES


LILYPAD (greens with splashes of iris blue and purple). I can dye this on any of my available yarns. In stock, I have three 100g/220yd skeins of basic merino worsted. Handwash. 14.00 per skein. (posted Mar. 22)


BLOOD ORANGE (this colour works best on super wash yarns)
In Cascade 220 Superwash Worsted/Aran:


BLOOD ORANGE in Superwash Sportweight


SCARLETT O'HARA . She's a semi-solid maraschino-cherry red with light and medium highlights. This colour works best on Super wash yarns. Shown here in Cascade 220 Superwash wool.


MAI TAI (Very Early Sunset)


EARLY SUNSET


LATER SUNSET


SHORELINE TRAIL (Rich variety of browns, greens, and misty blues)


FOREST CAMO (I've listed lighter versions of this as WOODLAND)


FOREST CAMO (another example, this time on sock yarn)


MEADOW (a light version of Forest Camo reminds me of soft grassy greens and deer in the meadow)


GIRLY CAMO (A range of camo greens that run to teals and rusty browns that run to pinks and burgundy tones)


MILLEFIORI


BCA PINKS (Breast Cancer Awareness)


SPRING BLOSSOM (light to mid pinks with hints of mauve)


It looks like this when knit:


BE STILL MY BEATING HEART (mid to deep pinks with reds)


BLUEBERRY (Semi-Solid) Pictured here with Blueberry Mohair


Here is Blueberry again, a bit darker/richer, on a sock yarn:


MOONLIGHT:In some yarns Blueberry comes out paler with lighter tones of mauve/periwinkle/light turquoise.


BLUEBERRY JAM (Super Kydd Mohair)


COPPER BLAZE (Super Kydd Mohair)


COPPERBERRY: A blend of Copper Blaze and Blueberry (pictured in the middle)


YARNS AVAILABLE TO DYE FOR CUSTOM ORDERS:

New Yarn: Cascade 220 Worsted and Cascade 220 Worsted Superwash. I can dye these in any of my available colorways. Cascade 220 will be 15.00/skein and Superwash 16.00/skein.


HARDY NATURALS 100% WOOL YARNS: (14.00 per 100g/200-220yds)
Hardy, beautifully spun, durable 100% wool yarns, perfect for home decor, sturdy outerwear, and felting (excellent for slippers):

Quebecoise: light worsted (19-20st on 4-4.5mm)

New Zealand Wool: worsted/aran (18 st on 4.5mm)

Aran weight/Heavy Worsted Wool. This one is the softy of the Hardies. Feels soft and strong in the hands and blooms beautifully. (16-18st on 4.5-5.5mm)

Tweedy Merino: This is a gorgeous tweedy merino. Not super-soft like a highly processed merino,it has a great texture more like a shetland tweed. Blooms and softens with dyeing and washing. The base colour is the natural grey/brown of the sheep, so I am limited to darker colorways, especially Forest Camo, Olives, Browns, and Dark Rust, Burgundy (that type of thing)

BASIC MULTI-PURPOSE 100% WOOL YARNS: These ones are the workhorse yarns we all know and love. Softer than the rustics. All handwash and good for a huge variety of projects, including garments, favorite sweaters, scarves, hats, mitts, house socks, felting.

Basic merino worsted (20st on 4.5mm) 100g/220yd. 14.00/skein

Peruvian Worsted (20st on 4.5mm) 100g/220yd. 14.00/skein

I now have a worsted weight very soft basic. It's mercerized wool and feels next-to the skin soft like merino. Lovely hand and drape(20st on 4.5mm) 100g/200yd. 15.00/skein

BULKY WEIGHT: I have BURLY, a single ply, 100%wool bulky (12 st on 8mm). Very soft 100% wool. Handwash or felt. 100grams/70yd skeins. 14.00/skein

DK Weight:

I have four at present:

Basic 100% Wool, handwash DK. (Peer Gynt) 100g/195yd. 13.00/100g

100% Merino, handwash DK. Lovely soft merino in DK weight. 100g/245yds. 16.00/100g skein.

100% Fancy Merino Superwash. Beautiful, soft, luxury yarns (Debbie Bliss, Rowan, Mondial, Online). 100g/approx 250-300yd(depends on brand) skeins. 18.00-20.00.

70% Merino/20%Alpaca/10%Silk luxury DK. Beautiful, buttery soft yarn with a lovely sheen. 22.00/100g skein.

LACEWEIGHT:

elann.com Super Kydd Mohair Laceweight (70% kid mohair, 30% nylon). I dye two balls together as one skein: 50g/518yds. Handwash. 28.00 per skein.

SOCK YARNS/LIGHT WEIGHT YARNS:

I now have three premimum sock yarns:

Henry's Attic (sport): 100% buttery soft merino 100g/373yds. Handwash. Recommended needle: 2mm-2.5mm. 21.00 per skein

Superwash Fingering(32st): Soft springy 100% merino. Machine washable. 100g/414yd.21.00 per skein. There are several skeins made up in my shop or match up a skein to one of my colorways.

Superwash Sport: 80%merino/20%nylon. 100g/350yd. Machine Washable (27st on 2.5-3mm). 20.00per skein

100% super soft merino fingering(7-8st on size 1-3needles): Ideal for light garments and lacework (less ideal for socks). Handwash merino. 100g/440yd skeins. 17.00/skein

DK weight yarns(listed above) make nice instant gratification socks.

Ladder Lace. I have lots of this in white and can do it up in several colorways. Skeins are 50g/158yds. 100%nylon. 18st on 5mm or use as carry along with any yarn. 10.00/skein.


Check this list for color/yarn updates

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