Scenes from a Fiber Life: Laceweight NeverEnding

29AugApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

With great beauty comes… great danger? Great sacrifice? We all know that laceweight yarns are beautiful — there’s something inherent in its delicacy, and the luxury of its fibers, and the way it soaks up colour. Laceweight is beautiful.

And dangerous, as I recently found out. But sacrifice? The beauty of laceweight requires sacrifice? Not for you, dear readers, but it does for me. Let’s talk about my arms.

My arms are going to fall off. They ache, they’re sore. And as much as my eyes love laceweight, my arms hate it. At 1300 wonderful, delicate, luxurious yards per 100g, it takes a loooooong time to reskein. I have to sit and turn that skein winder round and round and round and round…

When the dyed skein goes on the swift, it really doesn’t look much different from any other skein. My arms are blissfully ignorant of what’s about to happen.

But after a few minutes of winding, when my arm is expecting the job to be half done, I look and find there’s only wee bit of yarn on the skein winder…

And so I keep winding. Round and round and round and round…

And after what seems like forever, I look up and…

.the swift looks as full as it ever was! HOW can that be?!?

My arms are not happy with me. My arms are burning and fed up and ready to quit. It takes some convincing to get them to keep going.

But after a long, long time, the skein winder starts to look lovely and full like this…

And the swift finally starts to look a bit emptier…!

And then just as my arms get to the point where they are ready to fall right off, we reach the end.

And then it’s done. And it’s gorgeous. And I hold the finished skein in my hand and look at how all the colours blend together gently and I am in love! Laceweight is worth it, I tell myself.

Until I lay that skein aside, and pick up the next one and start to arrange it on the swift and my arms realise what’s happening… and they don’t like it. They don’t like it one bit.

Pattern Roll-Call: Something Gorgeous Around Your Shoulders

26AugApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Y’know, even though it’s still August and that usually means high temperatures and hot days, the weather has taken on a slightly cooler tinge this week, and that’s got me thinking about autumn. I’ve been day-dreaming about turning leaves, that crisp smell in the air, and lovely lovely autumn knitting. Is there anything better? And the first thing you need as the weather starts to change is something gorgeous to drape around you to keep that chill at bay.

Abby by Amy Singer

I’m crazy about cowls. They’re so easy — there’s no tying, no arranging, no fussing or adjusting… they just pop over your head and perfectly fill up the space around the top of a jacket to keep you toasty warm. Abby by Amy Singer has a beautifully simple stitch pattern that will work perfectly with any yarn from a Semi-Solid to a Wildly Varigated. I think it would look amazing knitted up in the gentle blues and purples of Mountain Mist.

Mirth by Stefanie Japel

The lace pattern on Mirth is gorgeous, just gorgeous — what could look more elegant draped around your shoulders on a cool autumn day? But the real beauty of Stefanie Japel‘s pattern is that it’s written in both text and charts, and the size of the shawl can customised by completing as many chart repeats as the knitter likes. The allover lace pattern will really shine in a Gently Varigated yarn such as Pink Autumn or Desert Wine.

Eventide by Laura Nelkin

Now here is a pattern that makes you want to grab that crazy-gorgeous yarn that’s been calling your name and just cast on. The long criss-cross floats of Laura Nelkin‘s Eventide really showcase the colours a variegated yarn such as the cool blue/green/purples of Midnight Swim or the gentle pinks and olive-greens of Bramble Rose. And the beautiful openwork creates a pattern that is perfect for those not-too-warm, not-too-cool days that autumn brings.

So, yeah, I know… it’s still August. And the sun in still high in the sky and we’re all still wearing our summer clothes. But one of these days, the weather is going to change suddenly and summer will be gone… And now is the perfect time to cast on so that, when that happens, you’ll have something gorgeous to see in the autumn.

Rain and Reds, a Shop Update, and a Treasury

24AugApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

It’s raining today — a nice, warm, gentle summer rain, but rain nonetheless. And I know I promised you sunshine for this week, but the reason it’s raining today is because the lovely yellows I dyed over the weekend are still drying and if they are wet, then there is no sunshine to be had and the world must be wet too.

But even if your day is rainy like mine and there’s no yellow to brighten it up, let me offer you instead something as deliciously dark and moody as the clouds above.

First, I was delighted to discover that myhideway included my Red Brick yarn in a treasury called Rosé Wine. It’s so inspiring to see all those beautiful rosy reds together.

So inspiring, in fact, that I went and filled the shop with warm colours from pink to burgundies. Have a look…

Fingering Weight Yarn, Superwash Merino and Nylon, in Pink Autumn

If autumn leaves turned pink instead of red, it would be this pink. If they shunned the sophisticated golds and the russets, all the subtle shades of brown, and chose instead to wear a girly hue — something wild and unpredictable — it would be this. An explosion of pink tinged with the warmth of the season, this is the colour that autumn leaves secretly wish for. This skein is over 100g of Stella, a beautiful and distinctive 2-ply fingering weight yarn in 80% Superwash Merino and 20% Nylon.

And four yarns in Desert Wine: one in Stella Fingering weight, one in Celeste Fingering weight, and two in Astrid DK weight.

This is a bottle of burgundy wine, rich and deep and smooth, poured out on the brown of the parched desert earth, there amongst the green cacti, where the merciless sun dries it to dark, dusty stain. A waste of good wine, but worth it just to see the amazing colour.

And a lovely new colourway, DK Weight Yarn in Superwash Merino, in Sleep Deep, that I simply cannot get my camera to capture accurately. It looks all blue-red in the pictures, but as I hold it here in my hands, it’s swirls of deep red and purple.

Here are the colours of dreams, at the moment when you slip from the dark of the room into unconciousness, surrendering to the safety of bed and the soft of pillow behind your head. These are the colours of a mind freed to wander, a psyche unencumbered, your true nature as you let yourself submerge into the deep deep of sleep. This skein is over 100g of Superwash Merino in Astrid, a beautifully smooshy 4-ply, DK (double knitting) weight yarn. There are two skeins available, sold separately.

And watch the shop for those sunshine yellows too! As soon as they appear, the weather is sure to change for the better.

Sunshine Today, More Forecast For Next Week

20AugApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

When I discover my yarns featured in an Etsy Treasury, I get such a rush of excitement, I can’t tell you. And so it was yesterday when I found Sunflowers had been picked for a treasury called “My Sunshine“, put together by ThePlumTree.

Sunflowers sold pretty quickly after that, and I am so excited to send it off to its new home. But if you loved all these golden colours, don’t worry — I’m going to be dyeing a lot more beautiful yellows over the weekend.

The forecast for next week? Bright Sunshine!

New Yarns in the Shop

18AugApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

I’m really excited to show you some of the new colourways I’ve put in the shop this week! I have to say, I just cannot get my camera to really capture them, but I hope you get a good idea here.

Dragonfly

Dragonfly flitters by, catches the light and throws back iridescence — greens, lilacs, pinks that shimmer in the sun for only a moment… and then are gone. This skein is over 100g of Superwash Merino in Celeste, a wonderfully soft 3-ply fingering weight yarn.

Mountain Mist

These are ancient mountains, gentle and rounded, that seem to go on forever, ridge upon ridge disappearing into the distance as the night falls and the mist rolls in — deep blue fading into soft purples that stretch as far as the eye can see. This skein is over 100g of Superwash Merino in Celeste, a wonderfully soft 3-ply fingering weight yarn

Sunflowers

Happy yellow that welcomes the sunlight, stretching skyward, petals open to catch the rays. Yellow petals, deep brown seedheads — happy sunflowers basking in the mid-day sun. This skein is over 100g of Superwash Merino in Celeste, a wonderfully soft 3-ply fingering weight yarn, which has been dyed using a technique to create random, short bursts of contrasting colour.

Midnight Swim

Dark waters, dark night. Soft waters, cool and still, flashing deep blue, purples, greens. Water dark as bruise, quiet as the night, so cool on the skin… Irresistible. This skein is over 100g of Stella, a beautiful and distinctive 2-ply fingering weight yarn in 80% Superwash Merino and 20% Nylon.

These skeins are over 100g of Superwash Merino in Celeste, a wonderfully soft 3-ply fingering weight yarn. There are two skeins available, sold in separate listings.

And there are more new colourways going into the shop later this week. Keep your eyes open for them!

What Happened Nest…

16AugApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

This summer, a pair of robins built a nest on top of my back porch light, right outside my backdoor, and consigned me to using only the front porch for the whole month of June. And I (and you) got to watch as the eggs appeared, and the babies hatched and grew. It was magical thing to witness so close.

Also this summer, the family next door moved away. As she was in the middle of the chaos of packing up her house, my neighbour mentioned to me one day that she always collects a bird’s nest from every house that she lives in. But her husband had already started his new job on the other side of the country and she was having to pack up the house and move the (5!) kids all on her own, and I suspected that she never got a chance to collect a bird’s nest.

And I have a beautiful nest sitting empty right outside my back door…

So today, we very carefully took it down.

It came away without too much difficulty and all in one piece. It was made from sticks and leaves, as you’d expect, but I was intrigued to see string, yarn, and bits of dried grapevines (complete with old grapes!) tucked in there as well.

We put the nest into a bag to keep it safe.

And then wrapped it in tissue paper… just because.

And packed it up with all the love and care that I package my yarn. More, probably — this is precious cargo!

And, just like that, the little nest that gave three baby robins their happy start in life was ready to travel all the way to the other end of the country.

Where, I do believe, it will be absolutely cherished.