Sock Yarns

Shop Update: From Flat on My Back

By Stephanie

You may have noticed that there was no shop update on Monday, as there usually is.  Nor on Tuesday, which is when I usually do the update if Monday gets too busy.  There were yarns ready — drying, or in the process of being reskeined, some weighed, some tagged…  But I was not ready.

I was flat on my back in agony and holding as still as I possibly could.  Over the weekend, my neck and shoulder had seized up completely and, man oh man it hurt!  I mean, they’ve seized up before, a few times in my life, but never like this.  Imagine, if you will, me lying on my back in bed, with no pillow, nothing to contort my spine away from the support of the mattress, and I moved my foot — just my foot! — and it sent a spasm of pain shooting up through my shoulder and my neck and wrapped right around over my skull all the way to my eyes.  That kind of agony.

Stella yarn in Faded Garland

The doctor is satisfied that it is muscular and not skeletal (I was worried), and I now have some painkillers the size of horse-pills that are working a small miracle.  Bit by bit, I am gaining more mobility — and having to remind myself not to rush it, that everything can wait…  even though I am desperate to get back work.  There were so many exciting things happening this week, and so many wonderful yarns!

Celeste Yarn in Stewed Cranberry

And so keen was I to get them in the shop that I took advantage of those pills and pushed myself a bit too hard yesterday.  The result is that there are now some lovely yarns in the shop    …and, I am flat on my back again today.  Not anything like before, but just a little reminder from my muscles they are not to be trifled with and I must respect them and take things slooooowly.

Luna Laceweight Yarn in Rapeseed

But I did get some really exiting stuff into the shop…  There’s enough Megan’s Frost to make a sweater — with two more skeins of Frost waiting to go into the shop as soon as I’m able.   And there’s four skeins of Stewed Cranberry, with two more in the studio ready to be reskeined.  A beautiful skein of Laceweight in the most amazing golden-yellow.  And a skein of Stella in a lovely, quirky colourway called Faded Garland.  Enjoy!

And please keep your fingers crossed for me, ok?

Celeste Yarn in Megan's Frost

 

Pattern Roll-Call: Warm Feet for Cold Days

By Stephanie

There are some designers whom I admire hugely, and some whom I just want to sit and absorb knitting knowledge from, and some whose stars have shot so high into the knitsphere that I’d be awed just to meet them.  But there is only one designer that I genuinely like so much that I want to sit down and a pour a nice cup of tea, and spend half an hour knitting with her each week.  And… I do!

© Brenda Dayne, Used with Permission

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Brenda Dayne produces Cast-On, my absolute favourite knitting podcast and the most relaxing half-hour in my week.  She is (as I was until a couple of years ago) an American expat living in Britain and, in between her interesting and entertaining pieces about knitting and spinning and dyeing, she also paints pictures of her home in west Wales that take me straight there.  Cast-On is an absolute delight.

And even if I weren’t a fan of Brenda’s, I’d want to show you this design for the name alone, but her Brother Amos Hellfire Lace Socks are worth knitting not just because of Brenda, and not just because of the name (Hellfire..? Lace..? How did those two words end up side-by-side?!?) but because it is a gorgeous design.  I love the way the lace flickers up the leg (what better to keep your feet warm as winter sets in?), and I know the stitch pattern would be interesting to knit without being too daunting.

And they’re beautiful, aren’t they?  Just beautiful!

© Brenda Dayne, Used with Permission

These socks call for a yarn that lives up to their fiery name, and I think they’d would really… (ahem!)… glow in the warm colours of Ball of Fire or Sunset Over a Stormy Sea.  Don’t you?

Celeste yarn in Ball of Fire
Celeste yarn in Sunset Over a Stormy Sea

Pattern Roll-Call: Get Ready, Get Set…

By Stephanie

Now, let me just stop here and give you fair warning that I am about to tell you that the holidays are around the corner.

I know, I know.  That last post — the one right there below this one — has jack-o-lanterns in it and I know it feels waaaay too early to be even thinking about breaking out the holiday decorations and baking cookies and wrapping presents and…   But we are a special breed, you and I.  We are fiberistas.  We don’t just rush out to the stores and buy our gifts at the last minute.  We make gifts — each gift unique, each stitch fashioned with love for those people we care about most in the world, and who understand just what a hand-made gift means.

And that kind of gift-giving takes time…  which is why, for the likes of you and me, the holidays really are right around the corner!  So to get your gift-giving ideas flowing over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to share some great patterns for quick holiday gifts.

And let’s start with something from Kate Gilbert, who designed the incredibly popular Clapotis scarf (with 16,395 projects listed on Ravelry!).  But my eye was caught instead by her beautiful Marina Piccola socks.  I just love the way the simple pattern so perfectly evokes ripples across a water’s surface.  And I think it looks like a quick but really interesting knit for holiday gift-giving.

© Kate Gilbert, Used with Permission

You know this pattern would really shine in a rich colourway such as Desert Wine, but I’d love to see these how these socks came out in a more variegated yarn such as DayLilies or Plumberry.  I think the combination could be quite stunning.

Stella Yarn in Desert Wine
Celeste Yarn in DayLilies
Celeste Yarn in Plumberry

Shop Update: Nobody Likes Green… or Blue?

By Stephanie

You know…  I may be asking for trouble, because nobody likes green, and I’ve dyed four new greens and gone and stuck them in the shop…

Clockwise from top left: Celeste fingering weight yarn in Bluegrass,

Mermaid’s Tail, Steel Leaf, and Nobody Likes Green

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Wait…!  You’re confused?  Nobody likes green? Well, that comes from a story that a friend of mine tells, of a time when she popped into her local yarn shop to buy some green yarn to knit a gift for a friend.  But she couldn’t find any green yarn — not any — so she asked where it was.  And the reply came without a moment’s pause,  “We don’t sell green because nobody likes green.”

Every time I dye green, I feel like such a rebel.  Or… wait!  Does dyeing green make me a nobody?  It’s so confusing!

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And, just in case it’s true and, really, nobody likes green, I dyed some blues too.  Because everybody loves blue…  don’t they?

Clockwise from top left: Celeste fingering weight yarn in Faded,

Gloomy Sky, Blue Horse, and Sing the Blues


Shop Update: Bright and Bold

By Stephanie

When I reached into this pile of wonderful fibery goodness to choose the yarns I would put into the shop this week, my hand went straight to the brightest shades, the boldest colour combinations.  Eye-candy!

Left to right: Celeste yarn in Flock of Parrots, Iris, Ball of Fire, HeartBeat, Ripe, and Cold Harmony

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Let me introduce you to them:

Celeste Superwash Merino Yarn in Iris

Hidden for so long within its vibrant green stalk, when the Iris finally breaks through and reveals its bloom, the rich purple of the petals with its surprising splash of yellow is nothing short of breath-taking.

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Celeste Superwash Merino Yarn in Cold Harmony

Grey the colour of cold and blustery — cloudy skies over unkind days. And Purple in asucculent shade of zing, a lively sparks that breaks through the grey and breathes life into the day. Together they blend beautifully into a Cold Harmony.

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Celeste Superwash Merino Yarn in Ripe

Pink slides lazily into Mauve and, hardly pausing to note the change, then dips softly into Purple. And in the end, which comes out on top? It doesn’t even matter — with colours so gentle and ripe, it’s all good.

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Celeste Superwash Merino Yarn in Ball of Fire

A Ball of Fire, burning bright, slowly sinking below the horizon… Crackles, hisses, spits and burns… Red, yellow, and orange come flying out in great streaks of colour, escaping across the sky.

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Celeste Superwash Merino Yarn in HeartBeat

Deep reds and warm pinks like the oxygen-rich blood that carries life on every steady HeartBeat, and cool blue of that same blood as it returns to be replenished again in its life-sustaining circle.

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Celeste Superwash Merino Yarn in Flock of Parrots

Falling from the tree and caught on the wind in a flash of purple-blue and green and startling yellow, a reminder that there are no caged birds in a Flock of Parrots.


 

“Just Be Creative!”

By Stephanie

Custom orders can be exciting… and daunting.  Dyeing can be an unpredictable process — the slightest change in acidity, temperature, or concentration can create really noticeable colour changes from one dyelot to another.  And it’s just the way life works that those unpredictable changes will always occur on that special order where the customer has a really specific result in mind!

So when a customer contacted me the other week and asked me to dye three custom orders for a birthday celebration for three knitting friends, I had a slight moment of trepidation.   But when I asked her what she had in mind, she put back at my ease: “Just be creative!” she replied.  That I can do!

The birthday girls’ favourite colours are red, purple, and green, and I spent all week letting my imagination run wild on that theme.  I wanted to do a few different colourways of each, and then her choose whatever yarns she liked best.

It wasn’t an easy choice.  Here’s what she picked…

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Kristen’s HeartBeat


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Jill’s Storm

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Natalie’s Steel Leaf


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I was having so much fun dyeing and just letting my creativity run free that I rather let it run away with me, and I now have quite a stash of exciting new yarns to put in the shop.  Look for them to start appearing Monday or Tuesday of next week!