Blair Socks

My husband loves socks!

Especially warm soft ones. So I finished his Cashmerino socks (rav link) up just in time for Christmas. He has seen them and tried them on, so it is safe to post about them. They ended up using 2 balls of the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK in the main color and less than 1 ball for the contrasting heels and toes. They knitted up super fast on #3US needles. They were such a comfort to knit I actually miss them now they aren't on the needles. I need to cast on for another pair of socks for Blair. He loves them so much and wears them all the time!

Although, I am finishing up my Moonstruck Cardigan. I just have the collar to finish, then it's seaming and blocking. Mmmm...I can't wait to wear it. Then I want to start Christmas stockings for next year (not even going to attempt this year). I also have a baby sweater in mind too, that's uber cute (the peapod one from 60 Baby Knits). I also think I might splurge after Christmas and get yarn for a Swirl Cardigan. My lys is going to run a knit-along, and I really really want to join in on the fun.

I think that's all for now! I hope everyone has a great holiday season!

New! Plover Design Shawl Pins

Just in time for Christmas, or a little after Christmas Shopping, Plover Designs has released 2 new shawl pin designs:

The first is a simple, but elegant Spiral design. It is shown in Aluminum, but is available in Aluminum or Copper. I can also get it in Silver upon request.

The second is a design they have called Eye. You can see why. It is definitely reminiscent of the Eye of Horus. It makes me think of Stargate, which I really should sit down and watch again sometime soon. Maybe over the holidays. It is also available in Aluminum or Copper, with Silver upon request.

Photos are courtesy of Plover Designs, for which I am very thankful! More photos are available on the website!

The Winner is....

Teri with her comment: What a great idea, count me in the drawing.


Congratulations! I'll get it in the mail by the end of the week!


If you didn't win, don't worry, I should have something going on for my blogiversary in January. So stay tuned!

Moo

I got this really good idea for Christmas gifts this year with my toddler. I went to Moo.com made stickers with everyone's faces on them. I plan on putting people's pictures on their Christmas packages. That way X can help hand out gifts without having to read the labels. I think it will be a fun matching game. I'll probably get my mom in on it too. It may end up being a disaster, but I think it will create a lot of laughs in any case. =)

Projects & Holiday Ideas

I have most of my holiday knitting done. Of course I can't share all of it, just in case, but I can share these two projects:

This first project is knit out of my handspun yarn. It is Merino/Angora. I spun it in college with the idea that I would someday knit it into baby things. Well, that day has come. From this one skein I got a cowl, mitts, and a hat. I have a really awesome idea of adapting it for my yarn and writing up the pattern. So hopefully I'll get to it before my next show. Everything needs to be blocked, but hopefully I will post more about it again soon. 

The second project is knit out of Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe in color #002 Cool. It is simply gorgeous! I knit it for my grandmother and it was a very simple pattern. Here goes:

CO 160 sts with a #8US needle.
Row 1: k
Row 2: p
Row 3: k
Row 4: p
Row 5: k

Repeat these rows 12 times all together.

For this width it uses 1/2 ball, which means I have another 1/2 ball I would love to give away to a lucky reader. So if you are interested in making this scarf and want the yarn leave a comment by Sunday night. I will randomly select and post a winner on Monday and get this yarn out to you. If you are a really speedy knitter you might even get it done before Christmas!

Announcements!

So, I have been working very hard and I have 2 very fun things to announce!

First, Happy December! For the Month of December, enjoy FREE SHIPPING throughout the US and Canada! That includes everything in the shop, even the Sale Bin! Make sure to check it out for all your Holiday shopping needs: http://www.lavendersheep.com/shop.html

Second, I posted up Workshops for the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival. I'm really excited about the selection this year. I'm going to work on a series of posts to highlight each class here on the blog, so stay tuned! I promise more content is coming in the near future. Check out the Workshops here: http://cgff.lavendersheep.com/workshops.html

Busy is an Understatement!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since the 1st! Eeep! I have some good reasons for it.

1. I finished organizing all of the classes for the CGFF. They will be announced in December, and I'm super excited about all of them.

2. I opened up registration for returning vendors, so applications have been pouring in for spots and such. It's been fun trying to fit people in the new space (and the old!). New vendor registration begins December 1st. I have nearly 30 vendors on the list! It looks like a rather nice list too.

3. Something new:

A new little Ellsworth coming in June! It definitely means a lot more time napping and trying to take it easy! Emphasis on the trying part, since I can't sit still for too long! I think nap time might be taking over my blogging time. However, I will try and make a concerted effort to do more of it. =)

Super Superwash Sale!

Happy November! Just in time for the holidays, and most importantly, holiday knitting, I decided to put all Superwash Merino Yarns and Fiber 20% off! 

This includes Superwash Sock, Superwash Sport, Superwash Worsted, Superwash Bulky, and Superwash Merino Roving. It also includes custom orders, so if you don't see what you want in the shop, make sure to order it! Thanks!

Moonstruck Cardigan

I finally had the chance to photograph the Moonstruck Cardigan (rav link) I'm working on. It's so hard to lay out the pieces and get a decent shot. I finished the back while at the coast and decided to pin it together to try it on. Thankfully it fits! I am the same size as Maud here, only definitely not as curvy! So I pinned it all on her and tried to get some decent photos together. It more or less worked. it's not quite that glaring blue, but you get the idea of the shape. I think it will come together very nicely when I finish the sleeves and work on the collar. I'm so excited to finish this sweater before it gets too cold out!

It is knit with one strand of Blue Moon Woobu (Merino/Bamboo) in color Twilight and one strand of Peru dyed by me. I used to carry Peru, which is Alpaca/Merino/Silk, but I never liked how it dyed up. I saved about 2lbs to make a sweater for Blair, but never got around to it. Then Blair told me that he really prefers socks to sweaters, so I reclaimed the yarn for myself. I dyed it blue to go with the Woobu. It is so warm and squishy!

I thought I would also share an awesome trick I just learned for pinning a sweater together. I have seen this often from my friend Jill when she is showing people how to sew a seam together. She uses a long knitting needle and "sews" it along the seam, which holds it together so it can be sewn. I think of it as knitter's basting. I thought this same technique would work very well for trying my sweater on. I used regular coiless safety pins for the shoulders, then carefully "sewed" my side seams together with one of the longer cords of my addi clicks. It doesn't matter what size the needles are as long as they go through the fabric well. After I was finished I simply took the tips off and ta-da, I could try on my sweater!

Vacation

We are home from a wonderful trip to the beach. I love going in the fall. It seems like a good way to wrap up summer. We definitely needed the break! Here are some photos from our trip:

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach. This is the view from our hotel room.

Here is a closer view (both above and below) with my new macro lense Blair got me! I love it!

It was sunny and beautiful most of the time we were there. We even had temps into the mid-70s, which if you know the Oregon Coast then you know how very rare that is, especially in October. 

 This picture reminds me of my inspiration for my Cannon Beach colorway. I love the Blue/White/Brown combo. I think it might be nice to knit up something for a boy out of it too.

 On Wednesday the fog rolled in. It looked so cool! It was so beautiful!

We saw flocks of Sea Gulls. If you click the photo you will see there are two different types of Sea Gulls, which we thought was very interesting.

We also saw lots and lots of Sandpipers. They are so cute! If you look closely you will see they are standing on one foot. I think they put one foot up to stay warm and then they hop around on the other foot in the cold water. It's hilarious!

Pretty pink sunset.

Beautiful sunset over Haystack Rock. A beautiful ending to our trip! We are definitely happy to be home and back to work. We are happy for the break, but also love what we do!

Keyhole Scarf

Ok, I did finish one quick project. About a month ago my mom showed me this scarf they got in at the shop where she works. The construction was interesting, but it was made out of acrylic yarn. She really wanted one out of a natural fiber, so I found a pattern and knit her one.

It's called a keyhole scarf (rav link). I found quite a few patterns on Ravelry. I decided to go with the free one by Martha Stewart. The pattern was good and very straight forward. I would say my only complaint is that it's too straight forward. It's definitely written for a base beginner with diagrams for every single step. The downside of this is that the pattern which could have been printed on a single page actually takes 3 pages. It is a pretty quick knit. I knit it in under a week. The yarn is also very special to me in that I swapped with a dyer friend of mine for it. It is Stitchjones Dyepot Worsted Superwash Merino in color Harvest Home. I have a bit leftover, so I might find something else to do with it too. I really love the colors and the way it turned out.

Pennant

This last week has been a tough one. People on the outskirts of my bubble have had most awful things happen to them. They are close enough I would like to reach out to them but in more than one case are far enough away that I'm not quite sure how to go about it. So I am putting my feelings of condolence and love out there into the world with the hope that those who are closer to them are able to give them much comfort in their time of grief. I would share more, but it isn't mine to share.

Instead I am trying to get a bit of work done and by that I mean I am putting things on the website. I'm also knitting a lot, but with the dark grey weather which has rolled in I can't get a decent photo. The latest thing I have put on the website is the Pennant Scarf by Nadine Foster:

Nadine knit this out of one skein of Silky Sock in color Bordeaux. I have it packaged in kits on the website. I'm slowly working on adding kit options to all of the patterns in the shop. I am giving a 10% discount on yarn when you purchase it in a kit, Pennant included. It would make a great holiday gift or a nice luxury for yourself. Even a gift for a loved one who needs a little more comfort this time of year and I'm sure we are all in need of that right now.

More Knits by Others!

I think I have been on a bit of a Moss kick lately! At least that's what it looks like from the yarn I gave my sample knitters!

This is the Frequency Hat. I love this hat for its bold cables. It actually is a rather quick and stylish knit. That's probably why this is the third one I have had knit up as a booth sample! The yarn is Worsted Wool in color Moss (of course!). This yarn is even on sale this month for $15 per skein. This hat weighs 64 grams, which means that you can knit this hat and have 50 grams leftover for a pair of wristlets or mitts to match! It's a great combination for holiday knitting or just keeping warm as the weather turns colder!

This is the Forest Park Sock, named after the beautiful park in Portland. I love the winding vine which runs up the front of the sock. My friend Jill, who knit this for me, said it's a great pattern and is really easy once you have done the repeat a couple of times. It is knit out of Panda Silk Sock. This yarn is really nice, soft, and durable. The bamboo in it gives it great drape, but also great durability for long lasting socks!

Happy October!

It's fall and that means getting back to warm wooly projects! With that in mind I thought I would run a little sale through the month of October:

Wool Single and Worsted Wool will be only $15 per 4oz skein! Either of these yarns would look great knit up as hats or scarves. They are your basic go to worsted weight wool, only dyed up in pretty LavenderSheep colors, of course! I have some other fun projects in the works, which I can't wait to share with you!

Oregon Flock & Fiber 2011

This year's Oregon Flock & Fiber was very exciting. It was great catching up with friends and seeing everyone for the last show of the year (at least for me). Lots of things happened like my friend LoraJean of Knitted Wit asked me to watch her booth while she chased down a shoplifter. She managed to confront the thief and get her yarn back! Way to go LoraJean!

The weather was also really crazy this weekend. On Saturday it was sunny, hot, and muggy. Our booth was right in the sun which made for a slightly uncomfortable day. Then on Sunday it was cold and misty in the morning. Then in the afternoon it turned into a sudden downpour. I got this video of the rain:

From Instant Upload

We could see the sheet of rain as it came towards us. We saw the cloud and thankfully pulled everything into the center of the booth before it came down. It went like this for probably 10-15 minutes then stopped just as abruptly. Then it rained steadily for the rest of the afternoon, stopping just in time for take down. What a huge contrast to the day before! I'm definitely happy to home safe and sound and out of the weather!

Squash Bread

Since the heat wave is finally over I have been back to baking:

I made Squash Bread! I made this from the Sunburst Squash we received in our CSA Box. I used it instead of Zucchini from this Zucchini bread recipe (minus the walnuts). It is very delicious. I can't tell the difference between it and Zucchini, so I call it a success!

On the Needles

I have a couple new things on the needles:

This first one is in a bit of a time out. I know it doesn't look like much at the moment because there isn't any way to lay it all out. It is the Bulky Raglan Bolero (Rav link) by Sarah Keller of my lys Knot Another Hat. I am knitting it out of my new Superwash Merino Bulky in color Moss. Now the problem isn't with the pattern (which is excellent) or with my yarn, per se. It's that I somehow thought, even though all patterns state 3-4 skeins of yarn, that I could somehow do it with 2. I quickly figured out that was definitely not the case. So it is in time out until I get more yarn in and have time to dye it up. Personal dyeing time doesn't come that often, unfortunately. Hopefully I'll get it done before it is sunny again, so it can go with my pretty new sun dress.

This is the other project on the needles. I am quite enjoying making these socks for my husband (rav link). They are knit out of the leftover yarn from the Willie Sweater, which is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Dk on #3US. They are squishy soft and so cozy. I have already received confirmation of their excellence from my husband trying on the first one. I am knitting them from the toe up using Judy's magic cast on. I also recently read a post by JC Briar saying that kf-b makes the best toe up socks, so I thought I would try it out. I must say I agree. it is super simple and makes great lines. For the leg I did a simple 3x1 rib followed by my favorite loose bind off, which is k2, sl the 2 sts back to the left needle, k2tog tbl. These socks take one 50 gram ball for the main color and 1/2 a ball for the contrasting heels and toes. So for the pair that's 3 balls of yarn total, which isn't too bad for a man's size 12 foot!

Cuddly Baby Sweater Revisited

I'm very excited about this new little sweater:

This is the Cuddly Baby Cardi (Rav link). The original version I knit to complement the Aztec Boucle yarn. That yarn has since been discontinued (though I still have some in the sale bin). I love this sweater so much I thought it needed a new sample. The fun part was picking out the colors and putting them together. I chose my Superwash Worsted yarn and knit it out of Sea Turtle for the main color and Columbia River for the contrasting color. The really cool thing is 2 skeins makes 2 sweaters if you switch the colors. I also love picking out buttons. These are from my button stash. I thought they were perfect and even reflect the original name of the sweater which was Cuddly Bear Baby Sweater. This sweater is definitely soft and cuddly like a teddy bear!

If you want to see it in person I will have it in my booth on the lawn at Oregon Flock & Fiber. I hope to see you there!

Baby Firsts

This week has been fairly busy. I have submitted a pattern idea for a book, sent out all the contracts to the instructors for the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival (yay!), and took the car in for service. No wonder the blog has been a little quiet this week! I promise it will improve.

I thought I would share this with you. It makes me so proud! These are the first balls of yarn my 18 month old wound! Aren't they pretty?

Silk Hanky Mitts

It has been such a busy summer, what with shows, travel, and fun! I suddenly realized I never posted the finished Silk Hanky Mitts (rav link). So here they are:

The pattern is the Seeded Rib Wristwarmers. One silk hanky makes 3 mitts! Which means with 2 hankies you can get 3 pairs of mitts!

They turned out super soft and lightweight, but sturdy. I had a lot of fun with the process. If you want a look back I did a tutorial on how to turn a silk hanky into spinning fiber or yarn here. The silk was very easy to knit with. Also, if you don't want to sew in any ends overlap the last couple inches of fiber with the next couple inches of fiber. You can knit the ends right in and because the yarn is naturally thick & thin it doesn't show one bit. I was so happy to get through this project and not have to sew in any ends at all!

New! Plover Design Shawl Pins

Two new Shawl pin designs from Plover!

This first design is an S. Simple, yet stylish. It is available in Copper and Aluminum. If you would like to purchase it in Silver, let me know, I can have it shipped straight to you from the artist himself!

Next up is Design #10. It works the same way as the S, only with an extra squiggle in the middle. It is also available in Aluminum and Copper. Contact me if you want Silver (same as above).

I also had the opportunity to photo all of the shawl pins on shawls outside. One of the biggest questions we get at shows is how they work, and now you can see just that for all of the designs. Of course there isn't a right or wrong way to use the pins, these are just suggestions to get you started!

New Yarn! Superwash Bulky Yarn

Ok, one more new yarn! I have been thinking about a bulky weight superwash yarn for some time. Welcome Superwash Bulky! I am in love with this yarn!

I just had to cast on a bolero with this yarn and I designed socks (below). Bulky makes everything go so much faster! I have a few more ideas for projects to knit out of this fabulous yarn. It is 100% Superwash Merino Wool. Each skein is 4oz (114 grams) and 100 yards.

Here are the Footsy Tiptoe Socks I designed with Spring Fling and contrasting Pear Blossom heels and toes. It uses 1 skein of the main color and 1/2 skein of the contrasting color. Which means you can get 2 pairs of socks out of 3 skeins! I think these would be awesome for quick holiday knitting. They are so squishy and soft! I can't wait to wear mine this fall and winter.

New Yarn! Panda Silk DK

So, since I decided to take on Panda Silk Sock, I thought it would be fun to add Panda Silk DK at the same time. It has an eerie similarity to Panda Sock, with the exception of having the same blend of 52% Bamboo 43% Superwash Wool and 5% Silk as Panda Silk Sock. It also is a DK weight, which fills in that space between sport and worsted weight yarns.

I already have a plan of knitting the Gordian Twist by Gardiner Yarn Works out of this luscious yarn. I think the two will work out well together. Of course I will keep you posted on progress of this. Hopefully I can get to knitting it before Oregon Flock & Fiber. Panda Silk DK has 4oz (114 grams) and 300 yards per skein, which is ample for the Gordian Twist!

New Yarn! Panda Silk Sock

A long time ago I used to dye this yarn. Then I had complications getting it from my supplier and I was also dyeing plain Panda Sock, so I decided I wouldn't carry it any more. Then my supplier discontinued Panda Sock, but seems to have an ample supply of Panda Silk Sock, so I am happily going back to dyeing this yarn!

So, what is the difference between Panda Sock and Panda Silk Sock? Well, the lovely addition of 5% silk. Which turns this already lovely yarn into a drapey work of art. This yarn is 52% Bamboo 43% Superwash Wool and 5% Silk. It is a fingering / sock weight and should be knit on #1-3US. It has 100 grams and 400 yards per skein, which is ample for a pair of socks, a scarf, or a small shoulder shawl.

I first introduced this yarn at Sock Summit and it literally flew out the door. Make sure to check it out!

Aquitaine

New to the shop:

Kits! These are the Aquitaine Beaded Wristwarmers kits by Sivia Harding. This class was offered at the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival last April with much success. To knit these I simply followed Sivia's wonderful pattern and they turned out great! I knit them out of Tencel Sock in color Smokey Rose. Right now I only have 2 kits available, but I am planning on putting together more. The kit page gives you options for purchasing any sock yarn in stock. I can also do custom dyeing if what you want isn't in stock. I really enjoyed making this mitt and I'm sure you will too!

Colorado Yarn Shops

While in Colorado I visited 4 yarn shops:

Mew Mew's Yarn Shop - This shop was alright, but not really out of the ordinary. It may be I am just spoiled by really nice shops here in Oregon, but this shop wasn't that impressive to me. I felt like the shop was kinda disorganized. I did end up buying 2 Dream in Color patterns which I have been on the lookout for awhile. If this shop had the kits made up I might have been tempted to buy one at the time too.

Shuttles, Spindles, & Skeins - This shop would be my go-to shop if I lived in the area! It was huge and carried just about every kind of commercial yarn imaginable. Not to mention spinning, embroidery, tatting, and weaving supplies. They also had a huge classroom where many notable teachers were on their class list. The store is owned by Maggie Casey, who is a frequent contributor to Interweave publications. As you can imagine they had just about every book, magazine, and past issue of fiber related Interweave publications you could imagine. I restrained myself and only bought a copy of The Intentional Spinner by Judith MacKenzie.

Gypsy Wool - This shop would be my specialty yarn shop. Everything is handpainted, mostly by the owner. She sells a variety of spinning fibers and yarns, as well as embroidery supplies (yes, those are hand dyed too)! I had an excellent chat with the owner about everything from fibers to dyeing and back again. It was very interesting to me to have the added shop aspect to the dyeing experience. I bought from her things which I don't readily dye myself, namely organic cotton and an alpaca boucle. I definitely recommend her shop if you are looking for locally dyed souvenir yarn or beautifully dyed yarns for a reasonable price!

House of Lambspun - We had an extra day before flying out, so we decided to go on a small road trip. About an hour north of Boulder is Fort Collins. If you have read the Knitting Mysteries by Maggie Sefton this shop may sound familiar to you. The books are pretty light fluffy reading, which I think has it's place now and again. The yarn shop in the books (of the same name) was based off of this yarn shop. It was a lot of fun to visit. I really got a feel for what the book was describing. This shop is filled with nooks and crannies everywhere! Every time I thought I had seen everything I would find a new room filled with even more yarn or fiber. A good selection of it is even dyed onsite as described in Dyer Consequences.  There was also a group of knitters gathered around a table in one room chatting, getting help, and eating cookies and lemonade. I could definitely feel the homey atmosphere described in Sefton's books. I ended up with roving that is Merino/Alpaca/Silk from them. The only thing I will say about it is all of their specialty fiber is all priced the same, so you pay the same for simple superwash wool as you do for the merino/alpaca/silk, so you can guess why I made the choice I did! The yarn is Merino/Alpaca/Yak and super soft. It looks like it might be handspun, but I'm not sure. I'm thinking something nice and warm and woolly for Blair for winter. I haven't decided what, but it sure will be nice to knit up! Lastly, I found two older Dale of Norway books. I am a huge collector and prefer not to pay the high prices found on ebay, so I was thrilled to find these books to add to my collection for clearance prices!

Overall I had a very fun time in Colorado. There were a couple of other shops I would have loved to visit too. Hopefully on the next trip!

Colorado

We are home from Colorado! Here are some of the photos I took of the awesome scenery! Click on them to see the whole album!



I'm getting some photos together and then I will have a review of the 4 yarn shops I visited on my trip. Yay!

Someone Else's Knitting part 2

This is the last project I have to share for awhile, but it is definitely a favorite of mine:

This is Kiwassa knit out of Superwash Sport on size #6US needles in color Purple Blackberry. It only takes one skein! I wore this shawl through all of Sock Summit and got many many compliments on it. I may need to block it again since it got a lot of use during the show. I'm so happy it held up so well. Shoulder shawls seemed to be the fashion thing to wear at Sock Summit. I saw a lot of people wearing them including vendors, teachers and shoppers!

Here is a close up of the shawl pin. It's an Plover Designs Aluminum Bead shawl pin. I wore a similar one throughout the show. It's a great light weight shawl pin. It didn't come out even once during the whole weekend, except when I wanted it to. It got a pretty good workout and still did its job. I love it! I'm now a shawl and shawl pin lover!

Someone Else's Knitting part 1

I think I mentioned awhile back I have some really awesome friends who are willing to be paid in yarn for knitting samples. So I thought I would share one of those projects today. 

This is Ivy. It is knit out of BFL Sock in color Moss. It uses 2 skeins. It was knit by my friend Paula. You can see her notes for it here on Ravelry.

Here is the back. You can really see the Ivy pattern.

Here is a close up of the pattern. Mmm...I just love it.

Lastly, here is the shawl pin I used to hold it all together. This is a Plover Designs Copper Leaf shawl pin. I think the copper stands out really well against the green. Leaves also go with leaves, so definitely a winning combination. Overall I am super happy with this project. You can see it in person at Oregon Flock & Fiber at the end of September!