Introducing Avana! A little collaboration between my lys YARN and I, which debuted at Stitches West this past weekend. Thanks to all your amazing feedback we have decided to release the pattern to everyone else ahead of when we had originally planned – it turns out you are ready to cast on Spring projects!!

Avana is a versatile shrug knit up in The Fibre Company’s beautiful Savannah DK yarn. The very loose gauge makes for a fast knit, and contributes to the amazing drape. It has an interesting and completely seamless construction and the lace edging is surprisingly simple, prefect for beginners who want to give lace a go. When folded in half it serves as a shawlette or scarf, or it can be worn as a shrug with the use of the armholes (yes there are armholes!).

I’m already eager to knit up another, perhaps using a different yarn. Because of the loose gauge you could easily match it from a wide range of different yarn weights – heavier yarn for a cosy knit, or stick with the light DK weight for a breezy summer project.

Yarn : 4 skeins Savannah DK by The Fibre Company; 50% wool/20% cotton/15% linen/15% soya ; 160yd, 50g; photographed in “Sage”. Or, 640yds/585m in Sport weight yarn.
Needles : US 10.5 [6.5mm] 24” circular; US 8 [5mm] 24” circular, set of DPNs; or sizes needed to obtain gauge.
A spare needle slightly smaller than largest circular for picking up provisionally cast on stitches
Gauge : 16.75 sts and 24 rows = 4”/10cm in St st on larger needles, after blocking.
Notions : Stitch marker, tapestry needle.

1. The softest yarn EVER. 2. A new cardigan for Louella that is so ridiculously cute I want to knit it all the time. 3. A nice easy going test knit.

And here’s sneaky peak no.2 … more info here.

A little tease!

We sure have been talking about it for long enough, but Ashley and I have finally published the first of our patterns in our new collaboration Little Woolens.
You probably know of Ashley’s great efforts on her blog and podcast Woolful, where she shares with us interviews from wonderful and inspiring people within the fiber world, and showcases small flock and pure breed fibers in the Woolful Mercantile.
Ashley and I met through our love of knitting, and the fact that we both have young children, and Little Woolens grew over time from long conversations on lazy weekends about everything we know and love about wool. Each Little Woolens pattern is purposefully created, using yarns we admire and support companies we respect.
Today I released my first contribution; Winter Hoodie. It is also the first in a set of patterns ‘A Seasonal Collection‘, showcasing yarns from Green Mountain Spinnery. Each of the four seasonal designs will feature a different construction and come with a girl or boy option. You can purchase the entire collection and have each new pattern arrive in your inbox when it is released, or the individual patterns will always be for sale just by themselves.

This pattern was quite the feat, mainly because I worked up both samples myself, and at quite the pace! The colourwork is surprisingly simple, and with use of the helpful link included in the pattern I now have my weaving of floats mastered!
The boy option in this wintery knit features a classic body with no shaping, which could also work for a girl, however there is a more feminine girl version with a longer, more tunic-like body and bellowing hemline.

A lot of the hard work in getting this design to you came down to Ashley, who compiled the pattern in a clear and beautiful pattern layout, with amazing photos, charts and schematic. And our logo! Again, that is down to her her amazing illustration skills – I’m so grateful to be working alongside Ashley, and VERY excited to see where Little Woolens takes us.

Winter Hoodie

A Seasonal Collection ebook

Many months ago I had fun with a little experiment in trying to exhaust a dye bath. Often with natural dyeing there is a little pigment left in the water and, when I can, I try to use it up, or “exhaust” the pot by dyeing other bits and pieces. I had a madder root dye bath with still quite a bit of colour left and entered some mordented, but dry, 100% Cormo wool to the pot. Because the fiber was dry, the rate at which the yarn absorbed the water across the skeins was staggered and the pigment was picked in an uneven way, creating this highly tonal yarn.

Always looking for a project for Louella I fell in love with the R&R Hoodie pattern, written by Tanis Lavallee, and published on her Son’s first birthday. This sparked a little goal that I would have the hoodie finished by Louella’s first birthday, which I met, except for the zip. I am no stranger to sewing a zip into sewn clothing, but this is the first time my knits had met a zip. What do you know – the hoodie sat zip-less for the next 6 months. Luckily the Cormo I used was a little heavier than the weight of yarn the pattern called for, and although I worked the appropriate size for her, it came up a bit big for Louella at the time. Of course when I finally sat down, with the help of pinterest, to sew in the zip, it only took me about 20 minutes! The result is one of my favourite things I have knit for Louella. It is still a little bit big, but just perfectly so. We are going to be getting the best amount of wear from this hoodie. The yarn is soft but pretty densely knit for a warm and cosy wear. And the colour! The madder root and the way I dyed the yarn has created the most one-of-a-kind project which makes it even more special. The colour is subtly ‘girly’ and on a very unisex pattern it is the perfect match for my rugged little farm girl.

Tanis, you are a genius, I will be making this one again for sure!!

PS. Photographing toddlers is some kind of joke!

Turns out facebook makes it really hard to find out who has liked your page, maybe a good thing, but either way….with help from random.org the winner of my little 2015 giveaway is Sarah!! Congratulations! I will make sure to send you a free copy of every pattern I publish this year.

Thank you all for joining in the fun with me! Now, back to the knitting…

In the little break I took between Christmas and New Years I worked on a selfish project – my Nordic Wind as part of the Woolful January KAL. This is a most satisfying and rhythmic pattern from cabinfour, and worked up with the wonderful Lopi farm yarn from Green Bow Farm. I wrote more notes in my previous post here, but in the spirit of trying to share more about my FOs (and keeping my ravelry project page up to date) I wanted to round off this shawl with a final entry. There are some beautiful shawls popping up in the KAL thread over on ravelry, and great support from lovely folk. It is has me looking forward to Ashley‘s February KAL which features a Little Woolens pattern! We sure have been talking about Little Woolens long enough… the wait will soon be over!

Now, I have a bit more of this Lopi left, and I was to kindly gifted this hat pattern by the clever lady herself…. we might not have the weather for a super warm chunky hat, but I sure have the needles to make one!!