As we dance around the chaos of the season – interrupting winds, power cuts a plenty, rivers past our front door, lakes taking up residency in the pastures, mud, [mud, and more mud] and an upcoming kidding season, along with the guests coming and going, laughter, cheer and celebration rising and falling in waves – this weekend, I bring you the Winter Collection 2012.
Hi folks. It’s me.
I am, in fact, still here.
It’s sure been a while. I haven’t done the math but many more weeks or months than I probably realise have been and gone since I was last in this space. Days have become shorter, colder, wetter and more grey. But in the hopes to break the silence of my absence I want to whisk you back to the warmer days of a golden fall – right around the time when a little project between my LYS and I came off the needles. I am happy to introduce the Coastal Fog Cowl.
I am so luckily surrounded by many yarn stores in the area that I live, but there is one that holds a special place in my heart – YARN. It’s a small spot [those of you who've been, know what I mean!] full to the brim of the most amazing yarns, colours and all things knitterly. When Sunni, the store owner, approached me to design for her new website I jumped at the chance to work with the wonderful selection of yarns she carries. Staying true to my fiber values we selected Cascade Eco Duo from which I would work. This is a classic case of how I design – allowing the yarn to inspire me. My swatch surprised me, with a fabric that held so much texture and life alongside the soft and subtle drape of alpaca. Another surprise was the colour and the way the undyed alpaca fibers are distributed to offer a soft striping, an element I wanted to emphasise. My goal was to create something that was rustic, yet delicate.
The Coastal Fog Cowl is an interesting shape. It is effectively a short scarf secured with the use of two buttons to sit as a cowl around your neck. Different rates of increases and decreases create a curved rectangle around which you finish with a highly textured lace and bobble edging. I’m in love with this stitch pattern and already have plans to include it in another project – the gentle curves and waves of the lace work remind me of the ocean tide along side our hard rocky coast lines, which are reflected in the bobbles.
This is a great project for those of you who dislike the piles of small balls of remnant yarn you collect as projects go by. This pattern uses all but a few yards of Cascade Eco Duo and I cannot recommend enough that you check your gauge. It’s also a speedy knit, easily completed in a weekend – perhaps the perfect last minute gift for a loved one.
Sunni and YARN recently released their new website, www.yarn-fun.com. Expanding with the opening of an online store, this site is oh so cleverly organised by projects. Inspired by the amazing photography you are invited to browse the patterns and projects, from which you can easily select the yarn and needles you might need. SO much easier than flicking back and forth between yarn, patterns, and needle sections – its all there, in one place.
The Coastal Fog Cowl is only going to be available from YARN and is currently only available in PDF format.
Sizes : One size.
Measurements : 39” long, at longest point x 13” deep.
Yarn : 2 skeins Cascade Eco Duo [70% Undyed Baby Alpaca/30% Undyed Merino Wool, 3.5oz, 197 yds]. Shown in ‘Koala’ 1706.
Needles : US 8 [5mm] needles, circular or straight, or size to obtain gauge.
Gauge : 18 sts and 19 rows = 4 inches in garter st.
Notions : Tapestry needle, two 5/8” buttons.
On ravelry : For purchase here
My great intentions of 20 minutes and 1oz a day lasted until I had spun up all my Autumnal fiber, but then, as I could have predicted, my plans fell by the wayside, just as much as my inability to share with you the final yardage! So here is a catch up. I don’t think I need to even say how much I love how Carin Engen‘s hand dyed Merino and Corridale fiber spun up, I’ll let pictures speak for themselves. I decided to leave it as singles, and even though I have a lot of room for improvement my spinning is coming back to me, and this yarn is already on the needles, creating the most amazing fabric!
With hopes to get back to my 1oz a day regime I have some Romney fiber from Yolo Wool Mill filling my bobbin right now, naturally dyed with Coffee and Rhubarb. It feels more like Spring to me.
I’ve learned a new trick. Last week Mister and I took a few days off to go hide away in a cabin in the woods. Not much preparation was needed for our mini getaway and so I spend most of my time trying to cast off Low Tide before we left – I wanted to bring along something new! I was squeezing out excess water and pinning it to size as the car was being loaded, cutting it a little close to the wire! But, the result – a blocked and dry cardi when I got home! For some reason I hate waiting for stuff to dry, especially when it is yarn, or even more so finished knits!
The work wasn’t quite done though – because of my haste I hadn’t yet woven in ends or decided on buttons. I found these vintage pale bone buttons in an antique store whilst on our trip, and I had a feeling they would work perfectly. I finally got down to it yesterday, hiding away the ends, crocheting the button holes and sewing on the buttons. And I’m a happy chappy.
Low Tide is an interesting project, first working the bodice in pieces, then a little bit of seaming, and picking up of stitches to work down the body. The lace work is addictive and moves quickly over your needles. As previously written I really enjoyed knitting the sleeves, short and cute. I used a yarn that I am trying out as a potential new base yarn. It is a very real yarn, light and warm, but not the softest. It is from a CA small flock farm situated a few hours from me, where Columbia, Corriedale, Romney, Suffolk and Churro breeds roam their pastures. The resulting yarn you might compare to a Shetland fiber yarn, and I would be interested to see how it knits up in fair aisle or stranded colour work. Either way, I love how this cardigan has come out. I love the weight of the fabric, the warmth, the lace, the curl of the stockinette, and of course the colour – dyed naturally using rhubarb leaves as found in the Autumn Collection 2012. It looks as good over a camisole as it does over a long sleeve t-shirt, and I feel like it is the perfect garment for right now – as the weather doesn’t quite know if it wants to cool down or remain warm, each day different to the next, this cardi meets it all, half way.
…Who knew they could be combined? Although I love each colour of the recently released Autumn Collection, the soft yellow dyed using the leaves from our rhubarb patch called out to me when I was deciding upon which colour … Continue reading
Autumn Collection 2012 now available in the shop… in both Full Belly Feel Good, and Comfort me Cormo!
We have a new yarn over here at by Annie Claire! Our usual organic worsted weight has a new friend; an amazingly luxurious 100% cormo wool, heavy worsted weight yarn. Loving grown and raised in Orland, CA at the Cormo Sheep and Wool Farm, this yarn is everything you want in a farm fiber; simple, soft and beautiful.
Another Californian farm yarn to the line adds a new exciting dimension to by Annie Claire. Each collection and their colours are now be available in both Full Belly Feel Good, and Comfort Me Cormo.
Fully Belly Feel Good now titles the organic yarn I source from Full Belly Farm in Guinda, CA. Whilst they are known more so for their wonderful array of fruits and vegetables, Full Belly Farm raise their sheep to help maintain the pastures and grasses as well as providing the fleeces which produce an amazingly real yarn. The yarn is washed and spun at Green Mountain Spinnery in Vermont where care is taken that all processes are done organically. Whilst raised organically, locally and simply, and then dyed naturally with seasonal plants, there is nothing about this yarn that won’t make you feel good.
Sue, the shepherdess behind Comfort Me Cormo, is all about quality. She ensures her sheep wear coats all year to keep the dirt and vegetable matter from their fleeces and once sheared, the fleeces are well skirted and checked for soundness and strength. Once passed the ‘test’ the fleeces are sent to small cottage mills where they are processed with a lot of care and attention as they are washed and the wool is picked, carded, plied and put up in skeins. Cormo wool fibers are fine and long, resulting in a smooth and soft yarn. This yarn has a lot of bloom which knits up most impressively when treated as a heavy worsted weight, however, it is as easily worked as a worsted weight, just make sure you check your gauge!
Next up? The colours…
