Tag Archives: yarn

saucon sock

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august.

around here it is

squirt gun fights and tall glasses of ice water

and knitting mainly at night when it cools off a bit after sundown.

in my dreams i have handknit socks on my feet,

but in the warm weather, my wool handknits don’t really cut it…

then along came saucon sock from kraemer yarns.

it’s a fingering weight

 in a wool-free cotton, acrylic, and nylon blend

which makes it machine wash and dryable!

how right that is for the warmer weather.

i quickly decided to cast on for my first pair of jelly rolls

by mara catherine bryner.

see the slight tonal-ness of the colorways?

that’s the cotton and the acrylic taking the same dye in slightly different ways.

i think it gives the stitches added depth and the yarn as a whole extra personality.

 i am definitely a fan.

the remaining question:

will i finish these in time to wear them this summer?

or will they have to sit happily curled up in my sock drawer over the winter

longing, like the rest of us, for next spring?

‘question’ from 22:46 of matthew.

note: now for just a little of the nitty-gritty.

i was given these skeins from kraemer yarns to review,

but, you all know me,

and a couple of free skeins of cotton blend yarn

isn’t ever going to make me say i like what i don’t.

i’m much too stubborn and pig-headed for things like that…

 

 

 

 

 

 

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the halo, the depth, the shine

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i don’t think

that i have ever caught sight of

a linen blend yarn that pulls off such a striking halo.

as a matter of fact, i’m not sure i’ve seen a linen blend with

any halo whatsoever until now.

isn’t it pretty?

and see how the linen takes to the dye

in its own special way that’s unique from

the merino’s take on the color?

that tonality gives extra visual depth to each and every stitch.

then,

as if that’s not enough

to make a knitter want to cast on something new asap,

the merino and linen fibers,

when twisted

together,

give the yarn somewhere between ‘shine’ and ‘glow’

look at the way the light catches it…i’m so excited about ‘milo’,

this new yarn from manos del uruguay.

the only downside? i’m having a bit of trouble

narrowing all the different stitches that look great in this yarn

down to just one to get started with,

but that’s exactly the kind of ‘problem’

that we knitter’s thrive on.

am i right?

‘twisted’ take from 26:31 of exodus.

note: now for just a little of the nitty-gritty.

i was given this skein from manos del uruguay to review,

but, you all know me, and

a free skein of yarn (even with a halo like this)

isn’t ever going to make me say i like what i don’t.

i’m much too stubborn and pig-headed for things like that…

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let’s do the (mango moon) twist

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there is just something about this yarn.

do you see it?

how the cotton/linen mix rustles up this kind of luxurious shimmer

i’ve no idea, but look how it almost glows with possibility!

this is mango moon ‘twist’, a sport weight beauty.

doesn’t the ‘blueberry’ colorway remind you of faded denim,

you know, that point where your jeans are so perfectly broken in

that they are almost faded into wearing right through,

which makes them soft as butter & makes you

never ever want to take them off?

…that color.

i started this post a few weeks back,

put it on the back burner to knit a little something in this yarn

and quite honestly, got so distracted by the possibilities

(there are so many things that i thought i heard

this soft, yet strong, yarn yarn begging to become)

that i’m only getting round to posting now.

you can see how that’s a designer’s rabbit hole, right?

this  lovely stuff is still on my needles

and i’m still enjoying it.

truly, that’s knitting

at its best!

‘shimmer’ taken from 18:4 of isaiah.

note: now for just a little of the nitty-gritty.

i was given this skein from mango moon yarns to review,

but, you all know me, and

a free skein of yarn (even if it is shimmery)

isn’t ever going to make me say i like what i don’t.

i’m much too stubborn and pig-headed for things like that…

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crossway kal

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did you know about the fun we had in march?

a bunch of us did a knitalong (kal) over in my ravelry group ‘talitha’s tangles’

for the ‘crossway’ hat.

there was a custom colorway from mrs. crosby

called ‘cloverleaf’ available only through jimmy bean’s wool

(if you love green tonals, there are a few skeins left here),

lots of fun chatter and encouragement and hats.

definitely beautiful knit hats. take a look at our fo’s:

if you missed the fun, no worries.

i’ll be announcing (just about the mid-april)

the next kal

which will start

the first week of may.

this time around we’ll be knitting the depth cowl (in either dk or worsted).

keep an eye out here, or join ‘talitha’s tangles’

so you’re sure not to miss the detail packed

announcement all about that kal.

talk to you soon!

‘knit’ taken from 10:10-12 of job.

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gazzal by hobium

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they had me at ‘super bulky’,

(and ‘single ply’ didn’t hurt either).

you know how i love a good thick super bulky!

i’d never seen ‘gazzal pure wool’ by hobium before,

but i had been looking for a yarn to knit up into

the ‘leo’ scarf by jen geigley

ever since i bought her newest book

‘everyday: a casual, modern hand-knit collection‘ at stevenbe‘s pre-vklive party

and i knew right away that the natural colorways

of this 100% australian wool yarn were just what i’d been looking for.

with great stitch definition and oodles of squish,

the neutral colorways of gazzal have all the requirements

of a really good super bulky to me

as if that’s not enough, look at how it knits together.

two thumbs up!

‘looking’ taken from 37:18 of job.

now, time for just a little of the nitty-gritty.

i was given this ‘gazzal’ by hobuim to review,

but, you know me, a free yarn (even a squishy super bulky)

isn’t ever going to make me say that i like what i don’t.

i’m much too stubborn and pig-headed for things like that…

june cashmere

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on small family farms

in the mountains of kyrgyzstan

nomadic shepherds tend to the elite goats

whose soft cashmere undercoats are used to make yarn.

and what a yarn this is!

it’s an example of the world’s harshest environments

producing the very softest natural fibers.

img_5911cashmere is, of course, known for it’s softness.

what surprised me about this yarn is its amazing stitch definition.

just look at how the cable motif

from amy van de laar’s

”beeswax mitts’

pops!

img_5922i’d rank this new to me cashmere yarn

right up there with my leslie wind cable necklace

and indian lake artisans’ hexagonal wooden needles

(and if you know my taste at all, you know that’s high praise).

want a skein for yourself?

follow this link and enter to win.

i’m ending here, as this lovely yarn is just begging me

to hunker down and knit a bit more before bed…

note: now for just a little of the nitty-gritty.

i was given this skein of june cashmere dk to review,

but, you know me, a free skein of yarn (even if it’s cashmere)

isn’t ever going to make me say that i like what i don’t.

i’m much too stubborn and pig-headed for things like that.

‘soft’ taken from 65: 9-11 in the psalms.

appropriate

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storm has past.  all is well.

yesterday’s rain kept my kids inside

and my 8 yr old wandered into my little workroom.

he was looking politely, so i left him as i went off to tend other fires.

later in the day, he comes to me to say,

‘mama, can you knit me a hat?’

‘sure,’ i say,

‘what color do ya want, bud?’

‘blue,’ he says, ‘lots of different blues, please.’

and i run through my stash in my head and can’t place variegated blues,

i say, ‘i don’t think i have any of that.  sorry.’

‘yes, you do.’ he says, ‘i saw it on the shelf this morning.’

sure enough, he walks in and pulls exactly what he wants out.

IMG_5709tempgreat stuff from knitcircus.  bulky and lots of blues all in one skein.

if the mix of shades didn’t hook me (which they did),

the color name would have.

how can you go wrong with a name like ‘blue skies ahead’?

who wouldn’t want to knit with it.

‘skies’ taken from 26:7 of job.

newbie

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my daughter

wants to knit a little.

she feels motivated in spurts.

up until now, garter stitch squares

have been her project of choice.  she says,

‘the short little 16 st rows make me feel like i’m getting somewhere’.

this is teenager nearly instant gratification at its peak.

but, i had just one skein of city tweed aran

and she wanted to knit it.

i talked her into

a hat worked in the round:

simple, slightly slouchy, and just her size.

IMG_4098cropthere were starts and stops.

the circular needles felt fidgety to her,

she’d never done knit and purl stitches in the same row before,

and she had to learn k2tog & ssk from scratch to get through to the top.

IMG_4099crop2but her hat came out great.

so worth the effort to learn all the new stuff.

now she wants to knit chemo caps for the local hospital.

i love my kid.  she’s enthusiasm and caring, talent and 14 all rolled into one.

wait’ll you see her sketches tomorrow.

i could learn a few things

from her already.

‘simple’ taken from 20:10 in 2nd kings.

it does a body good

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when my kids ask for yarn,

i give it to them (along with some adult supervision)

and i try not to lead or censor, i just watch and see what they’ll do.

our last ‘yarn day’ (because

once i give them a little, they want more and more…sound familiar?)

looked partly like this:

IMG_3558shade‘hey mama, i knit myself!’

IMG_3559rota‘psst, let’s scare mama…hey mama, can you come upstairs for a minute?’

IMG_3569crop‘shh, please.  i’m fishing for a kitten.’

(i only tell you what they tell me.)

fyi: we don’t have a kitten, because papa & i said ‘no’.

IMG_3570cropdeveloping the urge to save some for later (aka: stashing).

eventually, i sent them outside,

yarn in hand.

wanna guess what they did?

they built a ‘laser field’ worthy of a good spy movie

about 2 feet high that covers most of the back yard.

IMG_3749shadeyup, and they involved a young neighbor in the outdoor construction,

so now there’s probably a mom nearby who

can’t figure out why her kid

keeps asking

for yarn.

ha.

‘outside’ taken from 10:29 in matthew.

fjord

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who needs ice cream when i can have this?

freshly arrived from julie asselin, let me introduce you to yotta.

IMG_3733unsat

the light is no good now to get the colors to look right, but it’s wowy wow wow!

(the colorway is called ‘fjord’ and the blues are intense in a really good way)

gorgeous.  at least 4 people tried to walk away with it

yesterday during sit ‘n’ knit at in the loop

(i fought them off w/pointy sticks).

have waited, and now it’s time i can finally grab the needles and have at it.

more about what it wants to become soon.

i’ll tell you as soon as it tells me.

‘light’ taken from 28:11 of job.