Posy - Purl Soho's Fabulous New Yarn!

A little while ago, Purl Soho asked if I wanted to play with their new yarn, Posy. I said yes, of course!
It's called Posy and it's a hand-dyed fingering weight yarn that is 75% superwash merino, 15% cashmere and 10% nylon. 318 yards come in a 100-gram hank. (It also comes in smaller hanks.)

I made one secret project out of it and the one you see above, which is a scarf from 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders. I've never made it, before, but it's a quick, fun little knit!

The scarf is actually designed for sport weight yarn, and Posy isn't quite that thick, but I would classify it as on the heavier end of fingering. The cashmere really gives it a nice hand, too. It would make a scrumptious baby sweater or hat.

Reclaiming Our Time Socks

I was going to start a new sewing project for myself (or maybe finish one) today, but, instead, I spent a little too much time staring at Twitter and decided that I had to finish this pattern and publish it today.

These socks are knit from the toe up – with a twist. When the toe is finished, half of the stitches are put on hold and the top of the foot is worked. Then, the leg is finished. Lastly, the sole and heel are made. A little grafting at the top of the heel finishes the sock. This is all accomplished without seams, as stitches are picked up to join the top of the foot and the sole as you go.

Why put yourself through all of this? If you ever get a worn spot or hole in the sole or heel of the sock, you can simply tear it out and re-knit it. Also, in self-striping yarns, the color changes will be stretched out along the top of the foot, which is fun. If you want to save your prettiest yarn just for the top of the foot and the leg, you can work the toe, sole and heel in a contrasting color (or several colors, or in scraps).

In case you can’t tell, the message behind these socks is “we won’t stop.” We will march, speak and work to reclaim our time, and we have the everlasting, fabulous socks to prove it.

The pattern is available to purchase on Ravelry and I think there will be a kit coming up for it from KnitCircus Yarns.

Craftsy's Cloudborn Yarn

When I heard about Craftsy's new yarn line, Cloudborn, I was curious. I mean, they already sell some of my favorite yarns. So, they should know a lot about what goes into a "good" yarn. But, knowing and doing are two different things. How would their yarns stack up? 

My sample package arrived and I love the way the colors go together!

First, the sock yarn. My sample of Cloudborn Superwash Merino Sock Twist is a hand paint called Slightly Serious. 100 grams of it (one hank) would be plenty to create a pair of socks. It's 80% Superwash Merino and 20% Polyamide. After a little googling, I'm 90% sure that Polyamide is what most people would call Nylon. It has several plies and seems well-spun. 

My Checked and Square socks would pair well with this yarn, I think. I may have to try it!

It should be hard-wearing even though it is very, very soft. And, I mean very. I think if you didn't want to make socks with it, it would also make a great Sockhead Slouch Hat (free pattern!) or an Autumn Dreams baby sweater. 

The Cloudborn Baby Alpaca Bulky is the softest of the soft. Don't expect it to be tough - 100% baby alpaca isn't going to be, but it is lofty, the color is even and even has a slight sheen. It would be darling as a Wee Speedy (free pattern!)

Last but not least in my sample pack is the Cloudborn Merino Alpaca Sport. 80% Superwash Merino and 20% Baby Alpaca. It's not a superwash yarn, even though the wool is superwash. The color I have has a heathered appearance - this is probably because the alpaca and the merino take up dye slightly differently. The alpaca will probably bloom with wear, so a complex stitch pattern may not show up well. But, these little RONA Wrist Cuffs (free pattern)? Divine.

This post contains affiliate links. 

Lovely Handspun

I didn't spin this yarn. My lovely sister, Lisa, did, as I prepared to talk about spinning and socks to a bunch of spinners who are probably better spinners than I. Having the yarn there gave me a little more confidence. Thanks for all of your hard work, Lisa!!!!!

Cascade 128, Woven

Dark, dark, midnight blue. It's so soft! I love it.

Weaving at 5 EPI

5 epi. FIVE!!!!!!

I bought the variable dent reed for my Schacht flip loom a little while ago.

The reed is designed to allow you to create a warp with different thicknesses of yarn and weaving across the width of your project. I haven't used it that way, yet. But, I have had a LOT of fun taking advantage of the 5 ends per inch reeds and using up leftovers from my Aran afghan project.

I was worried that the yarn would be too soft to use as a warp, but I looked around on Ravelry and more than one person has used it, so I went ahead and did it. It's weaving up very well. I just have to keep an eye on myself so that I don't pack the weft in too tightly. My little needle gauge rests on the table next to me and I check it every once in a while with that.

It's Cascade 128 in a deep, dark blue. I can't wait to see how it looks when it's finished!

Securing A Ball Winder/ Swift

Sometimes you want to put a ball winder on an edge of a table that's not perfectly square. Maybe it's bull-nosed or has a weird lip on it. Despair not! A cheapo jar opener can help keep the clamp from slipping off and sending your poor winder flying. (If you care a lot about the surface, be sure to check to make sure said jar opener isn't degrading and melting itself onto your table/bar/whatever every couple of weeks.)

P.S. - Are you coming to Yarnover? Come see me! I'll be at Saga Hill Designs. 

Loops!

Loops is fantastic! Beautiful yarns, a friendly staff, and even a computer you can use to make sure you're getting enough yardage for your project. I loved my one-stop hometown book tour!

If you live within driving range (and, of course, everyone has their own definition of that) of Tulsa, you simply have to stop there. It's really quite wonderful.

Ancient Arts Yarn

Even when I'm hanging around yarn shops more, I've been pretty good about not buying up tons of yarn. I made an exeption for this Ancient Arts Meow Collection skein. I couldn't resist a yummy Russian Silver Blue!

"Stone Soup" Socks

I have a lot of little odds and ends of sock yarn. Sometimes I'll round them up into colors and divide them by main fiber content. In this case, the yarn is black and the fiber is wool.

I weigh out 100 grams of yarn and start to get creative. In this case, I have two partial skeins of Cascade Heritage and another of Cascade Heritage Silk. I'm going to use the silk for the toes, heels and top ribbing and the other two skeins for the rest of a pair of socks. I call it "stone soup" because it feels like getting something from nothing. 

Stash Management

I've introduced Dee to the joys of thrift store/estate sale/garage sale shopping and there's no going back! A recent find: Awesome vintage suitcases for $5 each. The very smart woman running the sale put cute little tags on the cases that made them pretty much irresistible. See "What do you need to store?"

Well, yarn, of course. I love my new office space, but there isn't as much storage as there was in our last house. 

I filled the case with little honeycomb dividers, then went through my sock yarn stash. It includes this thrift store find, probably from about 15 years ago. I haven't had the heart to use it, yet. 

Wound balls go into the organizers, a few small skeins fit in there, too. Big skeins and 100-gram balls go into that big space at the top of the case. A flap clips down over it to keep them from spilling all over the place. 

It all tucks away neatly under the guest bed. I felt pretty good about this until I remembered that I would need about 10 more to REALLY organize it all. This is just my sock yarn! Oh well...

I feel like I'm popping open a big case of crayons every time I take the case out. Some are odds and ends, some are brand-new. They're all lovely, though.

I Haven't Forgotten My Loom

Over the long weekend, I took a little time to play and weave a simple scarf on my loom. I still love it! This is Cascade Highland Duo, an alpaca/Merino blend that's lovely and soft. 

Checked and Square Socks

So, this time I didn't try to get fancy with the name. These socks are in a checked pattern and have square heels. Easy!

Checked and Square Socks, Top Down 

These simply checked socks have square heels and are knit from the top down with an Eye of the Partridge heel flap.

Why It's My Favorite: The stitch pattern makes the sock a little more exciting to knit and makes counting rounds super-easy. I think the square heel makes a great introduction to flap-and-gusset heels, since it's a little easier to keep track of where you are as you are turning the heel. Wouldn't that color be a little pop of summer all year 'round, too?

Checked and Square Socks, Toe Up 

These simply checked socks have square heels and are knit from the toe up with an Eye of the Partridge heel flap and a toe that can be easily customized for a perfect fit.

Why It's My Favorite: I don't always get to work with a lot of different colors in my socks, so I add texture when I can. This stitch pattern is easy to knit, but not to frilly to be unisex. There is no grafting, but there are some picked-up stitches. Plus, and I know this has nothing to do with the actual pattern, I love how sophisticated it looks in gray!

Grungy Basement and 16 Handknit Socks

Sorry for showing you my grungy basement. Hey, it's dry and functional, and that's really all I ask. But, I am very grateful for the little green bar someone hung up there a while ago. It's the perfect spot to hang 16 socks to dry at once!

My sis bought me that little octopus years ago at Ikea. I love it to bits.

So, I haven't dropped off the face if the earth, and I've been knitting socks.

A Little Spinning

I'm still trying to figure things out, but life is getting closer to normal. Which means, when my awesome sister sends me beautiful Coopworth wool dyed with indigo from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, I can spin some of it without everything else going off the rails. 

So, I did. Hooray! I can't wait to ply it. (In return, I sent her some Ply magazines, and she loved them! You might, too. Go check them out.) 

Yarnover!

If you have never been, you should go, because Yarnover is awesome! I didn't take very many pictures and I can only think it's because I was very overwhelmed. Basically, fibery vendors and teachers took over a local high school for a day. It's amazing. 

I took a Designing Cables class with Fiona Ellis. It was wonderful. She's a very clear teacher and her designs are beautiful. At the end of class, she had a little show-and-tell of some of her designs. She really blew my mind. 

I managed to only buy a little art batt from a (sort of) local sheep farm: Diamond D Farm. I can't find a website for them, but their information is listed here. I would have loved to shop a lot more, but we're moving from the apartment to our new house in less than a week and I'm starting to see every object in the apartment as an obstacle!

I stopped by the Modeknit booth to say hi to everyone and rave about my socks in progress. They should be finished very soon if I get any time at all to knit over lunch. 

Modeknit Mini Skein Set

I have a little sample pack of Modeknit yarns, in "Call the Midwife" colors. They are so cute! I was going to mix in a lot of gray from Simply Socks, but now I'm leaning toward just having the Modeknit go in all of its multiple-colored glory.

What Yarns Do You Love to Miss?

Some yarns are like twinkies in a zombie flick. You love it. They don't make it anymore. Someday it will all be gone. I bought a whole bag of this stuff when it went on clearance at Simply Socks. I'm knitting stash right now, and it turned up. It's a great yarn. A little splitty if you don't treat it right, but what isn't? Every bamboo yarn I have used is, essentially, indestructable. If you've never tried one, you should.

The Yarn Bank in Taylors Falls, MN

I didn't take more photos because I got all shy when I went into The Yarn Bank on Saturday. It's a great little LYS that even has some spinning supplies in Taylors Falls, MN. Just an hour away from the Twin Cities, it really is in an old bank in the tiny downtown. If you go, don't miss a latte at the awesome Coffee Talk up the street and try to get there before noon on Saturday so you can visit the super-tiny library that is over 100 years old.

The Colors Are Way Better In Real Life

I'm trying to keep up with new designs for 2014. This one is for Dream in Color and should come out this fall. (I don't have anything to show you except my little ball of yarn ends! Such is the way. Secret knitting isn't just for Christmas!)