More silky goodness..

Glisten, 50g skeins, 400m per skein.

There’s a whole new batch of Anna’s Lace, and I’ve fallen back in love with it!  I feel I’ve really got the hang of how it performs with the dye, and I’ve got some lovely deep colours.   Here is a peek, and there are more colours to go on soon.

Purdy, huh?   And it’s sooo soft!

If you have seen the latest copy of The Knitter, you may have seen the yarn review for Heirloom Gossamer.  I would like to say that the yarn was NOT designed either BY me or FOR me, but was designed by and for Fleegle.

Here is an extract from the letter I sent to accompany the yarn:

“The Heirloom Gossamer was designed by, and custom spun for, a superb lace knitter and cyber friend of mine, Fleegle.  (fleeglesblog.blogspot.com)

There was much discussion on her Ravelry group, heirloom knitting, about what would constitute the perfect lace yarn for heirloom Shetland and gossamer shawls.”

Both Fleegle and I have contacted the magazine.  I know the fault is not mine, but I am still sincerely sorry for any offence this has caused.

…glistening.

I’ve been amassing a shelf full of Glisten over the past couple of months.  I dye these in a different way to everything else, and they sit and marinate when I’m dyeing other stuff.  Thought it was about time they saw the light of day!

There’s a whole rainbow of new colours, and here are some of them….

The yarn is 100% silk, and at 400m per 50g, one skein is enough for a lacy scarf.  I’m currently working on a Laminaria in the small size in colour 7030.  The pattern says you will need all 400m, so I put an extra skein by just in case, and I’ll let you know if it needs it!  Here it is so far..

Pretty, huh?

I’ll be there.  Here’s a little taster of what I’ll be bringing……

GLISTEN (amongst other things, largely lacey)  and they’re ones that aren’t available in the shop yet.

Just take a look at this!  It is Anne Hanson’s Fiddlehead Scarf beautifully knitted for me by the talented Linz in time to be displayed at Wonderwool.

It is knitted with just one skein of Glisten, and Linz went down one needle size in order to showcase the yarn rather than the lace pattern.  It is so beautiful and drapes like a dream.

I have two rules I stick by.  One regarding colour and the other regarding sock yarn content.

Rule One:

Lace yarn should mostly be semi-solid.  Maybe I would go as far as a muted multi.  Obvious reasons – the lace pattern would get lost in a madly coloured yarn.  Then out came the sun, swelling the magnolia buds in the garden, and unfurling the daffodils.  The birds cranked up their morning corus to a veritable din, and single colour yarn suddenly seemed so last winter.

Here’s what I mean…

See!  There are more muted shades too though!  This update is all Damsel, 80% Merino 20% silk, 1200m, and is in the shop now.

Rule Two:

Sock yarn must contain something in it to give it extra durability.  Mine have nylon, bamboo and tencel to help.  That is, until I got a sample amount of this in the post:

It is gorgeous!  It’s 100% Superwash Merino, and comes in at 400m per 100g.   It is a fine-ish sock weight,  I would say its ‘fingering’,  and has a smooth yet quite tightly spun appearance.  If any of you know Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, it’s very similar.  This makes me very happy,  ’cause Shepherd’s Sock is one of my favourite sock yarns!  There’s no nothing in it for strength, other than a tighter twist, which is why it has broken Rule Two!  It would be just lovely for lace projects, and I can picture it as a blimmin gorgeous Spiralucious, and matching mits, and infact, anything by Anne Hanson in sock weight yarn.  She has some fabulous wraps and shawls.

This yarn hasn’t quite got in the  shop yet, mainly because it hasn’t got a name.  There will be a little naming competition in a couple of days, as I am soooooo rubbish at naming things (hence all the colourways having numbers, not names!)  I’m going to open it up on Ravelry too,  probably in my section of the UK Traders group.  Prize, some of  said new luscious yarn!!

Watch this space!

xx

Spring is definitely springing.  The birds are really loud first thing in the morning.  There are snowdrops and croci everywhere (just in case you hadn’t noticed!), and there is at last a juicy shop update in progress.

Mostly it is Pop Sox.  There is also a little Softee, some Sweet Feet  and Buttersoft dk.  Here’s a taster of the Pop Sox.  I’ve had some good feedback from the knitting group I go to about the Pop Sox, how it is so much softer that the ‘regular’ sock yarns.  My husband is test wearing some which he has had since about mid November, and they continue to come out of the washing machine as good a new each time.  We’ll see how they are in a year or so!

So, here is some yarn candy………

And a new colour of Softee.

I’ve decided to reskein the Softee.  I think it gives a better indication of how the colours work for lace.  I would do the cobweb ones too, but I would need to inhabit a parallel universe to have the time, and have a bionic arm!

Happy knitting xxxx

It is January after all!  The month of The Sale, so here is mine.

All the laceweight yarn, with the exception of Glisten, as it is sparkly brand new, is on sale at 20% OFF.   So if you have fancied trying out some cobweb, but didn’t want to lay out lots of cash in case you found that you  and cobweb were never meant to go together after all (leave cobwebs to the spiders!), now could be the time to have a dabble.

Here is some Softee 100% Superfine Alpaca

some Lacewing, 90% Superwash Merino 10% Nylon:

Damsel  80% Extra Fine Merino 20% Silk:

and the luxurious Anna’s Lace  70% Babay Alpaca 20% Silk 10% Cashmere:

Happy browsing!  xx

Here’s a preview of some new colours of Buttersoft dk in the big 100g size (for you T )and a couple more Glistens.  Our computer broke yesterday, so I cant resize the photos today to put them in the shop til ‘tech wizzard’ has mended the right bit, which will hopefully be tonight.

Aren’t they lovely.  I’m really liking how the silks are coming out.  xx