Designer Interview: Yakira Heistand

We’re working on our second Yarn Love Club (you can still get the first one here). While we’re not quite ready to reveal the details of our next shipment, we can introduce you to the designer of the pattern for the next shipment.

An Interview with Yakira Heistand. You can find Yarkira’s blog at www.intrepidknitter.com, and on Ravelry as Yakira.

Stay tuned to learn more about our next Yarn Love Club Shipment!

Mood Boards

What’s a mood board, you ask? Mood boards are a way to visually organize a theme, idea, or feeling. I recently put out a call for submissions for the second shipment of the Yarn Love Club. For this shipment of the club I wanted something that would be an elegant and wearable accessory using two colors of Yarn Love yarn. I came up with this mood board for the call:

Everyone gets their inspiration from different places. For me I looked for classic and wearable accessories that highlight the beauty of the yarn. When creating a mood board there are a lot of things to keep in mind! It’s important to know what sorts of patterns you are looking for, and the pattern’s purpose. As an independent dyer my goal was to get a fun knitting pattern that would be easy to wear, not too difficult to knit, take about 2 skeins of yarn, and really highlight hand dyed yarn. I also wanted to keep in mind my own style and aesthetic, as well as accessories that coincide with current trends. Let’s just say I wasn’t looking for a Cosby sweater!

One of the most exciting parts of this process was seeing all of the amazing submissions that we received! From the six images provided on the mood board we  got a ton of ideas from very talented designers. It’s interesting to see how each person interprets the mood board and prompt into accessories which also fit into their own personal looks.

We’ll be releasing the new pattern for the next shipment of the Yarn Love Club in May, so be sure to keep an eye on the blog for more info to come!

<3 Style

I’ve recently discovered the addicting fun of Polyvore. So I made some style boards on how I might wear the new <3 hat, which you can make with the Yarn Love Yarn Club February Shipment.

Since warmer weather is just around the corner, or maybe already arrived, depending on where you live, I’ve created some looks with warmer weather in mind. The <3 hat is made in Marianne Dashwood, a superwash merino sport weight yarn, the hat is lightweight and breathable, perfect for transitional weather!

KAL Progress

For this knit-a-long we are making the Winding Path Socks. These socks are unique in that they look beautiful in variegated, solid, and semi-solid colors. 

One of the best parts of participating in a knit-a-long is seeing everyone progress, so we’d like to share some highlights with all of you, and maybe next time you’ll knit with us!

Wela is making her socks with Yarn Love Joan of Arc in the Oriole colorway.

Bessedlissa has finished her socks knit with Yarn Love Marianne Dashwood also in the Oriole colorway.

Girlymom is making her socks with Yarn Love Juliet in colorway Robin Red Breast.

Want to participate more with Yarn Love? We’ll post about future KALs on our blog, but to have your voice heard on selecting a pattern visit the Yarn Love Ravelry Group. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook.

Grellow makes me swoon.

I needed some grellow in my life. (That would be grey + yellow.) So I dyed some. I’ll knit it up into socks soon!

In the cold gloom of winter the rightness of layered grey tones offset with the warmest pops of sunshine yellow and marigold could not be ignored. So I gave in. And then I fell in love with the newest Yarn Love colorway.

Oriole – which does look remarkably like a yarny version of that sunniest of birds, is a limited edition color. You can get it only through the end of January. It’s the official colorway of our crazy Sit & Knit, too.

Because we’re on a Sit & Knit deadline, all orders for Oriole will be expedited as much as possible. The earlier you order, the faster your skein gets dyed! Order up what you need right here in the Yarn Love Etsy Shop.

I’m off to cake up my own skein of Oriole on Marianne…I’m driving off to visit relatives for a couple of days and you bet that Oriole will be winging along with me!

Knitting Resolutions

It’s almost time to say farewell to 2012, and hello to 2013! That means its time to make our new years resolutions. Speaking from personal experience as a yarn addict, I know many knitters have one resolution in common: use up some of that stash!

So this post is all about stash-busting, because every skein you use must be replaced! And of courseI’ve included some Yarn Love substitutions for all of these wonderful patterns.

Here’s a great new pattern for that one skein of beautiful fingering-weight yarn that’s almost too pretty to use:

Song Thrush by Kristina Vilimate 

Yarn Love suggestion: 1 skein of Juliet in Crystalline

Are you a prolific sock knitter with lots of leftovers? Remember and cherish all those little bits and pieces of special yarn with Sarah Core’s Mini Mania Scarf.

Yarn Love suggestion: Use leftovers of Elizabeth Bennet, Juliet, Joan of Arc, and Diana in a collection of fun colors!
Colors shown: Haute Couture, Walden Pond, Ochre, Sparkling Pool, and Into the Deep

Toys are also great projects for using up small amounts of yarn. Try Susan B. Anderson’s Elefante! You could use 200 yards of one worsted weight yarn from your stash, or make it striped and use 6 colors and less than 50 yards of each color!

Yarn Love suggestion:  Amy March or Anne Shirley, if using one color try a fun variegated color like Charm

Or, for a whole book of ideas, try Melissa Leapman’s Stashbuster Knits. The book includes great patterns as well as information on picking colors that go well together and how to sort your stash by weight, and more!

Quick Knit Gifts

Are you knitting gifts for your loved ones this holiday? Here at Yarn Love we think that nothing is better than a hand made gift! When you give someone a gift that you knit so much love goes into it. You took the time to consider what sort of item the recipient would enjoy and find useful, find a yarn that works well with the pattern and suits the tastes of the gift receiver, and most of all you spent hours knitting the item! Best of all every time that person wears, holds, or uses the item that you made for them it will be like getting a big warm hug from you!

If you still have people on your list that you would like to knit for don’t fret, we have some suggestions for great projects that that use beautiful Yarn Love yarns and won’t take too long to knit!

The Blue Ice Beret by Erica Jacofsky is shown here using Yarn Love Charlotte Bronte Aran in colorway Blue Cove. This beautiful hat features fun stitch patterns that show off the lovely semi-solid tones of the yarn.

Blue Ice Beret by Erica Jacofsky

Is there a little one on your gift list this year? If so we have the perfect little set! Kate Oates’ Jolly hat and mitten set, shown here in Yarn Love Amy March Worsted. Baby items are smaller, and thus faster to knit! These would also make a great gift for moms-to-be.

Jolly by Kate Oates

Ravelry user Mercourier knit Rebecca Danger’s Presely Cash the Monster using Yarn Love Anne Shirley  in colorway Tulips. This adorable little monster would be appreciated by people of all ages on your gift list!

Presley Cash the Monster by Rebecca Danger

Color Love

November is all about color! We have our new fall colors coming out this month, so to keep up with this theme we’re going to be posting all about color, all month long. When it comes to yarn color is very important. Pairing the perfect shades can take your project from pretty to show stopper! Most people are also drawn to certain colors. I’ve noticed people often pick up the same colors of yarn as they are wearing, everyone has their favorites! Today we’re going to talk about a few basics of color theory, and how to find the perfect pairing for any project.

Yarn Love Color Wheel

This color wheel includes primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. It also includes secondary colors, that are made of two primary colors, green (blue + yellow), orange (red + yellow), and purple (red + blue). There are also tertiary colors like grey and brown, which are made of three colors, which include varying amounts of  blue + red + yellow.

Complementary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel. The high color contrast creates a vibrant look when used at full saturation, however it can be a little jarring, you can soften complimentary colors by using less saturated hues.

Full saturation: Tomato and Vintner

Less saturated: Banana Split and Sparkling Pool

 Analogous color schemes use colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. They usually match well and create a feeling of serenity. Analogous color schemes are often found in nature and feel harmonious and pleasing to the eye.

Analogous color scheme: Forget Me Not, Dryad, and Ancient Forest

The split complimentary color scheme is a variation on the complimentary color scheme. In addition to the base color it uses two colors adjacent to its compliment. The split complimentary color scheme has high contrast like a complimentary color scheme, but with less tension. 

Split complimentary color scheme: Ancient Forest, Shiny Penny, and Cranberry

Look out for our next post on how to pick Yarn Love colors for some of the most popular colorwork knitting and crochet projects.

Knit Like Your Heroine

Last time I talked about all the beautiful patterns in the world that are inspired by literature. What’s better than knitting an amazing belletristic pattern with your favorite hand dyed yarn? So here we’ve paired up some beautiful patterns with beautiful yarns, because from one yarn addict to another, sometimes you need a little inspiration to get your needles (and hooks) moving!

Pattern: Hermoine’s Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder
Yarn Love: Elizabeth Bennett, 65% super wash merino, 20% bamboo rayon, 15% silk, 50 gram skein, 195 yards, can be found at Eat Sleep Knit

Pattern: Hartfield by Ann Kingstone from Novel Knits
Yarn Love: Cleopatra, 100% Silk, 665 yards, 5.5 oz

Pattern: Northanger Abbey Mitts by Celeste Young from Jane Austen Knits Fall 2012
Yarn Love: Amy March Worsted,  100% Superwash Merino, 210 yards, 4 oz

Pattern: Not So Ruby Slippers by Dawn Ellerd from What Would Madame Defarge Knit?
Yarn Love: Anne Shirley, 100% Merino, 250 yards, 4 oz, can be fount at Eat Sleep Knit

Pattern: Solar Flare by Erica Jackofsky from Mythos Collection
Yarn Love: Juliet, 80% superwash merino wool, 20% nylon, 4 oz., 420 yards.

Knitting in Literature & Pop Culture

Knitting books and patterns with a literary theme have been very popular lately. There are the Jane Austen Knits from Interweave, the What Would Madame Defarge Knit? from Cooperative Press, and tons of individual patterns on Ravelry with literary roots. There are even a few from Yarn Love! The Frivolous Socks are inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse; from Sense & Sensibility there are the Miss Margaret Socks which are named for Margaret Dashwood,   and thee Lady Elinor socks are named after her older sister, Elinor Dashwood. Although it is unclear if Jane Austen herself was a knitter, she does mention some of her characters knitting in Emma, where there are references to both Jane Fairfax and Mrs. Bates knitting. Madame Defarge was an avid knitter. Her contribution to the French Revolution was knitting a roster of names that would become victims of the Revolution.

There’s also lots of knitting in TV and movies! In Friends, there are several episodes that show Phoebe knitting, but this clip is by far the best. It shows Phoebe struggling to learn how to knit, and then she shows a few strands of yarn tied together, throws it around her neck and exclaims, “Scarf’s done!”.

There have been a surge of patterns inspired by the Harry Potter series, and Hermoine showed off some great knit accessories in the movies. Dumbledore also mentions a love of knitting patterns in Harry Potter And The Half-Blood  Prince.