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!

<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!

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!

Yarn Love – Sock Club October

If you’re in the sock club, you’re in for a treat! This month’s colors are composed entirely of soon-to-be-released Fall Palette colors. The semi-solid is called Scottish Heather and will be available as shown starting mid-November. The variegated color is one-of-a-kind and just for club members

Here was my inspiration this month – an Amethyst Starling! I’ve never seen such a gorgeous bird in the wild, but I’m certainly happy someone caught this lovely on film….or pixels….whichever is now the correct term.

Since the new Fall Palette has several colors of purple in it, I just went for it! My version is slightly less saturated, but has highlights of nutmeg brown, aqua and storm grey in it:

Yarn

Elizabeth Bennet - 195 yards per 50 gram skein (you get two!), 65% superwash merino/ 15% silk / 20% bamboo rayon. Plied, fingering weight. Additional skein $12.50 per 50 gram skein.

Colors

Scottish Heather

A nearly solid, light to moderately saturated heather/lavender/lilac. Leans towards red rather than blue.

Amethyst Starling

Three shades of purple (pale, medium and dark) swirl around with hints of nutmeg brown, pops of aqua and storm grey. All of these shades will be individually available starting November 12.

September is in the air – time to wrap yourself in yarn

September Sock Club Colors*

September is here….and the fall harvest is well underway.  It feels like deep fall with all the combines running through the crisp, crumbling stalks. Usually harvest would be two months away but the drought has forced an early harvest. While not ideal, it is certainly beautiful. Consider the view of storm & field across the street from the studio this morning:

A view from the studio door.

This month’s yarn is simple luxury – 80% superwash merino / 20% silk. It’s gorgeous. If you’re going to knit socks with this, please make them a thigh-high lacie affair which you only wear out to the opera or other such fancy occasion.  My true advice would be to make the most amazing shawl pattern you’ve ever run across or a romantic cardigan which you can snuggle chicly in all winter.

 434 yds / 396 m per 4 oz. / 115 g skein. 80% superwash merino / 20% silk. Fingering weight.

Hand wash, lay flat to dry.  $27 per additional skein.

Electric Slide

Bold, neon colors have arrived in fashion and have refused to leave. Don’t be afraid of this ultra saturated, ultra bold hue. It will make a statement but at the same time will pair wonderfully well -with most other colors.

You know your favorite pair of dark jeans? Well this is the yarn-equivalent.  So unless you’re the rare person who looks hideously washed out in blue, this is a wardrobe must-have color.

Age of Steam

Transport yourself back to an opulent, romantic time with the Age of Steam. Gloriously saturated warm tones including: wine, ochre, gilt, eggplant, royal purple, and oxidized copper, the Age of Steam shows off my favorite hues of  the season.

 * The sock club colors are only available to members. However, the club is open right now & you can get your very own 3 or 6 month subscription.

August 2012 Sock Club Colors

August is here, bringing with it warm, sultry weather and complex new yarn colors. I find August to be an expectant time of the year – when it seems most everyone is poised on the brink of change….a break in the weather in favor of fall breezes, transition from summer idleness into the rigors of school. It’s a time of planning new challenges and embarking on new adventures. It’s also one of my most favorite times of year.

I’ve dyed up a new yarn for this month. A light fingering weight yarn, tightly spun of Corriedale wool, this yarn will last for years. It’s a great combination of things I love in a sock yarn – durability but soft enough to wear next to the skin easily. Machine washable:

100% superwash Corriedale wool: 460 yds / 420 m per 4 oz / 115 g skein. Additional skeins $22 each. 

Calliope

For those of you who love warm colors – you’re going to love Calliope !  Seven component colors are kettle dyed to create even more in the pot. Deeply saturated and almost too intense, this colorway was made to be seen. Copper, deep sapphire, maroon, bright rose, ocher, royal purple and magenta.  Calliope shows pops of green and chartreuse from the ochre & navy combining in the pot.

Cottage by the Sea

Are you ready for a breath of fresh, cool, clean air? Perhaps it’s time you visited the seaside. Next to a rocky beach the ocean laps cool and inviting. In hidden niches lie little tide pools, showcasing the beauty of the sea. Soothing sage, steel blue, sky blue and kelp green lap each other playfully in this moderately saturated semi-solid.

Yarn Love Sock Club – July 2012 Colors

mmmm, lollipops in the shade of a cool tree on a hot summer’s day – who could resist? Not me! Introducing the two newest club colors: Lollipop and Grove. They’re sure to be as refreshing as a cool breeze in the heat of the day.

Amy March

* 270 yards / 247 meters per 4 oz / 115 g skein

* 100% superwash merino wool. Machine wash gently, lay flat to dry.

* Dk weight, smooth & cushily plied yarn.

* Additional skeins $21 each.

Lollipop

kettle dyed in rosy red, vermillion, grove green, brilliant blue, ecru and bark brown

Grove

kettle dyed, nearly solid medium saturated green with just a touch of grey and brown.

Sock Club – June 2012 Colors

Since you’re a yarn club member, I hope that means you like the colors that I do….because this month I simply picked out colors I was attracted to and applied them all to the same skein. Wah lah! This month’s variegated skein was born. Then I selected another color from the rainbow, applied my wizard-like dye mixing skills, added an overlay and we now have a semi-solid, too! I think they capture the allure of early summer, and I’m planning on taking a skein of Stargazer with me on an upcoming trip. It’s just that pretty.

June’s Yarn

SeaCell /Merino blend fingering weight: 30% SeaCell/70% superwash merino, 378 yds / 345 m per 4 oz / 115 g skein. Hand wash, lay flat to dry. Additional skeins $24 apiece, plus shipping.

Have you ever knit with SeaCell? Well, here’s your chance! Seacell is a man-made fiber (made with a similar process to the bamboo derived rayon on our Elizabeth Bennet and Scarlett O’Hara yarns) derived from plant and seaweed materials. Apparently, seaweed is very healthy & promotes lots of good things, but mostly, it’s just pretty in yarn. In addition from being pretty, it definitely improves durability and helps the yarn spin up sleekly. (Cellulose fibers tend to compact & lay flat when spun.) You can read more about SeaCell here at Paradise Fibers.

Stargazer

I have a slight love affair with flowers. I can’t help myself, they’re pretty and cheery and smell good. What’s not to love? Here in Iowa we have ditches full of lilies – often referred to as “ditch lilies”. (Original, no?) They’re prolific and often get their start from gardeners throwing the thinned plants into the ditch to dispose of them, where they promptly take root and proliferate. They grow wild, often in huge swathes of color – it’s lovely to behold.

I’ve seen iris (ok, those are not lilies, but I’ve still seen them!), stargazers, tiger lilies, stella de oro and more. You’ll see the range of lily colors present in Stargazer. This colorway is comprised of 7 applied colors which mix in the kettle to create even more hues. I love the result & it’s so entertaining to see how differently each skein comes out of the pot.

Of course, I couldn’t include absolutely all the colors that I loved because there are no bad colors and I love them all. I did add 7 colors which I though coordinated well and are currently entertaining my fancy.

A real Stargazer lily.

Beguile

It’s time to heat things up. This is a true red – leaning neither toward orange or blue – with just a touch of black. It’s a sophisticated jewel tone, equally suitable for men & women. This semi-solid is more solid, and a little simpler than last month’s Robin’s Egg Blue. Beguile is nearly solid, with only the slightest touch of variation to keep things fresh. If you’ve been waiting for a true red, your ship has just come in!

Sock Club Colors – May 2012

Recently, I came across a teeny, tiny robin which had fallen from it’s nest onto the sidewalk. He was at most 3 days old. I couldn’t locate the nest and he was injured from the fall. I couldn’t just leave him there, and brought him home with the idea to make him as comfortable as possible. Little did I know that this teeny, tiny bird would grow and thrive and fly off into the wide world as a fledgling.

Fletch spent 4 weeks in my basement. Growing from a helpless hatchling into a fledgling with the ability to fly fast and far. After feeding him hourly for the first two weeks of his life and every two hours for the second two watching him fly away was bittersweet. I was thrilled he had not only survived, but thrived…but the loss of his inquisitive eyes and sweet song was hard. These colorways are a tribute to Fletch – my little robin redbreast.

This month you have your choice of two spring-inspired colors: Little Robin Redbreast and Robin’s Egg Blue. Both are dyed up on Juliet: 80% superwash merino / 20% nylon; 420 yds / 385 m per 4 oz / 115 g skein. Additional skeins $21 each.

Little Robin Redbreast

This variegated colorway contains every color you’ll find on a robin.  It’s a complex color, layered with two shades of brown, two shades of tan, two shades of red and one shade of grey. The colors mix and swirl in the dyepot making each skein unique.  It’s a mostly neutral with a pop of red.

Robin’s Egg Blue

Have you ever stopped to examine a robin’s egg? They have such a unique shade a turquoise, with creamy ecru accents and spots of darker blue, brown and grey… and so does this yarn. This semi-solid is a stand-out. It’s dyed with three overlapping layers of turquoise, for a subtle variegation, overdyed with ecru and topped with speckles of grey, brown, gold, and turquoise. Those speckles are created by a unique application of dye powder directly onto the hot surface of the yarn, adding a dimensional halo of speckles that appear to sit only on the surface of the yarn.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

It’s showering today. Gentle droplets of rain plopping down to water the ground and creating puddles which my children will, no doubt, be irresistibly attracted to. Brightening the grey world around is the vibrant green of the newly grown grass and the bright splash of this month’s colors.

Elizabeth Bennet is our heroine this month. This special sock yarn is custom spun for Yarn Love and is everything you want for a special pair of socks or a glimmering shawl. (Ok, maybe it’s everything I want in a special sock yarn, but I can say with certainty you’ll love her, too.)

• 65% superwash merino/25% bamboo rayon/15% silk
• 195 yards / 178 m per 50 gram skein
• Hand wash, lay flat to dry.
• $12.50 per additional 50 gram skein. (2 skeins per pair of socks recommended)

Blossoms on the Wind

I have never been to Japan, but I often imagine the swirl of pink cherry blossoms filling the air as a breeze brushes by. Vibrant purple blends into blossom pink, accented with ivory and warm tan.

Creamsicle

That wonderfully orange flavor married to sweetened cream and made perfect by nostalgia. Indulge in this calorie-free version of a childhood favorite without guilt.