Yarn Love Sock Club: June 2011

It’s that time again; there’s been a flurry of activity in the yarn studio this past week getting your May yarn out and your June yarn dyed, photographed and posted. June’s yarn selection is the brilliant Scarlett O’ Hara: a beguiling blend of superwash merino wool, bamboo rayon and nylon. Scarlett is one of my all-time favorite sock yarns. She’s cushy and stands up to tough wear with poise.

4 oz /115 gram skein, 410 yards/375 meters, 60% superwash merino wool, 30% bamboo rayon, 10% nylon. Each additional skein is $24.

Exotic Indian Spice

This rich, hand painted colorway hearkens back to when sailing ships rules the seas, and the spice trade was an adventure-filled business. Way back when women work full skirts and twirled parasols; when men were gentlemen and full of mysterious adventure. Enjoy the deep tones of teak, mahogany, coral, cinnamon and sand.

Gilded Baroque

The Baroque period in history consisted of covering every available surface (architectural or personal) in gold and ornamentation. It was a refined era; one of opulence, decadence and the distinct impression that more is always better. Subtle tones of butter, gold, and sunshine swirl across the palette, creating a pleasing impression of wealth.

Color selections are due June 7th – I hope you have fun picking out your yarns this month. Extra skeins can be ordered via the  color selection form; check your club email for the link.

Knit and Crochet Personal Color Service From Yarn Love

Have you ever stared at a display of yarn looking for the perfect color combination for your Fair Isle yoke?

Or wondered if the colors you’ve chosen for your striped socks will look as amazing as the pattern photo?

Second guessed a color combination that you picked out from an online vendor….will the colors look good together in person?

I know picking out colors can be hard. There are so many pretty ones to choose from and there is also the inevitable wondering about what your project will look like if you stray from the suggested and photographed sample. These difficulties are compounded if you are purchasing your yarn online – due to photography and monitor display settings it’s impossible to know exactly what your yarn will look like prior to its arrival on your doorstep. Which means that your color selection might be brilliant or it might look a little flat.

I am here to help! No, I can’t change the issues of photography and monitor display. (Wouldn’t that be amazing?)  No, I can’t knit your Fair Isle sweater for you. (I have a baby, my knitting time is disgustingly little at the moment.) But what I can do is make sure the colors you purchase provide the most bling for your buck! “How?!?!”, you say?

Simple. I put the colors together before I shipped them off to EatSleepKnit. (Simple + brilliant! Why didn’t I think of this before?) All you need to do is grab your favorite Rainbow Pack and pair it with a pattern.

I named them Rainbow Packs – not because they all contain the traditional rainbow of colors, (Think back to grade school ROYGBIV: red,  orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.) but because I had a rainbow of colors to choose from when I put them together. 14 colors in fact; which is more than double the selection of your traditional rainbow.

Each Rainbow Pack has a different feel and contains a different combination of colors. I carefully selected colors both for overall visual impact and also so that they would provide enough contrast to work well in intricate colorwork.

If you’ve ever worked complex color patterns, you’ll know it’s not an easy thing to do. You must include enough contrast so that the each stitch is clearly visible but with an eye to how all the colors will appear together. If there’s too much contrast you’re garment ends up looking like you randomly selected the component colors without a thought to how the final sweater would turn out. Too little contrast (Hey, all my colors match!) and all the hard work you put into working the intricate pattern fades into the fabric because the individual stitches don’t have enough contrast to draw the eye.

You have two choices in Rainbow Packs from EatSleepKnit: small and large. I like to think of the small one as the “Stripey Sock Pack” because it contains four 1oz skeins, each with lots of contrast. That way you can make the most amazing pair of striped socks you’ve ever seen.

Your second choice is the Large Rainbow Pack; each contains between 5 and 8 full skeins (50 grams each) of Elizabeth Bennet. These are intended for Fair Isle sweaters, hats, or any larger project where 1oz just isn’t enough. The large packs have different moods – some are very bright and cheerful while others are really saturated and regal. All of them are beautiful.

Stop worrying whether your color combination will “turn out” in the end and get yourself a Rainbow Pack. It’s got my dyer (and knitter!) seal of approval.  Your project will look amazing and you will astound your knitting friends and muggles alike with your color genius!

P.S. – Here’s a peek at some of my preliminary color combinations, just in case you’re curious.

Yarn Love: the sock club!

Yep. Finally. It’s been about 5 years, but Yarn Love finally has a sock club. I’m excited, and if chatter on the Ravelry group is any indication, you are too! We’re keeping it as streamlined as possible. You choose your favorite of two colors per month (Yes, you can buy an extra skein or two if you need!) and we send it out 2-3 weeks later. Extra notions, treats and patterns won’t be a regular part of the club. Why? Well, while I absolutely love to shop etsy for fun knit/crochet related goodies, my boss cracks the whip when I spend too long on there. Something about needing to dye yarn. And two, my house is cluttered. No, seriously. Even though I love the extra goodies when I get them, I hardly ever use them….and it’s too wasteful to throw them away….and so they live somewhere in the jumble of my craft closet. So I’m saving you from the same fate. The best part is when you run across that perfect yarn notion on Etsy (because I know you’re going to shop!) you can buy it without guilt since you didn’t already spend that money via the yarn club.

Sign up via Etsy – there are only 15 spots left. We’ll continue to sell memberships until we hit our cap, but I wouldn’t delay too long…..we sold 14 spots yesterday.

P.S. – Do you like that pretty green? So did nearly everyone else who saw it! It’s one of the color choices for March.

Wednesday Morning Randomness

Wednesday Morning Coffee ™

f you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed a recurring theme. Every Wednesday morning, I post about what cup of coffee I’m enjoying. Since I am pregnant, I severely curtail caffeine intake. This puts quite a dent in a coffee lover’s drinking habits, as you might imagine. I limit myself to 3 cups of 100% decaf coffee per week. If you’re also a coffee lover you might be thinking, “What’s the point? Decaf coffee has no FLAVOR!!!!” And in most cases you’d be right. Caffeine is a flavor enhancer, and when removed from products (i.e. Coffee, Coke, etc.) a sensitive nose can literally smell the difference.

Thankfully, about a year ago I got into roasting my own coffee. I’m a bit of a food hedonist – I simply love great food – and do a lot of cooking and baking. (Not to mention brewing my own beer, and roasting my own coffee….) I discovered that you can roast your own coffee beans very easily with only a small investment of $$$. All you really need is a cheap air popcorn popper, a little info on what to look for when you’re roasting coffee, and green beans. The taste difference between freshly roasted beans and the ones you buy in the store is incredible. Almost like a completely different product!

If you want to roast your own coffee or just learn more, go see the great folks over at Sweet Maria’s. They have an amazing amount of information on their site, plus everything you need to roast your own coffee.

New Yarn – just shipped

I have a rather sizeable shipment of yarn going out to EatSleepKnit today. It’s a big box full of Elizabeth Bennet loveliness. Erin and her helpers stock every single color I dye on this spectacular base, so if you’re in the mood for an elegant shawl, sinfully decadent socks, or a whisper light cardigan go see their selection.

Elizabeth Bennet: 65% superwash merino/20% bamboo rayon/15% silk. 50 grams, 195 yards. Fingering weight. Recommended needles US 0-3.

I’m off – to an appointment this morning & then back into the studio to dye yarn this afternoon!