Bella's Mittens

We've been bitten by the Bella's Mitten bug here at The Alpaca Yarn Company. Tasha made a pair in Malabrigo. They were so squishy & yummy, immediate mitten-envy set in and I knew I had to make a pair for myself. The yarn selection was easy, Snuggle is a 55% Alpaca, 15% Wool, 30% Acrylic Bulky blend and was the perfect yarn for this pair of mittens, knitted on size 8 needles. The hard part came in deciding upon the color. I scoured ravelry, trying to decide which color among our 15 choices would best represent the spirit of Bella while maybe having a bit of Angela tossed in as well. I kept going back to our hand dyed colorway "A Knot of Naturals". There was some trepidation as that little voice in my head yelled, "Cables! You can't do a hand dyed with cables! You'll ruin the look of both the yarn and the mittens!" However, the other, louder voice said, "Want! Want! Want!". I am so glad I listened to the greedy voice.

The free pattern is clearly written, and written for magic loop no less, my absolute favorite way in the world to knit. I grabbed a set of bamboo circulars and cast on. I will admit, I'm not a huge fan of k1, p1 ribbing, but it flowed quickly as it was only half of the stitches on the cuff. As I was working the pattern, the cables began to just come to life. They seemed to pop off the mitten and I was quickly & deeply in love. I knitted frantically, wanting to get the first one done in time to take it to my Tuesday morning knitting group at Uncommon Threads, our LYS.

Rather than obscure the cables, as I had feared, the slight variations in the Snuggle set off the cables perfectly, giving them an interest and depth. I got to my knitting group with only the thumb of the first mitten remaining. I wasn't quite sure why the designer had asked me to switch to dpns at this point. I mean my magic loop and I had been humming along quite nicely. I decided to throw caution to the wind and continue with my looping. Okay, truth be told, I don't own size 8 dpns and I wasn't about to go buy a pair just for a thumb. I picked up my thumb stitches. I picked them up quite deeply into the row below, actually, because I feel that this usually gives a bit more substantial thumb and I hate holes in my thumbs, or anywhere, really.

The mittens were immediately declared a success with the entire knitting group trying them on and several folks threatening to kidnap the first while I made the second. There is a slight halo to the mittens which gives them that soft, smooshy, dreamy quality. I am now plugging away at the second mitten, admittedly without as much fervor as the first, but I am determined to get them done before winter is truly over. Looked for finished photos here on the blog soon.

Lace in Interweave Knits, Spring 2009

There are two beautiful new wraps featured in the new Interweave Knits made from Suri Elegance.

The first one, is the Sweet Lily Shawl by Kristin Omdahl.
Here’s your sneak peek…

Done in one skein of Blue Blood Red, this stunning shawl features wedge sections worked in a semi-circle with a Lily of the Valley border and sawtooth edging. Lots more bonus photos can be found on Interweave’s website.

The second is the Float Stole by Melinda C. Hunt.

from the magazine…

From open lace eyelets to horizontal welting, different textures create a surprisingly complex effect with simple patterns.

More photos can be found here.

For these great patterns and more, be sure to grab your copy of IK Spring 2009 when it hits the newstands next week.

Striped Ribbed Pullover

Have you ever seen one of those patterns in Vogue knitting that make you say, "Yeah, but it would never look that good on me." You know the ones; the impossibly beautiful models, with the perfect hair and the tiny waists wearing a belted sweater with horizontal stripes. Perhaps one similar to the Striped Ribbed Pullover. A free pattern from the Vogue Knitting Alpaca Collection, the Stripped Ribbed Pullover is knit from Paca de Seda. And seriously, who doesn't look good in alpaca & silk? Both our sweet friend Ali (right) and ravelry user Tare (below) prove that you don't have to be a vogue model to totally rock this sweater. Maybe you're thinking, yes, but I don't like purple and green? (wait, you don't like purple & green? are you feeling okay? we practically breathe purple & green around here!) Well, if you're in that boat, we've made it super easy for you to have this same look, but in other color palettes as well. For a limited time only we are offering kits on our site! In addition to the original purple & green there is a blue/brass/brown, a collection of naturals and one of blues & greens. Find your favorite and unleash your inner super-model!

Norwegian Mittens in Paca de Seda

Hellllloooooooo! I've missed you, my bloggy friends! I was so sick for the past few weeks, too sick to compose entertaining, informative blog posts, too sick to take care of my home/family/life, heck, even too sick to knit (gasp!)

I was not too sick to browse ravelry though. Wow! We've got some talented members of our Alpaca Yarn Company circle out there! I want to introduce you to some of my new friends & share with you the projects they've made. I've been inspired to queue a stole out of sock yarn, a lace shawl in crimson (I so would have gone with a pastel normally), a fitted sweater and many, many more things.

My current favorite lovely is a pair of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Norwegian Mittens from the book Knitting Around. Made by our friend Amy in the Limeade and Purple Passion colorways of Paca de Seda, our Alpaca/Silk blend. Aren't they stunning! Amy reports that they are soft & smooshy, possibly not the most practical things in the world, but we think they are way up there on the WOW factor scale.

If you would like to share your projects with us, be sure to give us a shout here or on ravelry. We would love to see them!

Spinner - Winners!

Big fuzzy congratulations right off the bat to Beth & her group of York County 4-H spinners, The Fast and the Fibrous!


They garnered second place honors at this year's Fleece to Shawl contest at the PA Farm Show!!! Not only were they the first off the loom, but their shawl sold for $500 at auction! What a wonderful accomplishment -- we are so proud of all of you!

(Beth would be the one without the hat)

Our friend, YarniMarni once again did an amazing job of live blogging during the competition. Visit her site to find out exactly why are girls are in sailor suits & be sure to go give her some comment-love and see the loads of fantastic photos from both the youth Fleece-to-Shawl competition and the open-age Sheep-to-Shawl competition including the pics of the shawl that brought an amazing $3400 at auction! Hats off to all the competitors, team captains, parents and judges for making it such wonderful day. (Angela inserts a special shout-out to her friend, judge Susan Withnell & wants to know how Susan is coming along with her inner-wonky)

If you want to unleash a little of your inner-wonky, you can spin, knit or crochet a piece for an upcoming art exhibit called The Milkweed Project. Visit Stitches and Sticks for more information. I'm thinking of sending in some test crochet & knit samples that I've done over the past few months. And maybe some handspun Paca-Puf in the white color with a little fawn heather blended in as well. Yummy!

Forest Path KAL

Here in South-Central PA we woke up this morning to another of our lovely snow/sleet/freezing rain days. Most of the country gets snow or rain. We seem to live along the perfect "rain-snow" line, where the term "wintery mix" is something we hear weekly from December till March. The bright side of this is that it makes for some lovely pictures. This was what greeted me this morning:I don't know a lot about plants, so I'm not 100% sure, but I think that's one of my azalea bushes. I do know a fair amount about pretty though and these icy days sure do provide us with plenty of pretty.

Days like this are perfect for snuggling in and not moving except to go get more tea and to maybe put another log on the fire. This is also the perfect time for lace knitting. The outside world in on hold and you can devote yourself to a few hours of dedicated knitting time. With that in mind, we thought it would be the perfect time to tell you about a Knit-a-Long going on for the Forest Path Stole.

This is one of our most stunning lace patterns. Its unique construction and varied sections will keep you interested throughout the process. Joining in the KAL will give you support and encouragement plus there are loads of lace knitting experts who can hold your hand along the way. Originally featured in the Interweave Knits Summer 2003 issue, this stole was also selected to be part of the book "Best of Interweave Knits: Our Favorite Designs from the First Ten Years". The pattern can also be purchased online.

So, if (like me) you've always wanted to knit this stole but were afraid to jump in, the start of 2009 seems like a perfect time to warm up those needles and join in the fun.

Sharing the good stuff

Okay, so it's the first Monday of the new year and the time for slacking off is officially over. Not that Tasha & Beth have been slacking -- they've been working like maniacs getting ready for TNNA and The PA Farm Show, both coming up in the next two weeks. I however have been slacking just a little bit from my bloggy-type duties. However, rest assured, I will make it up to you this week with all sorts of fun and informative postings.

It occurred to me that I never even shared with you our favorite fibery Christmas gifts. Mine was such an easy decision for Beth, I may as well just have grabbed a sharpie and written "I want this della q bag for Christmas" on my forehead. When we went to Stitches East with our LYS, Uncommon Threads, I just kept going on and on (and on) about the della q bags we had brought with us to sell. I especially fell in love with this one and wouldn't you know, Beth was so smart, she managed to sneak it out of the 'return' pile after the show and it magically appeared under the Christmas tree for me. I LOVE it!!! It's the perfect size for a pair of socks or the Suri Chic Jabot that I am getting ready to cast on using some Suri Elegance yarn that Santa brought. Uncommon Threads has lots of other fantastic della q bags in stock, along with those nifty new interchangeable needle cases that everyone is raving about. Give them a call and they will be happy to hook you up with the best goodies.

Tasha had an excellent Christmas. For starters she got the hottest spinning wheel on the market today, the Schacht Ladybug. I'll admit it, I might have a tiny bit of wheel envy (just don't tell my Lendrum DT, I wouldn't want her to get jealous). Tasha says the ladybug spins like a dream. All I know is that it has the cute factor down pat. I love the idea of the built in lazy-kate. That's the one feature that my Lendrum doesn't have. Maybe I can convince Tasha to bring it into the warehouse for some show & tell next week.

When I asked Beth about her best fibery Christmas gift she laughed and told me that her family seems convinced that she needs to spend more time in the kitchen. Her gifts were all kitchen related. Nice gifts, but yeah, they are still not fibery fun. Beth did however get to play Santa in the best kind of way. Remember how I said Tasha had an excellent Christmas? You haven't even heard the most awesome part. Tasha's husband made arrangements to have Beth deliver a new alpaca on Christmas morning. No, he did NOT go under the tree, but Beth said the look on Tasha's face was priceless when she was drug out to the barn by her family to see her newest pet, Justin Time. Justin is quite the handsome man & is the perfect addition to Tasha's family.

We hope you had the most wonderful of holidays and we look forward to an exciting 2009!