New Free Pattern - Swizzle Beanie & Handwarmer Set

As our early holiday gift to you, our wonderful customers, we wanted to give you a fun new pattern. Our fantastic color artist, Tasha Poe has come up with an adorable winter set made out of our newest yarn, Swizzle. Swizzle is a beautiful tonal alpaca that is handdyed by Tasha herself. Now I will be the first to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of yellow yarn. I'm not sure why, but yellow scares me just a little bit. But when I saw the colorway Goldenrod I think I may have swooned. It is so deep and rich with shades ranging from honey to tobacco to the warm golden shades of Glenfiddich that is sitting right here beside me as I type this. As usual, all the colors are amazing, but my favorites are Goldenrod and Sugar Rose. Tasha's set is made in Sugar Rose and knits up quickly enough that you can still whip a set up in time for holiday gift giving. One skein of Swizzle is enough for both the beanie & the wristwarmers.

Today we will post the Beanie pattern and tomorrow will finish off with the wrist warmers. And be sure to send us pics of your FOs -- we love to see them!

Ridged Beanie

LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE
Advanced Beginner

SIZE
Beanie: 16” circumference – un-stretched

MATERIALS
SWIZZLE by The Alpaca Yarn Company 100% hand dyed alpaca 3.5 oz (100g) hank = approx 215 yds per 50 gm ball Shown in #03 Sugar Rose – 1 hank

Needles: US #5 (3.75 mm) 16” circular and double point needles

Notions: Stitch Markers, Tapestry Needle

Gauge: 6 st per inch in Ridge pattern

Techniques & Special Stitch Instructions:
Ridge Pattern
Round 1: * [P1, K2], repeat from * around.
Round 2: Repeat round 1.
Round 3: Repeat round 1.
Round 4: Purl every stitch.

Beanie
Cast on 96 sts on circular needles. Place marker and join into a round. Work in Ridge pattern for 5”, ending after round 4. Change to DP needles when necessary.

Decreases
Round 1: *[P1, K2tog, P1, K2], repeat from * around. (80 sts)
Round 2: *[P1, K1, P1, K2], repeat from * around.
Round 3: *[P1, K1, P1, K2tog], repeat from * around. (64 sts)
Round 4: Purl every stitch.
Round 5: *[K1, P1, K2tog], repeat from * around. (48 sts)
Round 6: *K1, P1, K1], repeat from * around.
Round 7: *[K1, K2tog], repeat from * around. (32 sts)
Round 8: Purl every stitch.
Round 9: *[K2tog], repeat from * around. (16 sts)
Round 10: Knit every stitch.
Round 11: *[K2tog], repeat from * around. (8 sts)

Cut a tail approximately 8” long. Thread yarn on tapestry needle and draw through stitches still on needles and pull tight. Bring yarn to inside and fasten. Weave in ends.

And for those of you wondering about the last two winners of the Name that Yarn contest, worry not, winning names will be revealed on Monday. That means if you haven't gotten your entries (up to 3 per person, please) submitted yet, you still have a little more time to dazzle us with your creativity. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the winners as well as for the wrist warmer pattern.

More winners!!!

There is nothing more fun then making people happy (well, at least not here in blog-land) and I am lucky enough that I get to make two more people a little more gleeful today.

Our winners for Color #7 in the Name That Yarn contest was Carla with her suggestion of Peony Patch. I'll admit, I was secretly rooting for this one. When I was a little girl my grams had peony bushes (although she called them "pineys" -- I never understood that one) anyway, I thought they were the most beautiful, wonderfully scented flowers in the world and I desperately wanted a bouquet of them when I grew up and got married. It was only later that I discovered that they were opened by ants (ick!). And that you can't really get them in the Caribbean (where I tied the knot), so I was out of luck. But I've never stopped loving the flower and someday I'll get around to planting some in my flower beds. Congrats Carla for the great color name! We love it!!!

Not to be outdone, BlackCatYarnThief submitted the name Mermaids Go Walking. What a beautiful image this conjures up in my mind. It is absolutely perfect for this colorway, perfect for sock yarn and somehow it makes me love it just a little bit more.

If you are one of our winners and we haven't contacted you yet about where to send your prize, be sure to shoot us a quick email with your address to info@thealpacayarnco.com. Congratulations to our winners and be sure to get your entries in for the last two colors before Saturday! Good Luck!!!

Cynthia's Snuggle Bunny

From time to time we want to feature you, our customers and the awesome finished objects you are making using Alpaca Yarn Company patterns and yarns. This week we want to introduce you to Cynthia, owner of Nightingale Fibers. We fell in love with Cynthia's Blanket Buddy made from Snuggle when we saw it on Ravelry. The pattern is by Mary Anne Thompson and can be found in 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. When I asked Cynthia to tell us a little bit more about herself & her adventures, here's what she had to say:

I am a nurse midwife who has been knitting since about the age of 7. My company, Nightingale Fibers, grew out of my love of knitting and alpacas. I hope one day to not only have a small alpaca farm but a “bricks and morter” store. Right now I am continuing to work full time as a midwife and to develop my business. I hope to add more products, especially more yarns and local crafts of interest to knitters and spinners.
I love Snuggle for baby/childrens things. It knits up fast and is super soft. I actually love all of The Alpaca Yarn Co yarns. Have knitted lots with Classic (I am making a Log Cabin Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting with Classic now). I just received my first order of Swizzle that I am anxious to knit something with (as soon as we get power back on in NH!)

No power in New Hampshire! Yikes!!! Obviously Cynthia is made of that hearty New England stock. If our power went out I'd be whining for days. Wait, now that I think about it, no power would mean guilt-free knitting & crocheting time though, wouldn't it? Hmmmm, let me think about this a bit longer. No, on second thought I believe I deal with the guilt in exchange for heat & light. But more power to you, Cynthia (no pun intended) -- we can't wait to see that Log Cabin Blanket!

If you would like to have your FOs featured, be sure to give us a shout! We love seeing what you're making!

Color #10 NAMED: My Darkest Secrets

Wow, I can't believe this is it -- the tenth and final colorway in our Name That Yarn contest. I'm almost a little sad, because we've had so much fun with this over the last two weeks. This is another one of my personal favorites, although seriously, there isn't a bad colorway in the bunch, if you ask me. I'm sure you know all the rules by now, but if you are new to the blog or need a refresher, you can find them here.

So get those suggestions in to us and be sure to subscribe to our blog via our RSS feed if you haven't already (easy to do using the links on the right side of this page). Just because this contest is coming to a close doesn't mean the fun is going to stop. We will be having other great contests and giving away more free stuff. Plus later this week we will have our first customer profile, our first free pattern featuring our favorite new hand dyed yarn, Swizzle and lots more great reasons to stick around.

But for now, you've got work to do! We can't wait to see your suggestions!

Color #9 NAMED: Kaleidosock

Here we go Paca-Peds fans, colorway #9 in the Name That Yarn contest. Looking out my window the only three colors I can see are green (pine trees), brown (other trees) and white (snow & sky). Then I get to look at this pretty color burst on my monitor and I can't help but be a bit more cheerful. Just like before, tell us up to three suggestions for what you would like to see this colorway named and if we select yours, a skein of this yumminess will be coming your way. Official contest end date is 12/20, although I'll be honest, with it being the last weekend before Christmas we might cut you a little slack and push that deadline out a bit. We'll be sure to give you a heads-up on Plurk & Twitter before closing the contest out, so if you aren't following us yet, be sure to add us to your friends.

Have fun naming & GOOD LUCK!!!

But wait, there's more!

More winners! Woo-hoo for winners!!! Big congrats go out to Munkiknits and KnittingDodo for their Paca-Peds winning entries.

Munkiknits came up with Pacaccino, the perfect name for the creamy brown color that I just want to dive into. Of course, now I want to name the next alpaca that's born Al Pacaccino. Something tells me I'm going to get overridden on that one.

KnittingDodo came up with the adorable (if slightly edited) name Frog & Piggy. You can't help but smile when you think of those two. Hmmm, I wonder if instead of Al Pacaccino I could get away with naming one of the alpacas Kermit or Miss Piggy??? Yeah, I know, probably not.

Thanks to all who submitted entries they were all fabulous and this job is not getting any easier. I just took a peek at the suggestions for colors 7 & 8 and you guys are an inspiration. Keep them coming and congrats again to our winners!!!

Color #8 NAMED: Mermaids Go Walking

This is another one of my very favorite new colors of Paca-Peds. I can't wait to knit this one up -- I'm thinking little boy socks and mittens. Although a nice pair of mommy socks would look pretty good too. Hit us with your best skein names between now and Wednesday.

I don't know about you guys, but I can't believe we on have one more set of colors after these two. This contest has been so much fun and we have loved getting to know so many new friends. And for those who have asked, the new colorways are shipping out to your LYSs next week. If they haven't gotten them in yet or if your LYS doesn't carry Alpaca Yarn Company yarns (gasp!), let us know and we will be sure to contact them. You can always reach us by email, info@thealpacayarnco.com or here on the blog. Happy naming!!!