Yarn is Magic

From time to time, we get a note from a customer that makes all of us stop dead in our tracks. This was one of them. Please pass the tissues.

Dear Lorna's Laces, 

My friend finds herself in the same scary situation we did a few  years ago… Her son is coming 8 weeks early with complications and they're just not ready yet. I knew how much she wanted to knit her son a Wool Leaves, so I hightailed it to my LYS, Fibre Space, and bought 3 hanks of Shepherd Worsted in Fjord. One 16-hour car ride this past weekend later and a lot of knitting time and I have a blocked blanket, ready for today's emergency c-section.

Knitting with that yarn was a joy. I don't know how I forgot how soft and wonderful it is. I thought of you guys doing your thing at Lorna's Laces, my friend's scary situation, flashbacks from our month at the NICU and hoping we'd all make it out of there alive and put so much of myself emotionally into this blanket. The yarn choice was PERFECT (she wanted a "soft, washable, gray blue") and I can't wait until they can bring him home wrapped up in it.

Please give every awesome person at Lorna's Laces a hug from me. It was the perfect yarn for the perfect project. A very emotional knit.

Hope you are all well!

Downton

If you know me at all, you know that I am woefully uniformed when it comes to pop culture. I'm so bad that I haven't watched a single episode of Breaking Bad. Or Downton Abbey. I hear they are both all the rage.

I wish I could say I spend my time reading lofty novels or volunteering at the local animal shelter, but that's just not true. I spend too much of my TV time watching other people cook and decorate their homes. Every once in awhile I get fancy and rent a romantic comedy from Netflix. Oh yeah, we live large. 

The other day I saw a copy of Interweave's Unofficial Downton Abbey Knits.  It's styled in a very retro fashion, but there are a ton of patterns that are really current if you wear them with today's sensibility. Just think about this dress over a pair of leggings or skinny jeans with boots. (This isn't our yarn, but you could easily substitute Shepherd Sock or Solemate.)

This little short sleeved top would be all that and a bag of chips if you slipped it on over a tank and added tights and a chunky heel.

This men's sweater is our yarn. It's combo of Shepherd Worsted and Pearl. It's called the Footman's Vest. You can't take the model home, but I think it'd be swell on a casual office day.

Amanda's husband Derek almost always wears a bow tie to work on Fridays. He'd look dreamy in this. 

The Davenport Collection

Awhile back, our good friend Laura Chau came to us with the idea of doing a collection of patterns in Lorna's Laces yarns. We said "Yes, please!!"  (There were more exclamation points around here, but they'd take up too much space in this newsletter.)

We knew they be good, but these beat our expectations! It's a sweet little collection. Two pullovers, a cardi, a shawl and an infinity scarf. It kinda hits all the bases. The patterns are available through Ravelry and if you buy three or more, you get a 25% discount.

So, without further ado, the Davenport Collection.

First up is Borden, the infinity scarf. This is knit from two skeins of Shepherd Worsted. It's shown here in 23ns Berry. The unusual lace pattern look different and beautiful on both sides.

Next is Elston, a seamless raglan worked from the bottom up. The lace panel in the back gives it a bit of a swing.  That lace is repeated along the front bands. It's knit in our Sportmate and is shown here in 59ns Dobson.

This cozy v-neck seamless sweater is worked in Haymarket, Lorna's Laces latest yarn. It's a single ply Bluefaced Leicester.Sizes for Henwick run from 30"-76" so there's a fit there for all of us!

 

Snuggle up with Lansdowne  for the long winter ahead. This beauty is also knit from Haymarket. It has Latvian braid trim and slip stitch shaping. The color combos are endless! And again, Laura provides a full range of sizing.

You can knit Terauley from just one skein of Shepherd Sock. Here it is in 7ns Cedar.

I haven't quite decided whether Terauley or Lansdowne should be up next for me. I've still got the Rhinebeck sweater to get finished before we head to NY next week. Yikes!

I'm trying to figure out the theme behind the names. Let's make that into a little contest. Reply with your answer until midnight on October 10th. I'll use the random number generator to pick the winner of a skein of yarn to make Terauley on Friday.