Masham Worsted

In light of Clara Parkes glowing review yesterday, I thought y'all might like a little more eye candy today. We have a new yarn, Masham Worsted. It's a blend of 70% British Wool and 30% Masham Wool. What's a Masham you ask?

That is a Masham. If you look up "ram" in the dictionary, I'm pretty sure this is the picture you'll find. Could he be any more handsome? The entry might also look something like this.

Anyway, I fell in love with this yarn the minute I saw it. I should probably back up a little. As a yarn company owner, mill reps come to visit me and try and sell me yarn. One day, this rep and I got to talking about what other kinds of wools we might work with. Merino is lovely and all, but there's a big world of other breeds out there. I'd purchased our BFL, Haymarket, from him last year and I wanted to explore the idea a little further.

He told me about Mashem and I was intrigued. One of the things that intrigued me the most was when he told me that different wools behave differently in the dyepots. Looky what it does.

Pretty cool, right? Here's another.

He made a few samples and sent them over. We fiddled and played and decided on a nice heavy worsted weight. This yarn is about 170 yards per 100gr hank.

It's shipping out to yarn stores now. Bristol Ivy's Wainright is magnificent.

So is Amy Herzog's Harrogate.

This yarn is lovely. Just lovely.

Memory Lane

The other day, I sent an email to my childhood next door neighbors, Ann and Ashley. I hadn't seen or talked to them in ages but I needed to get them information about my mom's burial. As I was typing I looked over at my keys. They were sitting right next to the keyboard on my desk.

I smiled. Ann and Ashley gave me that key ring on my 16th birthday and I've been using it ever since. I can't believe I've never lost it. 

Sure hope that's not a big jinx. 

Leverage

Boy have I been remiss!  It's been over a month since I visited with you here on the blog. It's not that I haven't been thinking of you, I think of you every single day. But then so many days went by and I was afraid to write. You might be mad. A girl isn't going to go out on a date unless you call by Wednesday and so many Wednesdays have come and gone I thought you'd never speak to me again.

But then I figured I might have something you'd want. Something that you'd be so happy to see that you wouldn't mind if I hadn't called. Something like tickets to the hottest concert in town. Or that dinner reservation that no one can ever score. Leverage so to speak. What is this leverage you ask? Let's start with new colors!

We did eight new colors this season and they are shipping out the door every single day. We named this season's colors after Chicago suburbs or nearby towns. Would you like to go on a tour with me?

The first is Buffalo Grove. It's just a little northeast of the city. This nearly-solid color is reminiscent of good butter. The fancy kind you buy for those special recipes when it's really going to matter. Like the cookies I made for you today.

Next up is DuPage. DuPage is the county just to the west of Cook County. Chicago is in Cook County. It's a tonal multi based on shades of periwinkle. Soft and pretty.

Then we come to Galena, a town on the western edge of Illinois, right on the Mississippi River. It has one of those downtown districts that picture postcards are made of.The color is a dusty rose tonal multi.

Let's visit Glen Ellyn now. It's a village in DuPage county. It reminds me very much of the town I grew up in. The color is fresh and springy. For sure a neutral baby color.

Let's head over to Naperville. It's always making Money magazine's list of top 10 best places to live in the U.S. But they don't brag about it. That's just the kind of folks they are. It's a nice denim-y blue tonal multi that would go with just about anything.

Are you up for a drive to Northbrook? There's a great mall there. We could do some shopping and then maybe head to a movie? This is a classic Lorna's Laces multi color with cool blue and soft brown and a killer hit of acid. Yum!

Maybe we should head south for a bit. How does Shorewood sound? It's just far enough from the city to feel like you're getting away, but close enough to get downtown easily if you'd like. The cool blues and greys of this color are soothing.

The last stop on our tour today is St. Charles. This is another of those darling towns with main drag full of wonderful shops and restaurants and a river walk to stroll on after dinner. Lovely. The color is fun with verve and pop!

So, do you forgive me? Can I write to you again? Maybe I could even hold your hand?