Purple Mustangs, a Book and a Contest

A new book is hitting the shelves today, The Knitter's Guide to Hand-Dyed and Variegated Yarn. Lorna Miser, the founder of Lorna's Laces, is the author. Who better to guide you through how best to knit with these wonderful yarns?

A copy of the book arrived last week and I immediately stopped what I was doing to take a look. Yowsa! The book explores variegated yarn like it's nobody's business. Early on, she shows how different kinds of multi-colored yarns behave and why. Then she walks you through how to work with them to get the results you want. You become the master of your knitting destiny. Pretty cool, yes?

Even better, Lorna Miser and Lorna's Laces got together to create a new colorway for our Color Commentary Series to coincide with the book's release. It's called Lorna's Purple Mustang to pay homage to her vintage '65 Mustang and favorite color. She was even nice enough to design a shawl using the color.



















The Lace Rim Shawl shawl calls for three skeins of our Shepherd Sport and is available for free download at Lorna's website http://www.lornamiserdesigns.com/.

Best part? We are having a giveaway! Leave a comment here and using a random number generator we will select a winner wto receive enough Lorna's Purple Mustang to make the shawl. We'll close the contest at midnight on November 19.

Who's in?

Orchid Thief

I finished my Orchid Thief over the weekend. The pattern calls for 440 yards of a fingering weight yarn but I decided I wanted to bump things up a little and went with our Shepherd Sport. I've been knitting lots of small shawls and socks lately and thought it might be fun to work with a slightly heavier yarn for a change. There were three skeins of our Baltic Sea colorway that jumped right up and said "pick me, pick me!"















The first three charts went really quickly. (There was some errata but it had been identified and posted.) I had some trouble with the transition from the third to fourth chart, but found help on Ravelry and was buzzing right along in no time. I'm still not sure why I got hung up. I usually prefer charts to written instructions but something about that row just didn't click with me. I guess that's why we often see patterns written both ways.

The unblocked shawl was about 41 x 19.















I didn't block it terribly hard and ended up with a finished product that was about 60 x 30. It could have been quite a little bigger if I'd have pushed it. I kind of like the curviness of it this way.














I ended up using about 1/2 of the third ball of yarn...so about 500 yards or so. I'm really liking the squishiness I got with the Shepherd Sport. It's an entirely different end product than I would have gotten had I used Shepherd Sock.

I just really like this photo

How About a Trade?

I went to SOFA over the weekend. SOFA stands for Sculptural Objects and Functional Art. In layman's terms, it's a big fancy pants art fair where most everything is three dimensional. That means you won't find much in the way of paintings and photographs. You will find lots of textiles, glass, ceramics, bronze and wood. I have nothing against painting but I tend to prefer the other things. Makes sense given that I work in yarn.

Most of the art there is way beyond my reach. There was a great bronze of a rabbit skeining yarn into a ball for a mere $15K. I saw several things with price tags that rivaled my mortgage. I'm not complaining, it's always inspiring to see so much great art. But, I don't have any illusions that I was actually shopping. This was more like going to a museum with price tags.

While I was there I got an idea for an art piece. This crazy idea would require lots of buttons. Unfortunately, my button tin doesn't have very many buttons in it.

















My first thought was to start scouring local vintage stores and second hand shops for buttons. And I know I can find plenty on ebay. But it occurred to me that it might be more interesting to see what happened if I just simply asked for them. Community and all.

So, I would like to propose a trade. If you have any buttons you are willing to part with I will send you a Lorna's Laces button.













We have about 85 of them. If you are one of the first 85 people that send buttons, I will send you a button in return.

The address is:

4229 N Honore St
Chicago, IL 60613

Modern Knits Vintage Style

Lately, more books have been coming our way. It used to be that publishers sent us books as a matter of course. Usually because we'd provided yarn for one of the models. Then there was something of a dry spell. We were still sending yarn, but we weren't getting the books. I don't know what changed, but I am thrilled to receiving the sample copies again!

A really wonderful book, Modern Knits Vintage Style, arrived the other day. The concept was pretty darn interesting. The editor, Kari Cornell, asked some of today's finest designers to give new life to classic, vintage patterns using modern yarns and current sensibility. Boy, did they deliver!

There are sweater, skirts, hats, shawls, belts, gloves. You could dress yourself head to toe using patterns from this book.























Franklin created the Jacqueline Bouvier Stole. He was inspired by the veil and dress she wore on her wedding day. It uses a single skein of our Helen's Lace. It's quite elegant in Natural, but would be equally beautiful in any of our colorways.

Steph and Rachel Come to Town

Yesterday was pretty freakin' fantastic.

There was pizza.


















And beer.

















Stephanie Pearl-McPhee took some pictures.

















That Rachel H dyed some yarn.






































A good time was had by all!

Vogue Knitting Holiday 2010

I just got a preview of a sweater that's going to be in Vogue's Holiday issue. It won't be on newsstands until November 9th, but their website has some great stuff.

I particularly like the site's VK 360 feature where the camera pans all the way around the garment so you can see how it really looks and fits. You don't have to wonder if the photo was styled with a bunch of clothespins down the back to make it look nice. They put the model in plain black so you aren't distracted by props and can focus on the garment rather than the cute hat or great belt.Don't get me wrong, I love the styled look the magazine has to offer because it provides fantastic ideas for accessories, but having both the pared down and ramped up versions makes it easier to make good decisions about project selection.

Mari Lynn Patrick designed this beauty from our Shepherd Worsted in 24ns Navy and 38 Mixed Berries. You can't tell from this picture, but there's a really nice button detail that closes the neck in the back. The VK 360 shows it nicely.