Customer Project - Mr. Greenjeans

Elyse -- one of our online customers -- sent us photos of a wonderful finished sweater!

This is Mr. Greenjeans by Amy Swenson, published as a free pattern in Knitty, Fall 2007.

 What an amazing fit, and the color is a knockout!

I love the beautiful cabled & rib border. Elyse used Tilli Tomas Pure & Simple yarn in the Ruby Wine colorway. Thanks for sharing!

Manos Fino Yarn

We recently met with our Manos sales rep and saw two brand new Manos yarns. Did we order both? Well, of course. You know we love Manos - from worsted weights Wool Clasica & Maxima, to the lighter-weights Silk Blend & Serena, to the laceweight Lace. And now we'll have two more additions to the Manos team!

Last week we received Manos Fino, a lighter-weight silk and merino wool blend that knits at 6-7 stitches to the inch. 

We've got 6 colors in stock with two more on the way shortly. This yarn comes in subtle tonal colors and it's absolutely gorgeous. I'm trying to pick a shawl/scarf pattern. Each skein has 490 yards, so I'm liking it for one skein projects!

We've got the Manos Alegria on order too. This is a new hand painted sock yarn and the colors are super fun! We'll let you know when it arrives. It's sure to make a splash!

New Manos Shipment

We just received a shipment from Manos the other day with some gorgeous new colors of Serena and Manos Lace. These are two yarns we sell a LOT of, and we always love bringing in new colors!

We got 4 new colors of Manos Lace. This yarn is perfect for the Featherweight Cardigan, the Wispy Cardigan or the Faceted Gems Lace Wrap.

And we got 7 new colors of Serena, and now offer a total of 26 colors (16 semi solids and 10 multis). I just LOVE the combination of these new shades. 

Need a project idea?  Serena is perfect for the Signs of Spring Cowl, the Citron Shawl and the Moore Sweater. 

Stay tuned... our next post will be about the new Manos YARN that we just received. Patience, patience! We are still working on the photographs. It's worth the wait!

Organic Cotton for Baby

You already know we've received Classic Elite Seedling in the hand painted colors, but I wanted to share with you my experience with this yarn.

I'm not a big cotton fan. I always have to go down at least 2 needle sizes to get gauge with cotton yarns. This isn't such a big deal - I mean the number of stitches you are knitting on, whether you are using an 8 or a 6, is the same. But what makes it less-than-enjoyable for me, is the pain I feel in my hands when I'm knitting cotton on a small needle. And now that I've hit my mid-40's I'm feeling every ache and pain. Why give myself more pain if I can avoid it?

But I was in the shop after Christmas and I was looking at some of the new yarns we've received for spring. I pulled a skein of each of the new hand painted Seedlings from the shelf, and was amazed at how soft they were! For some reason, I always thought this yarn had a rougher feel to it. I was so wrong!

We used to sell some similar looking cotton yarns with nubbly textures like this and they were, indeed, rougher to the touch. That must have been what I was thinking about when I was "imagining" the hand of the Seedling. Luckily my imagination has now been replaced with a wonderful reality. This is some seriously smooth and soft fiber.

I pulled a copy of the new Yankee Knitter Baby Sweaters, Hats & Blankets #31 pattern and grabbed 3 skeins of color #4566 Lei. It's fun combination of pink and orange with a hint of avocado green thrown in! From the pattern, I chose to make the sweater: a super simple top down raglan cardigan. The thing I liked the best was that when you finished the yoke, the pattern tells you to work the sleeves FIRST, before the body. What's so smart about this? Well, it eliminates stitch holders, for one. And two? You can work the entire piece on a straight needle. Smart thinking!

I whipped up the size 3-6 month sweater in no time, and was pleased to discover that to get gauge, I only had to drop one needle size. My hands are pain free, too! I started the hat this morning and it should be finished soon.

And... if you like hand paints, there are some great colors from which to choose:

New Year, New Project, New Colors

I hope 2013 is off to a great start for everybody! Sorry for the blog silence - holiday travel this year was hectic and once it was over, it took a while to figure out what state/country/time zone I was in!

When I was at the shop after Christmas I fell in love with one of our latest samples. The Macrame Scarf (find the free pattern through this link) is knit with just 2 skeins of Araucania Lontue, and it's a truly beautiful piece. (Shown below in color: Lime Yellow.)

I love how it's big enough to be draped over the shoulders and worn as a shawl, but scrunchy enough to be doubled up and worn as a scarf. The stitch is reminiscent of macramé, and the fringe is super cool!

The Lontue is a hand dyed blend of linen and cotton and is perfect for year round wear. Our e-newsletter last week featured this piece, and I guess I wasn't alone in loving it! We sold out of all colors of the yarn!

Don't worry, 2 are back in stock (Lime Yellow and Fire Fly) and on Friday we received 2 brand new colors: Olive Blue Denim and Lavendar Olive Violet. All colors are on order and will be back in stock shortly. 

If any of you took advantage of the special price on Lontue last week, and are making this shawl, please send us pictures!