Is your color choice influenced by the season?

Do you pick colors based on the season? As I've pulled yarn from restock lists over the past few weeks, I've noticed that we've been selling a LOT of greens, reds, browns, oranges and yellows. And since those colors have been in abundance here in Vermont over the past month, I made the connection that maybe people are buying what they see out in nature? I don't know if it's true of not, but it's my own little study! 

These groupings of yarn were pulled from actual restock lists. So somewhere out there, fall colored items are being made!

Fall inspired colors of Berroco Vintage

Autumnal shades of Berroco Comfort

Plymouth Encore

Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica

Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted

We love it that people are making sweaters, shawls and afghans in fall colors. It's my favorite time of the year in Vermont. How can you look at the foliage and NOT be completely inspired?

Hats, Hats, & More Hats

Hats seem to be a pretty popular project these days, so we thought we'd share some of the ones our customers have been working on.

One fun project is the Fane hat. Customers like this hat because it's lightweight... it's not your traditional worsted or bulky weight head topper. It's great for these cool mornings we've been having lately.  

The Boboli Lace comes in 6 pretty colors and this hat is knit on size 5 needles. It's easy and really cute!

Another project that people are casting on for is the Jenness Hat. We designed this for the new neon colors of Plymouth Encore, but people have made it in a wide variety of yarns, and it looks great in each one! 

You just need two colors of a worsted weight yarn. Try a variegated yarn (like Plymouth Gina or Noro Kureyon) with a solid and you'll love the result. Our Corrugated Rib Hat (another popular hat, free pattern in our shop) shows you what using a variegated yarn as one of your choices would look like.

For those folks who like instant gratification, we've got a great new yarn called Bravo Big. This yarn is available in 6 solid shades and works up quickly on size 15 needles. There's an excellent pattern booklet that has patterns for hats, mittens and other accessories. 

The yarn comes in 200 gram balls, so if you buy even just 2 colors, you can make a number of hats!

Do you like just a bit of colorwork? Then maybe our Mirror Image Hat is a good project choice for you. 

Two skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca will make you two hats! The colorwork is on the brim, and the 2 color braid detail is fun to work. Ultra Alpaca comes in beautiful colors. If you need help selecting two that work together, let us help!

If we've whetted your appetite for hat knitting but you don't see one you here that's quite to your liking, come on in and check out our pattern booklet. We've got many hat samples in the shop, and more patterns in our binders.

Customer Project - Vintage Crochet Blanket

contributed by Shawn


A lovely crochet project came through our doors recently and we wanted to share!

This is a blanket crocheted using Berroco Comfort DK yarn and adapted from a vintage pattern that originally called for crochet thread. The design looks beautiful in the black and white and our customer added tiny rosettes for a finishing touch.

Customer Project - Fun & Bright!

contributed by Shawn

I've always loved the bright fun colors that are available in the Jil Eaton CottonTail Yarn. Seeing them all on the shelf together is an inspirational burst of color for the senses. 

And so is this sweater! One of our customers recently came in to do a bit of shopping for her next project and she was wearing her latest creation incorporating many of the CottonTail colors. 

I love this Trapezoid Pullover that she created using the CottonTail and a Kaffe Fassett pattern. 

Sorry, I didn't catch explicit pattern source details at the time because I was too excited by the actual sweater!

Customer Project - Skylark

We love Rowan Lima yarn because it is so soft and luxuriously squishy. Our customer Lisa stopped by to pick out buttons for her Skylark sweater and it made us swoon. This is going to be a wonderful sweater to cozy into next fall!

Skylark is a lace ribbed cardigan with a soft neckline from Cherished: 21 Designs by Kim Hargreaves.

Chess, Anyone?

contributed by Shawn

I wish I knew a chess enthusiast to entertain with this amazing knitted chess set. 

A customer of ours recently shared these images with us and I just had a chance to take a closer look. The way the figures of the knights are sitting on the horses is amazing!

Ravelry lists the project and it looks like this pattern was published in 2011 in a Simply Knitting pamphlet.

Very cool!

Customer Project - Spotlight on Lang Tosca Light

contributed by Shawn

We recently snapped a photo of a wonderful example of Lang Tosca Light yarn crocheted into a circular shawl. 

Our customer Florence shared this beautiful project with us and said it was created from a vintage (& unidentified) crochet pattern. The Lang Tosca Light yarn shading really is striking.

Lang Tosca Light looks great in knitted projects like this Wonderful Wallaby sweater too! 

Customer Project: Bunny Hop

contributed by Shawn

Knitting At Knoon patterns for knitted toys have always been a hit in the shop. Which one is the most popular? Well that depends upon the age of knitter, the age of the recipient, and the season of the year!

Some of our customers love to make the Safari Friends (African animals)

while others go for Prehistoric Pals (dinosaurs).

And there are quite a few who think the aliens (Take Me To Your Leader) are the coolest, 

and still more who like the Monkey Business patterns. 

And of course, the Snobuddy Family is popular with everyone.

One of our customers, Amy, has knit many of these creatures and recently found another one of Chris de Longpre's patterns - Bunny Hop! This family of rabbits is certainly inspiration for spring :)

We didn't carry this pattern, but keep your eyes open for it. It's on order!