Nymphalidea Shawl... what yarns will you make yours in?

Everyone here at Kaleidoscope Yarns knits a lot. But we're all different people. We like different things, different fibers and different types of knitting, so it's rare that we ever make the same thing as someone else who works here.

But when Barb and I were looking at Knitty Issue 45 last week, we both fell in love with the Nymphalidea Shawl. It's a pretty simple pattern, and easy to memorize, so that mindless kind of knitting certainly appeals to us, since it's always good to have at least one mindless project in the works. 

photo courtesy of Knitty.com

And we just love combining a solid yarn with a variegated yarn. Like my recently finished Dreambird shawl...

Dreambird Shawl in Ella Rae Lace Merino (solid) and Noro Silk Garden Sock

And who doesn't love a long semi-triangular shawl shape that can be worn draped around (and around) your neck, adding style to your outfit while being comfortable and warm to wear? The Nymphalidea is more than appealing.

So we immediately began the yarn selection process. For solids, we looked at all available fingering weight yarns in the shop, but narrowed it down to the Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine and the Frog Tree Pediboo. For the multi colored yarn, we agreed that this shawl would be best with a yarn that had some sort of repeat (like stripes) as opposed to just a hand dyed variegated. Our top choices were Lang Mille Colori Socks & Lace, Skacel Zauberball, and Lang Magic.

There were so many options! Barb chose a black Ultra Alpaca Fine and a Mille Colori Socks & Lace and got started on hers right away. It's going to be beautiful!

I picked a gorgeous brown shade of Pediboo and also went with the Mille Colori Socks & Lace. I was finishing up my Remix sweater last week so didn't get started on mine until last night. I'm going to love it, I can already tell.

What yarn (and in what colors!) will you make yours in?

Washable Mohair Blend

Are you a mohair knitter? Some of our customers, though they love to work with different fibers, are drawn to mohair yarns. And this new mohair from Lang is one that's already been noticed by these knitters.

Lang Odeon is a super soft and light bulky mohair blend - and it's machine washable! It creates a beautiful fabric when knitted alone, but would also be perfect mixed with other yarns (like Berroco Boboli or Manos Silk Blend Multi) in accessories or throws. Come in and check it out!

New Sock Yarn with a Touch of Attitude

One of our favorite sock & shawl yarns is now available with a bit of glitz! Introducing Mille Colori Socks & Lace LUXE by Lang. 

This yarn has always been a great choice for socks - of course - but recently many customers have been using it for shawls and scarves. Here's a Multi Directional Scarf made in shade 53:

The original sock colors are beautiful, and so are the 4 new Luxe shades! These new colors also stripe, but are a bit more subtle than the originals.

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! 

Favorite new yarn

contributed by Emily

Almost eight years ago Debbie Stoller came out with her second book, Stitch ‘n’ Bitch Nation. And for eight years, I’ve been waiting for the perfect yarn to make the Russian Winter hat – the one with bear ears, of course!

Well, it finally arrived! It’s the new yarn by Lang called Felice, and it is perfect. 

I hope the coming winter is more winter-y than last year’s, or this warm and fuzzy hat might be overkill!

Top rated 1 skein project

If you're on our email list, you'll know that we highlighted and discounted 12 projects last week that take just 1-2 skeins of yarn. Because it's almost mid-July, we picked projects that were quick, easy and lightweight, and that means perfect for summer!

Based on the response to our email, by FAR the crowd favorite is the Multi Directional Scarf. I'm not surprised! This scarf was so easy and fun to make. Short rows are simple (don't be scared if you haven't tried them!) and the yarn is just lovely. It's garter stitch - so, easy - and I had such a hard time putting it down. I'd say to myself (and to my family, waiting for me to put down the knitting) "Just one more short row!" and then "Just until I get to the next color" and finally "Just one more triangle!" Needless to say, I annoyed them to no end, but I finished the scarf pretty quickly.

I think that with all the self striping yarns that are available, this is the perfect project to have in progress at ALL times. For my next one, I'll probably choose another color of the Lang Mille Colori Socks & Lace like Lime, Aqua, Tan & Grey:

or I'll use the Lang Jawoll Magic in Red, Pink, Orange & Green:

or a stripey, yet neutral one in Schoppel Wolle Zauberball in the color Neutrals:

It was so chilly here in Finland yesterday (in the 50s and rainy and windy!) that Helen begged to wear it.

Now it's on it's way back to the states with my aunt who was visiting for a week. Be sure to check it out in the shop later this month!

Are your hands cold yet?

It is officially fingerless mitts weather here in Vermont and boy do our customers agree! By far the most popular quick-knit project this past weekend in the shop was fingerless mitts.

Our newest fingerless mitt pattern Cabin Fever's Shirl's Mittlets has been flying out the door. This project looks great in a variety of yarns, but most of us are opting for the sparkly Lanalux by Lang.

Coming in a close second is the versatile Fits Like A Glove pattern by Nancy Lindberg. (Not online yet, should be soon!) This one let's you choose your style - including an option for a mitten flap to wear when it is just too chilly for gloves. I would love this pattern out of the Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light, but I've also been thinking about Debbie Bliss Rialto DK because it's machine washable.

Wondering how you can get into the action with a pair of your own fingerless mitts? Sign up for our Fingerless Mitts class on Saturday, October 23rd. We'll even help you tackle double pointed needle knitting for the first time!

For those of you who have never knit a hat in the round or want to learn how to knit socks, this is also a great class for you because you will have the chance to knit in the round on double points and can easily transfer this skill to other great projects.

Bling!

Last week's rain left me feeling a little "blah". I decided I need a little pick-me-up.

As my 16 year old daughter will verify, I do not have a flashy wardrobe. To combat the rainy weather blues, I decided to add a little bling to my wardrobe. But, I still wanted to stay within my comfort zone.

I grabbed a new pattern, Shirl's Mittlets by Cabin Fever, and a fun sparkly yarn, with just the right amount of flash, Lanalux by Lang. The pattern is great - it covers fingering, dk, worsted and aran weight! And I chose one of the new jewel tones.

The result: surprisingly soft hand warmers with just enough glitter to make me (and everyone who has seen them!) smile. And my daughter approves!

More Fruity Preparations

So I've been challenged to come up with a new fruit hat. I'm in planning stages at this point. Here are the materials: Spud & Chloe Sweater in Grass & Rootbeer and the light brown is Lang Alpaca Superlight. Yep, these are indeed for a fruit. Can you guess what kind?

Just to make it more interesting I have to do a reversible hat. Ok, I don't HAVE to, but that was a part of the challenge...

I think that the mohair-like appearance of the Alpaca Superlight will make a great carry-along with the darker Rootbeer Spud & Chloe for the skin of this reversible KIWI. Now to the drawing and swatching board... Keep watch, with any luck there will be sucess before fall.

I promise to try and keep good pattern notes for those of you feeling fruity!

Manic-In Monday

There's a TWIST to this week's outfit! It's called a mobius. Have you ever joined your stitches in the round with an un-intentional twist? Well, for this cowl, the twist is intentional - it's what makes it spectacular!

This week's outfit highlights a great cotton sweater and this beautiful mobius cowl, done in a self striping yarn. Both of these pieces can be worn year round. Sweater: White Rock Lake Sweater knit with Tahki Mia cotton yarn. Pattern is in the Terra Collection Urban Organics booklet.
Cowl: One skein of Lang Jawoll Magic yarn and the pattern is free.

Manic-in Monday

This week's sweater uses an incredible yarn that is often overlooked. Here's the description from the manufacturer's website:

A shining jewel in the fall line, this single ply Peruvian wool and Tencel blend is a lightweight affordable luxury. With generous yardage and a silk-like gleam, this yarn boasts a striking palette and soft hand.

We couldn't agree more! It's lightweight, it's got a whopping 197 yards, it's incredibly soft, and it has the most beautiful gleam... If you're not up for making a sweater right now (though this one is SO cute!) go to ravelry and check out all the projects people have made with this yarn. Hats, scarves, shawls, toys, gloves, bags, you name it! Seeing what other folks have made with a yarn is really inspiring. Check it out!

Sweater: Lexeme Cardigan from Berroco Book 289: Lustra knit with Berroco Lustra yarn
Scarf: Gorgeous lace scarf - lightweight, yet warm. Knit with Lang Alpaca Superlight (this is machine washable!) from the Fiber Trends Oak Leaf & Acorn Scarf Pattern AC#41
Bag: Offhand Designs Gatsby Bag in the beautiful Plaza fabric

Manic-in Monday

It's becoming the norm to post Manic-in Monday outfits on Tuesdays. That's because Mondays are truly MANIC in the shop, and yesterday was no exception! There's always a post-holiday buzz down in the shop, and when we have yarns on sale online, shipping is hopping all day.

We had the most gorgeous dumpage of snow this weekend. At my house in Williston, we had about 6" during the day Saturday, with another 18" overnight, and it continued throughout the day Sunday, giving us at least another 6-8" bringing the total to over 30"! Lots of snow means lots of shoveling, and many of us are still feeling the effects of all that snow clearing in our aching arms, shoulders and backs.

I wasn't sure what our mannequin would be wearing when I arrived at the shop yesterday morning, but I was pleased to see that she followed up her fancy-pants outfit from last week with more sensible handknits, that are perfect for the task-at-hand... shoveling.

She chose a timeless sweater that shows she's a true Vermonter (yay, Green Mountain Spinnery!) and some warm felted mitts and a super thick earflap hat. She's proof that you can look great even while doing the most mundane of chores.

Sweater: Retro Ribbed Pullover pattern from Green Mountain Spinnery, knit in Green Mountain Spinnery Sylvan Spirit yarn (kit here)

Hat: Fiber Trends Snowboarder Hat knit (double stranded) in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky and Lang Mille Colori Big yarns (kit here)

Mitts: Fiber Trends Snow Country Felted Mitten pattern knit with Noro Kochoran

Shovel: Garant Alpine Series snow shovel, available at your local Aubuchon

This sounds complicated...

It happened again. I bought more sock yarn. We got a great new bamboo blend sock yarn in the shop - Lang Bambus. It is a self patterning yarn and one of the colors is reds, oranges, and yellows...so the Bambus went home with me and now I have two sock projects even though I do not normally knit socks...

But now I am knitting socks again...

In the past I've been frustrated by small double pointed sets of needles so I decided to teach myself knitting socks on two circular needles. Since I sometimes have trouble with second sock syndrome, I also decided to teach myself knitting two socks at a time...on two circular needles.

And as if that weren't enough to learn, I also decided to teach myself knitting socks from the toe up...two socks time...on two circular needles. (This way my socks will match and be the exact same length!)

Of course a bonus of the Bambus sock yarn is that reinforcement thread comes with it (in the exact same color and pattern as the yarn). It sounds like my sock problem may be getting out of control.

So far I've managed a seamless toe cast on. I've practiced this twice because at first the toes were much too pointy so I started over. Now they're more square, but I'm not going to frog again. When I look at my other socks they are not that pointy either so I think these will be fine. Now I just need to come to grips with the afterthought heel - I've never done that before either!