New Yarn from Pagewood Farm

We were thrilled that our customers liked the super bulky wools we brought in from Pagewood Farm this past fall and winter. The Bouquet is fun because it has little wool flower "bouquets" tied around the yarn. You can slide them along as you go to force them to be in one particular part of your knitting, or you can let them "bloom" naturally.

Bouquet

Glitterati really packed a punch! This wool has got it all: ribbons, beads AND sequins. We saw some crazy cool scarves made with this yarn this winter. It's currently out of stock but we will be bringing it back for fall.

Glitterati

The Plumes was also a favorite. Our one skein skinny scarf in the shop was an attention grabber. This scarf was easy and quick to make and people just loved the feathers. Each time I wore my scarf people would stop me and ask me about it. 

Plumes

We just brought in the Brissa which is adorned with ostrich feathers. In fact, it's got SO many little ostrich feathers that completely removing the background in Photoshop was too difficult!

Brissa

It is amazing. It's got these teeny, soft ostrich feathers that just love a little breeze! Imagine how lovely this would feel (and look!) with a gorgeous winter coat.

What to make next?

Yesterday I was talking with Barb and Shawn on Skype and I told them how I'd just finished my Dickens Vest out of Berroco Blackstone Tweed Chunky. It was such an easy knit and I really like the way it turned out. I can't remember the last time I knit something for myself that I actually love as much as this!

This vest is warm and flattering with a little bit of shaping in the body. The collar is nice and cozy. It's been downright frigid here in Europe, so it's the perfect addition to my wardrobe.

The only thing I'd change is the armholes. They are pretty much unfinished and roll inward, and I'm not loving that. I haven't blocked the whole vest yet, just the armholes, and it didn't really do much to help. I may try it again this weekend, and who knows, I may work a couple rounds of single crochet around each armhole to see if I can make it more to my liking.

I was telling Barb and Shawn how even though I have a bunch of yarn here and patterns all ready to knit up (and some to finish) I was having a hard time finding motivation to jump into any ONE of them. What to make next...

Then they told me that a number of customers in the shop keep asking how my Pagewood Farm Plumes scarf was going... I ordered this yarn for the shop when I was in Vermont after Christmas, and it was shipped so quickly that I was able to bring a skein back to Finland with me.

It's SO different than anything we've ever carried. Plumes is a thick and thin wool that has gorgeous feathers hand felted onto it. Obviously this yarn screamed "feather boa" to me, and so last night I balled it up and got knitting.

From a distance, it looked like a gigantic tarantula. And my cats were MORE than a little interested - just one glance at any feather starts them hyperventilating.

I had planned to grab some HUGE double pointed needles and work some sort of an I-cord but in this tiny 1000 sq foot apartment, my dpns are MIA. So I pulled out the Denise size 15's, cast on 7 stitches, and started knitting.

I know... SUPER HARD pattern, right? Well, with this kind of yarn, you don't need anything difficult. I worked on it for about an hour last night and then finished it up with my coffee this morning. 

It's perfect! It measures 2.5" wide by 60" long. And because it's loosely knit and garter stitch, it will stretch lengthwise which is good. I like to to fold it in half and then wrap the ends through the fold. 

Helen modeling the boa

So for all of you who were waiting to see what magic I worked on the Plumes yarn, I hope you're not disappointed!

Now...what to make next?

Time for flowers

They're calling for up to 10" of snow tomorrow, so I think we'll be doing a bit of shoveling again! That's okay. I can dream of spring and warmth and flowers while I am making my very own flower-embellished yarn!

Last year I made the Pagewood Farm Needle Felted Silk Scarf, and it was so fun to do. Yes, it took HOURS, but it was my own issue that I felt I HAD to get it done in one (long) night. (What was I thinking?!) However, the end result was spectacular, and it's been a favorite item with customers down in the shop.

Recently my Pagewood Farm rep visited, and I ordered some other fun items for the shop. Of course their sock yarns sold out almost instantly - we only have a few skeins left of the Yukon and a little more of the Denali. (Don't worry, they are all on order!)

We also ordered some fun "Design Your Own Yarn" kits that include yarn, roving and mohair locks to make little needle felted flowers to attach to the yarn. You'll need a felting tool/needle and a felting mat, but this is fun stuff!

I took one of the kits home 2 nights ago, and have been making flowers like it's going out of style. You make the flowers first, and then attach them to the yarn. And then, I'll probably make a quick scarf or something... who knows. Here are a few shots of the process. (Taken with phone, not real camera, so I apologize on the quality/color!)

The necessary supplies: Pagewood Farm Needle Felted Designer Yarn Kit, a felting mat and felting tool. Embroidery scissors optional. Attach the center of the green leaf fiber onto your felting mat, just to keep it in place. Grab a small amount of the mohair locks, pull it apart a bit, and then scrunch it into place. Gently needle felt it to the leaf. Next step (not shown) - take some sparkly fiber and wind it into a tiny ball. Attach it to the center of your flower. I found it was easiest to hold this down with the points of my scissors until I positioned the tool in place. Then, viola, finished flower. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Easy & quick. My type of project. Once you have finished making the flowers, it's time to make your yarn! It comes in a hank, so after I wound it into a ball, I started attaching the flowers. Every yard or yard and a half you are supposed to needle felt a flower to the yarn. I have not finished this part yet, but it's so easy, I will be finished by tonight. The finished yarn is stunning!
We could have purchased this yarn with the flowers already attached, but there was a huge price difference ($22!), and we felt that our customers would enjoy making the flowers themselves.

We also ordered kits for just making the flowers (with no yarn included). This is because these flowers are so sweet, they would look great on a lot of other items that we knit and crochet. Stay tuned for a fun class on needle felted flowers this spring!