I'm excited to introduce my new yarn: Sunna's Big Sister, Birte (named for the Danish Goddess of the Home and Crafting)!

Making it's Grand Debut at MDSW ... 75% Superwash Merino, 15% Cashmere, 10% Bombyx Silk DK Weight. I knit the above swatch last night to see how it would go: the bottom portion is 6 stitches/inch on US Size 4 needles, the middle portion is 5.5 st/in on US 5's and the top is 5 st/in on US 6's. It sort of falls between DK and Sport, but I like it best at the 5 and 5.5 st/in gauges, so that puts it directly in the DK category. I think it would look good knit on Size 7 needles, too, and for lace I'd probably use a Size 9. Since it's the same yarn as Sunna, it will behave well in all different sorts of stitch and gauge scenarios (oh, how I love well-behaved yarn ... especially since there are so few other things in life that are well-behaved and don't talk back ;-D ). I'm itching to knit something with it (preferably a full body suit, but I can be reasonable).

This is a new colorway, too, named "Green Velvet." It's more green and less gold in person. There isn't really any gold in it at all, it's more of a deeper green with muted olive green and lighter sage/gray greens. I was playing with dyes the other day and sort of stumbled upon a new (for me) technique, which I'm really looking forward to exploring more in the coming months. I love this color, alot (actually, I'd like to keep all of this dyelot for myself, but I shall not, as I know there are at least a few other Lovers of Green out there who might like it).

Good News, too!! I heard back from the Mill, and the 3 fibers they still have WILL make it to MDSW! I'm so pleased I can't stand myself.

So, I'll have a big bag of the wonderful Polwarth blend (this time around it's white Polwarth blended with light brown cashmere, white yak, white bombyx silk, deep chestnut baby alpaca, white suri alpaca and brown baby camel). I'll also have white Masham from Great Britain, and soft brown Rambouillet from the US. No photos of any of them til I get home.

I received, gosh, 8 sample knits in the mail yesterday and I there will be more today and tomorrow. Plus, several knitters are delivering samples to me at MD on Friday and Saturday morning. Unfortunately, I think this will be my last post til after MDSW, but I'll post sample photos when I get home, because they are all beautiful (and I'm so thankful to all the knitters who agreed to take this on for me!).

Now I'm off to tie up a few organizational ends, run a kazillion errands and then pick Shelia up at the airport. Yay!

Hope to see you at the Festival!

A few more teaser photos of some freshly-arrived booth sample knits:

Harmonia's Rings Cowl, designed by Sivia Harding. I knitted this in Lyra, 50% alpaca/30% merino/20% silk in a new colorway, "Appalachia." It's wonderful. I love this pattern: it took only one skein of yarn (and I knit an extra repeat of the body so it's a tad longer). Lyra is soft and lovely, with wonderful drape. Excellent all around (except for the photo. This is about the 20th I took of myself in the mirror, and I give up. It's the best I could do).


Azure Sock, designed by Deb Barnhill for Knitty.com. Sample knitted in Sunna (75% sw merino, 15% cashmere, 10% bombyx silk fingering) in "Le Roi." Thanks to Sheila for knitting this sample for me!

Lighthouse Gansey Sock, designed by Anne Hanson and knitted in Frija (80% sw merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon fingering) in "Garnet." Thanks to my Mom for knitting this sample for me!

Pomatomus Sock, designed by Cookie A. and also knitted in Frija in "Starling." Thanks to Gwen for knitting this sample for me!

Spiraluscious Mitts designed by Anne Hanson and knit in one of my new yarns, named Neith, in "Scarlett." Neith is a DK weight 45% cashmere / 55% silk yarn (it'll be in my Shop after MDSW, along with my 4 other new yarns). It's beautiful, even though it's a heavier gauge than called for in the pattern (my bad; I got confused somehow and sent the wrong yarn). Thanks to Tree for knitting this sample for me!

More samples are on their way to me now ... hopefully I'll have time to post a few more photos before I head out for MDSW.

I also received the white Ouessant in over the weekend. It's nicely soft fiber, in a soft white, sort of vanilla custard color:


I also heard that the Polwarth blended with luxury exotics, and the brown Rambouillet, will not be ready in time for MD. Waaaah. So, these two will go directly to the website when they arrive from the Mill (oh, I am so bummed, but the Mill did its best and got most of my stuff done, so I'm not complaining. Just bummed out that the Polwarth wasn't one of the ones that's ready in time).

More Teasers ... A New Pattern, and Some Booth Samples to Show Off!

I finally finished writing up the lace pattern I started a couple of years ago, called "Halla," which is the Finnish word for "frost," because the main panel pattern sort of reminds me of frost patterns on a window pane ...

I made myself a light box, but I don't have quite the right bulbs for it yet, so the light / color is still a little off. Better than without the box, but not quite right. This sample is knit in my silk lace yarn, Atropos, in the Peach Melba colorway. The yarn is held double for the main panel, and single for the knitted-on edging. The pattern will be at MDSW and will also be available on my website in the near future. Anyway, I knit the center panel of this scarf/shawlette blocked, it's approximately 23" by 63"), and my friend Penny knitted the knitted-on border (otherwise it never would have been finished :-D ).

And a more 'artistic' shot of Halla,which shows the color a tad bit better:


A booth sample of Anne Hanson's pattern, La Novia. I knit this in Si Ling, which is a slightly lighter weight yarn but still works nicely in the pattern, in the colorway "Loch Ness." This photo is a better representation of the color than the photo in the last post:

The Kousa Dogwood Shawl from Knitting in America (note that this book has been republished in paperback with a different title, America Knits). Sample knitted by my friend Kendra with three skeins of Sunna, 75% superwash merino, 15% cashmere, 10% bombyx silk in the colorway "Wet Bark."


Here's another photo, closer up, which shows the color a little bit better:

I actually forgot Kendra was knitting this (what can I say, I gave her the yarn waaaaaaay back in November ;-D ), so I didn't dye more of this exact color. I have Sunna in lots of other colors, though.

Now I'm working on Sivia Harding's Harmonia Rings Cowl, using Lyra in a new colorway called "Appalachia." On all my other yarns, this colorway is darker shades of green and brown, but Lyra always softens and heathers the colors. I am loving this pattern, alot! It may end up being a booth sample that gets worn :-D

And last but not least, another photo of the April Yarn Club Yarn ... playing with my light box. This is slightly better showing the color, but still not quite right (I'm buying the correct light bulbs this weekend):

Fiber Teasers & April Spinning Club Spoiler!

Here is a small taste of the new fibers I'm bringing to Maryland Sheep & Wool (I'll be adding them to the website after I get home):

Castlemilk Moorit, from Great Britain, listed as "endangered" on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) Watchlist. This is one of my favorite fibers, and getting harder to find. It's been several years since I've had this in stock, and I'm really excited to have it back again (til it runs out again, anyway!). It's relatively soft, very squishy and a beautiful natural moorit brown color. I could wear this next-to-skin ... as long as it wasn't a turtleneck. :-D

Portland, also from Great Britain and listed as "At Risk" on the RBST Watchlist. Portland is a white fiber which was traditionally used in the hosiery industry of the 19th Century. This is dyed in a rich blue and olive green swirl.

Portland again, this time dyed in a Chili Red and Toffee swirl. Portland is an interesting fiber, squishy with great crimp and relatively soft, but not one I would wear next to the skin (some of you more intrepid wool-wearers might). I think it's perfect for a scrunchy Autumn sweater.

Boreray, from the island of Boreray in the St. Kilda chain, off the coast of Scotland. This breed is the rarest of the rare British breeds, and the only one listed as "critical" on the RBST Watchlist. It's taken me years to find. This is a very "different" fiber. Soft gray with a soft hand, but with crazy black and white guard hairs. Because of the guard hairs, I'm not yet sure whether it will be next-to-the-skin soft; without the guard hairs it would have been. But this time around, I chose to process the entire fleece rather than separating it. It was the weirdest raw fleece I have ever seen.

Bluefaced Leicester dyed blue and green, with some left white, blended with blue/purple cashmere/silk top and blue/green/tan/white merino/silk top (because I am just evil). BFL is not a rare or endangered breed, but I like it. Especially when I blend it with exotic and luxury fibers. This is one soft fiber!! It looks mostly pale green/gray, but with hints of all the other colors blended in here and there. Purdy.

Ouessant from Great Britain. This is claimed to be the smallest breed in the world and originated on the small Isle d'Ouessant 12 miles off the coast of Brittany. This fleece is so dark brown it's almost black. This fiber had no bleached tips or anything, so it is really dark. Definitely the darkest, naturally dark fiber I've ever had. It's also really nice and soft.

86% Teeswater, from the US. Not listed as Endangered on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) but it listed as "Vulnerable" by the RBST. This fleece is simply washed in the lock. The locks of this fleece are long, lustrous and distinct. Very soft and a lovely soft white color.

87% Teeswater, also from the U.S. This fleece's locks are less distinct than the above fleeces, but it is soft and lustrous nonetheless. Just not as good if you want to use it for, say, doll hair.

91% Wensleydale, from the US. Again, not listed as endangered by the ALBC, but is listed as "At Risk" by the RBST. This fleece is not as curly or lustrous as the Wensleydale I've had that have a higher percentage of Wensleydale, but it is incredibly soft. It also has some bleaching on the tips, but is a beautiful fleece. I like the color of the bleached tips, personally.

Lastly, April Handspinning Club spoiler shot. This is 50% Yak / 50% Merino, very soft and lovely. Yes, the color is pretty much the same as the April Yarn Club, sort of a dusty plum with sage green and gray. I like it on the yak/merino.

I still await 4 more fibers from the Mill, and am crossing my fingers they get here in time. It's going to be close. If they arrive in time, I'll also have brown Rambouillet from the US, white Masham from Great Britain, white Ouessant from Great Britain and more of the wonderful Falkland Islands Polwarth blended with cashmere, baby alpaca, baby camel, yak and silk.

Back to work for me!

WARNING: April Yarn Club Spoiler photo at the bottom of this post.

Another month gone by. Posting spoiler photos at least gets me posting once a month, anyway!

I've had a rather productive month. Aside from lots of work getting ready for the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival on May 1-2, I've managed to fit in some knitting, stained glass, a little more knitting (I finished my Olympic sweater in mid-March, almost exactly one month since starting it, but I need someone else to photograph it and keep forgetting to do it) ...

The above is progress on La Novia by Anne Hanson. I'm knitting this for a sample for my booth, out of Spirit Trail Si Ling, 100% bombyx silk single-ply, sort of heavy fingering weight. The color is actually "Loch Ness," which is a blend of deep blues, teals, sky blues and hints of royal blues. But silk is pretty darn difficult to photograph because of the sheen, plus my camera is on the fritz so this photo was taken with my cell phone camera. So, not so great. You can see the pattern anyway. This pattern is great, because even though I'm knitting it in a lighter gauge yarn it still works well, just a bit airier than the pattern photograph looks. I have about 13 inches knitted, and just started it on Saturday. Nice.

My latest stained glass project:

This started out as me going through the glass recycle bin at the stained glass studio. There are always great little and not-so-little pieces of glass in there, and this time there were some triangles, squares and rectangles. I started pulling them out and playing around, and thinking of doing something along the lines of Mondrian. Definitely a departure for me.

Then as I continued to play, and look at colors, it sort of dawned on me that what I was doing looked like entrelac. Like Kathryn's entrelac, to be exact. Lots of color, shapes, different directions.

So, this window became an ode to Wild Entrelac. And since Kathryn is a friend, I sent it to her, where it really belongs (and she likes it, happily!). I've started layout on my next project, which is a window for another friend. I have this plan to make stained glass windows for all my friends ... we'll see how long it takes me!

It's definitely Spring here in Virginia, and the baby animals are everywhere. My DD LOVES the baby goats at our local dairy, and had a great time romping with them for a little while this past Saturday:

They are both so cute, but we are totally loving the polka-dotted goat!

Last but not least, a spoiler photo of the April Yarn Club Shipment. This yarn is Helen, 100% superwash merino, three-ply light sportweight. I dyed it in shades of soft, rather muted dusty plum, sage green and gray, with alot of blending between colors (again, my apologies for the lack of a great photo):

April's Spinning Club shipment is dyed, dried and ready to be braided, labelled and shipped out. Hope to have it out by the end of this week.

Back to work on yarns for MDSW! I'm excited ~ I have at least three (possibly four if the last one gets here in time) new yarns debuting at MD. In addition, I've opened an account with Anne Hanson to sell her patterns, because I think they are so awesome. So, I'll have lots of Anne's patterns, with some of them knit up as display samples (some samples for MDSW, alot more for NYSW). Plus one or two new Spirit Trail patterns using Atropos (100% bombyx silk lace) and lots of new rare breed fibers!

Hope to see you at Maryland!