yarn

You are currently browsing articles tagged yarn.

Fall Colors – Spring Day

April 30, 2012 in April 2012 | No comments

Wandering around CT Sheep and Wool on Saturday, a perfect (if chilly) spring day – these some how ended up in my hands. Gorgeous, yes?  Its Sophia – Ball and Skein’s merino, cashmere, nylon fingering weight yarn.  The colors are Rusty Nail, Gourd and Squash Blossom.  I picked them up to make a Color Affection shawl.  The colors just spoke to me, even if I’m off by a couple of seasons.

Must knit them up before fall!

Tags: ,

Sheep Share!

April 28, 2011 in April 2011 | 1 comment

Remember a few months back when I won a membership to Sheep Shares, Foxfire Fiber’s Yarn and Fiber CSA?  My first share arrived in yesterday’s mail.  It was a lovely surprise – 2 skeins of Flock Sock in Natural.   Its 90% Cormo, 10% Mohair and absolutely delicious.  Sproingy and soft and squishy and just close enough to the farm that I couldn’t help but stick my nose in it – over and over and over again.  Delightful!

Now to figure out what socks its going to be…

Tags:

A Visit from the Yarn Fairy

October 21, 2010 in October 2010 | 1 comment

La Lana Wools Phat Silk Fine in Brazilwood

One night last week, I arrived home and found this gorgeous yarn, wrapped in tissue and left on my door step.  It was a thank you gift from my dear Peggy.  Gorgeous yarn in my favorite blend of wool and silk, handspun and naturally dyed in a beautiful deep pink, made that much more delightful by the fact that I came home from a long day to find it at my door.  I felt like I’d been visited by the Yarn Fairy.

Apparently, she does exist – and she goes by Peggy…

Thanks for making my day, dear friend!

Tags:

Yarn

September 27, 2009 in September 2009 | 2 comments

I’ve got some interesting ones to share.  First, the Burly Spun for my Sweetpea coat.  Remember when it looked like this?boring burly spun

Boring grey, no personality.  A day in the dye pot and now: bright, bold burly spun

Bright, bold and so much fun.  I’m in love with it.  I’m knitting up a swatch tonight to send off to Moving Mud, so that they can make me some fabulous glass buttons for it.  They’re going to be ready for Rhinebeck – I can’t wait.

More fun stuff:Vintage Wool

Berroco Vintage Wool, purchased at Webs on Thursday – I’ll be doing a Wonderful Wallaby for my nephew with it.  I can’t believe I’m about to admit this, given my admitted disdain for plastic yarn – it has acrylic in it.  Actually, its 50% acrylic, 40% wool and 10% nylon.  Not only did I not turn my nose up at it, I actually like it.   My nephew is 4 – machine washable is a must.  I’ve used a bunch of different superwash yarns for his sweaters, including a Wallaby that he wore to death in Cascade 220 Superwash.  With the exception of Mission Falls 1824 Wool, I’ve never been in love with any of them.  They’re soft but they have that not-quite-natural feel to them.  This one though is a definite step up, in spite of its petroleum-product content.  Its got a nice hand and doesn’t feel like plastic.  The color was perfect for him too, with his blond hair and blue eyes.  How perfect will a red hoodie be for Christmas?  Perfect enough for me to give it a try.  More to come on this one – could be a new favorite choice for the wee ones.

Lastly, I have a bit of a quandry.  I dug this out of my stash recently: Berkshire Bulky Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky – to be a pair of felted slippers for me.  Here’s the thing – there’s a little voice in the back of my head saying that light grey yarn won’t felt.  White yarns, I know won’t work, due to the bleaching they go through.  But light grey?  I keep thinking that I’ve heard its similar to white in that it won’t felt or at least not well.  Before I run full tilt into another disaster of epic proportions that will never shrink (yep, still upset about Allegoro), I need advice.  Will it felt?  Should I try it or just scrap the two skeins and find something darker that will felt?  Please help – my ego is fragile and can’t handle another “incident”…

I’ll look forward to your thoughts.  On that note, I’m off to swatch.  Good night!

Tags: ,

fall down

January 26, 2009 in January 2009 | 2 comments

Oops.  One of my local yarn shops – Village Wools in Glastonbury, CT, if you interested – is having a great sale.  You know where this post is going.  Fill a bag and get 50% whatever’s in the bag.  The bags, BTW, are not very big – I went in thinking at least it would be a good sized shopping bag, but not so.  There were two sizes – small and large, neither of which was difficult to fill.  It was nice not having to spend a lot to take advantage of the sale.  Being one who needs more yarn, ahem (just go with it), I happily went with the “large” bag – feeling like it wouldn’t even be a challenge to fill that and then some.

I made a beeline for the Malabrigo.  Wearing my cozy red Malabrigo sweater last weekend is having the effect of wanting more – what I really want right now is another sweater just like it.   No such luck – the only colors they had in sweater quantities were bright yellow and something akin to cooked apple-color.  Nah.  I did however find this: MmmmmMalabrigo Mmmmm!  4 skeins of Malabrigo worsted in the prettiest shades of pink – called Damask.  No idea what I’m doing with it yet.  I’m thinking something to curl up in – something sleeveless, a vest, a heavy wrap?  Or maybe I’ll see if I can the dye lot at Webs and get the other 6 skeins I’ll need for another sweater.   Maybe…

There were a couple of other things too – 100_2903 Peruvia The top picture is Berroco Ultra Alpaca – for a Central Park (non) Hoodie.  Great sweater – admittedly, I wasn’t into it until Norma and Karen did non-hooded versions.  Love!  It took it from a too casual/young for my taste (I think my interest in “hoodies” ended when I was um, 10?) to a great basic that I can wear equally well with jeans on a Saturday grocery run or dressed up a bit with slacks at work.  The yarn is a great heathered blue, almost cobalt.  All I need now is some great buttons – maybe pewter?  Oh, and time to knit the thing…    The second picture is Berroco Peruvia.  Nice basic wool, heavy worsted weight.  I’m going to attempt some boot socks for Ev.  Poor guy – I’ve never knit him a pair of socks.  My usual excuse is his rather large feet.  That and he’s pretty hard on socks.  Now Peruvia is not what immediately comes to mind for socks – its pretty softly spun.  I’m hoping to knit it on the tight side, carry along a nylon reinforcing thread on the heels and foot and pray he is as gentle as he says he’ll be.  We’ll see.  If nothing else, he’ll have handknit socks to wear around the house!

That’s all for now – time to stop stalling and head to work.  Happy Monday!

Tags:

New Yarns!

July 26, 2008 in July 2008 | 1 comment

Introducing Shimmer

and Zen They are The Painted Sheep’s new additions to our yarn offerings.  Shimmer is a sport weight 50/50 superwash merino/tencel blend.  It has 400 yards per skein and will retail for $22.  I love the way it takes color – the tencel gives it that amazing sheen.  It is machine washable, making it great for socks, baby items, etc.  It will drape beautifully, so it would be perfect for lace projects too.  I have in mind a certain Knitspot scarf for a sample!  Zen is a 60/40 blend of merino and bamboo.  Its DK weight, 300 yards per skein and will retail for $19.  The bamboo in Zen makes for a heathered effect from the dye – check out this mini skein in Dublin Lake

I’ll be sampling both yarns this weekend – I’ll update with more details and pictures then.  Look for the first skeins of Shimmer and Zen to be listed in my Etsy shop in early to mid August.

The rest of my dyeing from Wednesday yielded mixed results.  Superwash roving can be quite finicky, taking dye just where you pour it.  Several of my rovings ended up with white spots and need touching up.  The rest (7 of them) are now in the Etsy shop.

There is more dyeing planned for tomorrow morning – along with the touch ups, I’ll be dyeing some BFL rovings.  I should have another Etsy update mid week.

In the meantime, I have to go to a training for work this afternoon.  I know, its a Saturday, but let me tell you, this is training promises to be amazing – well worth giving up a Saturday!  I’ll tell you all about it, including pictures, later this weekend.

Enjoy your day!

Tags:

Updates Galore!

December 2, 2007 in December 2007 | 1 comment

Check out the online shop and the Etsy shop – I’ve just added tons of new items to both sites. The Painted Sheep is now very well stocked with all 5 of our yarns (and yes, sock yarn is back!) and almost of all of our fibers.

Happy Shopping! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Tags: , ,