This week, while at my LYS I fell in love with a new yarn. As I held it I instantly knew it’s potential. It comes in lovely 50g skeins, so I could really squish and caress, and yes, this stuff is amazing. … Continue reading
A Humble Yarn
Category Archives: Yarn
Over-Dyed
My latest yarn play. I dyed a ton of yarn ( details in previous post ) with a mind to knit them into an autumney-equinoxey sort of thing, but now I think not. I’m calling this colorway ‘curry blend’, or maybe ‘marigolds’ . Anyway, I think it fitting for my recent post-pattern-writing crash, to continue to chill out with a clean slate for a while. Just knit socks, socks, and more socks, and not have anything big brewing beyond re-writing Penny Candy Socks pattern for the remainder of Spring. Oh, just look at these cheerful balls of yarn perched , happily waiting for whatever comes. I am very pleased with the dye this time !
Yarn-scape
I’m up to something again. Here, winding off skeins of Shibui & Madelinetosh sock yarns. I’m drowning myself in skinny yarn. I did mention something about knitting socks with it however, a few posts back . . .
Which I am doing.
My nieces are coming in a few days, and I am going to rewrite my original Penny Candy Socks pattern completely different ~~ very soon~~ so , I’m madly knitting the above pair (in Malabrigo Sock) for another fun photo session with them !
Then there’s this madness , heaps of skinny Knit Picks Stroll sock yarn (which by the way, like Shibui and Malabrigo, is from Peru) and very fine Lana Grossa (from Italy) . . . over-dyed and drying still . . .
I nearly spent a mint on some fancy hand-dyed superwash Malabrigo Arroyo (I sooo wanted to) , which is a sport weight, for I am erupting with ideas already for Autumnal Equinox sweaters, but decided instead to over-dye a mess o’ sock yarn I had on hand which was bound for nowhere. Was 4 balls of light blue Stroll — now cayenne red, 4 balls of light grey Stroll –now mustard yellow, 1 ball of hot pink Lana Grossa, — now deep garnet. All now a very lovely array of Autumn tones, achieved with Dharma Trading acid dyes in colors “cayenne” , “mustard” , & “maroon” .
I had spent hours going color crazy at the kitchen last night ~ while cooking dinner (a habit I always seem to get into ). Today all is calm, and quiet, winding off like a busy bee hive, immersed in this lovely yarn-scape.
Yarn Tasting
I’ve been pattern-writing furiously, and it’s been raining furiously, everything around here has been a bit excessive, and so, just before noon I needed a break. I got in my car and drove down the mountain into town, to the , um…Local Yarn Shop. I brought home two new sock yarn brands to add to my existing sock yarn stash, so that now I have a bit of a selection for some serious sock yarn tasting !
Lets start with perhaps the top names in sock yarn, Madelinetosh’s ‘Tosh Sock’.
Label says: 100% superwash merino wool fingering weight -395 yards, color Ginger. Hand-dyed in USA , from South Africa.
Next, Shibui Sock.
Label says: 100% superwash merino 191 yards, color Wasabi. Made in Peru.
Next, Sweet Georgia ‘Tough Love Sock’.
Label says: 80% superwash merino / 20% nylon, 425 yards, color Cayenne. Hand-dyed in Canada, doesn’t say if it comes from elsewhere originally.
Last in this line-up, is perhaps my favorite, Malabrigo Sock.
Label says: 100% superwash merino, 440 yards, color Impressionist Sky. Made in Peru.
I am very attracted to Malabrigo for some reason, the skein is stout and heavy and has so much yarn, and it is also the finest/thinnest of all I’ve seen yet, which to me is a real lovely thing… cuz I am smitten with ultra-fine knitting. I designed my Pretty Little Things gloves with it and I’m sure I’ll not stop there.
I am loving the feel and visual texture of all four of these leading brands (well, from the LYS at least) and though there are more brands, I figured, I’d start with these. I will let the knitting and the knitted fabric & feel of the finished sock be the judge, as I am challenging myself to a bit of a sock-fest, reasoning thus far undisclosed, but expect some posts about it coming up in the next few weeks.
Have you tried any of these brands ? What do you think?
Una Cosettina
Una Cosettina, or ‘ A Little Something’ is the name of these half-mitts, designed especially for Oropa 1ply yarn, which is made with wool from sheep which have roamed the foothills of Alps of Northern Italy for perhaps a thousand years. Who knows for sure? But, there is an age-old mill in Biella which uses much the same processing methods as of long ago, and which make the wool from these Old-World sheep into yarn. Oropa 1ply is a rustic heritage yarn as rugged as the mountain terrain it comes from. Truly Oropa yarn is nothing less than a timeless treasure. I talk a lot about the yarn, and Biella’s place in Italy’s wool industry in Posted From Italy, Yarn Whisperer, and some about elements of design process in my previous post.
I wrote a pattern which incorporates the following; my own edging that I will simply call ‘eyelet edging’, a cast-on and bind-off’, elements of i-cord, rib, and lace all in one. Shown in Pearl Grey & Natural Oropa 1ply, sturdy & feminine, these half-mitts will keep your hands warm, while letting the spring breezes through from it’s open lace-work. Inspired by womens riding gloves of olden days perhaps, slightly bell-shaped , stylish, and ready to make a spectacular conversation piece when people ask about them.
The photos show both sizes, and two slightly different cast-on eyelet edgings at the beginning of cuff, the end result in pattern, is slightly again different, combining both ( just a matter of changing one round of rib, into knit stitch). In the weeks ahead this very same pattern is undergoing translation into Italian, and it will then become available to purchase in kit form with the very same Oropa 1ply yarn as you see in photo. As soon as I have any information to the kit being ready, I will post in celebration of a job done collaboratively , having a sense of place from both Northern California, and Northern Italy.
Thank you Bonnie, for asking me if I would like to design una cosettina (a little something) for The Wool Box, because I most certainly and thoroughly enjoyed it ! May only ever the warm & soft breezes of spring blow through your lace ~~ Ciao.
Meanwhile I will have this pattern available along with my other designs, which you will find on Ravelry HERE
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Now, for a little more information about The Wool Box !
You may read a little bit about Some info on The Wool Box and then check out the English translated websites that Volunteer English-speaking Ambassador to The Wool Box , Bonnie, as created on Ravelry HERE and on Facebook HERE.
You can read more about “The New History of Italian Wool” from Bonnie’s blog called “Wool In Italy” . . . on her post HERE .
If you would like to contact The Wool Box directly (in Italy), below are links Bonnie has provided me:
The Wool Box Shop: www.thewoolbox.it
Informazioni: info@thewoolbox.it
Customer Service: customer-service@thewoolbox.com
A Little Something of Lace
I’ve been working steadily on a project , “A Little Something” , for The Wool Box. I talk in my previous posts Posted From Italy and Yarn Whisperer about Northern Italy’s “The Wool Box” , of Biella’s heritage wool mill and yarns, and of specifically Oropa 1-ply with which I am working in a design. I’ve changed course a couple of times, with piles of little half-lace mitts strewn about my loft room, I have worked and reworked, and now I’ve pretty much nailed it.
In the process of experimentation, I’ve come up with a lovely eyelet-icord-rib hybrid edging for the Little Something I’m designing. I pretty much thought it up for myself, and I don’t know what to call it (I’ll come up with something soon). Love how the single ply’s frisky & playful personality punctuates the edge ! This is after washing and blocking too. So crisp, Oropa 1-ply is anything but tame . . .
That said, I have discovered there is a ‘tender underbelly’ of Oropa 1-ply. Being a 1-ply, it does not have the support of another strand keeping it together as much, so when one picks up the end to knit, one must do so delicately, as the end does lose a bit of twist and becomes easily broken (but that’s a no-brainer with any single ply wool). I compensate by taking up a good 12 inches before knitting from an end. Did I mention that this sensitive side of Oropa is just really… well… ‘kitteny’. . . is that a word?
Better said I suppose, as noting it’s shyer downy quality.
Upon examining the fluff at one of the unraveled ends I noticed a small percentage of strong & slippery longer hairs and proportionally a lot more of shorter downy wool. Definitely Old World wool.
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On another note, I haven’t been able to knit much today (yet) as I was at a sort of Lady’s Social for the day, held over at my neighbor’s, here in the woods. I actually made a lovely creme brulee from a big fat perfect Meyer lemon growing from our tiny tree in a pot.
I packed the three brulees (there were three of us) into a little basket , covered them, threw my knitting bag over my shoulder, kissed Emma good-bye for a while and headed out into the woods (sadly) without her, for what was actually a short five-minute walk through back-country. I felt just like a fairytale character, like Red Ridinghood or Goldilocks.
Meyer Lemon creme brulee to-go, with carmelized sugar and all, delivered back-door style.
In my opinion, beauty is in the small things, novelties as this. Little pots of golden tastiness !
The recipe, for those interested, with just three ingredients, it’s incredibly easy and fast to make . . .
Meyer Lemon Creme Brulee:
1 very large and ripe Meyer lemon , 1 pint of heavy whipping cream, 1/2 cup organic sugar
Finely zest lemon and squeeze juice from it.
In small saucepan slowly heat pint of cream, while stirring, until it begins to boil. Keep at ‘barely boiling’ for a couple of minutes, while stirring, then take off heat.
Add lemon zest , stir, and then slowly stir in the lemon juice.
Fill about 5 or 6 ramekin cups and let cool. Refrigerate for at keast 4 hours. Rest assured, it *does* set up !
About 20-30 minutes before serving, sprinkle a teaspoon or two of sugar on top of each brulee, and with a hand held torch ( or under broiler flame) carmelize sugar until bubbles and darkens to a deep gold ~~~ while creating a crisp layer on top.
Eat & Enjoy !
Yarn Whisperer
Hanging out with Emma, knitting a little something for Wool Box with Oropa 1ply yarn. This wool is a very rare thing, a ‘heritage wool’ as it can not be found anywhere else because the breed of sheep is indigenous to a border region of Italy in the foothills of the alps, neighboring France. The wool is so special in fact , that it requires particular methods of processing which make Biella’s very old mills unique. “The Wool Box” is a collective effort to promote traditions of these local heritage wools and wool industry ~ from shepherding to processing ~ all back to Old World basics. Just in case you missed it, I mention The Wool Box, and my project designing with Oropa 1-ply wool in my previous post.
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The other evening I was winding off the new skeins into balls (with two chairs and hand-wound ball method) thinking it has very much a hand-spun feel, with a deal of twist in it, and so I wondered what it would say, but I wouldn’t find out it’s secrets until casting on. Casting on numerous times on as many different sized needles, I found myself unsure how to do justice for it. Honestly, I am worried that I have become far too use to docile modern yarns and very unsure of myself designing with yarn having any kind of personality.
At the start, I held a strand of Oropa 1-ply next to a strand of some of my Superwash Merino sock yarn, and gave it a glance , thinking that they were “close enough” , and so I cast on with the same needles I’ve been knitting oodles of socks and gloves for an eternity with ~~ all because it looks similar in ‘weight’ (we all know that really means thickness). Merrily swatching away, with US 2’s, then 3’s I found that the stitches ‘sproinged’ into loops with tremendous energy it was *almost* wrestling with and twisting the swatch fabric. It was obvious that Oropa 1-ply was not going to make the 8-stitches-to-the-inch design I’d had prepared ahead with … um… right, with that docile superwash sock yarn. In fact, the two colors, Pearl Grey & Natural, of the same Oropa 1-ply yield different gauges with the same needle. I basically have to take the approach one needs with hand-spun yarn, and factor in a bit of inconsistency.
Swatching, wet-blocking, ripping, and starting again, finally my thoughts shifted as my idea of what I wanted to make needed to be surrendered somewhat. I tell you, I was convinced that words like ‘coarse’ described Oropa, until I realized I was literally forcing it to being smothered in tiny stitches, unable to breath and bloom and and show off it’s real personality. Now having knit it on larger needles ( US 4 – 3.25mm) it is anything but coarse, in fact, it is wonderfully resilient and alive, sturdy and with superior definition. It has a lovely fuzziness and halo , yet a bit hair-like too, and no surprise, as it is furthest from modern milled yarns that you can get. Having been shorn from Old World sheep, and spun from an Old World mill, it has a whole different feel, just in case you can’t imagine. It is not well behaved like a lap dog, no, it is more like a mustang in the training corral … sassy, stubborn, and smart … with real sturdiness and it’s own ideas of what it wants to do. I just didn’t know, couldn’t know, until putting down the reins and letting it tell me how to work with it.
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This design process is a lesson for me about paying attention to the yarn, and also patience, as well as a little compromise, but I’m enjoying myself immensely, and suddenly I wish winter would last forever so I could knit a whole bunch of these Little Somethings with Oropa 1-ply !
Posted From Italy
The Wool Box ~ 100% made in Biella, Italy ~ photo by Manuele Cessonello
There is a place in Northern Italy which is nestled in the beautiful foothills of the Alps, called Biella. High mountain pastures and bountiful springs and lakes has been intrinsic to Biella’s standing in the wool & textiles industry as far back as mid 13th century. However, since the turn of the modern 21st century, the wool industry has suffered from widespread global competition. Today, the “Wool Box” is there, still in the midst of it all, striving to keep heritage wools alive and well and most importantly ~~ available.
The Wool Box offers a carefully curated selection of rare Italian and European wool yarns in addition to a fine selection of wool roving for spinners and felters. The Wool Box focuses on short supply chain processing and full traceability of materials so that their 100% Italian wool means exactly that.
I am very excited to have the opportunity to design ‘a little something’ for the Wool Box, and folks, today I have just received yarn sent all the way from Northern Italy from the hands of Bonnie, volunteer English-speaking ambassador of the Wool Box. To me it resembles freshly pulled taffy from off of a candy pull machine, and swirls with such pleasurable tones of color & personality, that I can hardly wait to be flung into a spree of maniacal knitting.
I hope that this project will breed other designs for the Wool Box yarns, as Bonnie has of course, sent me an armful of samples, which could very possibly keep me busy for a good long while, and of which I will show off another time. (Thank you Bonnie!)
For now, I am watering at the mouth at this beautiful duo of Oropa 1 ply wool from an historic wool mill of Biella, with one wish on my mind . . .
. . . and that is to have this design finished and ready for knitters before the cool weather subsides in the Northern Hemisphere. I will keep you posted as I go along.
You can read all posts about this design for The Wool Box with Oropa 1ply HERE
In the meantime, if you would like to find out more about the Wool Box, Bonnie has created a place for it on Ravelry HERE and on Facebook HERE.
Lastly, You can read more about “The New History of Italian Wool” from Bonnie’s blog called “Wool In Italy” . . . on her post HERE .
Grey Days Of January
Grey “yarn days” of January.
A lull after the knitting frenzy (and posting frenzy) of December !
I’m having fun with balls of yarn about the house.
Bathroom mirror blues . . .
Yarn steps . . .
In the bed frame . . .
Another knitting needle yarn kebab . . .
Green . . . waiting for rain !
Precarious !
Having some fun today (being my birthday) photographing yarn. These will be fun new banners for Yarnings . . . I figured , well, it is just so artful, yarn in a sense of place. On the stairway landing half-wall where I photograph so much, on the stair steps themselves (a very favored personal trend) , and even precariously balanced on the iron rail which overlooks the lower part of our house, and all places which get a deal of light flooding from above via sky windows .
And now Emma and I are going for a walk while I rattle off a few more fingers in Pretty Little Things gloves . . . prototypes which will be finished , photographed, and pattern ready soon!
Red Sky At Night
Red sky at night; shepherds delight !
This photo was taken from the same spot as the photo in previous post ‘blue dawn’. In one day, the sky went from an awe-inspiring blue dawn to a rather surreal orange-red & blue sunset, making it quite a lucky day with the camera ! Usually I’m not so lucky. These clouds were like fresh blended fluffy bats of wool just off of the carder, hanging there for a long time into twilight. So, what about a blue dawn and an orange-red dusk? I am finding that the very thing I’m knitting is expressed so well by an Autumn sky photographed a few days ago…
Though the red is definitely subdued in the photo, it is at least suggestive of a ‘red sky at night ‘, knitted in Malabrigo sock yarn which I bought at my local yarn shop Yarns On First while browsing their beautiful yarns recently, in colors ” Botticelli Red ” and ” Impressionist Sky ” . Wouldn’t you say the sky in above photo is perfect model for an impressionist painting?
What pattern you see here actually, is Pretty Little Things gloves in the works, yes, sisters of Pretty Little Things (PLT) socks . These little charmers are taking their sweet time, and I’m giving them all the time they need, though I did want to show you what I’m working on at least. Happy, fun, and challenging are gloves !
Blue Dawn
This morning early, as dawn approached, less than an hour ago, I was looking at shades of blue Malabrigo on their website, studying & sleuthing for that complete natural deep indigo blue, the color of a brewing storm.
I noticed as I looked up from the place I was sitting, in front of the wood stove, next to Emma snoozing in her chair, that the dawn sky with another rain storm on it’s way, showed me the very colors I am hunting for ! I kid you not. At about 6:20 a.m. I grabbed the camera, and captured it ~~ only moments ago! Here it is folks, ‘Storm Mountain Dawn Sky’. Such a color ! Now that I’ve taken this photo, I can hopefully replicate the blue.
By the way, I am totally into blue lately, absolutely yearning for it, and the sea of unknown possibility is sure to cast me out to drift in it !
First Rain
Finally we got some rain, making it a lovely break from the dryest Autumn in many years. Emma and I just got in from a little knit-walk as it drizzled, but I didn’t bring camera in case it started to downpour. So here I am, taking photos of the wetness from inside our house. From the kitchen window above. Just look at the moss, just drinking it in . . .
From where I sit & knit by the window, and if you look closely you’ll see some stones placed in a path. That is actually the path down to the garden, but also it is part of my knitting trail, which goes off into the woods from the garden in a northerly direction . . .
On the knitting front: I have been preoccupied with a new yarn ~ here winding off 440 yards of a ‘Botticelli Red’, variegated, 3-plied, hand-dyed hank of finest sock yarn I’ve had the pleasure to knit with to date. I am smitten with Malabrigo sock yarn!
Au Naturale
Last week I went to my LYS to buy some Jamieson’s Of Shetland Spindrift yarn , for I have been ruminating a sort of tribute design and I want this one to be made with exceptional palette of natural shades of yarn. I came home with colors Shetland Black, Shaela, Mooskit, and Easit.
While we were out walking yesterday, from one of these massive sad piles (there are many, these are only two) I took one of the gnarled twisted historic vines destined to be burned, and Emma helped me carry it home, gladly, for her it was just a big stick to play with!
After a week of sketching ,
I have got it ready to knit up. . .
and now I have cast on !
It will have checked ‘dicing’ in the band and through the colorwork motifs . . .
So folks, in the days ahead, I am letting needles fly, and my world has turned into shades of natural wools, grey-black to grey-white, and I won’t emerge from my Autumnal Hermitage until it is complete, mark my word ! ((The pink strand will not be one of it’s attributes, that is merely part of the provisional cast-on.)) I’ll be seeing you on the flip-side.
Autumn Ahead
A welcome sign to me is the first Big Leaf Maple leaves just beginning to fall, and I believe I saw a few on the road-side today, while driving up the mountain ! And it appears as though Autumn Cardigans are well on their way too ! I thought I’d be really thrifty and frugal (and prudent) to use up a pile of about six skeins of light turquoisey tweed left over from a project last October, and well, it only got me this far ! Blast.. that’s the last ball of that, right there on top, with only the body and one sleeve finished (minus yoke & second sleeve and button bands). So no problem, I’ve ordered more, 3 more skeins for Niece Of Thirteen’s cardigan.
Here is the yarn for Niece Of Ten’s cardigan will be this deep coral pink with mossy green peeries… won’t that be fun?
Post and beam table, with yarn.
Virtual Yarns Hebridean 2ply fanned out on the table that Jeff recently made after laboring over it for months, the post & beam table, that which has made me seriously proud of him, he’s such an amazing artisan with wood!