If you don’t have the time to read about what I’ve been up to, feel free to just scroll down to the bottom for a way to get 15% off.

What have I been up to?

The answer is lots. First of all, remember the slouchy beret I knit for my daughter? Well, I liked it so much I decided to make one for myself as well. Here I am wearing it.

 

and here’s my daughter wearing hers:

I made them both using the Big Feather and Fan pattern from Plymouth Yarn and my own worsted-weight yarn. I don’t have any more of either colorway in stock at the moment, but I do have the Moonlight colorway as art batts if you want to make your own. I believe I used about 160 yards, so any worsted-weight yarn should work. I did actually cut out a few of the decreasing rows on mine because I didn’t want it to be too slouchy.

Something new and different for me and the shop are the sock blanks I have been dyeing up. These are so much fun to dye. I feel like a kid with a big box of crayons and a blank canvas. If you aren’t familiar with sock blanks, they are a flat rectangle knit loosely from (usually) sock-weight yarn. The idea is to knit the blank, dye it, and then unravel it as you knit it into a pair of socks or really anything at all that you use sock-weight yarn for. Some people prefer to unravel it all at once and knit from balls or cakes, but I think seeing the picture while you knit is half the fun!

Why go to the extra trouble? You can do several things with sock blanks that are harder if not impossible without them. You can:

• Make gradient yarn without having to wind and rewind the skein.
• Make self-striping yarn without having to wind it into a crazy-big hank to do it.
• Make fun, random pictures that turn into speckles and short stripes when they are knit.
• Just play with color in a new way that makes for a random, crazy, fun knitting or crochet experience.

Let me show you a few of the ones I’ve made so far.

The first one, called “Just One More Row,” was inspired by the words I’m sure we have all said. The whole text is “I’ll knit just one more row.” I dyed it as a double gradient, meaning I repeated the colors and words on each half of the blank so you’ll have more-or-less matching socks. Each color has a stripe of gray between it, so it would also be great for one of those fantastic cowls with gray alternating with other colors.

The second one is Easter-themed. The words “Hoppy Knitting” are interspersed with lilac rabbits, a teal frogs, and magenta kangaroos. If you made socks from these, they would be similar but not identical. It would work well for a shawl or hat too.

 

This last one is a set of 2 blanks to make a fun Valentine gift–his and hers socks. What could be more romantic? Seriously, though, I think these would be a lot of fun to knit up for you and your sweetie. The text is made to look like those cute little heart-shaped Valentine candies.

Speaking of sets, I’ve been working on a few different yarn sets. While I make lots of yarn that would work for fade sets, I’m always a little hesitant to list the yarn together just in case you have other plans, but I really loved these colors together. Each one is made using the same dye color in different strengths, and I added the same magenta speckles to each one.

 

If you want me to, I’d be happy to dye up any one of these colors for you individually.

The other set I made recently is a trio of handspun yarn in my Field of Lavender colorway. Each of these is made from the same art batt colorway, but I spun each one differently. One is a 2-ply yarn, one is a very thick and thin singles yarn, and one is a spiral-plied yarn with lots of coils and beehives that I made using Field of Lavender along with a fine mulberry silk laceweight yarn. I have several ideas for projects for this, ranging from a handwoven vest to a knit triangular cowl. If you decide to knit or crochet with these, the important thing would be to choose or make a simple pattern that doesn’t compete with the complex colors and textures of the yarn.

That’s one of the things I love about handspun–you can make something amazing even with a simple pattern that lets the yarn take center stage.

I also made a kit using Ambur’s Sari Skies tam pattern along with my Daydream yarn here…

…as well as a kit using Cindy from Orange Smoothie’s Bison Amid the Daisies here:

There’s a lot more that I’ve been carding, spinning, dyeing, knitting, and weaving, but I’ll have to save it for another day.

REQUEST AND COUPON

Last but not least, I have a favor to ask all of you. I would like to expand the Gallery section of my website with more of YOUR creations and maybe use the photos on my Facebook page as well. If you have made something using my yarn and art batts and you would be willing to let me use the photo, I would be so grateful. In fact, I’d be happy to offer you a 15% off coupon on your next purchase in return for the use of your photo. You can send me the photo via Etsy convo or just send it to me by email.

If you have a blog or website you would like me to include along with the photo, just let me know. If you were already kind enough to send me something last time I asked with no coupon offer attached, shoot me an email or convo me on Etsy and remind me of what you sent, and I’ll send you the coupon code now.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of knitting, crochet, and weaving season, and happy fiber artistry!