Etsy Shop
There is much news in the land of Gourmet Crafter Yarn! There are 2 new weights to add to the family: Worsted and Cashmere. There’s also a new way to purchase Gourmet Crafter Yarn: Etsy! I’ve finally got my Etsy store up and running with yarns for sale. If you haven’t checked out GC yarn yet, it’s time.
Hastings Graffiti
Gourmet Sock:
80% superwash merino/ 10% cashmere/ 10% nylon
28 stitches per 4 inches
380 yards per 115g skein
Recommended needle size: US 1-3
This yarn is perfect for a nice pair of socks or a small shawl.
Robin's Egg
Gourmet Worsted:
80% superwash merino/ 10% cashmere/ 10% nylon
18 stitches per 4 inches
200 yards per 115g skein
Recommended needle size: US 8
Tofino Fern
Gourmet Cashmere
100% cashmere
22 stitches per 4 inches
180 yards per 50g skein
Recommended needle size: US 4-6
These are just a few of the colourways available. For more info click here.
To visit my Etsy shop click here.
Some FO’s
Well, I haven’t had as much knitting time as I would like lately but I have managed to finish a few items of interest! One of the great things about starting 4 lace shawls at once is the great feeling of accomplishment when you cast them all off in the same week! I got to wear a different beautiful, colourful, lacy scarf almost every day this week!
The first 3 were in the sumptuous Cashsilk Lace from SweetGeorgia. The yarn was a dream to work with and as I finished the scarves I started to get a real obsession going. I am imagining a little basket full of lacy scarves in all of the beautiful Cashsilk colours…..the pocketbook may never allow such a thing, but a spoiled knitter can dream can’t she?!
The first item up is my beautiful Sunflower. I have been itching to knit one of Emily’s patterns for what seems like FOREVER and I finally got to it with her beautiful Sunflower Shawl. Call me unimaginative but I felt this pattern would only be true in yellow and of course, SweetGeorgia does an awesome yellow called Saffron. The pattern was very easy to follow and clearly laid out. Well done Ems! I got 3 repeats of the seed pattern and 1 repeat of the leaf pattern plus transitions and edging charts.
The next shawl I undertook was the Shetland Triangle by Evelyn Clark. I am completely smitten with this pattern! It was easy to memorize the pattern and I really like the finished product. The way the pinecones are shaped give it almost a circular look, just beautiful. It’s in the ever lovely Riptide colourway that I am slowly knitting into my life.
Next up is my pretty pink Ishbel shawl in a sock weight. I wanted something pink on the advice of Kathleen at UY and I went with Casbah because it is such a soft sock yarn. The pattern is by Ysolda Teague, whose work I have recently become acquainted with, and I really like the finished product. It might just be me but I had a hard time figuring out how the lace was working, how things were shifting and lining up. It didn’t make the shawl impossible, it just meant I had to consult the pattern more often than I like.
Last is my Ginger coloured Brandywine shawl. I have finished this baby but I haven’t taken any updated photos. This shawl started out quite difficult but it got a lot easier as it went. It was knitted from tip out, instead of from the middle of the top like the other ones. The bottom was a tough chart but I focused on the ferry so not a big deal. Love the colour and the squishy garter stitch in the middle. I was pretty satisfied over all.
Next up: I have a Traveling Woman and a Photosynthesis on the go!
Spring Stash Cleaning
That’s right. I have taken on the most daunting task of organizing the stash. I want to knit up what I’ve got for the next little while (off to a bad start though, don’t want to talk about it). My lovely mother came over last weekend and I hauled yarn out of every nook and cranny in the house. It was really coming out of the wood works though! There were a couple of bins in the bedroom closet, some piles in the living room, in jars on a shelf, in baskets, in boxes, I had it strewn all over the living room! It was like a heavenly nightmare. The yarn was piled high and then I found the bag.
The bag was full of acrylic yarn from way way back. It’s in kind of earthy colours and squeaks when you knit it. Seeing that yarn again brought back memories of my first knits. They were blankets composed of wide strips of different stitches with seed stitch around the borders. I would find a stitch I liked from my 99 Knit Stitches book (possible circa 1970) and then do a little math, add a border and knit away. I had some plastic double points with elastic bands on the ends from my mumsy and I would knit about half of one, then start 2 more (4 double points means you can work on 3 strips at a time, I was a multi-project knitter right from the start). I made these blankets over 6 feet long for my tall dad and brothers. They were monstrosities but they are still around. There are 3 of these babies at my parents house. They have been washed a couple of times and they still look the same as the day I knit them.
I digress of course. I organized my yarn in a couple of different ways. Each stash is unique and if you decide to organize your own you will almost certainly have different categories, but here are the ones I went with:
Large Bin 1: Worsted (mostly Malabrigo, I have some projects in mind for that)
Large Bin 2: Cascade
Large Bin 3: Odds and sods. These are the ends or 1/2 balls left over from various projects. I haven’t quite decided what to do with these ones. Perhaps a pom-pom project of sorts?
Large Bin 4: Cottons. I don’t think this really counts as a whole large bin because it contains 2 blankets that are stitches away from being finished. I suppose it does count until I ACTUALLY finish them.
Small Bin 1: Blue Sky Alpacas, everything except the sport and melange
Small Bin 2: Blue Sky Alpacas sport and melange. Lots of colourwork means lots of leftovers!
Small Bin 3: Sweet Sweet Georgia (Emily saw this bin and commented on what a spoiled knitter I am, she is right of course)
Small Bin 4: Sock yarn! I am loving this bin right now. One of my favorite things about sock yarn is that there are so many things you can do with one skein. I am just plotting my return to socks after my Christmas sock blitz.
All it took was a couple of days and a trip to Ikea but I am ready for anything the knitting world might bring!
