Tin Can Knits inspired me!

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So we have several awesome ladies who love to scour Ravelry for great pattern ideas. Sometimes the pattern chooses the yarn, but in my case the yarn really needed to choose the pattern. I needed a well-written pattern that I could explain to my customers. The pattern needed to help me show the way the colors pool or transition. This week I chose “Barley” and “Oats.”

Yarn: Olann “Worsted” (1 skein for the sample, but would be awesome with two skeins, adds more depth)

Needle of choice: US 9 / 24″ circ

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Pattern links are below…

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Barley Hat

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We made some modifications. I decided to use sport weight yarn on the hat. You can get the actual pattern at Tin Can Knits. So the mistake I made was counting the wrong number of stitches. I was sure I had 90. Then at the decreases it became clear that I was tired. I was not ripping with 100 stitches on the needle and 7 inches done. So I modified as follows: k8, k2tog four times then knit 13, k2tog four times. After that the decreases are pretty clear. You can my amendments via PDF or in the shop. Either way I love the patterns from Tin Can Knits because they showcase our Wonderwolle colors really well!

 

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Using American Made…

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So the pattern you will see below is “Barley” by Tin Can Knits. I love this pattern because I really want to showcase the color work, but still hold my customer’s interest. I think the designer for Tin Can Knits did a great job accomplishing both tasks. Of course, I still have to finish knitting. The pattern calls for a worsted weight yarn, but I decided to use the sport weight in our Wonderwolle (100% Wool, Single Ply, smooth hand). To compensate for the gauge difference, I just chose to cast on more stitches. I think this works just fine. Take note that I also use US 6 to cast on even thought the yarn could handle a US 5 and I opted to use a US 7 for the body of the hat since my 8’s are all busy with other hat projects.

Yarn Type: Wonderwolle Lanaloft Sport
Color: Remains of the Day
Brand: The Sheepwalk
Yardage: 220

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Follow the Sheepwalk….to Klose Knits Urbana, Illinois!

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We are honored to now be selling The Sheepwalk Hand Dyed in the Merino 600 at Klose Knits Urbana. You might say that Brigitte is one of my many German soul mates who in passing spent a little time at Suzoo’s Wool Works. She needed some fresh perspective like all of us. So I sent her home with a few patterns we love at Suzoo’s, a skein of Merino 600 and my hand knit “Iron Maiden” (Pattern by Maiden Brooklyn). I felt that there was no sense in just telling how much we like the yarn. Let the samples speak for themselves. You can see Iron Maiden and our yarn at:

Klose Knits Urbana
311 W Springfield Ave
Urbana, IL 61801

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yarn store costa mesa knit crochet orange county ca

 

New Weights…New Colors

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THE SHEEPWALKS SOCKENWOLLE

465 YARDS APPROX. | 75% WOOL & 25% NYLON | SMOOTH HAND | SOCK WEIGHT | $16.95 PER SKEIN

THE SHEEPWALKS WONDERWOLLE WORSTED

185 YARDS APPROX. | RAMBOUILLET MIX | SMOOTH HAND | WORSTED WEIGHT | $9.00 PER SKEIN

THE SHEEPWALKS WONDERWOLLE SPORT

220 YARDS APPROX. | RAMBOUILLET MIX | SMOOTH HAND | SPORT WEIGHT | $7.50 PER SKEIN

A Day at the Beach

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Color Way shown here is Esperanza the Harlot!, part of our Renaissance Collection.

Remains of the Day Hand Spun

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The beauty of this is that I have not really spun yarn in over a year. Last night I took home my wheel knowing full well that my Mom’s cat was going to see this as an opportunity to get killed…by me. She’s so adorable. I just think she was definitely a border collie in her past life by the way she hers my hats and fiber around the house.

So the first of my hand spun yarn is from the yarn color way “Remains of the Day” formerly known as 6:14 pm. This is Jill’s baby. We tried to get a more sophisticated spin by keeping our color ways as simple on the fiber as possible. The end goal: less wild card and more modeled. There’s still some flecky and stripey stuff going on, but that is the nature of the spin beast. Next time I will dot my i’s and make sure to align the lights with the darks.

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