Lazadas blocking wires review

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Ive heard a lot of good things about blocking wires and more particularly how they can really transform a finished project to give it a very professional look. I've been using T-pins only for as long as I can remember, and as much as I love them, they take so much time to be pinned and a whole lot of them, especially for a large shawl with a picot bind-off. I was curious enough to see how different the same piece would look blocked with T-pins only VS blocking wires, so I took a bunch of pictures of the two blocking methods. The short Lazadas blocking wires set that I have used contains 10 blocking wires (90cm) each and 30 plated T-pins.

In the two pictures on top I used the T-pins only. The shawl was still very wearable, but the picot bind-off had a tendency to roll and the shawl was a little too tight around the neck. I used more than 50 T-pins to block the whole thing, and quite a lot of time to give it the shape that I wanted.

In the bottom pictures, the shawl was blocked with blocking wires and T-pins (less than 20). The blocking wires are extremely flexible and I could bend them to enhance the shawl's circular shape. The finished piece grew by about 20%, giving it a very nice drape, and allowing the flower and eyelet stitches to really pop.

The blocking wires didn't only save me a lot of time, but they genuially transformed the finished piece to an even prettier and more wearable version of the shawl. They will be used for every shawl that needs blocking - Canopy and the Quince&co version of Blóm are next on my list.

The set is very handy as it comes in a little zip pouch that can easily fit in a project bag. The blocking wires are cleaverly looped with wire twist-ties so they don't take a whole lot of space. Just make sure that you keep the wire twist-ties so you can store the blocking wires nicely when you are done!

Oops, and I amlost forgot to mention that they ship worldwide for 5$!

Yarn review, interview & giveaway: Isle yarns

Today I'm so happy to sit and chat with Sue, the lovely owner of the Isle Yarns, a yarn company that she created using the fleeces of her Poll Dorset sheeps that are raised on her farm, on the Isle of Purbeck. I first got acquainted with the Poll Dorset yarns last year when her nephew Benjamin, released the first batch of the Hole & Sons yarns. I was lucky enough to grab two skeins to add to my collection before they all disapeared and ended up in the stashed of hungry knitters.

Sue contacted me a little while ago to ask me if I would be interested in "reviewing" the colors that she created for the Winter collection. At that time I was still swatching and playing with stitches for my Art Deco hat. I made a swatch with the cuddled colorway, and immediately loved the way the stitches were behaving with the yarn (such a wonderful stitch definition!). Following that, I started "helping" her choosing the colorways for the Spring and Summer 16 collection. It was so interesting to see the very first shadecard samples before the dying process actually happened and how different the final colorways turned out, creating the most beautiful and muted tones. The Winter & Spring collections are now available on the Isle Yarn website in 50g balls or 100g skeins and in 7 different colorways.

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Sue was generous enough to answer a couple of questions about herself, her work on the farm and her yarn of course!

How is life like on the Isle of Purbeck/ Can you walk us though a day in your life?

Everyday is different which is what we love about farming!
 During lambing I'll start at the lambing shed first thing for a couple of hours then head off to my fabric and wool shop for the day. At teatime I'll be at the lambing shed until supper then after supper my husband Andy and I will spend a few more hours on lambing duty. That's our favourite time of day as the hustle and bustle of the day is over and we can reflect on our day and plan our days ahead whilst keeping an eye on the ewes that are lambing. Other times of year are still busy as farming is seasonal and heavily dependent on the weather and I try to reflect that in my Instagram photos.

Where do you see the Isle yarns in the future? Or any projects that you are working on and would like to share.

I'd like to see Isle Yarns become an established small brand, to extend our colour range, build on the relationship I have with the designers like yourself who design beautiful patterns to compliment the wool and introduce a collection of hand made knits to sell alongside the yarn.

Anything else that you might like to share?
 
Farming can be an isolating way of life and we sometimes joke that my husband Andy rarely leaves the farm but since I've been sharing photos of our farm life on Instagram we've had such a positiveresponse from folk all over the world, full of encouragement and respect for what we do. As they say - Instagram is full of the nicest people you'll never meet!

Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself?
 
I grew up on the Isle of Purbeck with 3 brothers and 1 sister. My father was a vicar in the small village where we lived. My husband is a local farmer so when we got married I moved just 5 miles up the valley!
We've got 4 children, two them farm and our eldest daughter has two sons so we are blessed with 2 grandchildren. Our youngest is a trainee chef at the Dorchester Hotel in London and loves the city life although her roots are here in the countryside.
 
Can you tell us the story of your yarn, from the fields to the yarn.

My nephew Ben first had the idea of using the wool from our pedigree Poll Dorset sheep to produce knitting wool in 2014 and as I have a fabric and wool shop in our local town, I had some of his wool to sell.  Ben has been too busy on the farm to keep producing more at present so I've started producing it from the same breed under the name Isle Yarns

What are the qualities of the Isle yarn/ What kind of project is it good for?
 
The knitting wool from the Poll Dorset sheep is rustic and hardy - just like the sheep! It is firm to knit with and the stich definition is excellent. When it's hand washed and blocked the wool softens and blooms beautifully.
So far I've seen hats, mitts and jumpers knitted with the wool and we enjoy seeing projects shared on Instagram with the tag #isleyarns

Are you a knitter yourself or a crafter?

I am!  I love to sew and knit and have recentlybrought a second hand knitting machine which I am having great fun leaning to use.

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The giveaway is nos CLOSED. Thank you so much for participating and congratulations to Serena!

Isle Yarns is offering two balls (50g each) of their new colorway Dromemead to one lucky winner. To enter simply follow @harpstone on Instagram and tell me in the comments below which color you like the most or which project you would like to create with the yarn. Make sure to enter some contact info, so I can reach out to you! The giveway is open until Wednesday 2sd March 16 midnight Riga time. Good luck!

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The Treehouse patterns

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These two sweet little patterns are my newest contribution for the 6 bits storybooks magazine, issue 2, Dwell. I cannot tell you how much fun it was to create this set of pattern, and how much of my soul has been captured into them (aka my horcruxes).

A couple of months ago, Melissa shared her idea of having a photoshoot in the woodsy state of Oregon, and I remember precisely the expression on my face, and how much I wanted to cast on for this project. As soon as the yarn arrived in the mail, I immediately cast on for the hat and used the Stonehedge Fiber Mill, Shepherd's wool in the sage colorway. Designing this pattern was a lot of fun, and to be honest I don't really remember the creating process. It happened very suddently and I don't have very clear memories of sketching or doing anything else than knitting cables to create the branches of the tree. It's as if my mind was in pilot mode, and the only thing that I had to do was to coordinate my hands.

When the hat was done I cast on the mittens. This part was a bit more challenging because I already had a pattern in my mind. But I guess the tree stitch that I repeated so many times on the hat hadn't left me completely, and I happened to be craving for more. So I reused the pattern and adapted it for the mittens. Oh and did I mentionned that the yarn used was Camelia Fiber Company, merino sport in the Sylvan colorway? It couldn't have been more appropriate than that.

As for the naming, the patterns for this issue are named after specific places. Melissa has been living all around the world, and so she used that as an inpiration for her own patterns. For my patterns, I tried to imagine what my perfect place dwelling would be. And my answer for that is either a hobbit hole or a treehouse. Since the photoshoot took place in the middle of the woods, I thought that the treehouse was more appropriate, and who knows, maybe next time we will be shooting in hobbitown!

Yarn review & giveaway: Blacker Yarns, Tamar

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Today I'm so excited to share a yarn that will very soon be available.

I've been a huge Blacker Yarns fan since their very beginnings. I have tried a couple of their yarns in the past including the Organic Wensleydale and also the Westcountry Tweed that I actually used as a sample for my Woodland Tales mittens submission.

This new edition of Blacker is a lustrous blend of British wool, all blended together to create the most luxurious fiber. When I first discovered the yarn, I honestly thought that there was a tiny bit of silk in there. How could the yarn be so shiny without silk? - that is what I thought when I first touched the skein and held it close to the light.

As I was swatching with the yarn, I tried to imagine what I could create with such a beautiful fibre, and the only thing that came to my mind was a shawl. It must be a shawl. A long and drapey one that would mimic the movements of the water and river which gave it its name.

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“Tamar is a lustre blend yarn with a fluid sheen, reminiscent of flowing water and the river which gives this blend its name. This luxurious lustre yarn has been worsted spun to enhance the fibre’s inherent drape and shine.
Tamar is made from historic Wensleydale, Cotwold, and Black Leicester Longwool, which are the most distinctive British breeds. Tall and elegant with long lustrous ringlets of wavy fleece, the fibre is smooth and sleek with a distinctive silky sheen.”

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Tamar is available is 15 different dyed shades and 3 natural ones in a 4ply (fingering) weight or a DK weight. Blacker was generous enough to offer one of you lucky winners a skein of Tamar 4ply in the Tresillian colorway. To enter the giveaway follow@blackeryarns on Instagram, and tell me in the comments below what you would like to create with this yarn (make sure to include an email address in your comment).The giveaway is open internationaly until Friday (25th) 2016, 11pm GMT+2. Good luck!

The giveaway is now closed, congratulations to Claire!

Swatches diary: Selkie swatch in Jamieson & Smith

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It's been quite a while since I shared a swatch diary entry in here. Since Selkie has been released, I thought I could share the little swatch that led to create the pattern. This swatch is the first one that I made for the pattern, but I think that in total, I have probably knit five or six of them. I usually have a very clear vision of what I want the pattern to look like but this time around it was a bit more foggy in my head, so I let the swatch "speak to me" and give myself some time to consider all the different possibilities. I think I started swatching for the pattern back in May and only finished the shawl in November. From all the swatches that I made, I felt the more confident with my first choice, and picked the original sample for the pattern. I really liked its simplicity and the delicate aspect of the lace.

The yarn used for the pattern is the Jamieson&Smith 2ply jumper weight. I don't think that I could have choosen any better yarn for a pattern that is inspired by the Shetland Isles. for the main section of the shawl, I knew that I wanted to use a cream/ off-white colorway, and I actually had some leftovers from the Shwook hat that I made last year. The 2ply jumper weight come in so many different colorways, and the color combo for the shawl can be infinite really.

Selkie

“‘I am a man, upon the lan, An I am a silkie in the sea; And when I’m far and far frae lan, My dwelling is in Sule Skerrie.’”

Have you ever seen a seal bobbing in the water, watching you? If you have been to the north of Scotland you may have. Seals swim in the Pentland Firth, to the north of Caithness, and out to the Orkney Islands. They catch fish and lie basking on the rocks. The stories tell us that sometimes they shed their seal skins and walk on the shore on two feet as selkies! A fisherman might fall in love with the soft brown eyes of a selkie woman, hide her seal skin and make her his wife.

Selkie has been greatly inspired by the Shetland haps, from the shape to the garter section, the lace to the yarn choosen, and its name.

The pattern is a delicate triangular shawl that features a squishy garter stitch center that is worked with increases. It is a very entertaining knit that features different techiniques like picking up stitches, lace, color changing and a Latvian braid.

Selkie is accessible to adventurous knitters and will be a relatively quick knit to more advanced knitters.

The pattern is also a wonderful stash burner as a very little amount of yarn is required both for the lace and the braid.

Selkie is discounted 50% until Sun. 31/15 midnight Riga time.
Just enter the code "SONGOFTHESEA50" at checkout.

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Yarn
• 4 skeins of Jamieson & Smith 2 Ply Jumper Weight in the 202 colorways --> garter section
• 3 skeins of Jamieson & Smith 2 Ply Jumper Weight in the 61FC OR 072 colorway --> lace section
• 1 skein of Jamieson & Smith 2 Ply Jumper Weight in the 002 colorway --> braids section

Needles
A pair of US8 or needle size to obtain gauge

Notions
• 2 stitch markers
• stitch markers for the lace section (optional)
• tapestry needle to weave in the ends.

Gauge
15,5 stitches and 37 rows= 4”/10cm in garter stitch, or needle to obtain gauge.

Finished Measurements
57”(145cm) long and 21,6”(55cm) deep

Thanks to Jamieson&Smith for providing yarn support for this pattern!

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