Fuzzbee Yarns

I just got a box full of amazing things from my friend Cassie. I met Cassie while serving in the Peace Corps, and she is one of the people that helped me to learn how to knit while living in Armenia. She came to Armenia already a skilled spinner and knitter, and she has continued to hone her skills and is now selling amazing hand spun and organically hand dyed yarn! It's all pretty amazing, and I can say this because I just got a box of her yarn! You can buy your own at the Fuzzbee Etsy shop, and check out her website fuzzbeeyarns.com to learn more about her spinning and dying process.

Here are some photos of the yarn I just received!

 Ok, one by one, because you know you want to know more!

100% BFL handspun, undyed 109 yds

100% BFL, 150 yds

100% Shetland Wool, handspun, red caggabe dyed, 470 yds

100% Shetland Wool, 216 yds, turmeric/indigo dyed

yarn ball and knitting needle ornament!

I'm going to start designing a few things specifically for the subtle beauty of handspun. I'm really excited about this, because I've very rarely had the opportunity to knit with handspun yarn before, and have yet to design with it! Stay tuned!

I posted photos of this shawl back in July. I made it with Swans Island Organic Merino Fingering, an amazingly soft and squishy yarn in lovely colors as a shop sample for Warm 'N Fuzzy for my design your own shawl class. Well, the shawl itself has gotten a lot of interest while hanging in the shop, and so I'm finally going to write and publish the pattern. The shawl is off in the mail to Katy to be properly photographed (you'll see from the evidence below that I'm a terrible photographer) and this pattern is ready to be test knit! If you'd like to test knit this for me, I'm doing it in the Free Pattern Testers Group on Ravelry.

Swatches!

As I mentioned yesterday a lot of the things I'm working right now are still secrets. But let me tell you, there are some exciting things coming in the next 6 months!

I love designing knitting patterns, but I have to say one of the downsides is that you are always knitting for 6 months-1 year ahead, and can't share what you're working on until long after you've actually knit it.

Anyways, here are some of the swatches that I've been working on

Help me name this shrug

So remember how I kept on posting about the design process for the green shrug? You can see it from the beginning: it started with the yarn, then came the swatch and ideas, a sketch, a nearly finished shrug, and now here are photos of the lovely Katy Doyle wearing the shrug.

For me the last part of the design process is naming the shrug. Since I've been going through the process publicly I thought I'd give everyone the chance to give me an idea on what to name the pattern. The winner will receive a free copy of the shrug pattern. 

To enter: Put your suggested name(s) in a comment below along with your Ravelry ID or email address before May 1st.

More Shrug Design

The reason I didn't post a picture of the shrug this weekend? I was too busy knitting! I did manage to finish the shrug. This is a picture of it blocking. Now I've sewn it up and it's blocking again. The next picture probably won't be until it's photographed properly by Katy. 

I haven't come up with a name for this shrug, any thoughts?

Shrug Design, day 3

Ok, so here is my sketch of the shrug that I will design/knit:

I'm going to cast on at one cuff, knit all the way across, then seam up the sleeves. I've already started knitting, I'll post pictures tomorrow.


Remember the Bunny Mail Project? Well it's finally March 31st, and I selected three winners as promised. They have all been emailed, so hopefully I will get to mail these off soon.

Shrug Design continues

After poking around on the internet for a bit I found some shrugs/boleros that are sort of the look that I'm going for. Obviously neither of these are knit, and I want mine to end just above the elbow, but these are the general idea I'm going for. 

I have also swatched some stitches and washed my swatch. (In order to make sure your knit items fit you must ALWAYS wash your swatch. Materials grow considerably after washing)

From the bottom up I have swatched a 2x2 rib, a slipped/reverse stockinette lace, and stockinette. I asked the Thursday evening knitting group last night whether they preferred the lace or the stockinette, and the overwhelming majority was for the lace. 

Next Step: sketch, math (my least favorite part) and cast on (the best part). 

New Design

I thought I would blog about my design process for a shrug that I'm knitting for the Yarn Tree Studio in Raleigh, NC. While talking to the owner Lynn today she mentioned that they have a new yarn in the shop, and needed a pattern and shop sample to highlight the yarn. I listed a few ideas, and she liked one of them, and so I'm designing a shrug for this yarn. Of course I'll also make the pattern available on Ravelry. The yarn is Cotton Supreme Sequins by Universal Yarn Inc. It's 97% cotton, 3% polyester, 3.5 oz a skein and 197 yards. I'm going to try to design a shrug for two skeins, but we'll see...

Here's a picture of the yarn, it's a lovely green color, and there aren't too many sequins.

Now I'm going to swatch and draw a sketch. More on that tomorrow!