And don't forget, this FRIDAY is the day to drop off your Kittitas County Fair entries at the Home Arts building at the fairgrounds, 10a - 7p.
Back in May, I sent an email to my friend Julia of Knitterly Things asking if she would be at our tradeshow, as in addition to dyeing yarn, she now owns an LYS in Michigan with her mom.
Sadly, the answer was no, but she did have room in her summer dye queue for an order of Vesper Sock, our favorite hand-dyed self-striping sock yarn.
It arrived on Friday!
Look at that colorful goodness! I addition to fantastic socks, it's also a great candidate for a
Musselburgh or
Sockhead Slouch Hat. My own Vesper socks are the first ones I reach for when they are freshly laundered. Find all the colorways we have in stock
here.
Another pair of exciting additions to the shop are Italian cashmere yarns from Gepard.
Cashmere was a hole in my product line up last year, and I'm glad to have found a couple of yarns that (along with Malabrigo Caprino, a Merino/cashmere blend) fill that luxury gap.
Cashmere Lace is incredibly versatile--you can use it by itself, held single or double, or you can use it as a carry-along in place of mohair. We decided to start with a palette of clear pastels and vivid brights--this yarn deserves a place in the spotlight.
Cashmere Kumula can also be used in a variety of ways, but when you're using it on its own, you can use larger needle size than you would with the Cashmere Lace. For both of these yarns, you'll notice Gepard's commitment to using high-quality fibers--while they might feel like clouds, they were developed for longevity and resistance to pilling.
(You'll be unsurprised to learn that the most-knit project with
Cashmere Kumula is the Sophie Scarf 😍)
…to inspire
The Hey Halo Sweater is one of a few potential cast-ons vying for my attention. It's one of my favorite types of sweater--relatively plain, with some thoughtful details, and an attention to fit details that make it a classic. In the case of this (potential) sweater, it's the compound raglan shaping that takes it beyond being just another mostly-stockinette raglan.
I wanted to share an astute explanation of how compound raglan works, and Aimee Sher has a great blog post on this construction--you can read it here.
If video explanations work better for you, The Unapologetic Knitter has a relatively concise one from her YouTube channel here.
...currently stitching
The cardigan is designed to have 10.75-17.5 inches positive ease when buttoned. With that in mind, I made the third size, and pinned it out to most* of the specified measurements with minimal nudging.
*The exception was that I added about 5 inches to the body length. The pattern has a deep armhole, but even factoring that in, the 5" length from the underarm was shorter than I prefer. I have a long torso, and the extended length hits me mid-low hip. I may take it back to the next highest buttonhole, but I'm going to wear it a few times before I decide. (Which I am unlikely to do until the weather begins to cool.)
I used 295 grams, so just under three skeins. I wasn't playing yarn chicken, per se, but I did estimate how many additional rows I could knit at the end without having to join in the last five grams (which were attached to the sweater elsewhere).
One last note, everyone who has touched this fabric has been surprised at how soft it is, even next to skin. South Africa is known for the high quality of its mohair, and the
Fluffy Mohair from cowgirlblues bears that out!
Now it's back to The Traveler Cowl in Torzal -- and probably a couple of additional new cast-ons -- who are we kidding? 😝
