Winter Morning

January 16, 2024

Since many of us have experienced (or are perhaps still experiencing) snow in the last couple of weeks, I thought it might be an opportune time to revisit the practice of washing wool in the snow. The photos above are a snow washing session I conducted a couple of years ago on two Pendleton blankets. Snow washing is very low tech, not complicated, and pretty effective. It does work best when the snow is a) clean and b) not terribly wet, and with our recent super cold temps, conditions are pretty ideal. (Except for the part where you're outside in sub-zero weather.)

As with all things wool, Clara Parkes is a great resource on this method.

Snow washing at The Wool Channel

…mark your calendars

Social Stitching

Every Saturday, 2-4pm

A reminder--if you're feeling poorly, please join us again as soon as you're feeling better!

Make It Scandi Sweater Makealong

January 13 - February 29

Our official start date will be January 13th, and we'll continue through February. The theme for January's sweater makealong is: Scandi Design. Some suggested jumping off points include:

Scandinavian designers -- Filtered Ravelry search here.
Pattern tagged with design elements from one of the Scandinavian countries. Filtered Ravelry search here.
Use a Scandinavian yarn. We have Tukuwool Fingering and Léttlopi at Yarn Folk. If you would like to use a different weight of Lopi, we can drop ship through Berroco.
Try a soft neutral scheme that evokes Scandinavian interior design, or other colors that are often represented: pale blue, forest green, burnt orange, dusty pink...
Use mohair carried along with another yarn--a technique often used by Scandinavian designers. Filtered Ravelry search here.

Make It Scandi Zooms

We will have three makealong zooms, all on Sundays from 1-2pm. (Technically, the meeting length is limited to 40 minutes; my understanding is that there's usually a bit of a grace period.)

Sundays: January 21, February 4, and February 18, 1-2pm (PLEASE NOTE DATE CORRECTIONS)

Meeting link (note: this link will be attended on the above dates only)

Password: Scandi

Holiday Hours

February 19 (Presidents Day) -- TBD

Weather Delay

In the ten years we've been open, we've had *very* few unscheduled closures. That said, our hours are sometimes affected, and here's how we try to keep you posted:

We update our hours in Google. Sometimes they don't approve the update as fast as we'd like, but we do make every effort to post any changes there.
We make social media posts on Facebook and Instagram, and share those posts to our stories. If you happen to see a post, please like or share it--it really helps to get the word out when there is more interaction.
If we have access to the shop phone, we update the outgoing message.
Please remember that we travel from Upper County, and sometimes conditions there are very different.

…new in the shop

Do you ever just need a quick win? This last little stretch has been challenging, and even though I'm mesmerized by a new project (more on that below), busting out a quick headband with a really fun yarn seemed like an excellent idea. That's where Kinua Yarns The Flamé met with Kalurah Hudson's Winter Morning. A provisional cast-on, fourteen stitches, a thick, chunky cable, and a bit of grafting at the end, and voilà, a headband. (In case it's not obvious, this is a one skein project.)

And a reminder, there are a few yarns moving out to make some space we'll need when spring yarns begin to arrive, and you can snag them (in any combination) at a buy one, get one 50% off discounted price. Discounts are applied starting with the lowest price items, and are automatically reflected at checkout, both in the store and online.

The eligible yarns are:

…to inspire

Ellen's Cardigan is finished, and it is such a sweet little sweater! The button band used a technique that was new to me--an afterthought buttonhole that was made only by physically enlarging the center of a stitch! One advantage is that the sweater can be completed, and direction of buttoning can be determined later.

The method has you mark the placement, use a strand of silk mohair to make buttonhole stitches around the hole, and then use a large gauge knitting needle to enlarge the opening enough for the buttons to pass through. As a point of reference, I used a 12mm crochet hook to make the holes big enough for a 1/2" button.

The 18-24 month size used three skeins of West Yorkshire Spinners Bo Peep (although I actually used four--I wanted a solid contrast for the pocket linings and the edges of the hems).

...currently stitching

I was very excited to start Autumn Alpine as part of the #MakeItScandi makealong. The colorwork design employs stylized Scandinavian florals, and I'm using Tukuwool Fingering, a Finnish wool that is perfect for colorwork. I planned to use Repo, a heathery deep copper, as the main color all along, but I originally planned to use Sake (natural white) as the contrast. At the last minute, I decided to switch to Taate, a very dusty pink, instead, and I'm glad I did! I'm about 1/3 of the way through the yoke chart, and it's so fun to watch the flowers emerge!

PS, don't forget the Scandi Makealong Zoom this Sunday from 1-2p. Link is in the calendar section above, password Scandi.