House of Yarn

There is a phenomenal amount of yarn in my house at the moment. In the space of about 2 weeks I had orders for over 52kgs of yarn! This was mostly the co-op, which has been pretty exciting. So I've been dyeing 3 full days a week, which is as much as I can squeeze in between kids and everything else :) Still, I have about 4 sessions to go when all customs and co-op dyeing is done - until the Pear Tree arrives, that is. I'm at the point where my hands are really feeling it, and I'm looking forward to seeing a huge pile of dyed and labeled yarn waiting to be packed up rather than containers of undyed yarn, dye lists and schedules :D Here's a peek of what I have been up to.....and why I have been so quiet.

'Romani' above and 'Depth' below on WOOLganic Australian Organic Wool 8ply. I love this yarn - so soft and velvety, a delight to dye and knit.

I've also been dyeing quite a bit of fiber lately, mostly silk. There will be some BFL sliver for the shop soon. 'Evoke' above and 'Berry fuchsia' below.

And finally the co-op: Due to the amount of yarn being dyed, I hung a new extra drying rack outside and a line inside - this is the line inside. It is this full constantly. We have had alot of rain here, so I've had to keep everything rotating to get it all dry. It is such a lovely wall decoration, it will be a shame to see it go.

Co-op Pear Tree

Just a quick update - unfortunately the Pear Tree yarn is approx. 4 weeks away..... If anyone has any questions or problems, please contact me or Kris.

My house is literally a house of yarn, I'll post soon with some pics :D

Happy knitting!

Co-op Update

Thanks to everyone who ordered in the co-op (now closed).

I have been busy ordering yarns with some problems:

Treliske has sold out of cones so all skeins will have one join per skein.

Some Four Bags Full yarn will also have one join per skein, as hanks have been sold out

There will be a possible delay with Pear Tree yarns, when I have an expected time frame Kris and I will let everyone know.

I will post with news as I receive it. I will also keep track of my progress with a percentage bar on the right.

Happy knitting!

Hot from the Dye Pot

The latest batch of Rainbow Gradients....

Though very time consuming, it's always such a pleasure seeing the colours come together :)

Anawol Alpacas

Have I mentioned that I really really like Alpacas??? I often joke to my husband that we should move to Tasmania and have some Alpacas. He says 'some?' and I say 'Yeah, like a herd of them!'. I think alpaca is so soft - yes, and I hear you - hairy. But I've never found it to be anything like mohair, alot of people seem to think so which has always surprised me. Alpacas are such lovely animals. I don't really know what Tasmania has to do with my Alpaca farm dream though...

So when I got an email about Alpaca Week, and how a local farm was having an open weekend (not just a day), it became our Saturday destination ;)

Sienna had a great time trying to convince an Alpaca to eat grass from her hand, eating yummy homemade Danish and sat drawing pictures of Alpacas while I had a look around at the wares on offer. I am sooo lucky I didn't have alot of cash on me! The handspun 100% alpaca yarn has to be the softest alpaca I have EVER felt. So I got 2 skeins (300g+) and some large vintage sock blockers which was awesome! The labels have the name of the animal the fleece came from - mine came from Kirka, and this yarn is a beautiful caramel brown. What a wonderful Alpaca to grow such wonderful fleece! Did I mention I really like Alpacas??

April Sock Club

Hmmm, well it was that time again (about 10 days ago), time for the Yarn Collective Sock Club parcels to be sent out. I'm pretty sure they have all found their new homes, so here's a peek!

'Tamarillo'

This month featured a new as yet unreleased base yarn for The Yarn Cafe and evoke hand dyed yarns - Superwash 8ply. Perfect for thick socks in the cooler weather.Talk about sliding through your fingers! This yarn is delicious!!! This time I kept some for myself, and I'm itching to cast on some Rainy Day socks. Only problem is I have 5 wips at the moment and about 10 things waiting to be cast on!

Pear Tree Merino

I restocked the store last weekend and most of the yarn to go up was Pear Tree Merino. This yarn really is supersoft, and takes the dye beautifully, not to mention this yarn is sooo photographic. If you've never tried it - you must! Saying it is supersoft doesn't even come close! It has such a wonderful cotton-like feel, you could seriously go to sleep on a pile of this yarn and feel like a princess.

'Julian' (top) and 'Earth Mother' (above)

'Lullaby' (above)

'Rocky Creek' (above) and 'Volcano' (below)

Stitches and Craft Show

Yesterday Kris and I made the trip to Brisbane to visit the Stitches and Craft Show.I've seen lots of blog posts about the show and yarn scored... but alas, there was no yarn in Brisbane for a yarn snob like me!

There was fabric like you wouldn't believe!! I exercised incredible restraint and only purchased a cushion cover kit from Ink and Spindle - reminding myself how I almost never get the sewing machine out these days... I used to sew daily before I was attacked by the knitting bug ....sigh. I would have loved to buy metres and metres of fabric!

Snowy Owls

I cast off on and blocked this project more than a week ago, but didn't have a chance to put the finishing touches on until yesterday. We've all had the flu here - for two weeks! It was good to get some things done!

I've had this yarn for more than two years, from way back when Ali and I had a yarn swap. I'm really happy about how this turned out - perfect yarn, very snuggly, fluffy and wintery. Reminds me of Germany.

Pattern: Owl Baby Vest by Jodi Haraldson
Yarn: 100% Alpaca hand-dyed by Ali of BumNRound, 95g
Mods: Made it about an inch longer, P1K1 ribbing

Healthy for your stash...

New to The Yarn Cafe!
Lovely Lanica from Fleece Artist.

A lush organic single plied DK weight yarn, coloured with natural dyes. They are all dyed with plant dyes except for Cochineal which is an insect. Fleece Artist has gone to great lengths to obtain and spin high grade organic wool, dyed in Italy in one of Europe's most famous eco-friendly dyehouses. Do the environment a favour and grab some!

I just love the subtle semi solid colours, I can really see myself in Ivy or Catechu :)

L-R: Cochineal, Catechu, Aldur buckthorn, Blureberry leaves, Ivy and Natural