50 Shades of White.  My stepdaughter, Jennifer is getting married next year and finally picked out her wedding dress.  It's gorgeous and of course, she looks beautiful in it.

So, now that we have the dress, we MUST have a wedding shawl or shrug.  I've been dreaming of something lacy since she announced her engagement, but I have to admit, the dress has a lot going on and I don't want the shawl to detract from that. Here are a few idea:

 

I had Jen look through Ravelry last week and of course, she was totally overwhelmed.  She said that she's on Pinterest and that I should open an account so we can share pictures and see what each other likes. I've been dreading doing Pinterest, only because it's just one more thing to keep up with.  I mean, Ravelry is such a time sucker as it is.  I need to be knitting or dyeing, not looking at other patterns and putting more things in my queue.  Now, I'm stuck on Pinterest and looking at designs and pinning things to my boards. Visit my wedding shawl board and let me know if there is anything else out there.  Here's the link to my boards: http://pinterest.com/woolbearers/.

If I don't get to do lace for the wedding, I can get my lace fix now. I just started yet, another new project. This one, I have to get done in a hurry.  My son is graduating from college in a few weeks and I will be staying with my dear friend Pat, who is like a second mother to me.  Mind you, I've been thinking about knitting something for her for this occasion for four years now and finally realized that if I don't start, it will never get done.  So, looking through Ravelry for hours on end, I found a simple, but elegant lace pattern from Pam Allen called the Little Arrowhead Shawl.  It's DK weight and only 260 yards -- I can get that done in no time.  I will get it done, even if I have to let my daughter drive all the way to Rochester so I can knit! Here it is so far.

I decided to use Blue Sky Alpaca Silk and let me tell you, this is a pleasure to knit.  Two skeins is all it will take.  Wish me luck.

We started getting in our new Karbonz needles. The larger sizes and new interchangeables will be here very soon.  So far, we have sizes 0-4 in 10" straights and 24" circs.  These lightweight needles are composed of carbon fiber bodies and sharp brass tips.  I have a set of dpn's if you want to try them out. (Buy them on the online store soon!)

Here's another finished afghan from Barbara Walker's Learn to Knit Afghan book.  Sarah started this one in my class about 2 1/2 years ago.  Mind you, there are 63 squares in the afghan, but Sarah felt that she needed to do another row, so she added 9 more squares. I love her color selection and the way she put them all together.  Now onto new projects. 

Dagmar saw my Color Affection shawl and was inspired to knit one too.  She decided to use my hand dyed Woolie Bears SockYarn with Cashmere and the results are stunning.

 Here's some of the yarn. It is available on my online store!  Come into the shop if you can't wait.

Sometimes I feel like a drug pusher, oops I mean yarn pusher   --- all that yarn that makes you feel so goooood. I am more than happy to help people with their addiction.  Merino is yummy, but cashmere is one great high.  Every once in a while, a customer has forgotten something or needs an extra skein.  If they live near me, I'll offer to meet them somewhere near where we live.  Under the cover of darkness we make the exchange, in a secluded spot in a parking lot through car door windows. Just one more skein and then I'll quit.  Promise.   Yeah, right.

Just finished  knitting my Age of Brass and Steam shawl with Mimi, 100% mink and let me tell you -- this is good stuff.  Only took one skein. You can buy the yarn here.

I'll be getting more colors in -- right now there is black, red, navy and grey.   330 yards per skein and it knits at 6 stitches to the inch on a size 4 needle. 

Folks are still working on their Kate Davies projects from our KAL, using her new book - Colours of Shetland and Jamieson's Spindrift yarn. (Available here) Kathy just had to put thumbs in to her Ursula Mittens, which she did by the end of the session last Sunday.  I just can't believe she only started knitting last Fall.

 and here is one Stevenson Gauntlet  Kathy made with some leftovers

 

Karen is knitting the Scatness Tunic and has a few more rows to go before she gets to do the interesting part -- fair isle

Cindy is an amazingly fast knitter -- she has almost completed her Puffin Sweater -- that was a lot of stockinette in fingering weight (about 300 stitches per round)

Kim is also working on the Scatness Tunic and has 1 more inch to go. Everyone chipped in a little bit of their stash for color 105 so Kim could finish.  Our new Jamieson shipment is on its way!

My Scatness Tunic is not nearly as far along as everyone else's. 
What can I say?

Mary just finished a fair isle baby sweater out of Dale of Norway Baby Ull.  It's just beautful.

We had a great time at the Shibui Mix Yarn Tasting Party.  My Shibui Rep, Antonia  Shankland came and brought samples of all the Shibui yarns, pattern suggestions and info about all the yarns. We got to test out yarns, and try some different combinations. It was a lot of fun.

look at all of that bright watermelon color yarn

ShibuiKnits Trunk Show through April 22nd     Shibui Mix patterns No. 6 and & 7; and Array Cowl

Mix No, 10

Pattern SC.1 and Mix No. 9

Mix No. 8 and MA.1

Array Cowl and Mix  No. 7

MA 1 and Mix 8

I was so inspired that I decided to knit up the Melrose Tank designed by  Ruth Garcia-Alcantud from Knitscene Summer 2013 knit in ShibuiKnits Staccato -- in that watermelon color.  You can buy this yarn here   Now, who's addicted?

LET THERE BE LIGHT --- finally got my overhead lights fixed in the shop (thank you Mr. Bob)  and now you can really see all the yarn and there is lots of new yarn to see!

 

 From Dyelot Yarns we have their "Recovery Package" -- 1040 yards of 4 coordinating yarns  of cotton and viscose blends -- enough to make a garment and  we have free patterns to go with the yarn

Here is a picture of Dyelot Yarns' Bamboo -- 260 yards of Sport weight 10% Bamboo in beautiful hand dyed colors.

 

Karma is a new yarn from Berroco -- 100% cotton in softly shaded colors at 3 stitches to the inch makes for a quick knit -- here's a sample from the pattern book that goes with the yarn

 

Pixie from Tahki yarns has been a big hit -- multicolored cotton/acrylic/nylon yarn that knits at 3.5 stitches to the inch  -- you'll have that summer top done in no time.  Great patterns from Tahki in their new Intermix pattern book.

 

 

 

Rowan made their All Seasons yarn into a chunky weight.  As always, Rowan has wonderful patterns for this yarn.    The Rhea top from the All Seasons Chunky book takes between 5-8 skeins and knits quickly at 3 stitches to the inch.

 

Florafil Bulky Super soft cotton from Made in America yarns comes in hand dyed and semi - solid shades.  There's lots of free patterns  -- I'm thinkimg it's great baby blanket yarn.

 CoBasi from Hikoo (distributed by Skacel) is a cotton/bamboo/silk/nylon blend of sock yarn -- no wool and it has enough stretch that it will make great socks.

If you are looking for a project for CoBasi, look no further.   Here is a free pattern from Ravelry - 50 Shades: Slate by Allison Hendrix.  Just one skein.