The Loopy Ewe Blog

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Tag: Swan’s Island

String Theory, Lorna’s Laces, Swan’s Island and More!

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We put lots of pretty yarn up for you in tonight’s Update! We just added in:

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock – We’ve re-stocked several colors and added in the Christmas in Downton colorway, which we were happy to see had been added to the regular Lorna’s Laces lineup. This fingering weight yarn is 80% Superwash Merino and 20% Nylon. Great for socks, but also fun to knit up in scarves and shawls that look great in multi-colors, like The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief, the ever-popular Hitchhiker, Willow Cowl, Twinkle Twinkle Blanket, Trillian, Ananke, Mormorio, and  Aquaphobia Socks. (Shown here in Flames.)

Lorna’s Laces Worsted – This is a great, soft, durable yarn for all of those projects that you want to toss into the washer and dryer. (Like the baby blanket I did last week.) Kids sweaters, adult sweaters, vests, scarves, hats – it all works up great with this yarn. We’ve re-stocked several colors (shown here in Lakeview) as well as the Christmas in Downton colorway. Here are a few fun patterns that would work well with it – Milanese Lace Topper, Narragansett, Cowboy Cowl, The Dudester Scarf, and Doux.

String Theory Blue Stocking – this fingering weight combination of blue faced leicester (a strong wool) and nylon, makes this yarn great for socks (durable) and shawls (an extra slight sheen). Karen and Tanis do a great job in dyeing up semi-solids and skeins with many layers of depth. It looks great with patterns that have some pretty stitches going on. You might take a look at –  Canyonlands Shawl, Zilver, Occitan, Treppenviertel, My Cup of Tea Socks, Truckle, and Treebeard Socks.  (Shown here in Canyon).

Swan’s Island Fingering Weight– a great value with 525 yards in the skein. Perfect for shawls, scarves and cowls such as Brandywine Shawl, Aurora Australis, Saltwater, Botanical Garden Shawl, And So Are You, Biscuit, Tilting Ladders Cowl, and No Two Snowflakes Cowl. (Shown here in Beetroot).

We also put one last box of Socktopus up (we think. They keep showing up!) We added the Christmas in Downton colorway in Lorna’s Laces Solemate. And we re-stocked The Loopy Ewe Solid Series in Oyster and Butter.

Have fun checking out the new things and we’ll get your orders out asap. We know you want them quickly!

Sheri whyyesIdidhavefunlookingatpatternstodayonRavelry.
Whydoyouask?

Need to Warm Up Your Neck?

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Swan’s Island sent us this awesome Olivia Cowl pattern to offer with purchase of a skein of their Worsted weight yarn. I liked the look of it so much that I whipped one up. The trouble is, this one needs to stay at the shop, so I am going to have to make another one for myself. 🙂 You can wear it in a single loop, or double up to get closer to your neck. It’s knit as a long (42″) piece and then you Kitchener the edges together. I made mine in the Raspberry color.

It was quick to knit up and I really like the way the basketweave stitch is on an angle. See?

I also like the substantial looking edges on the top and bottom. It looks like an i-cord edging, but it’s just the way the pattern knits up.

Do you need a new cowl for the wintery weather? If you order a skein of Swan’s Island Worsted and would like the pattern, just leave us an order note and we will email it to you.

Sheri nowworkingonababyblanketforafriend’snewgrandbaby!

Inspiration Focus: Derecho

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We headed cross-country back to St. Louis for Thanksgiving weekend last week. The 13 hour car drive across Colorado, Kansas and Missouri certainly brings lots of knitting time! Consequently, I was able to (finally) finish my Derecho. This is the second one I have done. I did the first one in the smaller size (see it here), and chose to do this one in the larger size. The small size stops before the last two long strips on the bottom left and right edge, so you can see how the size compares. There is a lot of knitting in the larger size. I made this one out of Shalimar Breathless in Sea Glass, Neptune and Buttermilk. You need a light, medium and dark color for this pattern. For this larger size, I used 1 1/2 skeins of the darkest color, 1 skein each of the other two. Despite being a bit tired of all that knitting by the end, I did make the border a bit larger. I did 10 rows (including pickup and bindoff) instead of the 3 that it called for. I like that the border is twice the width of the regular stripes.

I wanted to share some of the beautiful Derecho Shawls (by designer Laura Aylor) that inspired me to make the two that I made this summer and fall. Thanks to all of you who chose this design for one of your Camp Loopy projects this summer.

Martha’s Derecho made with Madelinetosh Sock in Wash, Forestry and Mineral:

MK’s Derecho made with Madelinetosh Sock in Antler, Iris and Tart:

Beth’s Derecho made with Swan’s Island Organic Fingering in Blue, Iron Oxide and Forest Floor:

Glenna’s Derecho made with Madelinetosh Merino Light in Dusk, Mare and Sequoia:

Malia’s Derecho made with the Loopy Ewe Solid Series in Black, Slate and Malachite:

Kristi’s Derecho made with the Loopy Ewe Solid Series in Navy, Lilac and Orchid:

Jump on in to the Derecho pattern. All you need is a light, a medium, and a dark (fingering weight, 400 yards or so of each color, unless you’re doing the large size and then you’ll need more of the dark color). Or try one of Laura’s other beautiful patterns – Faberge, All the Shades of Truth, Enamored, Oak Park, Serra, and more. I think the Oak Park scarf will be one of my next projects. It looks fun to knit up! Plus, I like projects that involve more than one color. Do you?

Sheri offtocontemplatecolorsintheaisles

Madelinetosh, Jade Sapphire, Swan’s Island and More!

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It’s one of those “luscious” Monday Updates today. I know there is a lot of yarn out there that is wool and slightly scratchy and knits up beautifully into all kinds of projects. But there is some yarn out there that is a combination of wool and other things (like cashmere and silk) that knits up into beautiful things but also feels heavenly while you’re working with it. Those are the types of things we have for you in today’s update. We just added in:

Madelinetosh Pashmina Worsted – We have this for you in 40 colors, and it’s something you’ll want to make a sweater with. (Ok – you can also use if for hats and scarves and mittens and warm shawls.) This is a worsted weight 4-ply yarn with 75% merino wool, 15% silk and 10% cashmere. It has 210 yards to the skein and can be machine washed in cold water, and air-dried flat. (Shown above in Stargazing.) Try knitting this up in the Debaser Scarf, or a Knotty But Nice Hat, or a Deephaven Cowl, or a Moody Sweater.

Jade Sapphire – This 4-ply heavy fingering (maybe even edging into the sport category) weight yarn comes 200 yards to the skein and is 100% cashmere from Inner Mongolia. Perfect for cowls, scarves, gloves or shawls. You’ll love the feel of this yarn. (Shown here in Seeing Red.) You could try it in the Parquet Tiles Shawl (I love the texture), the Eleanor Cowl, or Straightforward Mitts.

Swan’s Island – re-stocks in the soldout colors of Lace, Fingering, and Worsted. Swan’s Island yarn is spun in a historic mill in Maine and then hand-dyed using all-natural dyes. This results in beautiful yarn that is wonderful to work with and kind to the environment.

ScoJo Eyewear – More of my favorite reading (and knitting and computing) glasses, this time in a pretty cobalt blue.

Cascade – we re-stocked most of our lines of Cascade last week (mid-week), so if you’ve been waiting on a color to come back in a certain base, check that out.

Happy shopping and happy knitting this week!

Sheri  wantingtohaveaBoxofFundeliveredtomyhouse
justtomakemymailladysmile. 🙂