Fall is Streaming in the Door

I love fall, best of any season all year. Second is winter, followed by spring, then summer. Growing up, autumnal things were always my favorite--activities, colors, smells, and MY BIRTHDAY in November. In college, it was football season, and I was a marching band dork (and nearly a music ed major). Plus...it was FOOTBALL season...hehehehehe. But I digress. And I love winter and snow--come on, I was born in Chicago in November during a blizzard year. Spring is fun, but summer is just too hot.

So now that we (Matt and I) own a yarn shop in the state of Michigan, I really really look forward to fall--(the following is all personal preference/my opinion) the best yarns, the best patterns, and the best opportunities abound for cooler-weather knitting. And the goodies are really starting to come in, now that yarn market is history and it's July. So away we go with something that just arrived yesterday (Tuesday)


That's the latest collection for Manos del Uruguay wool yarns from Design Source (available from us for $16, which is suggested retail; want one? e-mail me). And it's just packed with all sorts of goodies! Check out the garments


We already have a shop model in progress for the upper-left sweater, called "Metro Girl". I like the aran/cabled vest in the bottom center, and I'm intrigued by the top center poncho/wrap thingie made with mitered squares. But wait, there's more


several different scarves, including a couple felted options. I'm particularly smitten with the bottom right, Mayan. And there's even felted bags, see


There's a second felted bag style in the book (I didn't take a picture..urgh!) that has two embellishment options to it. But I fell in love with "Ewe Jest" when I saw it, as I'm a fan of modular knitting (thus my odd fascination with the wrap, above). So I had to make one


I used 40 (Goldenrod) and 110 (Stellar) to make mine, which felted up quite nicely, I do believe. Check it out


Then I went to playing with color combinations and came up with some ideas:


I see the multi as being a perfect match for the green (those are the two new shades for Fall '05) or the multi being really fun with that pink. But there's more


W and 28 would be fun together and very much in style for this fall's color forecast, which shows a good bit of orange. Or maybe this combination, for a little more flair


W and V, this time. A little more richness of color. But there's always the tried and true


The 106 would be great with the 63, but the 38 just radiates with rich purple color. And you blue fans, I was thinking of you for this one


That's Mar (103) and 01, and Mar is just beautiful when felted. And if you want a little brightness in your world, how about


or


S is great with both 69 and 66, depending on how much WOAH you want in your hot orange.

Remember, if you want any of these or any other shades of the Manos del Uruguay for your own project, the solids are $12.50 and multis are $14.50 (we have to sell at suggested retail on this yarn or we don't get to carry it at the shop), and the project takes one hank of each of two shades. E-mail me for details or more color options.

I had my next project already lined up,


but I think something else (or something elses) might get in the way. What you see up there is Malabrigo worsted in the shade Applewood, and a FiberTrends pattern for a seed stitch jacket. The swatch I did, holding the yarn doubled, works the colors just right and makes an incredible fabric. The yarn is 100% merino and kettle dyed by hand. LOVELY.

But something else has caught my eye. What, you might ask? That's for another entry. But it does involve merino, but not in yarn form....think tape....

On to very fun things! Our good buddy Rachael asked for a bit of yarn awhile back and we entered into an agreement on a shop model and such. Here's the results, just over (cough cough) a year later


That's Cromarty, from Alice Starmore's brains (and "The Celtic Collection"--which we have available for sale). What a stunning piece of knitting, as rendered in Koigu Kersti.

WOW RACHAEL....that's a stunning sweater!!!

Thanks for letting us have joint custody for awhile, and you'll see her back before the year is out!

And on that note, I'm outta here..........have a great night and a fantastic weekend! And look for more ramblin's and posts any day now...with new progress pix on things.