Another Luscious Yarn

The Brown Sheep people have done it again. Their Lanaloft Handpaint yarn is luscious and a joy to knit. We are carrying eight of the handpaint colors in both worsted and sport weights

• Wine Fire -- red to burgundy to almost purple
• Twilight -- gray to denim blue to deep taupe
• Grape Vines -- touch of mauve to heathery blue and gray
• Precious Stones -- deep teal to toned down red violet with hints of forest
• Platinum Plum -- ever so slightly purple but mostly taupey brown
• Razzmatazz -- intense red violet and teal with deep purple
• Autumn Run -- gentle teal and mauve, some leaning toward dull apricot
• Plantation Fall -- red brown with forest accent and russet 

One skein of worsted (160 yards) will make a lovely scarf or pair of mittens or a hat. The sport weight skein has 145 yards and will make our Topknot Hat.

The Graywood Designs website has photos and more details, plus there's a bit of a discount. Shipping is only $4.95 per order.

Brown Sheep Lanaloft Handpaint Worsted

Update: Boneyard Shawl

Boneyard Shawl on the lawn -- wrist watch in upper right corner

In progress, with maybe 30 grams of yarn yet to be knit from the formerly 100 gram ball, my Boneyard Shawl project is coming along. Elizabeth Zimmermann is so right about a  laceweight yarn project being the perfect take-a-long knitting task. I'm not looking at a chart or counting as I knit, so I can keep up a conversation and still knit.

I moved the stitches onto two long needles this week and spread the shawl out on grass. The longest side is almost 40 inches already and, as you can see, I have some knitting to do yet.

This scarf/shawl has given me pleasurable knitting hours in Great Britain, Wisconsin and Michigan. Whether on a bus, sitting by the lake or riding in a car, this is my 2012 summer knitting project that relaxes.

The specifics:

• Yarn: Lace Ball, 100 gram ball
• Needles: US#5 circular -- 40"
• Free pattern: Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West, found on Ravelry.com
• First blog post about my Boneyard Shawl

Coming Soon: Topknot Hat Pattern

My Topknot Hat pattern is almost ready for prime time. Several knitting friends (and sisters!) are currently knitting from the written pattern. Their experiences help me know what adjustments can be made to make the pattern easy to use. Two proofreading gurus are also working their wonders, God bless them.

I have knit four of these little gems myself and have two more in progress. I like to knit from the patterns that I write before I release the design. That way, I will know if I can follow my own directions. Believe me, there are times when I write pretty crazy stuff for knitting.

So, stay tuned. Topknot is almost ready. You will find it on my Ravelry pattern site which is right HERE.

This pattern uses either worsted weight or sport weight yarn. The design is knit using a 16 inch circular needle, US#4 or 5 or 6, depending on the weight of yarn. As usual, you can adjust needle size for your own knitting. The body of the hat is textured and the top is finished with a knot that's knit with I-cord. Funky and fun.

 I'm finishing the hat on the upper right in the photo now. That hat uses Brown Sheep Lanaloft Handpaint Sport yarn, a luscious yarn that will appear on our website this fall. The color pictured is Razzamatazz, a purple/gray/burgundy multicolor that will be in the Graywood Designs online store soon.

So, just a peek! Enjoy!