New stuff! Plus I'm Dyeing! And it's heaven! Haha

Well kids, sorry about the time gap in posts. Didn't we all get so busy over the tax-and-Easter weeks! But now that's over.
We got in one of the yarns we've been expecting (3 more new ones on the way). Fuzzy eyelash yarns are back and so we brought in the full rainbow of colors, from our friends at Swedish Yarn Imports.

Yep it's all fuzzy. All of it.

This yarn is called "Tindra" from the Scandanavian company, Jarbo Garn. Some of it even has a little glitz in it.

Geez I coulda focussed! But you get the idea. Fuzzy.

We popularized this type of yarn by using it for edging on kids' sweaters, but it's also great for scarves and hats, for accents in felting, and even for the felted hedgehog that Koryn wants to make right now. Go for it, Koryn! Yeah! A freakin' hedgehog!

Of course I make fun, but I really can't talk because I'm in the process of weaving shoelaces on my inkle loom. Pictures to come. Yep, shoelaces.

Meanwhile, I promised to get to making an indigo dye pot once we got past tax time, and yes I did just that,  earlier this week. It was easy and fun and here are some beautiful skeins from that effort:

Oh shoot you can't see the tiny sparkle in this baby llama yarn!

The indigo dye kit (which we carry) makes it practically idiot-proof, and you don't have to use nasty lye or anything (although you do wear a mask & gloves for the short process of mixing the indigo and the sodium hydrosulfite into the water in your 5-gallon bucket). Then you just dip the yarn several times until it gets a couple of shades darker than you eventually want.
I have to admit, the rinsing and rinsing was kind of a pain in the butt, and I hate using a lot of water for anything even though I used waste water (from having a bucket under the shower as the water warms up) but the results are great and I guess I can get loads of dyeing out of this one batch of dye.

Also, yes-s-s-s we have the new Kim Hargreaves book "Whisper" on order, and when our supplier gets it, we get it. We do appreciate all you patient gals who know you could jump the gun by a couple of weeks through on-line overseas sources, but instead choose to wait for ours to get here. We love you very much for that.

And you will love the new yarns coming in the next couple of weeks. Keep an eye out for updates.
Oh yeah! And don't forget about camping and knitting at Big Sur Betty's! May 13-15. We promise you will love it!! Koryn will be your charming hostess for that.
More later!

A few fun things to share....

Hey there knitting pals! Koryn here to show off some fun things, and to talk a little bit about summer knitting :) Summertime is still a great time to knit! (of course, here in Monterey Bay its always sweater weather!) We have a vast selection of beautiful cottons, and linens, and many, many great patterns. Last week we got in the new Knitscene....I just love, love it! Lots of cute summery tops to knit!! One of the first ones in there is a really pretty little cardi made from Rowan Wool Cotton. I love the lacy stitch...looks really fun to do. This one would be great layered over a little camisole. We have lots of this pretty wool cotton too in lots of colors! I've always wanted to knit something out of it. The wool cotton has great stitch definition (shows off cables and lace very well), and nice and soft to wear against your skin.

Here is a cute little wrap around top. It has a tuxedo type back, and a I cord belt to tie around the waist. They call for a yarn we don't carry, but I thought Rowan Alpaca Cotton would be just perfect for this one. The gauge and the texture is very similar, and it comes in some great colors. This little cardi would be a great way to keep the chill off taking a stroll along beach (or wherever) ;

I just love this next one...A pullover knitted in a laceweight luxury yarn with a really nice gathered neck line. This one would be so lightweight and airy, like wearing a cloud, but keeping you warm too at the same time. Its knitted in one piece from the top down (yaaay!). The yarn called for is Louet Mooi, a laceweight bison, cashmere, and bamboo. Wow! That sounds fabulous! We do carry the Mooi. It is a bit on the pricey side ($49.99 a ball), I know. I thought the JaggerSpun Zephyr would be a great substitute. Zephyr is a beautiful merino, silk blend with a nice sheen to it. The price is just right too, $11.50 a ball with 560 yards! We do have a nice selection of colors in the Zephyr too.

Heres a few more cute little tops. I just picked out my favorite ones in the mag, but there are many more good projects in there. I also picked some nice summery yarns that are appropriate for the patterns as suggestions. Most of these are made on one piece with no seaming, I just love that! It's like, when you're done, you're done...on to the next project :D

Come on in and get a Knitscene before they're gone!

Ok... so my last blog I talked about some new patterns. One of those I just had to make now...the French Press Slippers! I went home and over my weekend I whipped those babies up! They came out sooooo cute!!! These were so fast. I knitted all the pieces Sunday evening, then felted them Monday morning. Heres a before (funny) and after below. When I felted them I put them in a pillowcase, tied it shut with a hair tie, and put it in the wash with a load of towels. It took me 5 agitation cycles before they came out the right size. I just kept checking on them every 5 mins. or so until they were just right. When they were done, I squeezed all the water out and put them on my foot to kind of shape them. Then I put them in the sun in my back yard to dry. I just love them! Very warm. I've been in fact wearing them to work for the past 3 days! (inside only tho) Beware... all your family and friends will want them! Now I'm making them for a good friend, my niece, and my momma! Good thing they take no time to make :)

Before felting 

Also, over my weekend I finished and blocked my Scroll Lace Scarf. It came out really good! Here are some pics...

One more thing I wanted to share. I have been working on (in between many projects) Aidez Cardigan, its a free pattern on the Berroco website. Check it out here. This one has been super popular on Ravelry! It calls for Berroco Peruvia Quick, but I used one of my favorite yarns Cascade Eco Wool. We have this yarn in several colors. I can't wait to wear this! I was hoping to have it done for my vacation, but its coming up in a week and I still have to finish a front and the sleeves! Oh well. Highly suggested knit...very fun! I thought this would be a perfect casual sweater to just throw on and wear with just about anything. I'll share when its done :)  Happy knitting!

The last "feed" kit, some new patterns, and show n tell

Its another beautiful day here at Monarch! We are looking forward to a sunny weekend! Here in Pacific Grove, every April, we have a really fun street fair called "Good Old Days". The whole main street, Lighthouse, is closed off for great food, music, and all kinds of booths with fun, unique gifts and things! I always look forward to all the good food!! Of course, we are all here in the shop knitting away this weekend so if you are coming this way, you can enjoy our fun street fair too!
Anyways...I thought I would just take a minute to share some fun new patterns, and some cools show n tell.  If you all don't know by now, I'm a big, big Ysolda Teague fan. In fact I'm just 2 rows away from finishing her "Scroll Lace Scarf" out of Manos Silk Blend! Its coming out so pretty! That Manos is a dream to knit. I love this yarn!

We have a few more patterns available from Ysloda... Elijah the elephant, Otto the bear, and Sophie the rabbit. These are some fun toys to knit for the little one in your life. I thought these would be good as a cute, quick knits just in time for Easter! How perfect to put in an easter basket :) These adorable toys are all knit seamless too (woohoo no sewing!). I really wanna make Elijah. I have a good friend who has a thing for elephants. She collects all kinds of elephant things....I bet she doesn't have a knitted one!  :)

Here is a really cute felted slipper pattern we just got in. These are called French Press Slippers. They are very popular on Ravelry! They're pretty simple and very quick to knit. I bet these could be whipped up and felted in a day! I'd love to try em out! I like this Nature Spun and these cute buttons hmmm.

Tomarrow we have the last "feed your creativity" kit. It's a cute market bag made from 100% corn! No...you can't eat it! This yarn is so soft and squishy! Here I am stuffing some yarn in it!  ;) This market bag is knitted with a fun lace and cable design. We can show you how to do this stitch. There will be a demonstration tomarrow at 3pm. If you can't make it, no worries, we are always happy to help anytime. Here are some colorways that are gonna be available...

Also, we sill have quite a few of last month's feed kit, the French Quarter Scarf. This was a really fun lace scarf kit made from a yarn that has wool and milk protein in it! I really enjoyed knitting mine, I think you would too! The stitch isn't that hard. A great intro to lace knitting. This is also a great way to learn to read charts, which really can open up our knitting world!

Lastly, I just wanted to share what's on our needles! Of course we have many, many projects going at once, these are just the most current. Mine, I have already shared above (scroll lace scarf). Diane is knitting a little shawl called Maya. Its a free pattern at madelinetosh.com. She's using wonderful, beautiful, Tosh Merino DK in colorway Fragrant. Diane is now finishing up the bottom ruffle of the shawl...I think she has 600 ish stitches! Yikes! Thats what happens when you knit ruffles! They are so pretty, but always have a scary amount of stitches. I just don't bother counting anymore after about 400. Its gonna be so pretty tho!!

Joan has casted on the blanket from the book, Freddie's Blanket. It's made from 3 different colors of Serendipity Tweed. The blanket is knit using a simple slip stitch pattern. You only use 1 color per row. A beginner can easily do this one.  The yarn is so soft and "summery looking" I really want to try some out! I was thinking about maybe a little summer top.

Well, thats all I can say for now. Joan 'n I will keep you posted on all the new happenings here as always. Happy Knitting!!

New Gadgets, What's On the Needles & More

After a long and agonizing wait, we now have another Ebony exchangeable set from Lantern Moon!

Set: $299. Needles bought separately: $750!!

Oh OKAY! there were 2 in the box, but I just had to adopt one immediately. However I have generously agreed to leave most of the set on the counter for you to test-drive. The US 5's are on my latest project, see below.
Also from Lantern Moon, darling new Pig tape measures, and you don't want to be without their special little repair tool which sports a tiny crochet hook on one end. Ebony or Rosewood, of course. We love these people!

What a pig! And a cute hooker too. 

Now on to what's on our needles. Before you know it I'll be done with a nice new springtime sweater out of our new Classic Elite yarn called Firefly: a lovely, drapey linen/rayon blend.

This is a fun knit from the top

The color I chose is a nice charcoal. "The new neutral." Or whatever. The color matches an extremely out-there scarf I wove (of which I admit I'm afraid to show a picture).

Well yeah it needs blocking! But just wait!

Of course, if I actually try to wear this sweater/scarf ensemble (instead of the usual tshirt/jeans), people will fall over in a swoon. We'll see if I dare wear this fare! Ha.

Koryn is working on a piece from designer -- can you guess? Guess! Yes! Ysolda Teague!!! A scarfy shawlette thing called Scroll Lace Scarf.

Ysolda is well loved here at Monarch!

She's having fun with it.

Ooooh, silk blend. Mmmmmm.

The yarn is Manos Silk Blend -- just 2 skeins. It's very blue. So-o-o pretty. Of course she can wear anything and no one will swoon.
And Diane just finished the most darling little t-shirt from Never Not Knitting, called Spring Garden Tee.

Ridiculously darling, no?

There's an adult version, too. As Koryn mentioned in an earlier entry, the yarn is from MadelineTosh.

And now for a cute picture from today's beginner knitting lessons, taught gently and sweetly (and efficiently!) by Sandy Martin. Here, she's helping Annalina, who caught on super-quickly.

It seems like everyone's a natural, but it's Sandy's teaching method!

Her students love her. She does not believe in smacking them on the head to get them going, like I do. No! I don't! I was kidding! Sheesh!

Finally, we just received a couple of colors of a yarn called "Flounce." We'll show you pictures of that stuff when we get a little more knit up. But it's the knit-through-the-top-of-the-ribbon type of yarn so popular right now.

And remember! Big Sur Betty's first camping/knitting weekend of 2011 is coming up: May 13-15!! Here's link to Betty's new website: Big Sur Betty's Knit/Camp
And yes, despite the problems with Highway 1, you can still easily get to Betty's, by using Nacimiento Road! All of your info is on her site. It's going to be super-fun!! We're limiting attendance to 150! Hahaha!!
All for now -- more later!