Snow Bunting Cowl - A Quick Knit in Bulky Alpaca Yarn

The Snow Bunting Cowl

It's always a delight to find a simple-to-knit bulky yarn project that is as fun to wear as it is to knit.  And the Snow Bunting Cowl is easy ... even if all you have ever knit so far is scarves!

The main body is knit horizontally with a large swath of Garter stitch to one side and a not-too-complicated cable to the other.  Basically, it's a short scarf.  Then bind that off and pick up stitches down one side for the ruffle. There are a couple of learning bits, but the skills are basic.

If you are a new knitter this is a great beyond-the-scarf project.

If you are a life-long knitter this bulky yarn project is easy enough that you could knock out more than one before the holidays ... Just sayin’.  This one-size-fits-all cowl makes a great gift!

The Snow Bunting Cowl

Bonus:  The pattern is free with the purchase of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Chunky

The cowl is knit with  Berroco Ultra Alpaca Chunky.  Soft but durable, Ultra Alpaca Chunky combines super fine alpaca with good sturdy Peruvian Wool. This is a no-nonsense combed and plied yarn that will stand up to lots of wear.  And it's pretty!

The Snow Bunting Cowl is held in place with a Jūl closure.  If you're not familiar with Jūl closures, you really ought to take a look. These exceptionally well-made leather and metal closures are easy to use and reuse.  They don't take the planning that a buttonhole requires, and you can switch out different styles for a new look.  They can transform even the simplest projects into amazingly stylish accessories!

Psst!  If you like Ultra Alpaca Chunky, you should also check out worsted weight Ultra Alpaca, DK gauge Ultra Alpaca Light, or fingering weight Ultra Alpaca Fine.

Happy Knitting . . . . Amy

Holiday Cards from Our Own FiberWild Artist Wendi!

Knitters and Crocheters are a special kind of people. Sure, we could buy our mittens and socks sweaters at Nordstrom, Land’s End, or even Walmart, but we realize that there’s something extraordinary about handmade items.

"Santa Scout", "Warm Heart", and "Stitchmas Tree" Holiday Greeting Cards

Most of our FiberWild! employees are artists in their non-FiberWild! lives. When they’re not at the shop, our employees are painters, photographers, printmakers, pattern designers, authors, quilters, and seamstresses as well as the spinners, weavers, crocheters, and knitters that you might expect.

Wendi Dibbern is one of our artists, and she has created a series of hand printed holiday cards specifically with fiber lovers in mind.

How is it done? First, Wendi transfers her hand drawn image to a block of artist’s linoleum. She uses carving tools to carefully cut the design into the block, ink is applied by hand using a brayer, paper is placed on top, and the printing is completed with a run through her etching press. The hands-on process creates a print that is slightly unique each time.

Check out that “Stitchmas” tree. Do you see the scissors, crochet hooks, stitch markers, and other notions? It’s like a “Where’s Waldo” puzzle for fiber artists. Look closely at the “Warm Heart” and you’ll see the warmest handmade mittens, hats, and scarves. And of course, who doesn’t love FiberWild’s own mascot cat Scout in his adorable sweaters? Now that he’s calling himself an artist’s model, there’s no dealing with him.

Each card is 5″ x 7″, suitable for framing, and blank on the inside to write your own personal greeting.

Enjoy!

Happy Knitting . . . . Amy

Dream On! With the November Dream Club Kit

Dream On! Hat

Join the club!  I mean the Dream in Color "Dream Club," of course!

Here's how it works:  The gals at Dream in Color pick one of their favorite yarns and dye it an exclusive color that is available only in the Dream Club kit, then pair up the new color with a new pattern.  Once the limited edition color is gone - it's gone!

But this time they've taken it up a notch with an exclusive Dream Club color and an exclusive Dream Club yarn!  The special yarn is Jilly With Silk, a gorgeous single-ply 80% superwash merino wool with 15% silk.  It's like the 100% superwash merino wool Jilly . . . but with an extra helping of luxury!

The Jilly with Silk is dyed a warm autumn blend of reds and grey blues - perfect for the approach of winter!

The pattern is "Dream On!," a slouchy hat with ribs and cables.  Fun to knit and fun to wear!

November Jilly With Silk

The November Dream Club kit includes one skein of the exclusive November yarn (enough to knit one hat) plus a copy of the Dream On! hat pattern as an electronic download.  The download will be waiting for you in your FiberWild! account after purchase. 

Psst!  All of our previous Dream Club kits are sold out except the En Plein Air (knit) & Water Lilies (crochet) Fingerless Mitts (October 2015), the Elven Bosk Wrap (February 2015), and the Sachy Hat & Mitts (November 2014).  Take a look before they're gone!

Happy Knitting . . . . Amy

Needle and Hook Set Flash Sale Ends Friday the 13th!

Addie Click Natura Set

Black cats.  Broken mirrors.  Now you've got another reason to dread Friday the 13th - the end of our Needle and Hook Set 20% Off Flash Sale!

It's a drag to buy new needles or a new hook for every new project - it's so much nicer to have a complete set at home, ready and waiting for your next knitting or crocheting adventure!  And it's even better when our needle and hook sets are 20% off!

We've got traditional sets of individual needles and hooks such as the ChiaoGoo Double Point Sock Set in steel or bamboo, the Addi Colours Crochet Hook Set and the Addi Swing Crochet Hook Set.   Plus, we've also got our favorite circular needle interchangeable sets from Addi, ChiaoGoo and Clover - that's 20 different options to choose from!

4" ChiaoGoo Twist Set - Complete

Each set comes in its own easy-to-gift-wrap organizing case.  Perfect for gift giving - and gift-getting!

But pick fast!  This 20% off sale only runs until the end of the day on Friday, November 13th.

Have a lucky Friday the 13th!

Happy Knitting . . . . Amy

The Hunter's Moon Sock!

Lacy, frilly socks are fun, but sometimes you just have to man-up and knit some hearty, practical boot socks! My new Hunter's Moon socks are just the thing!

So what's a boot sock?  Sturdy leather boots are rough on your feet, so traditionally a boot sock is a thick, densely knit sock that is cushiony and comfortable and at least as high as your boot (so that you don't have bare skin rubbing against the top of your boots).  If you have the need to wear boots you're probably working hard outdoors, so boot socks are generally wool ... both warm and absorbent.

Hunter's Moon Sock

My Hunter's Moon sock is the latest pattern in the Sock of the Month club.  It's a toe-up sock with a nice, dense body fabric that's ribbed through the foot for a tighter fit with even thicker colorful toes and cuffs.  Simple but not simplistic, they're made to fit and you'll love the way they feel.

You'll need three skeins of yarn to complete these socks.  The main yarn is Classic Elite's Mohawk.  Why are socks traditionally white?  In the early days of dying wool the dying process was so harsh that it weakened the wool, so undyed socks lasted longer.  That's not the case today, but Mohawk takes us back to the old ways with the beauty of naturally colored wool in a blend of lustrous Merino and lofty Romney wool, with just a bit of nylon for added strength.  I used Oatmeal (Color 3306) for mine.

The second and third skeins are Rowan's Pure Wool Superwash DK, a beautiful workhorse of a yarn in 100% superwash wool.  I used Kiss (Color 036) and Black (Color 004) for my second and third skeins. 

And I'm certainly not saying that these socks are only for men!  Why should they have all the fun?  The Hunter's Moon sock pattern includes a men's size and a woman's size.

By the way, the Hunter's Moon is October's full moon, traditionally a time to hunt and prepare for the cold, dark winter months ahead.  But you don't have to work hard in your boot socks!  They'll keep your feet warm and comfy whether you're out chopping wood or just lounging around with your cup of hot chocolate in front of the TV.

Happy Knitting . . . . Amy

A Bunch of New HiKoo Yarns - And They're 20% Off!

All HiKoo Yarns & Patterns are 20% off!

What's more frustrating than hearing about a sale and then finding out it's just a bunch of old stuff?  Grrr!  Want a sale on new stuff?  You got it!  We've put all of our HiKoo yarns and patterns on sale at 20% off for the month of November.  That includes all of your classic HiKoo favorites plus a bunch of new stuff!

Check out HiKoo's newbies:

CoBaSi Tonal in Raspberry Tonal

• Simplicity, CoBaSi and SimpliWorsted are classic favorites, but all three are now available in tonals!  Somewhere between a solid color and a variegated yarn, the Simplicity Tonal, CoBaSi Tonal and SimpliWorsted Tonal are the best of both worlds, adding just a bit of subtle color-changing interest.
• The UV light color changing yarn Abracadabra isn't new - but the new natural-to-blue color is!  Indoors it's a natural/cream color, but step outside into the light and the yarn magically changes color!  The natural-to-pink and natural-to-purple yarns have been very popular, and we're excited to add the natural-to-blue colorway to your palette!  And yes, we can substitute blue for the pink and purple in the Magic Princess (or Prince) Set, just let us know in the comments section. 
• The cotton, bamboo and silk CoBaSi is a great choice for the non-wool crowd and is a classic favorite.  Now HiKoo has the same fun yarn in a new DK weight - CoBaSi DK!  So versatile!  CoBaSi DK is available in 24 bold colors. 
• Sueno

  

  Sueno in Dusty Rose

  (which means "dream" in Spanish) is a new light weight Peruvian yarn that is a dreamy blend of soft superwash merino and bamboo.  This yarn has wonderful stitch definition, which makes it perfect for cables and textured stitches, and it has the perfect amount of spring, which lends itself to a variety of gauges!  Sueno is available in 35 gorgeous solid colors and Sueno Tonal is the same yarn in 15 awesome tonal colors.  Does that super softness feel familiar?  Sueno was formerly Frog Tree's Pediboo.  HiKoo hates to see a good yarn disappear, so when Frog Tree closed in the spring of 2015 HiKoo picked up Pediboo and renamed it Sueno.  
• Tee Cakes yarn is constructed using strips of re-purposed t-shirts, so each ball of yarn is as individual as the t-shirt it was made from! Tee Cakes is an old favorite we've had for a while - nothing new there.  But HiKoo has recently discontinued this fun yarn.  Once it's gone it's gone - so you've got a new incentive to get it while you can!

Tee Cakes in Purple

What will you do with your new, new yarn?  We've got that covered!  All of our HiKoo patterns are also on sale at 20% off for the month!

Happy Knitting . . . . Amy

Stick It! . . . with a Shawl Pin, of Course!

Aluminum Leaf Shawl Pin

Nothing is quite as lovely as the image of a shawl daintily draped across the shoulders.  Unfortunately, that lovely image starts to look ridiculous when you take in the groceries and one end of the shawl drops down and drags through the mud behind you.  A pretty shawl just isn't practical sometimes!

Which is why I love shawl pins!  Let the shawl drape on your shoulders when you are in repose, but slip in a pretty shawl pin when you need to be more active.  In the store, we wear shawls frequently - but we wouldn't be able to get any work done if it weren't for our shawl pins keeping our shawls in place as we move baskets of yarn around!

We have so many styles to choose from!  Which style is your favorite?

Aluminum Heart Shawl Pin

Aluminum
Aluminum is a wonderful metal!  It is lightweight so that it doesn't drag your shawl down, resistant to corrosion so it won't loose its shine, and easy to mold into interesting shapes.  Aluminum never naturally appears in its pure form and the process for purifying it was difficult, so for most of history aluminum was considered a very rare and precious metal.  The very top of the Washington Monument is pure aluminum, because at the time it was completed in 1888 pure aluminum was as rare and expensive as gold or silver.  New methods of purifying aluminum in the early 1900s made aluminum easy to extract, so today we have aluminum shawl pins with the shine of pure silver and gold - but without the silver and gold price tag!

Classic Rosewood Waves

Wood
Wood is a renewable, biodegradable natural resource that is always unique and never goes out of style.  To top it off, our JUL shawl pins are handmade in Indonesia and are a Fair Trade item.  This means the artist was paid a fair wage that guarantees a living wage and humane working conditions.

Leather Pedestal Button

Leather Pedestal Buttons
Buttons and button holes are great . . . unless you make a mistake and then you have, well, a hole.  Our JUL leather pedestal buttons are two discs and a screw (think of a screw earring).  Slip it in between your stitches and it can be kept in place permanently or moved as frequently as you want to.  They make great shawl pins, but also can be used to create shaping, attach separate knitted pieces together, and baste knitted fabric so that it stays in place semi-permanently.

The Latch Leather Closure

The Lock and The Latch Leather Closures
Think of JUL's Lock and Latch as non-button buttons.  They work the same as the pedestal buttons, but the un-buttony shape gives your garment a unique style.

Just Plain Whimsical
Step out of the ordinary with an alpaca shawl stick, a cormorant shawl stick, or a mountain sheep shawl stick for a silly and fun conversation starter that will proclaim to all "I am unique!"

Psst!  Shawl pins are also a great one-size-fits-all gift to give or receive!

So go ahead and stick it!  I mean your shawl pin, of course!

Happy Knitting (and pinning!) . . . . Amy