Patchwork roundup

It's been over 2 years since I last posted about projects made with my patchwork yarns, I think it's about time for a new post! There are now 5 pages of projects made with my patchwork handspun on ravelry (maybe more that aren't linked), so I picked some of my favorites to feature. I linked back to the ravelry project pages if you want to see more pictures & details of the original projects.

Gnomey Pants, knit by knittingma from the Gnome colorway. These are beautiful. I don't even know how many times I've just looked at these pictures in my favorites on ravelry, this is one of those times when the yarn and project are perfect for each other and the finished item could not be better! The solid blue edging ties everything together and makes the colors pop. When I was designing this colorway, that shade of blue was one of the main colors it was centered around. And this only took one skein!

Folktale Wristwarmers, knit by mindfulknitter from the Luned colorway. I feel like having happy-colored knits like these keeps me warmer, but that could just be me.

A Thorpe For Mama, knit by Bertha out of the colorway Gypsy Boy. Thorpe is a free pattern, and I dearly love hats with earflaps and ties! I also love this colorway. If you go to the ravelry project page for this hat, you can zoom in on the picture to see more detail.

 

f a r m e r ' s : t o a s t and g y p s y {mitts}, knit by GracieBelle of One Headlight Designs from the Farmers Market and Gypsy Boy colorways.One of the reasons patchwork yarns are excellent for hand coverings like mittens and fingerless gloves (besides just looking good) is that they tend to knit up into a really dense sturdy fabric. I can wear my patchwork mitts while doing farm chores in the winter and they hold up great.

Folktale Socks, knit by EarthenKnit from the Rona colorway. Even though I like knitting socks from heavier yarns, it never occurred to me to knit a pair from my patchwork yarn. I bet they'd keep my feet toasty in this drafty little farmhouse in the winter!

Pull on Hats, knit by my friend Josie from the Farmers Market colorway. She is awesome and grows food for a school in MD, you should check out their blog, Community Farm at Sandy Springs Friends School. The colors in this hat match all the vibrant produce pictures on the blog!

Lirael fingerless mitts, knit by ME from the Lirael colorway. I came up with this pattern as a beginning knitter and have used it countless times over the years, but these are the first mitts I'm keeping for myself. They were SUCH a fast enjoyable knit, and very warm and comfy! I spun this yarn from squishy cormo farm wool, and it was irresistible.

And, lastly - Folktale yoke sweater, knit by POWERPAW. She blogs at LIONHAIRS and also has an etsy shop with cure accessories (I like the collar necklaces). My heart went pitter-patter the first time I saw these pictures! I need a patchwork sweater now, and my goal this winter is to spin and knit myself a sweater entirely from patchwork yarns.


I will be closing down the patchwork yarn sale tomorrow evening, so there is one more day left to place pre-orders. As of right now, the custom spots are just over half filled and I made enough to buy supplies to build nice new kidding pens for my goats so that each doe can have her own space. I'm hoping to get enough orders to be able to buy the supplies to build individual shelters for each pen too. The best part is that the pens will be moveable and can be taken apart and rearranged into different fencing configurations when I don't have any does ready to kid - so I will be able to use them for breeding pens and moveable pasture fencing too. Right now I have my nigerian dwarf does out in a small moveable pasture, eating down the crazy overgrown weeds in the garden for me. It saves me the trouble of having to scythe an acre by hand, the goats get lots of nutritious greens (and bonus: they fertilize as they go), and being able to move them to entirely new ground every day means I can worry less about parasites. Plus my neighbors get to watch the "goat parade" every evening when I lead them all back in to the barn.

Thanks, everybody who's ordered so far!

Patchwork yarn pre-order sale/fundraiser

I know it can be hard to grab a skein of my patchwork handspun yarn, since it usually sells out within a few days of a shop update, and I don't usually update more than twice a month at best. I do take requests for colorways - if you contact me saying you want a specific patchwork colorway & how many skeins, I get back to you when I have that colorway ready to list again, with pictures and details, so that you can have them listed reserved for you if you'd like. However, this takes a while unless I happen to already have the fiber dyed and ready to go in that colorway, sometimes as much as a few months. Well, now's your chance: I've decided to offer custom requests for my patchwork yarns spun from lofty minimally processed merino cross wool at a really really good price, with the goal of fundraising money to get some farm projects done.

You can pre-order any repeatable patchwork colorway or Yarnbow self-striping yarn for $30 per skein for the next few days (until wednesday Sept. 5th) OR until all custom spinning spots are full. I'm going to cut this off at a certain number of skeins in order to make sure I can get it done in a reasonable amount of time and don't get too overwhelmed - I do have a few pregnant goats due in a month, after all. I'm setting aside the month of september to spin these custom requests so that I can get them dyed, spun, and shipped before my goats kid. Shipping is a flat $4 per order, no matter how many skeins are in that order.


The temporary pre-order shop is here. To order multiple skeins in one colorway, just add the colorway to your cart, click "go to cart", and then adjust the quantity there. If you'd prefer to order through etsy, you can contact me through my etsy shop and let me know which colorway(s) and how many skeins you want and I'll make you a reserved listing.

Patchwork yarns are usually around 130-200 yds per 3.5-4 oz skein, worsted to bulky weight, and they are normally priced at $36-$42 per skein plus shipping. They will be spun from merino x wool from DHF farm in the falkland islands - their sheep are mostly merino with a small percentage of corriedale, so the wool is super soft and lofty but with a longer staple length for a sturdier, better wearing yarn. They don't use any herbicides, pesticides, dips, footbaths or regular injections on their sheep, and no bleach or other chemicals in the processing of the wool - so it is, according to them, some of the purest, cleanest wool you will find on the planet. There are 16 different colors in each patchwork colorway, and they knit up in tweedy stripes. You can see examples of how they knit either in my previous blog posts about them or on the Ravelry projects page for my patchwork yarns. I will also have a new blog post showcasing some of my favorite projects made from my patchwork yarns in a few days - I realized that it's been almost 3 YEARS since I posted finished object pictures, and there have been lots of awesome projects in the meantime, including these fingerless knits I knit for myself from the Lirael colorway:





Also, for those who have been asking, my goats milk soaps made with milk from my little herd, essential oils, and herbs will be done curing in about a week, so I will be listing them on etsy soon. I think this may be my first official "farm product".

Customer Appreciation: Patchwork Mittens!

It's been ages since my first (and last) post showing a few items knit with my patchwork yarns. This post is long overdue! I have quite a few finished objects made by customers to share, and I decided to start with a mitten-themed post because mittens seem to be by far the most popular thing to knit with my patchwork yarns. I think it all started with knitting school dropout's mittens:



Which you can find here and here on ravelry. Ever since I first saw the pictures of these, people have been requesting custom yarns from me specifically to knit mittens, and many more patchwork mitten pictures have popped up. Here are some of my favorites:



folktale mitts, made by doodles in string



super duper handspun mittens, made by knitting and dogs



copy cat mittens, made by mahimahi4



panama jack handspun mittens, made by sewdotty



and lastly, esmerine fingerless gauntlets, also by sewdotty. I really love the detail pictures of these on the ravelry project page - this particular skein had puffy blips of fuzzy white angora or mohair.

If you've made something with my patchwork yarn (or any of my yarns) and have pictures, I'd love to see them! I can't describe the feeling I get when I see things made with my yarn - sort of a mix of delight and awe and a happy thrill. I have enough pictures for a few more customer appreciation posts, so there will be more to come. Thank you to everyone for allowing me to use your photos!

P.S. If you want some patchwork yarn of your own, now would be a good time to request whatever colorway you'd like, since I'm dyeing my way through the rest of my merino x wool! I have a nice pile of patchwork yarns ready to list in the next few days, plus I'm working on finishing some 'limited edition' one-of-a-kind patchwork colorways that incorporate lots of luxe fibers like local angora bunny fluff, local kid mohair, local naturally colored wools hand-processed by me, whole sections of firestar sparkle, recycled banana silk threads, and more.

Patchworkiness

I know some of you have been wondering how my patchwork-style yarns knit up. I've been wondering myself! This past week, I've found a couple of examples.

YARN:

KNIT UP:

"Treasure" hat knit by jocelyngermany. This was one of my first patchwork yarns, and it's still one of my favorites! I love the way it knit up, and the little pocket on the hat. I'm a big fan of pockets.

YARN:




KNIT UP:




This is a pillow-in-progress being knit by Natalie, aka cloudlover69 on etsy. I think a handspun pillow is the best idea ever! As soon as I get the time (so...never) I'm going to knit one for myself.









And lastly...these fingerless gloves, knit by ME! These were a custom order that I'm really grateful for, because I finally got the chance to sit down and knit with my patchwork yarn! I'll add a picture of the yarn before I knit it if I can find a non-blurry one.