shallweknit.com

Ahhhh, Koigu. Technicolour dreams made real. Out of a small Ontario farm comes the most lovely yarn, all handpainted with artisan skill, in so much variation it defies counting. Begun by artist Maie Landra and now joined by daughter Taiu Landra and “Happy Dyer” Rhichard Devrieze, Koigu Wool Designs is appreciated by knitters around the world.

Koigu (pronouned “coy-goo”) has always been a big feature at Shall We Knit? We stock both the KPM (Koigu Premium Merino) semi-solid colours and the KPPPM (Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino) handpaints. Our whole staff took a trip up to Koigu this week to pick up a fresh collection of their gorgeous yarns. (Now is your chance to feel sorry for us, wandering around dazzled by hundreds of colourways, and having to choose among them! Tragic, isn’t it?)

Koigu looks like a feast of eye candy in our store display unit (at last count, we’ve got many hundreds of skeins in scores of colourways!). The photo below shows only about half of our present collection. Both KPM and KPPPM are 100% fine merino wool in a fingering weight that knits up to a suggested gauge of 7 stitches to the inch on 3.25 mm needles.

Maie Landra specializes in creating mitred knit designs that make the most of her painterly colours by using repeated geometric shapes that play the rich colours off each other. Some of her more popular designs are published all together in “Knits from a Painter’s Palette”, and we also stock many of their individual pattern leaflets.

Even if you’re not into knitting mitred shapes, Koigu is perfect for fine gauge garments, socks, and is especially wonderful knit into accessories like shawls, scarves, hats, gloves and mittens.

One of Maie’s patterns, called “Charlotte’s Web” is now enjoying it’s 10th anniversary. Charlotte’s Web is a simple lace repeat knit into a triangle shawl that uses 5 colours of KPPPM in a way that shades or blends one colour easily into the next so that it looks as seamless as a watercolour. You can see Karen in the picture below wearing her Charlotte, knit last summer, and hanging out with Lucy Neatby at Sock Summit. (As always, click to embiggen photos.)

We are hosting a Charlotte’s Web class this Saturday, January 30th (with a follow-up class session on February 20th). Students will get a chance to come to the store before we open Saturday morning, and will have the first opportunity to see all the new colours and get guidance from staff in choosing materials for their very own Charlotte. Because of the multitude of choices, and the variation inherent in handpainted yarns, each Charlotte is truly a unique work of art.

While my personal Koigu “collection” doesn’t even come close to the banquet that’s in the store, I have to ‘fess up to owning an embarrassing quantity of this yarn. On a down day, just visiting my wall of colour (I keep all my Koigu sorted at the front of my yarn shelves in my yarn closet at home. What? Doesn’t everyone have a “yarn closet”?) lifts my mood and puts me in a dreaming-of-possibilities frame of mind.

Drop in to see all the wonder for yourself (new colours on the shelves on Saturday!), and call the store at 519-662-3636 to register for the class.

Guest blogger today is Katherine Matthews of Purl Diving

When I came up with an idea for a beaded wrist warmer pattern that I wanted to submit to Knitty.com, I tried out a few different sock yarns in various colours matched with a variety of beads. They were nice – but nothing quite worked like the idea I saw in my mind’s eye.

I had this idea that I should combine a gold-lustred bead – lovely, warm, golden – with a mulberry coloured yarn, something that would remind me of gold embroidery on silk.

I found the perfect bead, but for a while, the yarn eluded me, until one day, I stumbled across ShibuiKnits Sock. Looking at the colours on their web page, I couldn’t believe my eyes: the perfect colour, the exact one I’d been looking for, and it was even called “Mulberry”. I placed an order for it, and when the yarn arrived, I knew not only that it was perfect for this particular pattern, but that it would be a yarn I’d return to for several of my designs.

ShibuiKnits Sock is 100% Merino Wool, and its firm structure gives it a lot of spring and bounce. My cuffs are knit in garter stitch to a fairly tight gauge, and ShibuiKnits Sock gives them an extra spring and stretch that makes them both comfortable to wear, as well as holding up to repeated wearing. I’ve never made a pair of socks out of them, but that springy quality makes the yarn ideal for very textured patterns – so it’s probably no surprise that amongst the suggested patterns on Ravelry for use with this yarn are many by the designer Cookie A., known for her use of travelling and twisted stitches that would show up beautifully in this yarn.

A word about the colours: they are rich, lovely and vibrant. There are a number of variegated colourways, but in my opinion, ShibuiKnits Socks best colours are the semi-solids. What I love about them is that they give my beaded cuffs a look of washed silk, adding an extra layer of depth and richness to my work.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I’ll still work with some of the other sock yarns out there, especially when the colours suit something I have in mind. But there’s definitely something special about working with ShibuiKnits Sock that makes it the first yarn I think of for my beaded cuffs. One day, I hope to have a design using every one of their semi-solid colours, I love them that much! And who knows? I might even knit a pair of socks out of it one day…

and Zena says it knits up nicely into her favorite doggie dress

This week with the help of Babs our model we are going to introduce you to Cascade Ecological Wool. This yarn is 100% Peruvian Highland Wool. If you want bang for your buck this is an amazing wool! 437 metres per skein – hows that for yardage? Lynne was able to get 3 hats and 2 pairs of mittens out of 1 skein!
Clara Parkes has done a wonderful review at Knitters Review Take a minute and go check it out.
When Cascade Ecological Wool first came out it was available in 3 or 4 different natural colours only, now it is available in about 10 naturally dyed colours. Eco+ wool is available in a wide variety of colours – last count was over 30 colour choices. This yarn is a Bulky weight yarn at 14-16 stitches to 4 inches on a 5.5 – 6 mm. needle.

This gorgeous piece is from French Girl Knits using Cascade Eco done double.

Another gorgeous option for this yarn is from Sally Melville’s book Mother-Daughter Knits which she co-wrote with her daughter Caddy. This sweater has gotten a degree of publicity as Sally is doing (or probably done by now) the Camelot sweater for Michelle Obama.

How can it be January 8th already? If you read the newsletter you know that we’ve got a couple of exciting things happening around the shop. Lynne is now our Creative Manager – which basically means she does some of everything! It is such a joy to work with Lynne, Cari & Beth – the only problem with the 2 locations is that there aren’t too many times when we can all be together. So we do try to have regular staff get togethers and of course we had to have one just before Christmas. The SWK team had a bit of a knit off for one of my gifts. They all got a skein of a fuzzy green alpaca yarn and without telling the others what they were doing they had to make me something tree-ish.
Behold the glory! I’m not telling you who made which but can you guess?

I didn’t do much knitting for Christmas gifts – well a bunch of small things, nothing like last years 4 foot monkey for Darrian.
I love this shawl! Did I say I love it? I LOVE IT!
This is by Kristen Kapur. We got a few of her patterns in and I really think I have to do this one again. I did it for Tara (daughter) out of Rowan Colourscape and I think it was a hit since she wore it all day on Christmas over her jammies. Then I did her a pair of Cream Alpaca Mitts in Superfine – which contrary to the name is a bulky weight. mmmmmmm
The only other Christmas knitting I did was a hat for Tom out of a pattern by Stephen West. I did it out of another alpaca by Zitron and Tom thought it would be a little light when he tried it on but now he’s complaining it’s too warm – not a bad complaint for a winter hat.

SWK? School of Yarn is in session. We’re going to take turns featuring a yarn in the store, and telling you a little about what we like about it, what kinds of patterns or styles we think it would suit, and ultimately, why we thought you’d like it.

It’s Lynne getting to take the first lesson, and I could talk all day about fibre and hand and stitch definition and could even have a few intelligent things to say about sheep breeds and plant versus animal fibres. But in our School of Yarn, there are no pop quizzes or vocabulary lists. I will point you to two very thorough and useful resources as places to start if you want more of that in-depth detail: Clara Parkes’ Book of Yarn and Book of Wool. The first volume covers a big range of fibre sources and preparations, and the second goes into great detail on all things woolly. That both books offer a handful of lovely patterns is a bonus.

Today’s feature, like the first day of school where you play icebreaker games and do fill-it-ins, is EASY. We’re going to talk about cashmere, and, well, what’s not to love? Cashmere is fibre collected from the cashmere goat. In this case, it’s in the form of a delectable worsted weight, and is found in the “Cashmere Scarf for HER” and “Cashmere Scarf for HIM” kits from Jade Sapphire.

Let me first tell you that walking into the Jade Sapphire booth at a trade show is like passing through the pearly gates – without the dying bit. I really don’t think it is possible to fondle this cashmere and not swoon a little. The colours are rich, the fibres are the very definition of luxury. (We carry Jade Sapphire’s “Lacey Lamb” laceweight merino as well, and it feels almost as good as the cashmere!)

The kits feature 4 skeins/200g of worsted-weight cashmere, plus a booklet offering 7 scarf pattern options. Knit on 5mm needles, the knitting goes quickly enough (but not TOO quickly – you don’t want to stop playing with this yarn too soon). The options for men include colours like “Blue Chip” and “Black Leather Jacket”. Colour choices for women include “Sweet Pea”, and “Red Hot Mama”.

This is definitely one of those items that is a splurge for most budgets. Retailing just a shade under the $100 mark, a Cashmere Scarf kit IS an extravagance, no argument here. But when you come into the store, and try on the sample scarf (thanks, Katherine!) and you make that little noise at the back of your throat … well, then you start to understand that it’s a gift that gives many times over: first, it’s a joy to knit, and then, it has a lifetime of making the wearer feel like royalty every time they wear it.

If your budget just can’t support a hundred dollar accessory, ask us to show you a few other yarns that are cashmere in different forms, or in blends. You can treat yourself, and not break the bank.

That’s it, kids. School’s out for today.