Lomond City Cape

I have been working on something semi-secret…well several secret-ish things, but here is one I can now reveal! I will be releasing the new Kettle Yarn Co. website any day now! It will be the new home of the blog with yarn detail pages and have my proper shop and, and … EVERYTHING. So excited. 😉

The launch should happen very soon, so stay tuned as am planning  a bit of brouhaha for the big event.

As a result of needing to write web copy on top of dyeing for wholesale orders this week, I am struggling a bit on my early week blog post and am going to cop out by sharing what I just cast on!

Here it is… City Cape by drool-worthy Purl Soho. This one had me jumping for the needles and my secret hoard of LOMOND Aran as soon as I saw it. (Ok. It wasn’t really a secret hoard. I pirated the shop for the yarn. Sue me.)

image via Purl Soho

This is such a beautiful little cape and with waffle-y slip stitches as well. How could I say no?

One thing that I always find myself wishing with the gorgeous Purl Bee patterns, is that they show the garments on a real person. Yes, they look absolutely beautiful on the vintage mannequin for their photos, but it is still not the same as seeing something ON a person, you know? This always makes me balk at casting until I see the garment on people in Rav project pages. I wager this is an issue for others as well, as the lag time on people starting these stunning designs in Ravelry is always a bit longer than expected for such stunning free patterns!

However, I was lucky enough to catch this image on their Twitter feed the other day, and it sealed the deal. Exactly what I need right now for puttering around a chilly house!

image via Purl Soho Twitter feed

I have cast on with what will unfortunately be the last of LOMOND. I found out the other day that my supplier won’t be stocking it this winter, which made me very sad. It also made the hoarder in me jump for those skeins of Silver Leaf I had in the shop!

This cape will take 6 skeins for the smaller size and slightly over 6 for the large so there is enough of the Silver Leaf left for the smaller in the shop (there. I don’t feel quite so greedy now). The large should take 6.3 skeins, so maybe the turtleneck could be done in a different hue. Winter white would be lovely with this icy hue and as I scooped the very last bag of LOMOND my supplier had at the mill I should have more of that by tomorrow.  If anyone is interested in a specific shade (from my usuals) do let me know and I will add it to my dye schedule!

I also have 6 skeins left in Squirrelly taupe which would look stunning in this cape!

Now I just wish I could either knit all day or knit faster so I can wear it right away…

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Go for gold – support Stonewall

Many of you will already know this, as I was a bit late getting my blog reading done with the madness around here lately, and so late to the party…!

As a response Winter Olympics, Bristol Ivy and some other designers are grouping together to support various gay, trans, and human rights organisations  in response to the Russian governments ludicrous stance on anyone who is not hetero. All the designers on this list will be donating varying amounts of their pattern proceeds during the Olympics to various charities.

I have personally been doing a boycott of the Olympics since they started due to Russia’s homophobic bullsh*t, as I just can’t bear to support that kind of madness in any form, and when I saw this gesture had to join in…

50% of all sales from my Brioche Hat during the Olympic games will go to UK gay and bisexual rights charity Stonewall. Click on the link above right to purchase and add your own support to a worthy cause! Human rights are for everyone.

 

Brioche Hat – officially published!

The Brioche Hat pattern is now professionally tech edited and I feel more confident about releasing it for sale!

I managed to rope in the ever willing(suffering) East London Knit – aka Renee (a talented designer in her own right – check out her new designs here –  and a fantastic photographer to boot) – to help me get some shots of the hat on my actual head!

Most of the photos were unusable…not due to the photographer, but my own seemingly unlimited store of goofy looks! It was a long day in the rain, wind and then sun but she finally managed to catch me not being self-conscious in a few shots!

It feels pretty weird to be splashing photos of myself all over the internet after years of avoidance, but I am determined to suck it up…at least until I can find a willing model, that is! 😉

I have 3 Aran yarns that give the gauge needed for this hat – BANFF Aran – BFL/Baby Alpaca, LOMOND Aran – Baby Alpaca/Merino/Bamboo, and WIMBLEDON Aran – SW Merino.

Just to contrast the two most similar, BANFF (left) and LOMOND (right), you can see how the BFL in the BANFF creates a higher shine and more compact stitches, while the LOMOND is fluffier due to the higher content of that soft Baby Alpaca :

I currently have all of the the Aran blends on the shop at the moment and have released the last two skeins of red from my Boreal  jumper if anyone fancies a bright, happy version like my personal hat!

 

On the Brooklyn side…

We’ve all seen the new BT Winter 2014 collection by now and, as usual, it is glorious!

Here is one of  my  favourites, Echelon by Michele Wang, paired with Lomond Aran in colourway ‘Squirelly‘, now in shop after the update this weekend. The smallest size in the pattern is an unusual 391/4 inches so I would  make this slightly smaller so as not to swim in it!

This blend is a good substitute for those of us that need something a bit softer than the Brooklyn Tweed yarn, as the Baby Alpaca, Merino,  Bamboo blend is the softest on delicate skin.

Brioche Hat – new colours!

I’ve added some new colours for the Brioche Hat kit on the shop this weekend:

Just a heads up that there is only one set of the variegated grey and teal!

The variations listing seems to be a bit dodgy so please just message me with your colour choice after paying.

And don’t forget the 20% off until next Thurday!