I haven’t done too much ice skating in my day (although I do feel it’s kind of my duty as a Canadian to know how). Somehow Amanda’s pretty Owlie Headband makes me want to jump in the car and head to one of the local mountains for some romantic skating. I picture snowflakes and hand holding and some hot chocolate afterward.
This darling accessory is knit in Blue Sky Alpacas Suri Merino, a soft luxurious yarn that comes in many pretty shades to showcase an owl of your own!
There is always something striking about a city’s skyline. Right away you look for certain features, bridges, hills, buildings, landmarks. Each city is unique, Vancouver included. Looking out from Stanley park into downtown Vancouver there is no mistaking our city and it’s landmarks, I always look for the sails. .
Amanda has captured the skyline in a gorgeous cashmere cowl! The cowl is made with 3 colours of Gourmet Crafter Cashmere, Whale Watching for the sky, Vancouver Sky for the buildings, and Backyard Greens for a bright pop. Not only has she designed this lovely cowl but she’s also turned it into a kit, with all the yarn you will need as well as the pattern.
A novel but fantastic idea: a knitted toy in a bulky weight yarn! While the original pattern called for a worsted weight yarn (about 18 stitches per 4 inches) but ingeneous Amanda knit up these three adorable little (a relative term) pigs in Spud and Chloe Outer.
I quite like the idea of a bulky weight toy, it’s so quick and they look so very fantastic. I have balked at the idea of knitting toys in the past because of the tiny needles and yarn but no more! Worsted and Bulky weight toys are making a serge and I’m on board! They are bulky, true, but the pattern so nicely compliments the yarn because, well, pigs are a bit of a bulky animal. Especially the pigs that fly!
The pattern is Oink by Susan B Anderson. In case you haven’t heard of her, she is the lovely woman behind the Spud and Chloe designs. She designed the Spud and Chloe book as well, Spud and Chloe at the Farm, an adorable collection of knitted farm animals and accessories in all three yarns, Fine (sock), Sweater (worsted), and Outer (bulky)
I was perusing my friends activity on Ravelry yesterday (feeling a bit like a knitting stalker) and what should I come across but the most beautiful fingerless gloves in the world. Amanda always knows just the patterns that will come out looking as if they were straight out of an Anthropologie catalog. The pattern is Sweet Robin Wrist-ees by Tiny Owl Knits
These mittens are a little intense but I think the effort is well worth it. Amanda used intarsia for the bird and nest but this pattern also calls for details added after the glove has been knit. The eggs and nest details are added afterward. A fair bit of technique for a small project but I think small projects are the best way to learn something.
The combinations of colours add so much depth to the project and Amanda’s colour combo came out amazing. It’s sometimes hard to find all the colours you are looking for in one yarn for a project like this but Amanda was thinking outside the box and picked out sock weight yarn in several different yarn brands. The result is fabulous.
Reminder: Margaret Radcliffe classes are coming up next week so snag one of the few spots left! (you can read more about Margaret here)
Brooklyn Tweed KAL Update: I have cast on my Rock Island. Hunter threw up on the first 6 repeats of the outer lace chart. I’m chugging away so I can finish the outer lace chart and clean it. Of all the places Hunter…..
I know, I know, cowl crazy right? There are just so many promising yarn combinations, colour combinations, and patterns to choose from! The best thing about a trunk show is seeing the finished garments IN PERSON. A photo is great but there’s nothing better than trying something on. This doesn’t mean that mine will turn out exactly the same, especially as I freely substitute yarns, but it does offer some great inspiration. Amanda, Kynna, and Anina have been cowling (just made that word up, I think it’s a keeper) away and here are a 2 of their FO’s from Cowl Girl Knits.
Amanda’s Eyelet Cowl: This cowl was made with Mirasol Qina, Tilli Tomas Mega Skein, and Alchemy Juniper. This is quite the beautiful yarn cocktail! Tilli Tomas is always a knitters little luxury, the colours are stunning with just a slight variegation. The Qina is a super soft yarn, my daughter has a whole sweater in it and it’s warm and wonderful. The Alchemy Juniper is one of my latest obsessions, it’s soft and stretchy and Alchemy’s colour pallette is the stuff dreams are made of. I’ll be picking up a couple of skeins for some luxurios socks tomorrow!
Kynna’s High Contrast: Kynna knit this little beauty up in Luxury Alpaca. The key to making this cowl really work is (as the name suggests) the contrast between colours. If you were to use colours that were closer together in shade or intensity it just wouldn’t have the same effect. Choose wisely! The original pattern calls for the Classic Elite Ariosa, which we do carry in some beautiful colours, but having felt Kynna’s cowl, I think I would make mine in the alpaca too!
There is something about combining yarns of different fibers that is just so much fun. The combination of a solid and a hand dye, or even two different solids often makes the yarn come alive. Both Kynna and Amanda have knit up a great slouchy hat (pattern is free here) using 2 different yarns held together and the effect is amazing! I am especially smitten with the mohair in the mix, there are a few new mohairs around the shop so there are a lot to choose from. This hat calls for lace weight to be combined with the mohair which makes for some stunning options.
Amanda went with a slightly more subtle combination of Malabrigo Lace and the newest mohair around the shop, Debbie Bliss Angel (pictured above), a silk mohair combination. I think the hat is gorgeous of course, slouchy being all the rage. The mohair gives off a beautiful halo but it’s not quite as fuzzy as, say, an angora. If you’re looking for another solid mohair we’ve also got Shibui’s Silk Cloud. This one has a slightly higher silk content giving it a nice shine in addition to the mohair halo.
Kynna went with a bolder colour combination and a self striping lace. The lace is Zauberball, a very cool yarn, it comes in sock and lace weights and a absolutely LOVE the way it stripes up. For this hat 2 strands of the lace are held together, so instead of striping the Zauberball has a wonderful depth of colour. There are really 3 different greens coming through at any given time, how wonderful. It’s not even so much a stripe as it moves from one colour or shade to the next. The mohair is a hand dye from Alchemy called Haiku. The emerald combo is to dye for, well chosen Kynna!
There is something so nice about a day of hearts. While it can get a little hallmark-ish I try to boil it down to the good intentions of the day: expressing your love to those who mean the most to you. Being a rather un-romantic individual I’ve never made to much of the day but I do like to make something nice for my hubby just to show I care. This year will be even less romantic for me, but I’m sure in love with my new baby, it certainly marks a different phase.
If you are trying to find the perfect gift for that special someone, there is nothing more heartfelt than a handknit gift. While my hubby is wary of complimenting my knitted items, lest I knit him a complete outfit or something crazy like that, he really loves the cashmere toque I knit him a few years ago. It’s the only knitted thing he will wear but he wears it with pride! It’s a pretty dull knit, or it would be if is weren’t cashmere! I knit Devon’s Toque, the pattern that comes with every skein of Handmaiden Cashmere. If anything could turn someone into a knitting fan, it’s cashmere. Even men are susceptable to it’s powers. If you’re trying to win someone over with your knitting I recommend this project.
If you are looking for a pretty hat for yourself, or a special lady in your life, check out Amanda’s latest pattern the Heart Hat. It’s got a little heart shaped lace and my personal fave: the pompom. It’s made in a fabulous yarn too, Pear Tree 10 ply. This yarn is unbelievably soft merino. I mean it, in a blind test I would have definitely guessed cashmere or perhaps alpaca, it is soooo soft. Slouch hat’s are all the rage, I’m thinking I might make mine in grey….
Of all the Blue Sky Alpacas patterns I’ve seen the Audrey coat really takes the cake. It’s so elegant and somewhat extravagant it beckoned to me immediately. A big part of the beauty of this pattern is in the clean lines and the details, I absolutely love the covered buttons. This coat really reminds me of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Audrey Hepburn’s great style. A classic coat that would work with any outfit, but remains a statement piece. My fashionable aunties both asked me to knit them one but I declined, this is a knit for knitters, something to knit only for yourself! Now that all the hubbub over holiday knitting has seriously died down, it’s time to get started on a project just for you, and I think the Audrey coat is perfect.
Audrey is knit in warm alpaca sport, held doubled. This means the colour options are practically endless! The fashionable and Audrey-esque Amanda knit hers up in the original red and it’s just stunning. The picture above is the Audrey coat Amanda knit on our UY mannequin, Ursula. I think the beret makes a nice touch don’t you? I’m personally smitten with Blue Sky’s newest colour though: emerald. I think a beautiful emerald Audrey coat would definitely keep the winter blues away!
Sometimes it seems that when it rains it pours and nowhere else is that as relevant as it is in Vancouver, the rainy city. In this case I am thinking more about knitting trends than actual precipitation but it works every which way today. Sometimes patterns that wouldn’t normally strike my interest are suddenly very appealing indeed: when I see them knit up in a lovely yarn.
This week at Urban Yarns we had quite a bit of show and tell and I think my favorite is the Pasha Hat by Jane Richmond. Both Amanda and Kynna knit this lacy wonder (apparently they were separately inspired). Just like the toy craze and our somewhat failed reindeer sweater knit along both customers and staff at UY are often inspired by each other to knit up a pleasing pattern. It’s one thing to see a photo of a knitted project or to read through a pattern but you just really never know quite how something is going to turn out. This is especially true when you are making any sort of substitution but even just changing the knitter can alter the way a pattern comes out. This isn’t necessarily a problem, I think it’s a good thing really. Patterns are flexible and unique every time they are knit this way and I think that’s wonderful.
Both Kynna and Amanda knit up a beautiful hat with really different results, just using different yarns. Amanda’s hat has a kind of vintage quality and the 70’s mustard colour while Kynna’s has sort of a wintery look in the icy blue. I quite like them both and I like them even better once I gave them a feel. Oh, they are soooooo soft! It’s like touching a cloud. Amanda’s yarn is a single skein of the Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca, a new addition to the shop. It comes in a range of lovely colours for you to try out your own colour scheme. Kynna knit hers up in Debbie Bliss Andes, a lovely silk blend with a loose spin. The hat knit up beautifully in both yarns and there are, of course, many to choose from!
I just don’t know how she does it! I feel like there is a new and even more adorable toy at Urban Yarns every week. Not only is Amanda on a Toy roll but they have been popping up at knit night, knit classes, and in general show and tell. Anina just finished knitting this adorable turkey from the Spud and Chloe Blog. It’s a free pattern that you can find here.
My new favorite though is the cutest reindeer of all! It may seem a bit early to be getting so festive but I just think he’s the cutest thing. Amanda knit this little lovely up with Blue Sky Alpacas yarn (sumptuous) and the pattern and bits and pieces from CID designs. There are so many to choose from in this line (even Amanda hasn’t knit them ALL yet), there is a cute elf and santa if you are feeling festive, or drop by and check out the frog prince. Amanda knit him up in a tweedy yarn and he’s just perfect. The menagerie continues to grow!
The only problem with these charming little creatures is that they can seem a little daunting. Small double pointed needles, lots of increases and decreases, putting the whole thing together when it’s done…it can seem like a lot to take on in a small project. This, however, is both the challenge and the charm of toys. There is a lot of interest and technique but there is also a lot of instant gratification. Also, should a mistake HAPPEN to turn up, it’s not a lot of knitting to rip back (perish the thought).
If you are still feeling overwhelmed at the possibility of a little toy, don’t be afraid, just learn from the best! Amanda is teaching a class on the CID Hanscom Design kits at the end of the month. This whimsical class is going to be a lot of fun, using the ever-so-cute, CID Hanscom Design Kits. THere are a number of sweet creatures to choose from: Harry Rabbit, Squeak the mouse, Tadeus Crocker, Croco Dehlia to name a few. Amanda will assist you in working through the pattern and help you with its final construction.
Supply Requirements: Suggested yarn is Blue Sky Alpaca Sport or Melange & 2.25mm needles, fibre fill.
*Please Note: Since these toys are fairly small, basic knitting skills are a pre-requisite, with a concentration on fine motor skills.
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Dates: Oct. 26 & Nov. 2
Cost: $50.00 + HST
 Subscribe to our Blog |
| www.urbanyarns.ca |
| 1-877-488-YARN (9276) |
| Urban Yarns Point Grey |
| 4437 West 10th Avenue |
| Vancouver, BC |
| Phone: 604-228-1122 |
| knitting@urbanyarns.ca |
| Urban Yarns Edgemont |
| 3111 Highland Boulevard |
| North Vancouver, BC |
| Phone: 604-984-2214 |
| knitting@urbanyarns.ca |
| Find us with Google Maps! |