Marketplace

In Western Australia we have many amazing beaches, from Lucky Bay in Esperance in the south with it’s white sand and turquoise water, to Cable Beach in Broome up north where you can ride camels along the sand. Cottesloe Beach is closer to me than either of those and it’s an iconic beach, with incredible sunsets. I grew up not far from “the beach” but now don’t get there often, but some days I long for it, especially in the middle of winter. Some days I just want a reminder that the beach exists and that I could dip my toes in the Indian Ocean.

Cottesloe Days is inspired by days at Cottesloe beach and striped beach towels. It’s a long striped fingering weight accessory that can be worked as a cowl, scarf or as a convertible scarf (instructions included in the pattern). Cottesloe Days can be worked in anywhere from one to 21 colours and the pattern includes amount required for each stripe. It would be a fantastic way to use up those odds and ends you have stashed. A schematic of the stripes has been included for you to colour in and work out your colour sequence.

Cottesloe Days is 25% off until midnight December 23, 2015 AWST.

KarenDawn Designs

Gringolet Cowl new pattern release

December 1, 2015

Tags

Knit in the round, the Gringolet Cowl uses a combination of increases (including double yarn overs) and decreases to create geometric shapes. The center of the stitch pattern resembles horseshoes, connecting the pattern to Gawain’s faithful horse, Gringolet. The pattern is both fully written out and charted, so you can use whichever type of directions works best for you.

Skill Level: Advanced Beginner
Skills needed: knitting in the round, k2tog, ssk, yarn overs, and double yarn overs

Yarn
YOTH Yarns Little Brother (80% Superwash Merino/10% cashmere/10% nylon, 435 yds/398 m per 100 g); 1 skein; sample uses colorway Wheatgrass (or 400 yds (366 m) of another fingering weight yarn)

Materials
US 3 (3.25 mm) 24” (60 cm) circular needle, or size needed to obtain gauge
Stitch marker

Gauge
26 sts and 48 rows over 4” (10 cm) in body pattern worked in the round, blocked

Finished Measurements
34” (86.5 cm) circumference and 9” (23 cm) tall

About the Name
Gawain was one of the knights of the Round Table — an integral part of the stories both in his own right as well as because he was Arthur’s nephew. Although horses were important to the knights and get many mentions in the tales, not very many horses are given names. Gringolet is one such exception, and the name is used in several stories about Gawain from various traditions, such as the French Erec and Enide by Chretien de Troyes, the English Lancelot-Grail Cycle as well as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the German Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach.

According to Roger Shermin Loomis, the name was derived from a Welsh word meaning either “white and hardy” or “handsome and hardy.” In either case, the “hardy” definition fits with Gringolet’s character quite well as he is a horse Gawain can rely upon. In Parzival, Gawain comes upon a wounded knight and tends to his injury. Gawain is “rewarded” by having Gringolet stolen from him. Later, Gawain finds himself jousting against a different knight who is riding Gringolet and recovers his horse, which is easily identified by the mark of the Grail it bears. Losing and regaining Gringolet seems to be a recurrent plot point for Gawain.

(Photos courtesy of Anne Podlesak for Stitch Definition)

Casapinka

The Boomerangles and a Pullover

November 27, 2015

Tags

The Boomerangles consist of two shawls: the Boomeranglet (shawlette) and the Boomerangle. They use three different colored yarns (shown in Backyard Fiberworks Sock) and are great for scrap amounts of hand-dyed sock yarn. A unique construction, half is a boomerang in stripes, the other half (no seams!) is an elongated triangle in simple slipped stitches and stockinette. Fast and fairly mindless, there is a picot edge on the top (for something different) of the garter portion.

If you’re looking for a fair isle, top-down pullover, the Dancing Queen Pullover is now available, done in beautiful Magpie Fibers Swanky DK.

Third Vault Yarns

Shiny Weekend of Discounts

November 26, 2015

Tags

Kicking off the festive season Third Vault Yarns is offering a shiny long weekend of discounts from Midnight GMT on the 26th of November to Midnight GMT on the 1st of December.

We are offering 10% off orders over £40 with the coupon code: Cunning10
As well as 15% off orders over £60 with the coupon code: BIGDAMNHERO15

We are also entering every order this coming weekend into a draw to receive a free mystery gift from our shop, so head over to our shop after midnight, make an order and cross your fingers, you could be randomly selected to win some goodies in your package 🙂

Our Holiday Sale Starts Friday 11/27!

November 25, 2015

Tags

We’d like to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow… and give you a sneak peek at what we have in store for you on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Still-on-Sale Sunday, Cyber Monday… and beyond!

We’re kicking things off this Friday, November 27, and our offers last THROUGH December 24, 2015:
FREE US shipping on EVERYTHING!
15% off all regular-priced items with coupon code YULE2015 (i.e., discounted project kits are not further discounted).
All orders of $149 or more will receive a FREE $20 Gift Certificate (one per customer).

It’s our way of making the holiday season just a little more merry — but that’s not ALL! Next week, the Rosi G Holiday Break Mystery Knit-Along (MKAL) will be kicking off in the Bijou Basin Ranch Ravelry Group! Each Wednesday beginning December 2, a new clue will be released. The final design is a secret, but we CAN tell you that it’s a fair isle shawl knit with our hand-dyed color ways of Himalayan Trail fingering weight yarn. We know it will be fabulous!

We have a special deal for MKAL-ers: enter YAK at checkout to save 20% off your yarn purchase for this project (note, cannot be combined with discounts above or used towards other yarn types; 3-skein minimum purchase of Himalayan Trail is required).

Click here for more details in our Ravelry Group.
You can purchase the pattern here on Ravelry.
You can purchase the yarn here.

Happy Knitting!

Kettle Yarn Co.

Get your free Kettle Gift Guide – Part 1 – NOW!

November 20, 2015

Tags

bags

Every year I hear from people struggling to buy gifts for the makers in their lives and thought I’d put together a small series of posts to help you shop for friends and to help non-knitters pick gifts for their loved ones!

Those of you not already on my mailing list can download the Part 1 – under £30 guide – pdf here.

You can forward this pdf to loved ones with the included links or print out the guide to strategically leave around the house as a not-so-subtle hint! ;-P

Happy giving and receiving all. xo

Fiber Dreams

Spinner

November 19, 2015

Tags

Geometry, tall buildings, ice crystals, sharp edges, crisp lines; in cold country these are rounded, softened by the drifting snows that winter brings. The crisp lines and geometric forms made with yarn overs, decreases, and cables are softened by the fuzziness of the mohair in the yarn. Beads add the sparkle of snow flakes illuminated against a night sky. This shawl is worked from the top down, using short rows to create the crescent shape. A firm cast-on and loose bind-off help make blocking easier. Photos by Crissy Jarvis.

Limited Edition Project Kit: The Odyssey Cowl by Laura Chau

November 18, 2015

Tags

bags

Retailing for $194, you’ll save 30% when you purchase the Limited Edition Odyssey Cowl kit at bijoubasinranch.com.

Here it it, the biggest and best kit that Bijou Basin Ranch has ever offered! We start with our extremely popular Tibetan Dream sock yarn in eight brand new colors, all hand dyed by Miss Babs! These are colors that have not been seen before and believe us, each one is prettier than the next. Miss Babs has certainly outdone herself this time!

Then, we add in an incredible cowl pattern by the very talented Laura Chau. Just in time for the cold weather, Laura has provided us with a wonderfully lush cowl that makes the most of just one skein of Tibetan Dream (or two, if you dare)! Traveling cables allow the ribbing to compress and expand, trapping air to keep you cuddly soft and warm. The cowl shown in the picture is the single skein version.

You’ll love knitting this pattern with the included 32-inch convertible circular size 4 needles from Signature Needle Arts, the cadillac of knitting needles! Each kit also contains a set of three stitch markers hand crafted in custom colors by our friends at Purrfectly Catchy Designs. These stitch markers will make your knitting easier and much more accurate, and they are built to last so you will use them on all of your knitting projects for years to come.

Finally, we add in the perfect addition for this special hand-knit gift you are giving to someone or even keeping for yourself: the allure Sampler! Allure Fine Fiber & Fabric Wash was developed by our own Eileen Koop (a consumer product chemist for over 30 years) especially for high-end exotic fibers like Tibetan Yak. The Sampler contains three 3.4-ounce bottles of our incredible Allure Fine Fiber Wash, one each of the two wonderful fragrances, Woodland Mist and Prairie Breeze, and a fragrance-free version.

To keep everything safe, we had St.Clair Designs create a special one-of-a-kind knitting bag called the “Bijou Bag” just for this kit! Each bag is hand sewn from five different repurposed fabrics making each bag a truly unique piece of usable art! Approximately 11″ tall and 9″ wide, the bags feature a zippered pouch on the front flap and two interior pockets. To finish them off, a special hand-hewn button from Balwen Woodworks is used as the front closure.

We have only a limited quantity available — when they’re gone, they’re gone!

New Pattern Release: Inverse Mitts

November 18, 2015

Tags