Tag Archives: knitting our national parks

2018 Year In Review: IU exclusives

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One of the best things about running Indie Untangled is getting to work with talented dyers to come up with exclusive colorways, whether it’s for the Rhinebeck Trunk Show, the Knitting Our National Parks project or the Where We Knit yarn club. And while I love collecting hand-dyed yarn as much as the next knitter, I truly enjoy seeing those colorways put to use in beautiful sweaters, shawls, cowls and more.

For the 2018 Indie Untangled Year In Review, I’ve compiled some of my favorite projects that use Indie Untangled exclusives.

Pictured above is Cecilia’s Sunset Highway with La Bien Aimée Merino Singles in Automne à Rhinebeck, Asylum Fibers Solitary in Rhinebeck’s All The Craze, Dark Harbour Yarn Port in Davy Jones Locker and La Bien Aimée Merino Singles in Yellow Brick Road

Aimee’s Rainshadow in La Bien Aimée Merino Singles Kingston and Hudson

Janet’s Local Yarn Shawl with The Farmer’s Daughter Fibers Foxy Lady in Kiowa

Kelly’s Glaciers and Wildflowers Pullover with Duck Duck Wool DK Limited in Glaciers and Wildflowers

Tawana’s The Doodler with La Bien Aimée Merino Singles in Automne à Rhinebeck and Asylum Fibers Solitary in Rhinebeck’s All The Craze and Sleepless

Deborah’s Do It Up with Gauge Dye Works SHAWL: MCN Fingering in Hudson Valley

Jerrill’s Birds and Ships with Little Fox Yarn Vixen in Birds and Ships

Amy’s Close To You with Asylum Fibers Solitary in Acadia Lights

Abigail’s Concentra Cowl with Backyard Fiberworks Terrain in North Cascades Night and Merino 2/6

Maggie’s Lemon Pie with La Bien Aimée Merino DK in Automne à Rhinebeck

See many more FO’s using yarn from Indie Untangled dyers here.

What to knit with fingering yarn and stranded mohair

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I have to admit, I’m warming up to mohair. Because it makes me itchy, I never sought it out. But after Jennifer of Spirit Trail Fiberworks showed me the photos of her yarn for this month’s installment of Knitting Our National Parks — the speckled Winter Wizardry and complementary mohair called Wizard Sky — I knew I had to have it in my stash.

Now, after researching all the new patterns popping up that incorporate mohair, and seeing Jennifer’s beautiful swatch using the two yarns stranded together, I realized I just have to knit with it!

Here are some pattern suggestions for using the two yarns together, in everything from hats to sweaters.

Hats

Sparkling Cider by Voolenvine

Azurine Hat by Ambah O’Brien

Hyde Park by Dragon Hoard Designs

úlfur hat by ash alberg

Cowls/ponchos

Ballerina by Julie Knits In Paris

Azurine Cowl by Ambah O’Brien

Speckled Snow by Lucinda Iglesias

Shawls

Birds of a Feather by Andrea Mowry

Fallen Leaves by Justyna Lorkowska

Growing Lilies by Webster Street Knittery

Merino & Mohair Shawl by Sarah Punderson

Slice of Light by Susanne Sommer (with another color of fingering)

Sweaters – Pullovers

Chelsea Sweater by Nancy Ricci

No Frills Sweater by PetiteKnit

Ambient by eri

Sweaters – Cardigans

Scapa by Alma Bali

Elton by Joji Locatelli

See all the suggestions on Ravelry.

What to stash this week: yarn wizardry

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Jennifer of Spirit Trail Fiberworks was inspired by the photo to create not one, but two colorways for the latest Knitting Our National Parks installment, including one that debuts a new base. Her speckled Winter Wizardry will be dyed on Aurora, a 100% Superwash Merino single-ply fingering, while Wizard Sky will be dyed on Flou (which means fluffy in French) a laceweight mohair/silk blend that would be perfect to carry along with Aurora.

Both colorways will be available to preorder on Indie Untangled through Friday, December 21. As always, 10% of sales will be donated to the National Park Foundation.

Tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern, Nancy of Tika Bags is holding her first ever Facebook Live sale! There will be special products just for the sale, including her Deja Vue clear box bag in new fabrics, matching Zippity Vue mini bags, mega-popular sweater-sized Zippity Vue large bags and a few Tika Bags kits that include a Deja Vue project bag with skein of Twisted Owl Studio sock yarn.

Miranda’s new Frail scarf is a garden of elegant brioche. Indie Untangled readers get 30% off until December 14 with the code INDIEFRAIL, with the pattern including a discount for the gorgeous recommended yarn.

Just in time for sweata weatha, Debbie of Murky Depths Dyeworks is debuting newest base, Neptune DK. It’s a 100% Merino that’s perfectly squishy and is available in seven saturated colors, including a new hauntingly beautiful gray called Ghost Rider.

Sign-ups are open for the Little Women installment of McMullin Fiber Co.’s Literature Society. Get a single or double dose of yarn in an exclusive colorway that celebrates the March family and their friends.

Slipped Stitch Studios has a winter collection of yarn socks and project bags available and Llamicorns will be back in the shop today at 9 a.m. Pacific. As part of the December fun, orders over $50, instead of $100, get free U.S. shipping.

Heather’s Yarn Barn has some new colorways in addition to crocheted velvet hair scrunchies with free domestic shipping. You can also spin the wheel when you visit her store and get the chance to win discounts from 5% to 25% off.

October House Fiber Arts has a new colorway called Social Graces, the perfect neutral, dyed on Robin’s incredibly soft and silky MCS Fingering.

Buy one skein from the Pandia’s Jewels Jane Austen-inspired Regency Collection and get a set of stitch markers free with the code JANESBDAY.

Michelle of Crafty Flutterby Creations’ new Warwick Reflections shawl is inspired by Warwick Castle and the River Avon. A Warwick Reflections kit includes yarn from Why Knot Fibers and a Celtic Shawl Pin.

Signups for the Yarnover Truck’s Yarn Club is open to new members until Wednesday.

Once Upon A Corgi has new enamel pins with doggies and yarn.

What to stash this week: good friends

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After the success of last year’s La Bien Aimée colorway for Indie Untangled, Automne á Rhinebeck, I knew I had to find a way to top it. So, earlier this year, I asked Paris-based Aimée to dye up a speckle and a complementary semisolid. I also asked her if there was a designer she wanted to collaborate with on a shawl that would incorporate both colors. When she chose Melanie Berg, I knew that they would come up with something special.

The result is Rainshadow, a garter and lace shawl that uses Aimée’s teal/green/gold speckle on a cloudy gray background, called Kingston, and a coordinating olive green that she named Hudson, after towns in the Hudson Valley, near Rhinebeck.

The Indie Untangled shop is now stocked with Rainshadow shawl kits in these exclusive-to-Indie Untangled colorways, along with a limited amount of single skeins. The shop is also stocked with a ton of goodies, including a very limited number of Indie Untangled tote bags, Stash Rabbit enamel pins and T-shirts and an exclusive colorway from UK-based Black Elephant.

Kate of McMullin Fiber Co. is marking her favorite month with her annual Socktoberfest Celebration. This means a big sale — everything in the shop is 25% off till October 31st — and some fantastic giveaways, including a Lykke needle set and a plum Fringe Field Bag.

Today is your last day to preorder this stunning interpretation of sunrise over Bullion Gulch in southern Idaho’s Croy Creek Trail System, dyed on Bijou’s Tibetan Dream sock yarn. 

If you have a bit of a yarn hangover, Jen of Porterness Studio has gorgeous new Stockinette Stitch Swatch and In Case Of A Stitch Marker Emergency necklaces. There’s also a new bronze shawl pin design and new additions to her Space Age line of 3D-printed steel shawl pins and rings.

Today at 9 a.m. Pacific time, Slipped Stitch Studios will debut 30+ yarn sock designs that will be ready to ship while supplies last!

Didn’t get to Rhinebeck this year? There is still plenty of fall yarn fun to go around! Sheila of Big Foot Fibers has dyed up these fall-themed mini sets, called Something Wicked This Way Comes, on Superwash Merino DK, inspired by their family reading of MacBeth this month.

West Green Loft Yarns has new bases and colors for fall.

What to stash this week, whether at Rhinebeck or not

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If you’re not on your way to the Hudson Valley (or if you just can’t get enough indie-dyed yarn — I have friends who order from online updates on the way to MDWS), Kim of Western Sky Knits is having a fall-inspired shop update. It includes some lovely mohair/silk 1-ply lace weight skeins, perfect for stranding in your winter sweaters. She also has a new single-ply DK-weight yarn, made of 100% Superwash Merino, which takes the dye beautifully.

Jennifer of Spirit Trail Fiberworks is on her way to Rhinebeck and, of course, is bringing a ton of yarn, everything from laceweight to super bulky. She will also have a bunch of specials throughout the weekend, culminating with 25% off all yarn in the booth from 1 p.m. until closing on Sunday. 

Bijou Basin Ranch had Jonathan Berner of Seattle-based MJ Yarns work his magic to capture the subtlety and brilliance of sunrise at Bullion Gulch in southern Idaho’s Croy Creek Trail System on yak yarn for the Knitting Our National Parks Project. Resplendence will be dyed on Bijou’s Tibetan Dream sock yarn, a luxurious blend of 85% yak and 15% nylon.

The yarn will be available to preorder on Indie Untangled through Friday, October 26. If you’ll be at Rhinebeck, you can see and pet the yarn in person at the Bijou Basin Ranch in booths 13 and 14 in Building C. It will also be on display at the Indie Untangled Trunk Show on Friday. As always, 10% of sales will be donated to the National Park Foundation.

Preorders for the Slipped Stitch Studios October Bag of the Month started a little early. Woodland creatures include gnomes, hedgehogs, owls and the illusive silver fox. Orders will only be available until Monday, October 22.

New for October from Wolle’s Yarn Creations are horoscope yarns, made of skin-soft, fingering-weight cotton in generous 480-yard skeins.

Inner Yarn Zen is launching an Outlander Unclub. What is an “unclub,” you ask? It’s a series of kits delivered over three months that can be purchased each month without a commitment to all of them. Marietta will dye yarn inspired by scenes, characters or locations from Outlander, and there will also be special gifts, including project bags, stitch markers and a secret surprise.

What to stash this week: trail yarn

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For the latest installment of Knitting Our National Parks, Bijou Basin Ranch takes us to the Croy Creek Trail System in southern Idaho, originally constructed for motorcycle riders and mountain bikers. Here, you can take in a gorgeous winter sunrise like this one from Bullion Gulch, captured by Ace Hess from the Bureau of Land Management, which operates the trail system.

BBR called on Jonathan Berner of Seattle-based MJ Yarns to capture the subtlety and brilliance of the image with the colorway they’ve named Resplendence. It will be dyed on Tibetan Dream sock yarn, a luxurious blend of 85% yak and 15% nylon that is warmer than wool and softer than Cashmere, perfect for your next hike (or just a nice, cold winter).

The yarn will be available to preorder on Indie Untangled through Friday, October 26. If you’ll be at Rhinebeck, you can see and pet the yarn in person at the Bijou Basin Ranch in booths 13 and 14 in Building C. It will also be on display at the Indie Untangled Trunk Show on Friday.

Kate of McMullin Fiber Co. is celebrating the start of fall (finally!) with her new Sweater Weather Collection. The collection includes Merino/Cashmere/nylon DK weight yarns and 80/20 Merino/nylon sock mini skeins in a few new colorways, including Hunting Tartan, La Vie En Rose and Vintage.

Shauna of Farm Girl Fibers just started dyeing yarn from her husband’s family farm in Alpine, Tennessee. Many of her colorways are inspired by nature and her life on a farm.

Indie Untangled newcomer October House Fiber Arts decided to post in an appropriate month, during its fifth birthday. Dyer Robin also designs knitting-themed cross stitch.

Jean of Midmitten Designs has teamed up with Splash of Color Yarns on a holiday kit that includes a project bag, with a vinyl window for a peek at what’s inside, and five Merino/nylon mini skeins.

Softyard Designs’ Saxony Hat is perfect for a cable lover! This unisex design comes with instructions for working flat or in the round and knits up super fast in aran-weight yarn.

Indie Untangled newcomer 7th Floor Yarn is marking “tweed season” with this Aran Tweed Superwash 85% Merino/15% Nep.

Wild Hair Studio has a limited number of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendars.

What to stash this week: Leaving Olympic National Park

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Today is the last day to preorder Hazel Knits’ stunning Sol Duc Valley colorway for the Knitting Our National Parks Project. The yarn takes its name and inspiration from the Sol Duc rainforest at Olympic National Park. Here’s a new pic of it all knitted up!

Stephanie of Rock Solid Designs has added a new twist to the project bag and come up with a brilliant solution to the “yarn/zipper dilemma.” Her box bag, called the Kellie bag, uses sturdy plastic snaps instead of zippers, to help keep your yarn from running away, but avoiding snags. Best of all — the snaps also serve as built-in yarn guides, allowing you to separate multiple strands of yarn for colorwork projects or when you’re alternating skeins in a sweater.

Is there a slight chill in the air? That means it’s almost PSL (pumpkin spice latte) time! Sheila of Big Foot Fibers has just updated her shop with limited-edition, piping hot PSL mini skein sets.

It’s Porterness Studio’s birthday and Jen is celebrating with a sale! Get a generous 25% off through August 31 with the code IndieBday25. If you make a purchase over $40 you will get a free “There Will Be Cake” pin!

Like most of us, Sarah of QCC Yarn is also in an autumn state of mind. In addition to new fall colors, she also now has three new yarn bases available: Floofy Cat (80% Superwash Merino/20% nylon) and Forlorn Cat (80% Superwash British BFL/20% nylon), both of which are 2-ply fingering weight yarns, and Cat-Mandu, a 3-ply fingering weight yarn that’s a blend of 70% Superwash Merino, 20% yak and 10% nylon, with colors dyed on a natural grey base.

Karen of Round Table Yarns has teamed up with Tim Stephens of Periodic Knits to create a We Knit in Texas Cowl kit to raise money for the Unite for Bleeding Disorders Walk, which benefits the local Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the Texas Central Hemophilia Association. It’s available in your choice of red, white or blue yarn and $17 of your purchase will be donated to the Texas Central Hemophilia Association.

Stomp on over to the Slipped Stitch Studios website. A fun dinosaur update goes live today at 9 a.m. Pacific time. 

Eden Cottage’s next update goes live on Wednesday, August 29 and includes her Titus 4ply base, a luxurious blend of Superwash Merino and mulberry silk, perfect for shawls and sweaters alike.

Do you believe in fairies? Either way, you’ll be enchanted by Baad Mom Yarns’ new Woodland Fairy Collection of colorways, which includes Enchanted Forest, pictured above.

Wolle’s Yarn Creations’ newest yarn line is called TONALS, a unique creation that is part gradient, part ombre, part heather on a super soft 100% cotton fingering weight base. 

Mad Science Yarn has experimented with a special fall 2018 colorway.

What to stash this week: Knitting for fall

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Kate of McMullin Fiber Co. has stocked her shop with plenty of hues that bring to mind fall leaves and apple cider donuts. Take 15% off your order with the code INDIE15.

Debbie of Murky Depths Dyeworks is also in a fall state of mind, and has recently released a bunch of autumn-inspired colors, including Picante, Gigli and Porcino, which pretty much look like the colors of Rhinebeck.

Heather’s Yarn Barn is now offering her yarns wholesale, so if you’re interested in seeing them in person, ask the owner of your LYS to look into stocking them.

Third Vault Yarns’ yarns of the month are inspired by the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology and available to preorder only until the 20th.

Mona of bunnymuff has just released two new patterns, the Blue Citrus pullover and Blue Citrus tammy. Knit both and be super coordinated!

Eden Cottage Yarns had a shop update yesterday filled with sock yarn, for the perfect warm weather knitting. Yarns include Brimham 4ply (85% Superwash Merino, 15% nylon) and Tempo 4ply (75% Superwash wool, 25% nylon).

Wendee of Hazel Knits’ stunning Sol Duc Valley colorway for the Knitting Our National Parks project, inspired by the mossy green in the Sol Duc rainforest at Olympic National Park, is available to preorder only through next Friday!

Check out the project bags with windows from MidMitten Designs.

What to stash this week: Go for the green

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For the latest installment of Knitting Our National Parks, Wendee of Hazel Knits is taking us on a road trip to Olympic National Park, just a few hours from her Seattle studio. Photographer Adam Jewell captured this stunning image of sunlight filtered through the trees at the park’s Sol Duc rainforest and Wendee perfectly picks up the bark peeking through the moss and greenery in her colorway, which is available to preorder here on two bases hrough Friday, August 24. As always, 10% of sales will be donated to the National Park Foundation.

If you’re a planner like me, then you know it’s almost Halloween. Slipped Stitch Studios has special Nightmare Before Christmas treats and other ghoulish delights on sale today at 9 a.m. Pacific time. They will only be available through Monday at midnight and will ship in time to tote around your fall projects.

Speaking of Halloween, Wild Hair Studio is creating a bag of fiber treats inspired by the sweets that Hogwarts students procured during their special Hogsmead Weekends. Hogsmead Treat Bags will include an assortment of limited-edition fiber — a combination of batts, smidgens and custom-blended roving — inspired by candy from Honeydukes. Preorders will be open until September 20.

Michelle of Crafty Flutterby Creations is hosting a MKAL of a shawl called In The Rough. She encourages you to polish your knitting skills with cables, lace, beading and slipped-stitch techniques. You can preorder the pattern, yarn, beading tool and beads now before the first clue is released on Labor Day.

Julia of Pandia’s Jewels has once again teamed up with designer C.C. Almon of Java Purl Designs to bring you an Outlander Wrap Kit. The kit, inspired by book 4 of the Outlander series, will include a skein of Bauble Heavy Lace in the colorway Nothing is Lost, a tote bag, a spiral notebook, stitch markers and a Ravelry pattern download code. Preorders are open until August 19.

One of Melanie’s (and my!) favorite movies growing up was The Sound of Music. In honor of the classic musical, she’s teamed up with Lina from Lina Knits to create a My Favorite Things Cowl kit. The cowl, and kit, features colorways inspired by popular scenes from the movie. Each kit comes with one 50g skein and five 10g skeins, along with the pattern.

Marianated Yarns will be at the Lancaster Fiber Festival next weekend. She also has a giveaway with prizes that include a day pass, class or mini skein kit for Casapinka’s Crown Wools MKAL going on now.

IU newcomer Heather’s Yarn Barn has plenty of fun fall colorways, including Fall Fusion, pictured above, with teal covering one half of the skein and specks of teal, plum, mustard and golden orange on the other.

What to stash this week: Officially summer knitting

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Shanna of Lambstrings Yarn is having a shop update tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern with plenty sock kits. The kits come with one full skein and one mini skein of Tralala Sock (75/25 Superwash Merino/nylon) in contrasting colors for heel/toe/cuff contrast. There are plenty of bright summer shades for your light summer projects.

Christine of Treasure Goddess Yarn just released the Wine Yarn Collection, a limited number of hand-dyed yarn in colorways such as You had me at Merlot…, Feelin’ Fine with Blackberry Wine and Yes Way, Cabernet! The collection has two patterns to show off tonal colorways, including the Chateau Chapeau Wine Cork Hat, which uses slices of wine corks as beads! So, no need to complain that the bottle’s not a twist-off. There are also pirate sheep stemless wine glasses to enjoy with your knitting.

You have until midnight Eastern time tonight to preorder the Leaf Peepers shawl set and full skein of The Road Less Travelled from Canon Hand Dyes. The colorways were inspired by the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge in Maine and is perfect for your Indie Untangled shawl.

This yarn is part of the Indie Untangled Knitting Our National Parks project. Canon Hand Dyes is one of several dyers creating exclusive-to-IU colorways inspired by photos from the U.S Department of the Interior’s Instagram feed. 10% of sales this round will be donated to the National Wildlife Refuge Association.

Jennifer of Spirit Trail Fiberworks does a great collaboration with her newsletter subscribers in which she dyes colorways inspired by a photo sent by one of them. The June Subscriber Color Inspiration colorways are based on a photograph of a flower at the Ogden Botanical Garden in Utah. There’s one main colorway, called Botanical, a speckled blend of grays, browns, greens, yellow and oranges on a soft gray background, along with orange and green complementary skeins. 

Sheila of Big Foot Fibers sold out of her special Beekeeper Sets, but you can custom order yarn from her to make the buzzy BeeKeeper Cardigan by Olive Knits or Wool & Honey by Andrea Mowry.

Mona’s latest release, the Catch This Thief scarf…, is inspired by the cravat Cary Grant’s character wore in To Catch a Thief. This easy summer knit features a texture and dropped stitch motif and Mona’s sample has a sterling silver shawl ring from IU artisan Porteness Studio.