Happy New Year & a Salute to Classic 2-Ply Yarn!!

Well, I can never believe that another year has passed us by, and this is no exception.

But, alas, here we are in 2010!

I am going to start off the year with a salute to one of my favorite O~Wool yarns, the Classic 2-Ply. In the fall we made an addition to the line of four more colors, always a bonus in any fingering weight yarn, MORE colors to play with.
In this posting, I will feature a few recent pieces from our shops found on the web and recent in house creations.
I will start with a salute to a shop in Lexington, KY.
"ReBelle" posted a beautiful picture on Friday, these mittens in O~Wool Classic 2-Ply.

I have always loved the combination of Tea Rose (pale pink) & Sumac (red)... but the addition of Willow (green) adds a wonderful touch to these beautiful mittens. I always enjoy seeing the colors other people decide to put together. These colors are usually not what I would use, but are often more wonderful because they are different from what I would choose.

This pattern is available as a free PDF download, the pattern is written in both Norwegian and English, the English version coming on the same PDF, after the Norwegian!!! Don't be fooled, by thinking you cannot read the pattern (if you are looking for English). You can find the PDF link by going to ReBelle's posting about the mittens they knit, pictured above...
http://rebellegirls.blogspot.com/2010/01/vinterblomster-mittens.html

Here at O~Wool I have found it fun to make the Alice Starmore "Gloves" from 'Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting' (1990)... when we added a few new colors to the Classic 2-Ply Line in 2008, I made a single one of these to highlight the new yarns at that time.

Recently, I have been making other gloves and found that the construction of Ms. Starmore's was superior to the ones I had in process. So, I revisited them for an old high school friend in a darker, less traditional pallet... this second version is seen below-

Share your Classic 2-Ply projects!!! We would love to see them... ~Happy Knitting!

NEW Colors in the Classic Lines!!!

Well, it has been a long while since we have piped up with any news!

What a great fall & winter season it has been for our yarn. I hope that all of you have been appreciating the cool weather and doing lots of knitting!

We are pleased to announce a BRAND new O~Wool® color, French Lilac. She is a pretty new color and likes to snuggle up to other colors and blend right in! We have found that she can be more blue or more grey or more purple depending on who she is making time with.

Here we have featured the color in a new free pattern available on our web site at:
http://www.o-wool.com/free.html

The scarf can be made from one skein of O~Wool® Classic and is suitable for all skill levels!

We have also added FOUR colors into our O~Wool® Classic 2-Ply line!! Anyone who has a love of fair isle and intarsia will be delighted to find an expanded pallet in this yarn.

There are a total of four new 2-Ply colors... the two mentioned above-

1. French Lilac
2. Evergreen
3. Plum
4. Mulberry
   This expands the 2-Ply pallet to 16 colors. (yay!)

We have a new pattern using all of the new 2-Ply colors. It is called the Stewart Thistle Tam:

This was inspired by Lynn Stewart-Parker... who requested a Scottish Thistle design. ~~Thanks Lynn!

We also had an inquiry for 4 colors of 2-Ply for a pair of mittens by the talented designer Nanette Blanchard of Knitting in Color. We offered her our newest colors and without even seeing them in person she was "game" to try them out.

She came up with a beautiful design she calls "Tijeras Mittens". She describes them this way:

'The color work patterns on these fun-to-knit mittens resemble cut-outs (Tijeras means scissors in Spanish). Four colors of organic yarn are used: Plum, Mulberry, Evergreen, and Lilac. The mittens are knit from cuff to tip and feature a peasant thumb and a ribbed cuff.' -Nanette Blanchard

You can see them here and also on Ravelry.com!

More Great New Items in O~Wool!

Another beautiful book has come to our attention, Joanne Seiff has completed her latest effort, Knit Green. And has been gracious enough to include a beautiful project featuring O~Wool Classic. She also included a great quote in her recent e-mail to me:

"If you should have need of pattern support in the future, please let me know. Your yarn just jumped off my needles, I enjoyed it so much. How's that for gushing!?" - J.Seiff

The book provides both interesting projects and strong educational information regarding how to Knit Green. We are very pleased to be a part of this project.

Here is the sweater, shown in Saffron-

It does often strike us that we are lucky to work on such a wonderful mission with such talented and giving people. We are indeed very fortunate.

~Again, we must mention our KAL's on Ravelry~

We have reached October and have a brand new afghan square... Please join us before you get too far behind!

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/12-month-afghan-k-a-l-from-owool-and-woolen-collectibles

The sample show is in Tea Rose, O~Wool Classic.

There is also a second KAL going along on Ravelry.com
http://www.ravelry.com/groups/beautiful-balanced-bolero

This one for the Knitting Pure and Simple pattern by Diane Soucy. (see pictures below in the previous two posts)

We discovered a great stitch pattern, which looks fabulous in the Balance yarn while playing "knit-a-long" for this project. It is knit here in Agate, Malachite and Sunstone.

We think that we will have to come up with a nice design in Balance to incorporate this great looking stitch.

Don't you agree? Please let us know!!!

Happy Knitting~

Autumn has BEGUN...

Happy Autumnal Equinox~
It's time to snuggle down and knit away!

We have recently been lucky to be reminded how many talented people love to play with our yarn.

Vickie Howell and Adrienne Armstrong have just begun singing about their beautiful book AwareKnits from Lark Books,
with an Oct. 2009 release date...

The design "Global Warmth" features our O~Wool® Legacy Bulky,
shown here in Natural (undyed) 100% certified organic merino wool.... YUM!

Quick KAL reminders....

Joanne Cole's Beautiful Balanced Bolero group on Ravelry.com has begun... join in the knitting FUN and get a jump on a great Holiday gift...

we will be posting a link to make this fabulous matching button as well!

12 Month Aran Afghan continues on Ravelry.com with September, Square Number 2, it's not too late to catch-up!!!

shown here knit in O~Wool® Classic, Oatmeal...

Special thanks again to Tammy E. Thompson of Woolen Collectibles for this pattern offer, we have many people enjoying this project and learning new techniques for cabling and the ease of chart reading. We are very excited to be able to offer this to any 'raveler' who wishes to play along.

Here Comes FALL in Vermont!!!

Summer had finally arrived in full force of heat and humidity here in Vermont, and almost as quickly we are receving possible frost warnings... bring on the knitting weather.

We have been delighted at the reawakening of our shops' thirst for wool. The slow days of summer are transitioning to the brisk days of fall, and the approach of knitting weather. We have a little bit of news regarding Knit-A-Longs on Ravelry.com
and a couple of new patterns we are offering from an independent designer.

We will be following this with some exciting news about a couple of new colors in our Classic 2-Ply, fingering weight. And a free pattern for Christmas! I hope you all are doing well and looking forward to fall.

Knitting Along with O~Wool

12 Month Afghan "KAL"
I am amazed that we were at the magic number of 99 members on our KAL in less than one week. Thanks for so much enthusiasm for this project, let's see how many more people will join and how many of us we can get knitting together!
Here is the first square of a free project generously offered by Tammy E. Thompson of Woolen Collectibles (scroll down to see a couple of new patterns of hers we now carry).
I knit this August square up pretty quicky in Robin's Egg and I think it looks wonderful. This square, aptly named, "August Aran Afghan Square" took about 3 ounces of wool and is about a 12" square.
I have started a Ravelry Knit-A-Long for this pattern. I realize I am a bit late for August, but we will have to catch up over time!!!

And speaking of "KAL's" on ravelry.com... Beautiful Balanced Bolero

Bolero Adult or Child's version

FROM: Knitting Pure Simple

is being hosted by Joanne Cole, one of our wonderful sales reps. She works in MI, IN, OH and Western PA. If you do not know her, this would be a great way to 'meet' a retired engineer from the American Auto Industry who has transferred her brilliance and energy toward the hand knitting yarn industry.

She is welcoming anyone interested in knitting this pattern in either our Classic or Balance yarn.
We are coming along for the ride to help her get her version, in Balance 'Lapis', done for her daughter this Christmas!

Let's put our sticks together and make a great sweater for someone we love; a family member, a best friend, or... ourselves!!

Llyr

by Woolen Collectibles
We have added two great new patterns from Tammy E. Thompson to our independent designer collection. This elegant cabled swinging sweater was designed to be knit up in Classic, and is shown in Natural... here is a detail of the beautiful cable patterning:

Stor Mo Chroi
Treasure of My Heart
From Woolen Collectibles
This beautiful new pattern features our Legacy DK yarn and uses one skein of 2-Ply Classic on the lower border and neckline. She used Legacy DK 'Russet' for the Main Color, 'Gamboge' for the patterning and 'Slate', Classic 2-Ply for the lower border and collar.

Tammy Eigeman Thompson has done a lovely modern piece steeped in the tradition of Scandinavia and updated with modern touches. Named after a traditional folk song, it is sure to be a great gift or wardrobe addition!

We are working on a knit-up to lend to shops in a slightly different colorway...
I am using Legacy DK in 'Clay' for the Main Color, 'Lava' for the scroll patterning, and 'Rose Gold' in Classic 2-Ply for the lower border. It is lots of fun to knit. The pattern works in the round with steeks for the sleeves and a break in the work for the collar.

O-Wool's Marin goes for a visit

Last weekend Marin made a trip to southern Vermont to visit Knit or Dye at Rachel's request. Located right on Main street in beautful historic downtown Brattleboro, this light airy shop has been a popular spot for local knitters and tourists to Vermont alike.

Rachel opened her shop last fall, and has been experiencing quite a steady flow of business despite the economic slowdown. Her focus is local, sustainable and organic yarns with classes and projects in knitting, felting, crochet, spinning and dying.





She has devoted this quarter of her store to an O-Wool display area, and has a number of knit up garments on display as well.



Elizabeth Zimmerman's crafty and everpopular Baby Surprise jacket is here ...knit up in O-Wool Legacy DK. (There are over 8,000 projects listed in this pattern on ravelry!)





So Lets join in with Marin and Rachel! Say O-Wool all together Now!

O-Wool Balance Pattern "Andy"

In the spring issue of Knitty.com there is a free downloadable pattern of this sweater known as the "Andy". It is made with the O-Wool Balance, (50% organic Cottton and 50% Organic Wool) which is a light weight worsted yarn. I think most men who would find a heavy wool sweater too warm for indoor wear would really appreciate this comfortable sweatshirt like garment.



You can find this pattern at http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring09/PATTandy.php
The colors used in this model are agate (brown) and malachite (green).
Jillian Moreno has designed such an interesting garment. I love the leaf pattern, and the twisted rib that almost hides under the arms and against the sides of the body. The malachite bands are knit from another ball of yarn, with twisting of the yarn to prevent holes.