All Down the Line is heavy, dense and warm.  Knit to a very tight gauge, this fabric is truly meant for outerwear.  I designed this jacket to be knit in pieces and sewn together for two reasons: seams help add structure and stability to a garment, which I definitely wanted for this jacket.  The other reason was simply because as this project gets bigger it would be far too heavy and awkward to manage all in one piece.  That said, I chose to pick up stitches for the sleeves for the same reason – until shoulder pads come back into fashion (and it will happen, mark my words), less bulk around that area is usually better.  I’m also admittedly terrible at lining up sewn on sleeves and will avoid it whenever possible.

 

 

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Our favorite holiday towel kit is back in stock!

Kits are available in Red or Green with gold highlights, or Blue with silver highlights. Each kit contains the instructions and enough yarn to make three towels, approximately 17″ x 28″ finished. You’ll need a four shaft loom and a reed capable of a 20 epi sett (10, 15, or 20 dent will work), plus shuttles. Strong, pretty and machine washable, with cute little waffle pockets, these towels are easy to weave, even for new weavers.

 

Pattern draft is available available separately if you want to choose your own colors too. The Waffle Weave Dish Towels are a favorite gift and a fun project for weavers of every skill level!

 

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Hello Baby Blatt!

 

 

 

  

 

The Bouton D’Or books I’ve mentioned come in a packet – originally printed in France, the glossy color copies are in their native language. A separate booklet is included that provides an English translation for each pattern.

 

 

 

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Head On Earwarmer

I was taught how to knit right around the time I was learning to read. 25+ years later, and I’m still always hankering for new quick-fix projects. Regardless of how much experience you have under your belt, everyone likes a little instant gratification sometimes. But while these projects may be quick-n-easy to some of us, my greatest joy comes from seeing the excitement in a new knitter’s eyes when they realize they can make it too.

 

Headband:
Cast on 9 stitches. Establish moss stitch as follows:

Row 1: *K1, p1; repeat from * to last stitch, k1.
Rows 2 & 3: *P1, k1; repeat from * to last stitch, p1.
Row 4: Work same as Row 1.
Continue in moss stitch until headband measures approximately 19.5″, or until the piece fits around your head, slightly stretched. Bind off all stitches knit-wise. Break yarn, leaving a long tail to be used for sewing center seam.

Fold headband in half and sew the two short edges together. Set aside.

Center piece:

Cast on 7 stitches. Work in moss stitch until piece measures 5″. Bind off all stitches knit-wise, leaving a long tail for sewing.

To finish, wrap center piece around headband seam with both short ends meeting in front. Sew these short ends together, then turn center piece inside out. Adjust center pieces so that its seam is on the inside of the headband, and so that it covers the headband seam. Weave in ends.

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Fortitude Ponchette

 

Have you ever fallen in love with a knitted item you saw on screen? I’m going to guess that most people have, fiber artists or not. This happens to me all the time, and often even the vastness of the internet can’t help me hunt that garment down. By the time I give up the search I’ve already imagined myself wearing the item in different scenarios – and thus convinced myself that I cannot possibly go on a hayride, for example, without that ecru Aran sweater that Patrick wears under his leather jacket in a 1989 episode of Degrassi High. Maybe we’ll come back to that one…?

 

 

 

p.s. The dark Nordic thriller Fortitude is NOT for the faint of heart, but if murderous zombie polar bears and stark arctic landscapes are your thing – enjoy! (Either way, knit this up now for a cozy fall!)

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• Knitting Patterns
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• Medium weight yarns
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Welcome Blanket: 2000 miles of warm welcome

For more details visit the Welcome Blanket Project

Join thousands of knitter’s nationwide as we collaborate to create a warm handmade welcome for immigrants to the United States. From the team that conceived the #pussyhat project comes a new endeavor. A handmade message of warmth and welcome to those who’ve recently come to the USA. This project invites knitters (and weavers, crocheters & quilters) to make and donate a simple handmade blanket. Makers are encouraged to tag the blanket with a note or brief story to welcome the recipient. The blankets are being collected and displayed by the SMART Museum in Chicago, and at the close of the exhibit the blankets will be distributed to refugees and immigrants across the country.

From the project website:

The proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico is almost 2000 miles long. Imagine if the massive distance of this wall was re-conceptualized and re-contextualized not to divide, but to include. Instead of wall, a concrete line, to keep people out, what if lines of yarn became 3,500,640 yards of blankets to welcome people in?

A welcome blanket is traditionally created to lovingly mark the arrival of a new person into the world. In the Welcome Blanket project, each handmade blanket is a physical manifestation of this celebration of new refugees and other immigrants: “Welcome to the United States and your new life here! We are so glad you have arrived.”

We want you to join us! Make a blanket and share your story as a gift to a new immigrant to the United States.

If a 40”x 40” throw blanket averages 1200 yards, Welcome Blanket requires about 3200 blankets to reach 2000 miles of length.

How to participate:

If you’re interested, here’s what you can do! You (or you and a group of friends) will make a simple 40″x40″ throw blanket. You can make it in small squares and join them together, or use any pattern of your choosing. The suggestion is for a Bulky weight yarn, but anything will work as long as it works up to approximately 40″x40″ The only rule is to “make something you would enjoy receiving” so it should be new, clean, fresh, and made with love!

Below is a pattern and note template you can work from, and we encourage you to check out the full details here: Welcome Blanket FAQ

Please note: The original deadline has been extended and blankets are being accepted by the SMART Museum until November 4th! Shipping to the museum is free, you can access the details on the FAQ Page here. Or, you can drop off your blankets at Halcyon Yarn by October 30th and we’ll ship it for you.

Join us for a Welcome Blanket party in October!

If you’re near the store in Bath, Maine we’re having a Welcome Blanket making party at Halcyon Yarn in October. Light refreshments and a materials discount will be offered. Drop by to get help stitching squares together, drop off finished pieces, or just spend some time knitting with friends! Stay tuned for details here!

 

PLY Autumn 2017

For those of you who, like me, are unsure what the term “semi” really means, this issue of PLY kicks off with a helpful article about just that. Speaking of helpful, there is also a piece by the author of Knitting Comfortably: The Ergonomics of Handknitting, Carson Demers. Demers sheds light on something that most of us never considered, which is how our spinning posture and movements can effect our bodies and overall health. While this may be an obvious consideration for some of you, I know I surely benefited from reading this article.

Since all of this semi- stuff has to do with different methods of fiber preparation, I was excited to see an article showing you how to change combed top (used for worsted spun yarn) to a messier woolen prep using hand cards, a drum carder or blending board. There’s also a little tip in there on how to reactivate your fiber’s crimp, making it loftier and even better suited for spinning woolen-spun yarn.

This issue’s knitted project is the Peak Hat by Benjamin Krudwig. Using the same fiber prepared two different ways, Krudwig spun them up to compare and contrast. He then knit each of them up into the Peak Hat (pattern included) to see what happened – you can see the differences clearly in the photo below:

  

Each issue of PLY Magazine is an incredibly valuable resource for spinners at all experience levels. When they decide to tackle a subject, they sure do tackle it. Although I sometimes find myself bored or overwhelmed by the technical side of spinning, PLY always seems to put just the right twist on this information to really draw me in… (See what I did there?)

This isn’t the only great issue of PLY.  Click here to check out other issues we have in stock!

 

Related items of interest:

• Spinning Magazines
• Our fibers

Finishing Handspun Yarn

In my earlier spinning days I would simply wind my handspun into a ball right off the bobbin and start knitting. I never understood why the yarn was so dense, why I could never seem to find the right needle size, or why my knitted fabric looked so wobbly, always leaning to one side or the other. Depending on your fiber, a good old fashioned soak can solve all those problems. Finishing your yarn can help it “bloom”, or fluff up. It also helps even out and stabilize the twist. Setting the twist in place makes a more evenly balanced, well draped yarn, and therefore, more well-behaved knitted or woven pieces!

I always default to wet finishing my handspun, but sometimes it isn’t necessary. Perhaps you want a kinky yarn for a certain effect, or you just like how your yarn looks fresh off the bobbin. Not too long ago, I spun some chunky art yarn for my mother. This was a blend of many different fibers with the addition of shredded plastic bags, feathers, charms and beads. Not a yarn for soaking!

Even though I now wet finish almost all of my handspun, I don’t always soak it the same way. If the yarn was spun from un-dyed prepared top (fiber that’s been cleaned and carded thoroughly), I soak it in plain lukewarm water. If I used dyed top, I will add a little gentle detergent to that lukewarm water (usually Soak wash if I have it, dish soap if I don’t).  I do a lot of spinning “in the grease”, so a lot of my handspun has an overabundance of lanolin. For that yarn, I will use hot water and dish soap to try and remove or “scour” as much of that grease as possible.

Regardless of what I’m soaking it in, I always let my handspun rest in the water for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. This allows the cuticle of the fibers to open and relax, nesting into each other and evening out as they settle into their new yarn form.

When the time is up, I grab a towel and lay it on the floor. I then remove the skein from its bath, gently squeezing it from top to bottom so it doesn’t drip everywhere on its way to the towel. Then I lay it on the towel, roll it up like a sleeping bag, and stand on it. This is an easy way to remove excess moisture from your yarn without over-agitating or felting the fibers.

At this point, there are a couple of different things folks will do before hanging their yarn up to dry. I usually forget these things, but there’s one that I remember because it’s so effective and gratifying: thwacking! Holding the skein by one end like a whip, I beat it against the side of the bathtub a few times. Then I hold the skein by the other end and repeat. This is great for evening out the twist, but it can make the surface of your yarn a little fuzzy. This is great for something like a mohair blend, but maybe not what you want to do with a delicate merino/silk.

Regardless of how its bath went, if your yarn got wet it needs to dry. Hang your dripping skeins proudly around the house! I find the shower works best, but if you decide to do this elsewhere don’t forget to put a towel below to catch all that water. If it’s nice outside, a clothesline or drying rack is great too.

Lastly, you have the option of adding a weight to the bottom of your skein. This is very similar to when you block a knit garment – the yarn will be tugged straighter, removing any leftover kinks and smoothing the overall surface. This does remove some elasticity from your yarn, depending on how heavy your weight is. I usually dig around under the kitchen sink until I find the heaviest spray bottle we have, which I then hook to the bottom of the skein until it’s dry. Adjust the weight according to how fine the yarn is, and how much bounce you want it to retain.

Here are the finished swatches for comparison. I bet you can guess which one was wet-finished! Each swatch was knit exactly the same, from the same handspun yarn, but the wet-finished one (on the right) knit up to a much fuller, more even fabric. The bias, or leaning appearance of the left swatch is a direct result of having not set the twist before knitting. Singles are more prone to this than plied yarns, but you can see here what a big difference it will make for your finished pieces to take that extra step before you knit or weave with handspun!

If you’re looking to beef up your handspun finishing supplies, click here for a list of products you may find helpful!

 

Related items of interest:

• Our fibers
• Multi-Craft Equipment