Finally, I have put all of my thoughts on my Penguono sweater into a short little video for you. I hope this inspires you to try this fabulous pattern or mix yarns, textures and colors a little more freely. This project transformed my knitting!

 When I really thought about it, there was a little more to share than I did in my  original Ravelry post on this style and how important it was to me in my knitting evolution. Here's a quick synopsis of the steps I took to complete it. I carefully chose a color palette to work with and then decided which portions of the sweater would be solid (so not striped with 100 yarn colors). I did frog the first back panel of the sweater once before I figured out the yarns and colors I liked best. I used my own Knit Collage yarns sparingly, in 1-2 row stripes, throughout the sweater. This helped keep the gauge not too bulky. In the other portions of the sweater, I simply mixed yarns together into marls to create chunkier gauges that somewhat match the gauge of my own yarns. It's not perfect and it puckers a little here and there but that is something I love about this sweater. I've always liked knitting when it looks a little handmade - hence my own handmade looking handspun yarns. I like inperfect, it somehow shows that a real person made it. At least to me that is something I like to see and that I think can be more beautiful than something that looks computer or machine made. I mixed many different types of yarns together, hand dyes and fluffy mohairs, it's totally random! I love the mix of textures and colors here, there's a lot of fuzz and a fair amount of color pops. 

The most incredible thing about this sweater is that it really did change knitting for me. I realized that yarn mixing or yarn painting as I sometimes think of it, is a thing, a thing I really love. I'm so grateful for Stephen West for this beautifully written pattern and for leading me to create this crazy sweater. At the time it was the hardest thing I'd ever knit and it definitely made me a more confident knitter, adventuresome knitter. The sweater makes me happy every day and I find myself wanting to take it everywhere I go despite how big it is! I feel so proud that I was able to complete such a daunting project AND weave in all of those ends, ha! I hope this video inspires you in some way. If you have any questions at all, drop me a line. The Knit Collage yarns I used are: Cast Away (color Coconut Sparkle), Sister (Oatmeal, Camel), Daisy Chain (used the most - color Natural Aura), Gypsy Garden (Stardust Garland), Spun Cloud (French Vanilla and Love Cloud). Thanks so much for tuning in! 

Amy

Hi friends! I'm so excited to share that the new fall yarns are live on the site. I am more than a little excited about these. Ok I'm freaking out estatic! they have been a very long time in the making. All of the our yarns take over 6 months to develop and bring to sale. There are so many things I want to knit in every single one. What excites me the most is the patterns that mix a bunch of them and I cannot wait to share these with you.  

We have 4 new colors of my favorite Spun Cloud yarn, shown below: Honeysuckle (think fantastic mustard), Antique Mauve (a perfect dusty pink/purple color), Ink (more like an indigo heather with a little bit of white mixed in) and graphite (a gorgeous charcoal that everyone needs!). See larger detailed photos here. All of the new yarns are available for pre-order now with a ship date of Aug 27th. 

The next yarn is brand spanking NEW! It's the Friendship Bracelet Yarn. This yarn was completely designed while in India at my last trip with the ladies who spin the yarns. It was largely inspired by one of my podcast guests, Christina Dean, who encouraged me to use what was laying around as "trash" to recycle it into something beautiful. I promise you there is nothing trashy or rough feeling about it - it's extremely soft! In this yarn cones of what would otherwise be discarded yarns are colorfully spun into our signature wool fiber to create a yarn that is our sofest and fluffiest yet! Discarded cones are the result of excess yarn from normal sweater production. Through an intense handmade process, the cones are marled together into our color combinations and then spun together with hand carded wool to form the finished yarn. You'll see bits of colorful threads throughout each skein. I love the friendship bracelet look they create and the feeling that comes along with just thinking about friendship bracelets - making them as a kid with your best friend, summers at camp, etc... Here are a few photos, learn more on the Friendship Bracelet Yarn page. 

Lastly, we have a new color of Wanderlust, Moonlight Dance, shown below. Available here. This and the next Cast Away color are my answer to the question, what can I knit my husband/son/boyfriend with your yarns. This color along with a bunch of our more muted grays are perfect for the more manly guys out there who just aren't feeling the pops of pink or sparkle.

And last but not least, a similar indigo-ish color in a customer favorite, Cast Away. This is Lunar Royal Blue and is available here. 

I will have new mini skein sampler kit colorways headed your way shortly as well! I'm super excited to release these new colors with a slew of new patterns at the end of August. Thanks so much for tuning in. Would love to hear what your favorite yarn and colors are in the comments below. If there's something you don't see, let me know that too!

Big hugs,

Amy

As things slow down around here during the summer, I thought what a great chance to put together some of the videos we've done for our past knitalongs into fun, do-at-your-own-speed courses. I'm kicking this off with a forever favorite around here, the Amulet Shawl. For the first week, the class will be $10 as an introductory rate. After that, the price bumps up to $16.

                                        Amulet Shawl Online Course 

In this course, I'll teach you how to knit this beautiful shawl pattern by Susan Sheby, in easy to follow tutorial videos.

The Amulet shawl features short row stripes in a simple garter stitch. Along the edge is a stunning lace border. We mix 2 yarns for this style - our Knit Collage Spun Cloud & Cast Away yarns. The edge is long and curved, making it perfect for wrapping cozily around your neck! I'll guide you through each technique with video tutorials. I do not teach the knit or purl stitch or how to weave in ends, so you'll have to know those before starting. For everything else, I've got you covered! You'll receive the pattern as a PDF download in the course when you enroll.

To work with the course, I've put together some fun yarn kits. It can be so hard to image what two different colors will look like together. Sometimes you just need to see it! On the Amulet Shawl Kit page, you get to choose from over 20 different Spun Cloud and Cast Away yarn combinations. Choose your favorite and as always reach out if you need any help! 

                                        Amulet Shawl Yarn Kits