A few weeks ago I discovered a gorgeous photo of a knit necklace on instagram. The photo was taken by a wonderful shop we sell to in Florence, Alabama called Unraveled Yarns. The owner there discovered that our Wildflower yarn works perfectly with a free pattern by Be Sweet called the T Shirt Lei Pattern. Of course, I had to knit one up immediately! Here are the photos of ours and Unraveled's. Also, you only need 1 skein of Wildflower to complete this. I changed the pattern slightly to make it a little shorter ~ here are the changes I made:

Cast on 60 stitches using size 13 needles

Knit 28, wrapping 2x around the needles for each stitch, K32

K32, K28 while dropping all wrapped stitches

Bind off all stitches and connect ends to make a necklace. Add a button if you like!

The Lei necklace by Unraveled Yarns, shown in Wildflower colorway Goldenrod.

Our necklace knit up in colorway Gardenia.

Today we are releasing our first pattern in our new Wildflower yarn- joy! You may recall that this yarn is handspun from strips of lightweight cotton voile fabric. The fabrics are all block printed by hand in an area of Jaipur, India that is famous for this, making this yarn truly special. 

The Fishnet Bandana Cowl is the perfect accessory for spring and summer! When our Wildflower yarn is knit on large needles, it creates an open and fishnet-y fabric with beautiful drape.  I prefer it knit on large needles (Size 35!) because it allows you to see the details of the fabric yarn so much more clearly. And please, tell me who wouldn't want to show off their fancy handspun yarn in the best possible way?!  This pattern is now available here as a PDF download. The cowl shown below in knit in colorway Scarlett Begonia.

On Thursday, we leave freezing Boston for the warmer weather of California and the bi-annual TNNA show.  We've been hard at work over the holidays getting samples, booth props and new yarns ready for it. We're excited to release two new yarns, Swirl & Wildflower, and a new color of Sister yarn, Charcoal. All of these will be available to purchase in mid February.

Swirl yarn is a mixture of vibrant colors, earthy neutrals and shimmering sparkles that are all hand carded together. Swirl is made from non-museled merino wool from Australia and the tiniest bit of sparkly Angelina fibers that are made from polyester in the US.  After carding, the fibers are handspun into a super soft thick and think yarn.  Swirl is similar in yarn size to our Daisy Chain yarn and can be used in all patterns that call for that yarn. It's thinner than most of our other yarns, making it ideal for cozy winter sweaters that aren't too bulky. 

Above is a shawl pattern by designer Margaux Pena of Ten Ten Knits that we'll release in Feb too!

Wildflower, along with Swirl yarn, is our newest Spring 2014 yarn addition.  This yarn is handspun from strips of lightweight cotton voile fabric. The fabrics are all block printed by hand in an area of Jaipur, India that is famous for this fabric. By supporting these age-old Indian printing practices, we hope to keep this craft thriving. Wildflower is a soft cotton yarn that has beautiful stitch definition. Patterns for this yarn coming soon!