Hand dyed yarn - the launch!

On Friday 24th February I’ll be attending the BrisStyle Indie Twilight Market. It’s held in King George Square in the Brisbane CBD, from 5pm-9pm.

I am very excited to announce that as well as my Lego and Fimo Jewellery I will be unveiling my range of hand dyed yarns. I will have a range of 4ply and lace weight yarns in a mix of semi solid and variegated colourways.

Hand dyeing yarn is an aspiration that I have had for about the last 12 months and before I left the UK I was able to spend a day at two hand dyers studios. This experience was invaluable and cemented my desire to dye yarn.

The lines of yarn that I will have available are:

4ply
75% superwash merino/25% nylon (Herculaneum)
75% superwash merino/25% silk (Mesopotamia)
100% organic merino (Pergamon)
100% Blue Faced Leicester (Benin)
75% superwash merino, 20% nylon and 5% stellina sparkle (Nineveh)

Lace
70% Baby Alpaca/30% mulberry silk (Babylon)

The theme for the names of the yarns is lost cities.  I studied archaeology at university (and obtained my Honours in it). I felt it was fitting that I name the yarn bases after an interest of mine.

I’ll also have my Lego and Fimo stitch markers available to buy and some knitting project bags in three sizes.

See you on Friday night! :-)

Alex

Monday Photo - Trabant Fever

I started a new role yesterday in transport, so for the weekly photo I thought something transport related would be appropriate. This photo of all the Trabant's parked together was taken in Berlin. In all of travels throughout Europe we saw very few Trabant's being driven which was a shame as they are such an iconic car.

Scott

Work in Progress - Bobby's Garden Blanket

I have recently started knitting Bobby's Garden Blanket. It is a project I can pick up at any time depending on how busy I am and what else I am knitting. This is a project that I am doing on 2.75mm double pointed needles. Even though it is at an early stage it is large enough to showcase.

I started the project on 4mm needles but decided that I was not happy with how tight the stitches were and so decided to use smaller needles. At the moment I can still take the project with me in my project bag but soon it will be too big and will be a project that I can only work on at home.

This blanket is something that I have been wanting to do for quite a while. I began knitting a sock yarn blanket using squares, but I prefer the geometry of the hexagons. For anyone who has small amounts of leftover yarn from other projects, this project is a fantastic way to use up those small amounts. I have been very careful to try and coordinate the colours of the yarn that I use for each hexagon so that the colours flow.

 The knitting needle placed across these two pictures is 20cm long.

What's on your needles? Any long term projects like this one?

Monday Photo - Alcatraz

In honour of watching a new series on tv, here is a photo taken on our trip to San Fransisco. We did a night tour of Alcatraz. A spooky, sad and decaying place.

Shop Update - Fyberspates Scrumptious

I am very excited to announce that Fyberspates Scrumptious is now available to purchase from The Quizzical Owl's shop.

For those who have not come across the Scrumptious range of yarns before, it is a commercially produced yarn. The lace yarn consists of 45% silk and 55% Merino. The 4ply yarn features 45% silk and 55% Superwash Merino. I have decided to start with the lace and the 4ply range at the moment, and potentially expand in the future.

Fyberspates Scrumptious 4 ply/sport in Cherry

Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply/Sport in Purple

Fyberspates is owned by the lovely Jeni who I first met at one of the various knitting events we attended when we were living in London. She's a talented dyer and designer.

Over the past year Jeni has been developing pattern books to complement the yarn. The first book has 4 patterns per weight of yarn that the Scrumptious is available in (lace, 4 ply, DK, aran and chunky). The patterns are stunning. The second book, which has only just been released is the Fyberspates Scrumptious Baby Book. I currently have the Scrumptious Pattern Book in stock, and I am really looking forward to having in stock the Baby Book soon.

The yarns are soft, have great stitch definition, and are lovely to knit with. I made a Clapotis shawl with the purple DK. I'm looking forward to winter so I can wear it.

Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in Teal

For Ravelry users, find the yarns here. 

To buy the yarns and pattern books click here.