Hoards of Hand-dyes! Chris's Glacier Sweep Shawl, Monika's Avenger Cape in Craigh na Dun, Baah La Jolla Yarn, swatch of Rachel's Outlander MKAL 2015 Shawl, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Christmas at Downton, Kristen's Edith's Secret Shawl, Phydeaux Soie in Mon Amour, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Devon

Exciting things are afoot...or a-needle, we should say: we're kicking off a celebration of hand-dyed yarns at Jimmy Beans Wool, and you're invited to the party!

Just don't be tardy.

For the party.

Yes, I just wrote that.

Along with a series of instructional articles in our next few Newsletters, we'll be taking and in-depth look at each type of hand-dyed yarn we carry and how to get the most out of it. Now that's something to celebrate!

Monika's Avenger Cape in Assemble!

And what better way to get our party started than with Lorna's Laces? It was Lorna Miser herself who inspired Laura to start her own yarn shop, so one could say that JBW wouldn't exist without Lorna's Laces. Together, we've created a series of Limited Edition yarns that celebrates everything pop culture, from our favorite TV shows to current events around the world.

Rachel's Outlander MKAL 2015 Shawl in Craigh na Dun

Though they dye solid and tonal colors, Lorna's is best known for their variegated yarns, especially the bright, saturated colorways that knit up into amazingly colorful, one-of-a-kind creations! One look at a garment and you can tell it's Lorna's - there's just no other yarn quite like it out there! You can see what I mean in the garments pictured above.

Lorna's Laces yarn gets its distinct look from the special hand-dye process: the dyers plan a colorway down to the last detail, including the sequence in which the colors will appear on the skein. Then, the hanks of yarn are painstakingly dyed section by section. The final result is a circular hank with an almost color-blocked look, but when it's wound into a ball and knit up, the colors appear in the knitted item in the same sequence they were dyed on the skein, giving that fun, variegated effect we love so much!

Autumn's Magrathea Shawl

Now, as gorgeous as these yarns are, they have their challenges - most notably, when your project varies in size or shape, the colors line up differently in each row, sometimes causing unwanted striping or "pooling", which looks like irregular "blobs" of color on your project. Some people love this effect - it is quite artistic, after all! - but sometimes it can detract from the look you're going for.










An example of pooling in the Outlander Shawl - in this case, the symmetry makes it an appealing design element!


So, how to solve it? Wouldn't you like to know! And we'll be telling you in our next post :)

Let us know your other favorite variegated hand-dyes! We love Baah Yarn, Lotus Yarns, Becoming Art, and the list goes on! What's on your list?

Happy Knitting (with Hand-Dyes!)!

Heather

Those of you who follow our Lorna’s Limited Edition Colors know that we’re fans of sci-fi in general and especially of Star Trek - a feeling that many in the knitting world share. (What, knitting and nerdiness go hand in hand? I didn't know!)

Shepherd Sock

Honor

Hi everyone, and welcome! We hope you’ll join us for this year’s MKAL! It’s going to be SO much fun, I can hardly wait to get started!



Here are the details for this year’s Game of Thrones Mystery KAL:

• The MKAL will begin on Sunday, May 4th and run for 6 weeks (through the end of Season 4 of Game of Thrones.)
• We will be knitting a lace shawl inspired by Daenerys Targaryen! The mystery is in the design…
• The recommended yarn is 2 skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock and we are using the Limited Edition color “Fire and Blood” (avail. 4/25.) Lorna’s Laces Solemate is also a great substitute, and as usual, you are welcome to use ANY fingering weight yarn of your choosing. You are never required to buy yarn from us to participate in one of our KALs. Anyone is welcome!  
• The pattern difficulty level is considered Intermediate. The stitches are basic enough (a list of abbreviations is available immediately when you download the pattern in case you need to brush up on any skills), but there is some interesting shaping that may challenge you a bit (in a good way of course.)
• The pattern will include both written instructions AND charts (by popular demand!)
• The KAL will be hosted entirely on Ravelry, so the pattern will also only be available on Ravelry this year.
• You will need to go here to download the pattern: Game of Thrones MKAL 2014
• Each Sunday during the KAL, you’ll receive a message that the pattern has been updated. You can download and print each clue individually, week by week. 
• As usual, we’ll have threads for each clue in the JBW Group on Ravelry, so come on over and join in the conversation, ask questions, get help with the pattern, etc.!!!

Since we started doing these MKAL’s a little over a year ago, we have learned a ton! With each one, we’ve tried to improve the participant experience a little bit, and learned a little more each time as we go. After this year’s Downton Abbey MKAL, we received tons of great feedback (thank you all!) and think we’ve hit the nail on the head in terms of optimizing the KAL experience for all of you, and streamlining the process and information as much as possible. If you are returning this year for your 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) MKAL with us, you’ll notice a few key changes:

1) The pattern will now be available as a Ravelry download making it easier for you to print, store on an iPad or e-reader device, save for future reference, etc.

2) Each week, the new clue will be published separately from the week before (and e-mailed to you on Ravelry) so all you have to do is print the new section, not the whole thing over again. Once the KAL is over, you will receive a fully formatted all-in-one version of the pattern.

3) Because of this huge change, we’ll no longer be putting the instructions on the JBW Blog (which most of you mentioned is tough to print from anyway. Win-win!)

4) This also means no more going back and forth between the blog and Ravelry. Everything is in one place! Hurray!

5) Last time (for the Downton KAL 2014 AND the Game of Thrones KAL last year) the yardage on the pattern ran really close to the yardage needed to finish the KAL piece. I will never do that to you all again! This time there is ample yardage to finish the project, with extra to spare! (Gauge is still important! So please do check your gauge!)

6) As mentioned in the KAL details above, I have created charts along with the written instructions for this pattern. I have been asked for charts in the past, but not been able to provide them for various reasons. Now, thanks to my awesome new chart software, I’ve got nice, clean, and easy to read charts for every section of the project. :)

7) Lastly, (and please don’t tar and feather me for this) we are going to be charging a small fee for the pattern this year. The KAL promotional price for the pattern is just $3 and helps to cover the awesome changes I’ve listed here as well as my time in the design process and running the KAL. After the KAL is over, the price will go up to $6, so if you think you want to knit the shawl but are planning to wait to cast on, be sure to order it now and save the pattern in your Ravelry library for a rainy day to take advantage of the 50% off price!

I hope this covers any questions you might have about this year’s Game of Thrones Mystery KAL! As usual, you are welcome to leave comment/questions here, or send me a message on Ravelry at either JimmyBeansWool or Marinade (my personal account.) Also, be sure to join in the conversation in the Jimmy Beans Wool Group!

Hope to see you all in this year’s MKAL!

Happy knitting,
Kristen