Last week, I briefly mentioned that Lorna's Laces is running a contest.  To fill you in more on this fantastic opportunity to win free yarn I thought I would tell you a bit more.  First off, let me congratulate Lorna's Laces for having a gorgeous sweater designed by Deborah Newton and knit up in their new Haymarket yarn make to the cover of the new Fall 2013 Vogue Knitting!!!


Isn't it just stunning!!!

This colorway is 51n Island Blue and that magnificent interlaced cable up the front is applied.  So all kinds of new fun with this project! Also, we just ordered the Island Blue color (it should be here shortly) AND we've created a kit for this sweater as well so you can get started right away!!!

There are two chances to win so here's the specifics in their own words right from the Lorna's Laces blog:

"I'll give the  first person who sends me a photo of their finished Applied Cable Fisherman's Rib Top  (that's a mouthful) up to a sweater's worth of yarn for their next project. And the first person who comes up to me at Rhinebeck wearing one will get the same." 

So get those needles moving!  Rhinebeck (aka New York State Sheep & Wool Festival and it's held in Rhinebeck NY, but most attendees just call it Rhinebeck) is only 2 months from now!!!

Speaking of Haymarket, this gives me a great opportunity to start talking about some of the wool fibers commonly found in yarn shops!  What is Haymarket?  It is the latest yarn base from Lorna's Laces.  It is a single spun strand of 100% Bluefaced Leicester wool, 215 yd/100g, dyed up in the wonderful Lorna's colorways!  Now, this one is NOT superwash so handwash and lay flat to dry or dry clean.

You've probably started to see a number of yarns that are made from Bluefaced Leicester (BFL) and are wondering what a Bluefaced Leicester is!  Well it is a breed of sheep, originally from Northumberland County, England.  This is in the far north, on the Scottish border.  It is a large, handsome sheep with no wool on it's face and neck and a very roman nose.  The skin under the short hairs of the face is blue, this is where the blue faced part comes in.  It is a multipurpose breed in what growers call the Longwool breed category.  Multipurpose means it is an animal used for food, fiber, and for it's crossbreeding suitability to maintain hybrid vigor in the offspring.

The fleece of the Bluefaced Leicester has a staple length of 3- 6” (staple length means the length of the wool), a fleece weight of 3 to 6 lbs., and a fiber diameter of 56s – 60s count, or 24-28 microns, creating high quality lustrous yarns with beautiful drape. (I'll go into spinning counts and microns in a future post.)  Suffice it say at this point that this wool is not quite as fine and soft as merino wool but still soft enough for sweaters, hats and scarves.  It will also be slightly more resistant to felting than merino wool but should still felt beautifully. The fiber also take dye very well giving some very vibrant tones. As a spinning fiber it is an excellent choice for a beginner.  If you want to find out more about this breed of sheep you can go to the Bluefaced Leicesters Breeder Association for more details.


Haymarket would be another excellent yarn to use for your Great American Aran Afghan too! Don't forget, we're starting our first square next week and everyone online or local is welcome to join!  Feel free to begin posting in the Ravelry thread for this KAL too. 

Here is the info for the first square again: we will start with the square on page 22 of the book, designed by Carol Adams.

Supplies need will be:

-The Great American Aran Afghan book
-1 hank of worsted weight yarn
-Size US 6 (4mm) straight or 24" circular needle
-Cable needle
-stitch markers are helpful but not required


Gauge for all squares will average 19 st to 4" (10 cm) over stockinette on size US 7 (4.5 mm) needles.

When the owners of Cascade yarns were visiting us last week we realized that Cascade Cloud would also be an awesome choice for this project.  These chain construction of this wool & alpaca yarn will give fantastic stitch definition!  I've decided I'll do mine from the new Cascade Longwood!

Sunday, August 25th will be the first class in the local shop but I'm available by email whenever you need help or get stuck.  Just send an email to askTerry (at) jimmybeanswool (dot) com.

It's cable mania time!!! ;D
Terry

Angora Goat

I have been studying wool, sheep and other fibers ever since I started knitting and one thing seems to come up all the time: What is wool? I see the term wool in relationship to those fantastic Camelids, Alpacas, Camels, Llamas and sometimes even Mohair which comes from an adorable goat called an Angora Goat. The Angora Goat has no relation to the sweet little Angora rabbit, nor do their fibers resemble each other, but we love them, don't we??

English Angora Rabbit

Let me cut to the chase here. The only animals with a wool coat are sheep!!! I am sorry, but it is the truth...really! As far as I know (please correct me if I am wrong) there is no other fiber that can match wool in it's many amazing qualities. Not even a man made fiber can match wool in it's insulating abilities.

Wool will stay warm even when wet (of course it may smell like wet sheep/dog :) ), and has a 'memory' that no other fiber can boast of with a resiliency and bounce-back factor that is positively woolie!! You may wonder what I mean by memory since we are not talking about something with a brain (hmmm, or are we?). When working with wool, you may notice that it can be very stretchy and yet hold your stitches well. When you wash it, it comes right back into the shape it was in originally before you got it wet. How cool is that?

 So, you may wonder why I am on this rant about my favorite fiber. That is because I have been working with 100% wool on my Spectra scarf by Stephen West. As I knit it, the wonderful woolie properties of wool keep throwing themselves onto my needles stitch by stitch, so it's pretty much in my face right now! I also follow Kate Davies (a fantastic designer) and she just wrote all about her love of wool and even has a petition that I signed about calling only wool, wool. You can take a look here if you like. It's very well written and clear cut.

Please, please don't get me wrong. I love many other fibers for many reasons (too numerous to try to mention here), but as the weather is getting crisper here and my needles click along on my 100% wool project I felt I would share a bit of my wool passion with you.

If you like to felt things, wool is your fiber for sure!! I always recommend a minimum of 75% wool (NOT super wash wool) yarn for a felting project as the microscopic scales on the fibers will fuse like nobody's business and create the nicest felted whatever-you-want. For warmth in a light weight (fingering on up) wool is my first choice and will insulate whatever body part I like. As I type this, I have on a DK weight pair of 100% wool socks (hand knit of course) and my Knitting Pure and Simple Mukluks made out of (can you guess this one??) 100% wool! Warm, warm and warm are my little toes right now.

Blue Face Leicester

As you may have guessed, I love wool and could easily go on and on, but will give it a rest for now. I hope you will give wool a try, as well as try wools from different sheep breeds so you can find your own favorite. My personal favorite is the Blue Face Leicester and I love to knit with it. It also spins it up very nicely (yes I am a hand spinner sometimes). You can check it and other breeds out with Rowans British Sheep Breeds line of yarns.

If you are interested in learning more about this amazing fiber and others too, check out the following resources. These are only two of my personal favorites!

 The Fleece &  Fiber Sourcebook                                                                 The Natural Knitter





I would love to know what you favorite fiber is and why. No matter what you like to work with, keep on going no matter what I say!!! If you don't enjoy what you are working with, you certainly won't enjoy the project, no matter what it is. Experiment with all the amazing fibers that are on the market these days and have fun!

As always happy knitting and crocheting!

Jeanne


P.S. Beans for Brains 2012 Scholarship Program! Don't just apply- Donate!
JBW and 9 other sponsors will be matching YOUR donations dollar for dollar during the month of November (each sponsor will be matching up to $1,000 each, for a total of $10,000) to the Beans for Brains Scholarship fund. We will be accepting donations here and in our retail store with the targeted goal of raising $10,000 from all of YOU for a total of $20,000 in awards!! Together, we can help Craft a Higher Education! Track your donations on our Beans for Brains Facebook page!!