Soy Yarn = Happy

Artisan Yarns for the first weekend in March: soy, soy, soy, and... cashmere. The soy is wearing reds/purples/golds this weekend. Lovely stuff. And there's now a good selection of green/blues and pinks/purples to choose from. Pictured left top: 100 gram skeins of laceweight merino in reds/purples/golds; golds/pinks/lilac; green/cream/orange; and a pastel mix that's lovely! Below: 50 gram skeins of 100 pure 2-ply cashmere in purples/greens; a yellow/green/blue peach garden explosion of colour; and some blues with brown. This is the good stuff.

I warned blogreaders prev: I'm not happy with my yarn photos, so hesitate posting them, but here you have some.

Soy snaps further down fyi -- there's some reds/purples/golds fresh from the dye process that will join those pictured. It's all really fab -- and won't last long. Pictured below is blues/greens and peachy/purples


There are also a few gems that I won't post here - some mill ends that I am having trouble parting with as they're beautiful. But the needles are calling, so part with them I must. Soon, there will be no room for the husband or dog, so out the yarn goes.

In addition to the new dyelots, there is still some fab hand-dyed tops to play with and some spindles that you are free to come test drive.

Artwear: new vests to try on and a replenishment of Baby Beantoes. Hope to see you at the Festival Centre this Sunday.

Mel, in Addy

Rain = Knitting in Adelaide

Whew! A break in the mini-heatwave means I can get back to my knitting. Yes, I still knit in 41 degrees, but that's sock knitting weather.

Artwear for the week: Some hand-dyed clothing to match hand-dyed yarn. There's a singlet and some very cute leggings I couldn't resist plunging into the rose pink dyepot yesterday. Buy some coordinating yarn and make yourself an outfit.

There's a black and turquoise Soy Vest in the same style as the one on the webpage (and shown in prev post), sized women's medium. A joy to wear - versatile, practical, and made from recycled soy fibre.

From Mel's Dyepot: HOT red banana palm silk. Shimmery, not too deep. The husband says it's Flash red. Purple and seaglass blue in stock, with coordinating skeins of cotton.

And... a few skeins of 100% 2-ply cashmere - handpainted and ready to jump onto your needles. The very special skein of grey/blue/purple lace wool was snatched up early on Sunday. And yes, I wanted to keep it for myself, but resisted. And now, it has found a new home. The rare, alpaca single ply is GONE, but there is one skein left of the mohair single - handpainted mill ends. Beautiful stuff.

NEW: hand-dyed 100% organic merino roving - $8.00 per 100 grams -- and some very kewl drop spindles - one beginner's CD spindle and a more advanced stone whorl one. Undyed merino and soy roving also available.

Teal and Black Sox -- Tofutsies for Adelaide

Continuing on the road to the footy season, there are a few precious balls of powah sock yarn left, though at this rate, it won't last the month. Thank you to the customers who came by for their bi-monthly Tofutsies purchases. One customer has already declared it perfect for match day gloves. Ooooh! With matching socks, how good are they going to be?

Enough teasing -- here's the Feb Tofutsies sock -- Hugs and Kisses! 

Banana silk: more colours for the upcoming weekend. So many possibilities with this fibre. Customers have shared their ideas:

Shred it, work it into couchwork designs, knit, crochet, spin it into other fibres. Felt it into something. Lots of ideas shared over the market table this weekend.

Don't be cold this winter!

It's not too early to think about your major projects this winter. I've been previewing The Emerald City Shawl with hand-dyed yarn from Knitting By Zen.

I will be featuring 2 custom colourways from Emma's all-Aussie hand-dyed yarns in March.

Artwear: Soy Vests are coming for this Sunday -- sold out previous versions. Practical, versatile garments for the Australian climate.

Tofutsies Fever - Sock Knitting in Adelaide

While the sock-knitting craze has been going for a few years now, there seems no let-up in sock knitting interest around Adelaide. Of course, this is a GOOD THING.

There have been years I've been a rather lonely sock knitter -- and put up with a lot of ribbing *chortle* for making 'em -- "what would you do that for?"

This month, I'm featuring an Easy Peasy Sock Pattern -- buy a ball of sock yarn, get the Easy Peasy. In addition, I've been allotted new spaces in the Tofutsies Sock Club. While we played catch up and got December in Jan, February's is here spot on time. It's called Hugs and Kisses and is so darned cute, I've started one already. I won't illustrate with a teaser photo here, as you have to subscribe to the club to see the real deal. No fair peeking.

Here's the funny part: the colourway is... Port Power coloured. I kid you not. So, if there are any die-hard Crows supporters... make a pair for a rival-lovin' friend. GO THE SOCK KNITTING POWAH!

A big thank you to the customer who purchased the latest version of the soy vest. It looked so perfect. Wear it in good health!

And to all the women who came by to say hello, have a chat, pat the yarn, check out new designs - thank you. You make Sundays really great.

Mel, Still Stranded In Oz