Fyberspates Blog

Next Month's KAL

We've had a lovely time knitting along with each other in the Fyberspates group on Ravelry and there's some gorgeous FOs already (more on those later). There's still time to enter if you haven't aleady though so get kniting!

 

To give you a chance to prepare yourself and your stash for next month's KAL, here's what we'll be creating in Fyberspates yarn: a choice of two hat patterns from the very lovely Buttons and Beeswax. You can choose from either Autumn Gold or Gwithian for your chance to win a skein of Vivacious DK. You could knit both of course as double entries are allowed (heck, multiple entries if you're that speedy)!

 

(c) ButtonsandBeeswax

Autumn Gold is a lightweight, 4 ply lace hat, great for Fall and Spring when there’s a slight chill in the air. For those of you looking for more of a shorter, beanie style hat, there is an option to start decreasing early. The hat is knit in the round, and instructions are provided written and charted for both right handed knitters and left handed mirror knitters.

 

Autumn Gold requires one skein of our fingering base, Rural Charm BFL Silk Cashmere. This 100g skein is made up of 70% Blue Faced Leceister, 20% Silk and 10% Cashmere with a yardage of 439 yards. It benefits from the sheen of silk, the softness of cashmere and the strength of BFL to give great definition. Lucky for you there's currently some in stock!

 

(c) The Knitter Magazine

Those after a quicker knit could choose Gwithian, a sunburst pattern in a gloriously rich yellow colour is guaranteed to put a smile on your face every time you see this hat! The lace pattern is worked in a DK-weight merino yarn from Fyberspates, called Vivacious, which provides excellent stitch definition. The pattern is written for three sizes so could be a great choice for getting ahead with the gift knitting. See? We think of everything!

 

 

Vivacious DK in Deep Aqua

This hat calls for one skein of Vivacious DK, our bouncy 100% Superwash Merino base. This skein comes with a yardage of 251 yards per 115g skein and guess what? The Merino is suishably soft next to the skin for a non itchy brim and with all this bad weather, it's good to know it's superwash. It's in stock now too!

 

 

There will be more more updates in the group about discount codes, where to get your patterns and of course, lots of chatter so please come and cast on with us on 1st November 2013.  

 

Woolly's Mystery KAL 2013

Are you a Hat addict? Are you into one skein wonders? Is it time for a little mystery? Christmas knitting leaving you uninspired? 

WE HAVE THE ANSWER! The Woolly Wormhead 6th Annual Mystery Hat-a-long!

The Knit-A-Long will be based in the Ravelry group and you can find the relevant thread here for discussion of the pattern. Instalment update notifications will be sent out via email on the following dates: 1st November (1st), 9th November (2nd), 17th November (3rd). The final pattern will be released 27th November.

Although the final hat is a mystery, there are some clues..... The style of this Hat has some flexibility - on one hand, it may remind you of Camden Cap, and on another, it may remind you of Limpetiole. Throughout the pattern options will be provided to tailor the Hat to your style, and there will also one or two elements to the design that won’t be included in the final pattern!

This pattern would benefit from a solid or semi-solid yarn. Something with a bit of bounce would be ideal. The suggested yarn is, in fact, Vivacious DK, the lovely bouncy 100% Superwash Merino base. It's in stock now!

Vivacious DK in 'Spiced Plums'

Pattern support is provided on the forum in the Wormheads Hats group, and anyone new to a Mystery KAL will be offered guidance and help. Any specialist techniques will be discussed, and PDF tutorials will be available, as always. Below is a list of skills needed, and even if they are new to you, there will be plenty of knitters to guide you through.

Skills: 
Knit & purl stitches 
Knitting in the round 
Increase and decrease technqiues 
Twisted stitches 
Travelling stitches 
Provisional cast-on 
Joining live stitches 
Short rows

Sizes: 
To fit sizes: 18 (20, 22, 24) in/ 45.75 (50.75,56, 61) cm 
Finished sizes: 16.25 (18.25, 20, 21.75) in/ 41.25 (46.25, 50.75, 55.25) cm

Yardage: 
Swatch: 33yd/31m for the swatch for a 6in x 6in swatch on 4mm needles 
Hat: 158 (196, 228, 266) yd/145 (180, 209, 244) m

We're in. Are you?

 

New Colours

We have just had our first batch of new colours arrive and they're perfect. Want to take a look?

 

Scrumptious Lace in Loganberry

 

Scrumptious Lace in Seaspray

Both are available in Scrumptious lace, our luxury 55% Merino and 45% Silk base. We're also of the opinion that these work particularly well together and see some fabulous stripes and motifs this season. What do you think?

Peacock on a Walk

It's not just knitting patterns in Fyberspates yarn landing in our inbox that makes us drool, we love crochet too. This new pattern caused quite a stir recently as we think the creator is one talented lady. Lena Fedotova is a knitting and crochet designer from Ukraine, traveling around the world in an old wooden boat. She currently stays anchored in Montenegro. Her latest design, Peacock on a Walk is typical of her designs that are textured and interesting to look at as well as create. 

(c) Ravliki

Made with gorgeous Gleem Lace yarn, Peacock on a Walk can be a scarf or a stole, depending of how many inner pattern repeats are worked. It is crocheted bottom up in one piece and can be made to any length. The lace border repeats (“feathers”) are added as you go. The scarf is easy and fun to make, but assumes at least an intermediate crochet skill level because of its construction, use of post stitches and a rather unusual method of creating picot. However, once you get the pattern, you will sail through this project.

(c) Ravliki

Gleem Lace is 55% Bluefaced Leicester and silk, and is available in 874 yards (799 meters) per 100g skeins. It comes in 12 stunning colours and is gorgeously shiny, giving a luxurious fabric for beautiful textured stitches found in this scarf. To get your skein please visit the Fyberspates shop or check with your local yarn store. 

 

Envelope Hat

Autumn weather is a knitter's favourite weather surely? Cold enough to pile on layers of handknits but not too cold and miserable to spoil fun or inhibit limbs from moving with too much bulk. A great hat is a must this time of the year so we were thrilled to see the Envelope Hat by Sephanie Gaustad appear in the lastest issue of Knit.Wear. 

(c) Interweave Knits

The Envelope Hat has some pretty interesting construction too. This hat is made from a scarf-like length of knitting. After binding off, the two ends are brought across one another and stitched to the center back of the crown.

(c) Interweave Knits

The yarn called for is Fyberspates Scrumptious 4-ply/ Sport, our 45% silk, 55% superwash merino base. The sample here is shown worked up in the colourway 'deep chestnut' and at less than 1 skein to complete the hat, is a super quick and luxury knit. 

 

You can purchase your yarn to knit Envelope Hat here in the Fyberspates shop or at your local yarn store and don't forget to pick up your copy of Knit.Wear Fall/Winter 2013. 

 

Delayed Socks

Sometimes, when you're chattering on Ravelry or Twitter about your latest knitting WIPs or FOs you suddenly realise that you didn't share some good news. We absolutely had one of those moments recently when our lovely friend and Fyberspates Team Member, Jen AC, shared a picture of her Budleigh Socks in Vivacious 4ply. There was a panicked moment of 'did we tell everyone about THAT book from THAT designer?!?!?!' 

Jen AC's Budleigh Socks

What now follows is a post all about the talented Rachel Coopey aka Coopknits and her gorgeous book Coop Knits Socks. Coop Knits Socks is recent publication featuring 10 of Rachel’s original sock designs. These well-written patterns are accompanied by exquisite photography by Jesse Wilde, as well as step-by-step tutorials for techniques such as Kitchener Stitch and Afterthought Heels. There are even some rather lovely models that you might recognise.....

 

(c) Jesse Wild

Each design is beautifully balanced and well thought-out, giving both experienced and novice knitters the chance to create socks that are beautiful and wearable, while being enormously enjoyable to knit. Many of the clearly written patterns use a variety of skills, including cabling, grafting, lace and twisted stitches and provide a great opportunity to try out new stitch patterns.

 

(c) Jesse Wild

Within the book there are 3 designs featuring Fyberspates yarns. There is Willowherb, knit in Vivacious 4ply in the amazing 'Mixed Magentas' colourway. This slightly variegated colourway is a wonderful velvety colour that really showcases the non-uniform petals combined in this lace and twisted stitch pattern.

 

(c) Jesse Wild

Also in Vivacious 4 ply is Dawlish, with bold lines of cables and twisted stitches that were inspired by the shapes and colours of marker buoys bobbing on the water. This bright and fresh colourway is appropriately called 'Sunshine' and is perfect for really making the cables pop. 

(c) Jesse Wild

Then there is Brighton, knee-high socks that are just so fun and so stylish! Knit with Sheila's Sock, these bright and cheerful knee-high socks start with a ribbed cuff before leading to bands of stranded colourwork in bold geometric patterns. For those of us who are slightly daunted by the idea of knee high colourwork socks, there are instructions given for a shorter, mid-calf length version too.  

 

Jeni on a rather cold beach in Shetland, modelling for Coop Knits Socks!

We love Coop Knits Socks and hope you do too. You can get hold of your copy of this fab book here and of course, check out the Fyberspates shop to get your sock yarns to work your way through the book!

New! Yarn Bowls

These are absolutely gorgeous and we're thrilled with them and the reaction so far when we announced them on the Ravelry group and Facebook. We received our first test batch last week and they're coming to Ally Pally for some feedback so stop by and grab one and let us know what you think (we're at stand stand B31).

The yarn bowls are completely hand-made at Salamander Arts, a studio right next door to Fyberspates HQ. These bowls are uniquely created for Fyberspates to create a bowl that will display your yarn as well as keep it safe while you knit your latest creation.  Julie, the creator, makes her own plaster moulds and then slip-casts the bowls using porcelain slip (liquid porcelain.)  When they are completey dry they are sprayed with two colours of underglaze (a sort of paint for ceramics) – jade and leaf green to make a turquoise shade. They are then ‘biscuit’ fired to about 1040 degrees. Julie then hand-draws all the designs on and glaze the inside with a clear glaze to give a smooth, gloss finish.  The bowls are then fired again to about 1200 degrees. This lengthy process gives the unique finish you can see and makes the yarn bowls perfectly formed for your knitting needs. 

It was wonderful colaborating with Julie to agree the perfect finish, size etc for a yarn bowl and we're thrilled with the result. You can find Salamander Arts on Facebook and we are hoping there will be more bowls to come very soon!

Autumn Whispers

It's getting a little chillier and while the nights are drawing in, the daytime isn't quite so chilly that we need thick woollens (yet). So in the meantime, that means lighter weight garments take front row in our daily wardrobe and just in time, Carol Feller has published this great cardigan design. 

 

(c) LittleFellers

Autumn Whispers is knit from the top down using the contiguous method of shoulder shaping, this cardigan is lightweight and elegant. Knit with Vivacious 4 ply which is our High twist superwash 100% merino wool yarn, this cardigan can be knit with from either a short or ¾ length sleeve to create a look just for you.

 

 

(c) LittleFellers

Carol worked this sample up in the 'Copper Tones' colourway which is perfect Autumn colours. The Vivacious 4 ply is ideally suited for these fine structured knits as Merino is a naturally strong yet soft fibre next to the skin and has a beautiful hand across the fabric. Merino has the natural characteristic of working up into a breathable fabric for those last rays of summer that suddenly make an office hot and stuffy but can also warm and insulate for the crisp autumnal mornings. 

 

 

(c) LittleFellers

Autumn Whispers is available in multiple sizes starting from 16"(finished back width at bust) through to 27.75” and the smallest, short sleeve size only takes 2 skeins of Vivacious 4 ply. So grab your yarn here, a copy of the pattern and get knitting as we think this simple but satisfying knit will work up really fast to give you a garment ready to wear this Autumn. 

 

Hitch Blog Tour

Just a quick announcement to make you aware that Fyberspates will be part of the 'Hitch' blog tour. There's some really interesting contributors and stops along the way. In case you want to catch them, here's all the stops:

5/10/2013: Knitting Kninja

7/10/2013: Herrlichkeiten

8/10/2013: Knit and Travel

9/10/2013: Knit & Knag Designs

10/10/2013: Wooly Wonka Fibers

11/10/2013: Verdant Gryphon

15/10/2013: Impeccable Knits: Shifting Stitches

16/10/2013: Rewolluzza

21/10/2013: Knitwear Designs by Carolyn Noyes

22/10/2013: Peacefully Knitting

23/10/2013: Dark Matter Knits

24/10/2013: Turnknit: Dani Berg Designs

25/10/2013: SweetGeorgia Yarns

28/10/2013: doviejay knits

29/10/2013: Triona Designs

30/10/2013: Tactile Fiber Arts

4/11/2013: A Knitter’s Life

5/11/2013: Catchloops

6/11/2013: Yarn On The House

7/11/2013: Ramblings

!! 9/11/2013: Fyberspates !!

12/11/2013: Hazel Knits

13/11/2013: Knitcircus

19/11/2013: indigodragonfly

22/11/2013: A B-ewe-tiful Design

25/11/2013: knittingkirigami