Papaver Sok Kits

I’m excited to announce the release of our new Papaver Sok Kits in the store today!  Paired with our Serenity Sock Yarn is a fabulous sock pattern written and designed by Anne Hanson of Knitspot.com.  Anne is a design master and I’m so pleased with what she designed for this particular yarn.  For more photos, please check Anne’s blog posting and while you’re there, browse all her patterns in her shop – she has a lot of really wonderful patterns and it’s really hard to choose just one!  

In Anne’s words, 

Wavy rows of nodding poppies trail down the leg and over the foot of this top-down sock [while] yarnovers and decreases create an undulating rib that mimics the gentle motion of this bright spring flower.

We have the kits available in 4 luscious colourways and invite you to drop by Zen Yarn Garden to find one you like:

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!  It’s going to be a very cold one here in Ontario so if it’s cold where you are too, stay warm!

New Yarn Line – Synchro Socks!

I’ve been quietly working on a new dyeing technique behind the scenes and finally have time to release this new line into the store!  

Called Synchro Socks, this line utilizes a dyeing technique that will yield socks that are very similar or very close to the same.  The put up is in equally sized skeins so knitters have the option of knitting their socks together!  I am working on a sock now and hope to show those results in the coming days.  The technique is a bit labour intensive but the result is totally worth it!  

If you’d like to see the colourways, please click on over to the store!  We will be offering this dyeing technique on several different base yarns so please check each listing for the yarn type.

Happy knitting everyone!

Knotions & SPIN ART Fibre Club

Have you seen the new issue of Knotions?  Probably you have!  It’s been up for a couple of days now and if you’re anything like me, I dive right on over on the first day it’s up!  Chalk full of wonderful patterns, this issue just happens to feature one of my handdyed yarns in a sock pattern designed by Kelly Porpiglia. Kelly’s a fabulous designer and in concert with her, we came up with a colourway called Foliage that would suit her Hanging Vines Socks.  Don’t you think the green suits the whole theme of her pattern?  We thought it did too!  Interested in knitting up the pattern in the same yarn as Kelly?  If you are, please click here to find the colourway Kelly used in her design.

In other news, we got our first snow fall a couple of days ago and it was probably close to over a foot in 24 hours!  Needless to say, my shoveling muscles got a nice workout that day!  Weather predictions are saying more snow squall warnings tonight and possibly just as much again tomorrow.  Wow, when winter arrives, it sure does so with a vengeance!  And here I thought we might be in for a mild winter…what was I thinking?!  This is Canada!  LOL

Are you a spinner?  The bug has totally hit for me and so much so I decided to open up my first SPIN ART Fibre/Fiber Club.  Quite literally a spin-off from my ART WALK Sock Yarn Club, this club will offer colourways inspired by art masterpieces.  If you’re interested in joining, we’d love to have you along!  Deadline to register is January 9, 2009 and the first shipment will be in February of 2009.  Click here to find more details and if you’d like to join the Rav group, please do so here.

Hope everyone’s doing well!  I can’t believe it’ll soon be Christmas and then onto a New Year.  Time goes by so quickly!  We have a few other surprises in the works too but I won’t be able to announce that until early Spring 2010…it’ll be worth the wait!

Front Page!

Did you manage to catch my roving on the front page of Etsy.com on Halloween evening?  I was browsing through my Etsy store and clicked on over to the front page and low and behold there was one of my rovings!  Be still my heart!  I managed to catch a screen shot before it disappeared.  What a lovely surprise!  In 3.5 years on Etsy, this is the first time I managed to get on the front page!  Given there are so many products on Etsy, it was very exciting for the time that it did last!

In other news, I’m feeling hopeful today.  I don’t usually get political on this blog but with the new President Elect I am feeling like the world just might start healing.  It’s time!  It’s time for us to all feel renewed hope.  Congratulations to President Elect Obama who will soon be President Obama.  The world was indeed watching.

Rovings!

Apparently the spinning bug has hit pretty hard because I’m now dyeing more roving too!  I plan on offering as many different kinds of roving as I can muster in between dyeing yarn.  

From what I’m reading online and in Ravelry, spinning is becoming more and more popular amongst knitters so I am hoping people will find a lot of joy spinning up the fibres I dye as well.  

So far I have dyed up superwash BFL, superwash merino/nylon and plan on having 100% merino, alpaca/merino and alpaca/merino/silk in the shop in the coming weeks.  Watch for them!  

What I have dyed so far is currently available in my Etsy store if you’d like to take a look!  Thanks everyone and happy spinning!

Another Handspun & Serenity Sock Yarn

Yay me!  I managed to spin yet another yarn and finish it!  This time I got 5.1 oz and about 240 yards…not bad eh?  This really is totally a lot of fun!  The lessons learnt on this one?  Add more twist when the yarn is thinner and add more twist when plying thinner singles together.  This one is slightly underspun but hey, I did it and I figured out yet something else about spinning.  Can you tell I’m like a little kid going to kindergarten and loving every new little thing I learn?  That’s how it feels!  Yay for learning new things and for a blog for Show & Tell time.

In shop news I’m really excited to bring a brand new base yarn into the store which I am fondly labeling as “Serenity Sock”.  Why?  Because this yarn is a combination of luxurious and strong which you don’t find in too many sock yarns!   How could it be both?  Simple!  It’s a lovely fingering weight blending of superwash merino, cashmere and nylon!  Yes, you heard it right…cashmere!  

I can’t begin to explain in words just how soft this yarn is…gorgeous!  And I dyed a few colourways in tertiary semi-solids.  What is tertiary you ask?  In order to achieve these colourways, it took at least 3 different dye colours and because of that, these are definitely one-of-a-kind colourways and quite possibly irreproducible.  

I decided on slight colour shift semi-solids so that all the focus can be on the yarn when you’re knitting with it.  This is a classy yarn and it deserved some classy colourways to match it!  

Enjoy!

Curvy Sweater Kit

Every once in awhile I get to collaborate with some of the most creative people in the knitting world and this time was no exception!  Jacquelyn Landry of Jacquelyn Landry Designs is one of the most fabulous pattern writers I’ve had the pleasure of working with!  Her ability to create patterns that are “classic glamour for the girl next door” is truly inspiring! When we teamed up to come up with a design that would show off handpainted yarns I was honestly quite a bit nervous because her patterns are so beautiful and I really wanted to come up with something that would compliment her design style.  When we finally got to the final stages of the design process, Jacque and I were both beyond elated with the outcome! 

In her words, the pairing of both her pattern and my handpainted yarn has created the following:

Curvy is a perfect sweater for mixing beauty and sass. Whether you like dangerous curves or safe cables this is likely to fit your needs.  The extended size range with more steps in between will allow you to choose the best fit for your curves. Add one part classic cable twists to one part gorgeous Zen Yarn Garden hand dyed yarn. Mix in a little seamless knitting, weave in a few ends and you’ve got a sexy curve hugging top that is certain to raise a few temperatures. Elongated cables keep the silhouette smooth and figure flattering and are simple enough for even beginning cable knitters.

The kits are currently being offered in the Rubies colourway as shown in the pattern and in chest sizes up to 44″.  If you are wanting another colourway or a larger size, please don’t hesitate to email and ask! I’m happy to do custom colourways and custom size kits and this kit will be offered up to chest size 62″.   

Won’t you consider this kit for some special winter knitting?  I am feeling the twitch in my fingers to knit a sweater again that’s for sure!

Knotions Magazine

Have you seen it yet?  A brand new online knitting magazine that just launched!  Check out the article which includes a few indie dyer’s yarns including mine!  YAY!  

To the left is a photo of my Sea Sock yarn in Autumn Bloom colourway you’ll see in the article.

Make sure to check out the rest of the articles too – lots of great info in this magazine.  It’s lovely for it’s very first issue!

Hope everyone’s having a great summer – I’m really enjoying all these wonderful knitting online resources that keep popping up.

Tripolini Socks Pattern

Wow, my poor neglected blog…it always seems to be the last on the priority list of things to do now that we have Ravelry to pay attention to.  However, I wanted to announce the release of another wonderful sock pattern in the store called Tripolini Socks.  It’s a short and sweet and perfect for summer design using our new sport weight yarns.  It should also be a relatively quick knit and it’s available for immediate download in the store.  This one was designed by Harriet from Limedragon.com.  Isn’t it adorable? 

Hope everyone’s doing well!  I have yet another pattern release coming toward early August and it’ll be a fabulous one for a fabulous winter knit!  I’ve included just a teeny tiny hint of that one but that’s all you get until later!

Happy knitting everyone!

Store Re-Design & 10% Off Sale

I’m really excited to finally re-open my online store with a lovely new design and format!  I was working feverishly behind the scenes to stock the store with new products which I invite you to click on over to see!  Also with the store re-opening, we have launched a brand new COLOUR BURST Yarn Club that’s sure to be a lot of fun!  I decided to make this one a little different in that it will offer slightly different yarn weights other than fingering and will be about bright and vivid colourways.  Come on over and take a look if you’re interested! 

From now until June 15, we are also having a 10% off sale in celebration of our re-opening.

Thanks everyone for your past support and continued support!  It’s very much appreciated.