Tag Archives: Wool Warehouse

Jan13

Yes, I’m a Wool Warehouse fan!

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Welcome to Wednesday! Yeah, a very unappreciated day. For many, it’s too far from the weekend! With my shifts, that doesn’t mean a lot. My work days this week are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, then Saturday and Sunday. It was a very low-stress day at work today. Not too busy, time to put out new quilt fabrics on the shelves, nice customers.

I took photos of a couple of finished objects tonight and realised there’s a lot of Wool Warehouse product being used. The New Delhi quilt cottons in the cuff (top) are from there, as is the tortoise fabric by Lewis and Irene. And when I put the ribbon in the casing for the drawstring I used a bodkin that I also bought from Wool Warehouse. This kind of bodkin (pinch or pincer) is one I saw a lot of YouTubers using for tutorial videos and it makes putting in drawstrings so effortless.

Do you like the Bollywood Elephant button on the cuff? I originally used a silver button but when I saw those elephants at work I knew that one of them belonged on that cuff!

The Wishing Well shawl has grown fast. I zoomed through the first yarn cake and since taking that photo I’ve started on the second. I won’t use all of the second cake because the shawl is quite large already but I’ll see how it goes.

It’s going to be an early night for me tonight. No Netflix to drag me in for multiple episodes. I. Can, Resist.

Jan6

Bountiful beanies

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In the first six days of 2019, I have crocheted four beanies. Two of them are not worth showing off. They are made with vintage acrylic in shades of brown and I am just glad to get some of the yarn used up and done with. The other two are nicer. The one above is made with Sommer-Wolle Carnevale, a gorgeous wool blend that I bought in Switzerland last summer.

I don’t usually buy wool but last August I really wanted to make Tai Chi Man’s cousin and his wife some beanies to keep their heads warm while camping in their trailer, as they were so generous with their time and food when we were in Switzerland. In a Co-op in St Moritz (those two things don’t seem to go together, somehow!) I found some of this Sommer-Wolle in the beautiful shades of turquoise which seemed perfect for red-haired Lisa, and a masculine shade of Sommer-Wolle Venezia in dark greens and blues with black/white sections for Andreas.

The beanie below is mostly black and white because when I made the first two hats out of this skein I cut out some of it so it didn’t dominate over the coloured sections.

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I can’t remember how much I paid for these balls of yarn, but I got three crocheted beanies out of each one. And by making these this weekend, I cleared out some stash.

I also cleared out a bagful of ugly old acrylics and weighed it – 1200 grams – which I will be donating to a thrift store, along with some of the beanies I’ve made. So when I tell you that I ordered yarn this week, you will understand that it’s totally ok because it’s still a net loss in the stash account!!

What did I order? Well, it’s a rather pretty colour pack from Wool Warehouse. The Scheepjes Stonewashed/Riverwashed XL colour pack has 50 little 15g balls of all the shades in those ranges in a lovely presentation box. It’s going to be like having a big box of candy arrive on the doorstep. How will I bear to break into it and actually use the yarn? I don’t know! In addition, I decided that it would be a good idea to get some extra of the lightest shade, Moonstone, so that I have a neutral that I can use with the brighter colours. Of course with Canada Post’s union woes, it could take a while to arrive, but I’m hoping they have their problems sorted out now. (Tai Chi Man’s birthday card from the UK took a month to get here.)

If you’ve never ordered from Wool Warehouse, I have to say they are brilliant. You order in British pounds but they give an approximation of the exchange rate next to the pound figure on each page. Their shipping is an incredible £3.99 – seriously, that’s amazing considering they are sending 1 kilogram of yarn my way across the expanse of the Atlantic!

Here’s a screenshot if you don’t want to click through to their site…

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My goal for this year is more out than in, so that the stash doesn’t grow. And new stuff has to have plant fibre content, not be 100% synthetic. The Scheepjes yarn is 70% cotton.

We’ve had surprisingly mild temperatures this week – two of the days this year have hit double digits (Celsius) according to my car’s thermometer. The snow has melted quite a bit and we’ve seen some sunshine.

I hope you’ve had an awesome weekend. Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what your yarn goals are for 2019.

 

 

 

 

Jan29

FO: Crochet Cuddler Cocoon (and new yarn)

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Before I show you my February sweater, here is a photo of me in my January sweater.  I wore it the other day (wow, it’s warm) and it fits perfectly. If I could change one thing about it, though, I’d add an inch to the sleeves. When I was driving and out and about, I felt I could have done with just a bit of extra length in the sleeves.

So, once I finished that sweater off last Monday night, I was free to get on with the next project. The February project took all of four days from start to finish, it was so quick and easy. I did make a few adjustments to the pattern so I will link to my Ravelry project page here.

I had to crop out my head in that shot because the cardigan is so dark that my face was overexposed. The base rectangle for the back of the sweater seemed really small in the pattern so I added four rows. The sleeves also would have been tiny so I doubled the length of those. And there were only three border rounds in the pattern and I did 12, basically until my yarn almost ran out.

The yarn is Willow Wash Bulky, which is so lovely and soft to work with and to wear, but the six strands are very loosely spun so you have to be careful not to split them. As I am just hanging around the house today, I decided to wear it (it would probably not be warm enough outside in the cold at the moment) though I had to abandon it while vacuuming because I was getting too hot.

I am pleased with it, thanks to my adaptations. I think if you were to use a much bulkier yarn, you could follow the designer’s numbers, but it would have been far too small for me using the Willow Wash, following it as is.

There has been a little bit of yarn acquisition this week. OK, a lot. Walmart still has the Bernat Pop! yarn, and I decided that I should get extra of the rainbow coloured one to pair with plain black for a future sweater. Also I found a nice one with grey and pink that I can pair with the leftover Red Heart Supersaver in grey heather. And a couple of cakes of grey/turquoise, just because.

Also today I received my Wool Warehouse order, a mere WEEK after they shipped it. I love their efficiency. I ordered on the weekend, they shipped it the first working day afterwards, and the post office have done their bit too. Normally stuff takes two weeks to get here. I am glad it’s here as part of the order is for my Ravelry Ravellenic Games project, the doll I mentioned in my last post. The rest are colours that I picked to pad out gaps in my DK collection, like the  yellows, browns and neutrals.

My Christmas/birthday fund is being rapidly depleted!

I’ve said this before, but I love the organza bags that WW send the yarn in.

Well, today I need to start swatching for a new sweater: the March sweater, in theory, though I am well ahead of my deadline. Believe it or not, despite the thousands of patterns in the Ravelry database, I couldn’t find the perfect one for my black/rainbow combination, so I have sketched out a possible design and need to figure out my gauge. I am having a few niggling doubts about a rainbow tunic, even if it is calmed down with black, so I  may end up going with the grey instead. For now, though, I have to finish cleaning the kitchen (totally distracted by the parcel of yarn in the mail and wanting to tell you all about it, but it’s nose to the grindstone time for me now)!

I hope next time to show you what my decision was for the March sweater, plus some progress.

 

 

Jan23

FO: January sweater

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Thanks to a few knitting opportunities throughout the day yesterday, I finished my sweater last night. I love the touch of colour in the hem facings. I will try it on again today then give it a wash – thanks to the hardwearing nature of Red Heart Super Saver, I can machine wash and dry with abandon (as long as nothing else in the machine has Velcro or hooks).

It took me about 15 days. I cast on January 7th after a false start with a different pattern and needles. As I’ve finished my January sweater early, I can get a head start on my February sweater.

The February sweater is this one – The Crochet Cuddler Cocoon – which I plan to make with the navy Willow Wash Bulky that was frogged from a different sweater that didn’t work out, and which has been sitting in my stash for a long time.

It’s snowing here today, which seems appropriate as I have a new sweater to wear! I have had a very lazy morning of Ravelry browsing, but I plan to hit the gym shortly to remedy that.

Are you joining in with the Ravellenic Games on Ravelry? They coincide with the Winter Olympics in South Korea. My project will be a crocheted doll for whom I intend to devise a dress that looks like a paper bag. She will be the Paper Bag Princess, and will be sent to my great-niece with the board book of the same name by Robert Munsch. Well, I didn’t have the right colour yarn, of course, so ordered some from Wool Warehouse….along with a few others to keep it company as it flew here from England! I will of course show it to you as soon as it arrives. It shipped yesterday.

 

 

Jul17

Ooooh, new yarn!

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I’m so happy to announce my new arrival – yarn in the mail from Wool Warehouse!

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It’s Scheepjes (my first ever Scheepjes) Linen Soft which is a DK weight blend of 27% linen, 47% cotton and 26% acrylic. The silver grey colourway is called Heron and the pink is Hummingbird. These are 50 gram balls and I should have enough of the grey to make myself the top that I linked to in my last post, and enough of the pink for the baby dress.

I just love the organza bags that WW sends their yarn in too.

Along with the yarn, I ordered two shade cards, one for Stylecraft Special DK and one for Scheepjes Colour Crafter. It’s helpful to have actual samples of the yarn instead of working off a computer screen, especially a PC!

I’m sure these will come in useful for future project planning.

I have a non-yarny FO for this week. The curtains for my sewing room are finished and hung.

It’s a colourful flowery print on a black background which adds a nice bit of colour to my boring sewing room!

The temperature has been cooler today but the valley is filled with smoke again. The sun has an orange tint to it. I’m not sure where the smoke is blowing in from this time but there are plenty of suspects.

Last night we had a pleasant evening down at the beach with our boys and the senior couple I call their local grandparents. It was windy, which made for a comfortable temperature, and we found a picnic bench under a tree to eat lots of food followed by some frisbee and bocce in the field across the road.

Have a happy crafting week!

Jul15

WIP: blanket, FO: hat, OMG: heat!

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I hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend wherever you are. I have a surprise five-day-off stretch, thanks to booking Monday off to take the kids to the dentist, and I intend to make the most of it.

It’s all crochet today but two very different projects. This little hat is made with Loops & Threads Facets, a discontinued yarn that I picked up at Michaels  a while back. (No pattern, I just make hats top down until they look about the right size!)

When I have a large project on the go, I like to throw in some small, quick ones to stop me from getting bored. This is bulky yarn, I used a big hook, and I made it (hopefully) child-sized so I can send it to my great-niece. I have a few things in the pipeline for her so will send a parcel later this year.

I’m still waiting for a package from Wool Warehouse – it’s been over a week and as you probably know time drags when you’re excited about getting something in the mail. Especially yarn! I will take photos to show you when it arrives.

My WIP is the Everything is Cool and Groovyghan blanket CAL. I have to say, there’s nothing cool around here, as we have had a run of 32 – 34 degree weather (90 – 95 Fahrenheit) and the only respite has been when I have been working in an air-conditioned store.

I wouldn’t mind too much if the nights were cooler but sometimes you go to bed and you can barely stand having a sheet over you. Yuk!

Anyhoo, here are some photos of the progress. I did intend to go out on the deck and get some better ones but right now it’s too darned hot and windy outside. So I quickly laid things out on my bed, took a few pics, and dashed back to the couch in front of the big fan.

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This is the overview – part 1 of the CAL was the strip of grannies at the top – part 2 were the popcorn blocks – part 3 the ripple blocks – part 4 the large central granny – and part 5 is currently under construction. Part 5 is two blocks, each made up of eight small squares.

As you can see, this is looking pretty scrappy.

And I have rather a lot of ends to weave in.

When my new yarn arrives, I will probably neglect this WIP a bit as I want to make the Kanata Kerchief Tank (Ravelry link as it’s a free Ravelry download) for myself. I ordered a linen blend (Scheepjes Linen Soft, I think) in a soft grey, thinking I’d wear a colourful tank or tee underneath. Now I’m wondering whether a bright yarn would have been better with a neutral tank underneath, but it’s too late to second-guess myself now. I also ordered three balls of the same yarn in a deep pink so that I can make a cute little toddler dress with a crocheted bodice and a fabric skirt (this one). And two shade cards will be in the package, one for Stylecraft Special DK and one for Scheepjes Colour Crafter. Oooh!

Well, my brain is cooked and I need to go shower and cool off. Have an awesome Sunday and I’ll be back as soon as my Wool Warehouse parcel gets here.

 

Oct17

FO: Peacock Tail Bag

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I am so chuffed! The Peacock Tail Bag is all done. Tabs, rings, lining, handle, magnetic closure – finished. It took exactly two months from start to finish, which included a bit of a delay as I had to wait for the supplies to arrive from Wool Warehouse.

It looks lovely and I haven’t a clue what I’m going to do with it. This was one of those cases of wanting to make something just because the pattern photo appealed and a Ravelry group that I’m in joined in with the Crochet-along.

I don’t really need another bag so rather than use and abuse it I think I will hang on to it and see if it decides who it wants to go and live with. Or maybe someone will make me an offer for it. I shall be posting the photo to Facebook tonight.

Only one WIP now and that, of course, is the Demelza blanket.

 

PS: I almost forgot – the yarn I used is Deramores Studio DK with a 3.5mm hook.

Oct17

Woohoo, a parcel!

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Feels like I’ve been waiting months for this…

 

but it’s only been two weeks! I can now finish the Peacock Tail Bag, the border on Demelza (still working on the last four squares) AND I now have tons of black Stylecraft Special Aran to make a granny square coat with my aran leftovers.

Exciting!