Episode 14: A Yarn Less Raveled

Welcome to episode 14! In this "out and about" episode we will talk a little bit about our knitting and fiber fun and Kim will share her field trip experience with us along with an interview.  Grab your knitting, a soothing beverage and enjoy!

Episode 14 Audio

What's in our Lesson Plan?

Marcy & her finished Monkey, Kim with her beautiful
birthday flowers from her husband.

• Administrati
• Show and Tell
• A field trip to the LYS "A Yarn Less Raveled"
• An interview with Mindy
• What's on our Black Board?

Administrati

We are running our 1st KAL! Come on over to our Ravelry group and join in on the Christmas in August KAL/CAL. This will actually run through September and is an opportunity for all of us to get a leg up on our Christmas knitting. Here are all of the guidelines. Happy Holiday crafting!

Show and Tell  

Kim has been having fun dyeing yarn with some friends. They solar dyed yarn in Mason jars using Jacquard acid dye and Knit Picks bare yarn. Then, she went home and did some "garbage bag" dyeing! The whole process was very fun and of course, slightly addicting. If you decide to give dyeing a try please make sure to follow all safety directions for the acid dyes.

Kim's solar dyed yarn "cooking"

The first 2 dyed skeins

The final 7 dyed skeins

Kim has also been getting a fair amount of spinning done recently, especially while watching the Olympics. She finished her 1st hand spun sock yarn, spun from a braid of  Greenwood Fiberworks in the Jingle Bell color way. This fiber is 100% BFL and was a dream to spin. Her biggest goal right now is to find some patterns (probably shawls) that she can use both her hand spun and hand dyed yarn together.

Kim's hand spun sock yarn

Marcy has finished her Monkey Jacobus by Annita Wilshut. She used Classic Elite yarn, Mountain Top Crestone. She knit this for her son Wilson as a birthday gift, but was unable to wait and gave it to him early. He loves his monkey! She did have a small howler and forgot to sew the eyes on before sewing him up and had to do a little top down surgery and place the safety eyes in afterwards. 

Wilson loving on his monkey!

Wilson is proud of his new friend.

Marcy is also working on the New Ancestral Christmas Stocking from Mason Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines book. She will be posting pics in our Christmas KAL forum and of course you can see them on her project page as well. She is knitting this stocking  for her cousin's baby and she is using Cascade 220 in Seattle Seahawk's colors: navy blue, citron, silver gray and brown.

Field Trip Notes

A Yarn Less Raveled

Kim and Knittybarb were pm-ing on Ravelry and Barb was kind enough to offer to show Marcy and Kim her LYS. Kim was going to be in the area so she was able to meet Barb (from the wonderful audio podcast, 2 Knit Lit Chicks that she makes along with her daughter, Tracie,) at A Yarn Less Raveled which is located in the Rose Garden shopping center at 730 Camino Ramon #186, in Danville, California. Kim had a great afternoon shopping, getting a tour of the shop,  having lunch and knitting with Barb. Thanks Barb!

 Kim had a great shopping experience and came home with some gorgeous stash enhancements: 2 skeins of Hedgehog Fibres sock yarn, Regia "Pairfect," Canon Hand Dyes in the "A Yarn Less Raveled" color way and a mini skein set of Canon Hand Dyes. Feast your eyes on these pretty skeins below.

All of these pretties insisted on coming home with Kim 

Interview

Kim was able to sit down with Mindy, the owner of A Yarn Less Raveled, and talk about all of the wonderful things that the shop has to offer. They discussed the incredible sweater workshops that a very talented, local knitter and teacher, Sultana, created and teaches. These multi skill level workshops run for about 4 months and teach beginning sweater knitters how to create and knit sweaters that fit and compliment their shape and style. There are intermediate and advanced workshops for knitters that would like to design more complex sweaters. You can read all about these workshops and the schedule, here. 

We talk about some projects that have gone viral in the shop: The Sandshore sweater and the Naranja poncho which was designed by a staff member, Yvonne Poon. Mindy also mentions several designers that her customers favor: Melanie Berg, Joji Locatelli, Stephen West, Martina Behm,  and Alana Dakos.

The shop stocks so many incredible yarns! There are too many to list, so go check it out here. Mindy is currently knitting the Time Traveller's Shawl by Elizabeth Abate and she is using a special local indie dyer's yarn, Luna Purl Yarn, which you can find in the shop.  Mindy was wearing her Drachenfels shawl designed by Melanie Berg and knit from Madeline Tosh sock yarn.

There are many exciting classes and events coming up at A Yarn Less Raveled: the designer Kira K is coming back, Carson Demers who teaches knitting ergonomics, a needle felting class by Wendy Lacy, "Woolbuddies," and a special 5th anniversary event in November. You can see all of these special classes and events, here.

What's on our Black Board?

Our next episode will be an "In the Classroom" episode and Kim and Marcy will talk about all of their FO's, WIP's and new CO's, as well as any Uber Craftiness that they have been up to. 

Thank you joining us and happy knitting!