New Sample Flit n Float

Some yarns really don't need a sample to show how beautifully soft and luxurious it can be all knit up and the Painted Fleece's merino/cashmere yarn lace weight yarn is no different. Look at all the beautiful colours:




But we are lucky enough to have the Flit n Float Scarf - a free knitty.com pattern knit by Missy, Painted Fleece lady!








This lovely scarf took just one skein of yarn and is so soft to the touch it is unbelievable! Come on in and see for yourself.

Classes - October and November

Boy do we have some great classes coming in October and November! Not only is Fiona Ellis coming to teach Morphing Cables and Dive into Design, you won't want to miss out on these classes:

Free Workshop - Long Tail Cast On - October 6th

Join Lisa to learn the Long Tail Cast on method. This cast on method creates a nice stretchy even edge that is perfect for ribbing and stockinette. Once you get the hang of it, this will be your go to cast on.

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New @ the Sheep!!

Square of the Month- 4 SPOTS LEFT
This 5 week class will have you knit four squares, each with a different flair. Learn new skills and at the end of the classes you will have a great little lap blanket, pillows or art work for your wall! We have scheduled about a month in between to allow plenty of time to complete each square.

Two additional square patterns will be available to those who sign up for all 4 classes and the 5th class is free!

1st Class: Textured Square – Sheep Logo – Oct 30th
2nd Class: Lace Square – Nov 27th
3rd Class: Cable Square – Dec 18th
4th Class: Slip Stitch (Honeycomb) Square – Jan 20th
5th Class: Finishing PARTY! Q&A – Feb 26th

Price: $100 for all 5 session. Individual sessions are $25. Each square requires ½ skein of Cascade 220 and 4.5mm needles
Instructor: Kate Atherley
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Learn to SEW a Needle Roll - October 15th

Need to organize all your lovely DPNs, shorter needles or crochet hooks? Tired of not being able to find them when you need them? Let us show you how to sew a needle roll to house your beautiful tools. All you need to know is how to use your sewing machine!

Price: $50. Includes fabric. Please bring your working sewing machine & thread
Instructor: Missy Westgate
Maximum Participants: 5

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Refresher Spinning with Julia Lee - October 20th

If you have a spinning wheel & took lessons awhile ago, but haven’t touched your wheel since, this is the workshop for you. Dust off the cobwebs and get re-inspired to create your own beautiful yarns. If you’d like some guidance with a special bag of fibre, bring it along and we will get you spinning again. This workshop is NOT suitable for absolute beginner spinners.

Price: $40.includes roving. Bring spinning wheel in good working order; 3 bobbins; lazy kate; solid-coloured apron or lap cloth. Optional: ball winder; fibre for discussion
Class Length: 1 – two hour session
Instructor: Julia Lee

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Parent and Me - Oct 24th

This class is for Moms or Dads who would like to learn and share a creative and tactile skill with their children. Join us to learn basic knitting techniques-cast on, knit and cast off.

Price: $60.00 for parent and child, includes yarn and needles for each participant
Instructor: Emily Foden
Minimum age: 8 years old. Maximum 3 sets of participants.
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Learn to Crochet - October 27th & November 3rd

Want to expand your fiber habit to include the wonderful world of crochet or just want to learn the basics? This two session class will walk you through the foundation chain, single and half double crochet, double, triple crochet stitches and slip stitch.

During the 2nd class, you will learn how to crochet granny squares, crochet in the round & understand basic crochet terminology.

Price: $40-Includes yarn and hook to take home
Class Length: 2 – two hour session
Instructor: Sandra Jean-Louis

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To sign up, simply call us at 416 691 6320 or pop in!

New Sock Yarn!

In my opinion there are two types of sock yarns 1. fancy pants handpaints and 2. work horse sock yarn. Each one has it's purpose but if I were to choose, I would always pick the work horse sock yarns. You know, the ones that last and last and last, can be accidentically thrown in the dryer and nothing happens to them. The ones that keep your feet super warm in the dead of winter. Yeah, that sock yarn!

Well we have one that is pretty unique - a limited edition sock yarn from Lang - Jawall Aktion sock yarn - a 75% superwash merino 25% nylon blend with 462 yards. One ball will make a pair of men's socks and cost $14.95.

Not only will these socks last a good long time, to ensure you get your wear out of them, Lang includes reinforcing thread to be knit with the yarn for the toes and heels.

We have 15 colours to choose from, they are all limited edition, once they are gone, they are gone!

New Sample - Monkey Sock!

Another sample hot off the needles - Cookie A's Monkey Sock Pattern found HERE.

10,143 is the number of Monkey socks knit by people on Ravelry. Why not join them? We did! This sock was knit using Dyed In The Wool Handmade hand painted sock yarn and boy is this one fantastic superwash merino yarn. It has 378 yards and cost $24.00!

I love Maggie's sense of colour and the yarn is oh so fantastic.

New Sample Alert - Simple Yet Effective Shawl

Yep, we are totally on a roll here, another sample is off the needles - The Simple Yet Effective Shawl, designed by Laura Chau.

We used two skeins of Aslen Trends Class, a viscose/cotton blend yarn. Although summer is pretty much over, this is a great yarn to use for shawls and scarves for those that do not want fibre that might over heat you. This pattern is easy to remember and can be altered on a whim. Any yarn can be used and can be knit to any size easily.

New Sample Alert - Rick From Sock Innovation

If you haven't seen Cookie A's Sock Innovation book, run, don't walk to the shop to check it out. We believe it has to be one of the best sock technique and sock pattern books around. Missy from the Painted Fleece, just finished the RICK sock and has loaned to us to show off her wonderful hand painted yarns:



We normally don't knit socks with our sock yarn as we want to show what else can be knit with it, but this time it is different - lets knit socks with sock yarn! Who knew!

Leaf Lace Shawl Pattern!

In the spring of 2009 Kate Atherley came into the shop to teach a class wearing one of the most beautiful shawls I've seen to date. I instantly fell in love with it and asked her if she had the pattern.

She said she didn't, but would write it up for us and knit a lace weight sample. Within two weeks, it arrived and a popular pattern was born! Emily knit it in a worsted weight yarn - Classic Elite Princess and it has now become our most popular pattern.

The shawl/scarf is a modern twist on a rectangular shawl, inspired by traditional seamen’s scarves. Large and simple lace motifs create an elegant shawl to complement both casual or formal attire. The scarf is constructed using a traditional method. Two identical halves are knitted separately, and then grafted together. Don’t be intimidated by the grafting – it doesn’t take long, and it’s absolutely worth the effort for a seamless look.



You can use just about any yarn to knit this with - customers have used Malabrigo worsted (did ya know - we just got in a bunch of new colours!), Baby Alpaca Sport, and Tanis lace weight!

New Sample Alert - Damson!!!

Another amazing pattern from Ysolda.com - Damson. This shawl/scarf pattern is easy to follow, the koigu a dream to knit with and knitting with addi needles always seems to put me in a great mood.

I used 2.5 skeins of koigu in a variegated colourway for some extra pizazz. Ysolda used one skein of Malabrigo sock yarn, which we stock, but koigu is such a lovely yarn that I couldn't resist knitting with it.

Pattern can be purchased and downloaded HERE.

ABC's

We all love Elizabeth Zimmermann's timelessly cute and endlessly fun to knit Baby Surprise Jacket, and subsequent Adult Surprise Jacket. Well brace yourselves because the 2 surprise jacket patterns are both available in the new ABCSJ book from schoolhouse press, along with a child version as well! Hooray, there is now a surprise jacket to fit everyone in the family (except your dog ;)

The handy little ABCSJ book will also shed some light on sizing the BSJ by changing your gauge...something that has always been a little mysterious to me. Without lacking in any Zimmermann-y gooddness that we have come to love, this blooklet clearly ( with colour photos!) shows how the BSJ is constructed and assembled. It even adds in instructions for afterthought pockets as well as collar and hood options!



And we have a bunch of them, so stop by to take a look for yourself!

I can't resist showing you this either...



We're so glad to see that you liked the Zauberballs that just came in, so we just brought in two new colours for you. Go crazy folks!

MALABRIGO

I know that I don't need to bother telling you just how much we adore Malabrigo...you already know. I'm just giving you a heads up that 9 new colours just came in! Yippeeee! We have restocked some of your favourites; polar morn, vaa, pearl ten, lavanda and more!



And most exciting of all (I think) we made sure to get a bunch of the lovely saphire green that I'm knitting "Wisteria" with.



I was starting to feel bad about shoo-ing folks away from my stash of sweater yarn, so this new shipment came just in time!

We also received a lovely selection of colours in Malabrigo's delicate and super soft lace weight yarn... At $11.95 a skein and 400 yards - it is a great deal! Make a scarf, sweater, cowl - whatever your heart desires - you will love knitting with this yarn.



Happy Knitting!

new yarns from Painted Fleece

Everyone loves cashmere, or at least I believe that they should! If you didn't already you will when you see Painted Fleece's new cashmere blend yarn! It is 80% superwash merino 10% cashmere and 10% nylon. Each 575 yard skein is just $28! We just got a lovely selection of colours in, all subtle variegated and super soft. Great for lacy projects, or a cozy pair of socks!





We have also re stocked Painted Fleece's merino/nylon sock, a super squishy yet durable yarn that comes with some impressive pattern support. Our own Sarah designed these lovely fingerless mitts...



And check out this awesome cabled hat from Wisehilda knits... Pattern is $5.00 and we have it at the shop.



We also have this super cute baby set pattern, each one is $5.00, using the Painted Fleece Merino/nylon blend sock yarn:



here is a better look at this lovely yarn. Each $24 skein contains 400 metres, enough for a generous pair of socks.



But don't wait too long, this yarn is going fast!

we love felted tweed

Have a look at this lovely new sample...



It is knit in Rowan Felted Tweed (which is an amazing yarn if you haven't had the pleasure of knitting it). This pattern is a clever little top down, guided by the genious of Barbera Walker and her amazing book "Knitting from the Top", you should get it ;)





The yarn in a sport weight blend of merino, alpaca and viscose, it comes in some lovely Rowan-esqe colours, and is perfectly tweedy! Can you tell that I love this stuff? The sweater I knit here took just 6.5 balls to knit on 3.5mm needles, and fits about a 38" bust; not too shabby eh? Hope you can make it in to visit this little beauty!

Zauberball

Another awesome sock yarn!







Zauberball, the cutest sock yarn you've ever seen, is new to the Sheep! Each generous 420 m ball comes wound into this adorable little ball...it looks like you did it by hand, but you didn't have to!

At the moment we have these 5 delicious colourways in stock, and each will knit long colors that fade into each other. The yarn in a 75/25 blend of wool and nylon (which we LOVE), and it is a single ply too...cool! Cost $21.60!!!

Brand New Silk Garden

Yipee! Hooray!

We are so happy to report that 10 brand new Silk Garden colous came in just yesterday. And these are not just new to the Sheep, they are new to the world! Thats right 10 new colours that you have never seen before, now you can understand our excitement!



Here they are in all their spleandour! In all we have 21 colours to choose from in this lovely worsted weight wool/silk/mohair blend. As one of Noro's most popular yarns, these new Silk Garden colourways have all the rustic charm you've come to love, in an all new selection of genious colour combinations!

You may remember the striped scarf Lisa made last winter in Silk Garden and Noro Cash Iroha...just in case you didn't, here's another look...





While shelving our new colours yesterday I found myself dreaming up new colour combinations (which are infinate, let me tell you!) Drop by to take a look at these lovely new shades, and perhaps create a new colour combo all your own!

You've been asking for an update...

and at long last, here it is...



My Wisteria sweater is comming along wonderfully! Just last week I seperated the arms and moved onto knitting the stocking stitch body of the sweater. I'm quite pleased to report that it's knitting quickly now that I'm finished with the cables. Because I'm knitting with Malabrigo I seem to want to spend every moment knitting (luckily for you customers I've been able to pull myself away from my knitting long enough to help you select yarn!)This is turning out to be a very soft and luxurious sweater!
I expect that I'll have the body done quickly, and then I'll be back to grumbling about cabling and having to concentrate. Until then you will find me gleefully knitting on the body next time you visit the shop!
I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress, and to all concerned, there will certainly be more of my lovely sahpire green colourway coming in! (which is much more splendid in person than in the above photo, you really must see it in person to understand!)

New Sirdar Patterns and Yarn

We received Sirdar's new Eco Wool DK Yarn, Book one and Book two:

I want to knit almost everything in these books with the Eco Wool DK yarn. Which one first????







Eco DK is made from 100% un-dyed virgin wool and only natural products have been used in the processing. The shades have been created by carefully blending the natural shades of raw wool. Each ball is $6.99 and has 109 yards. Recommended gauge is 22 stitches.

Baby Surprise Jacket

Another sample at the shop. One of our friendly wonderful Naked Sheep knitters, Becky knit this Baby Surprise Jacket with two balls and a bit of the third ball of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. If you wanted to make it with just two balls you can knit two less stripes. Or you can use the rest of the third ball to make baby booties.

Can you say Great newborn present?



Thanks Becky you are the best.

This BSJ pattern was designed in the 60's by a fab knitter, Elizabeth Zimmerman who to this day - her patterns are still knit and enjoyed by thousands of knitters around the world. At this point there are 8,991 BSJ projects on Ravelry. Check them all out HERE.

We have the individual pattern at the shop for $4.00 or you can purchase the Knitters Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmerman which contains other great patterns to knit!

New Sample Alert! Liesl is Done!

Here she is - Liesl.

Sarah knit us one more sweater before she headed off to school. She knit the 38" size and used exactly one ball of Cascade Eco on 7 mm needles and made few modifications to the sweater. After the sleeves were separated, she knit the purl rows to eliminate the purl ridges on the body.

This sweater is knit from the top down and you can use most yarns from a worsted to aran weight. Ysolda provides instructions for a shorter length sweater, a wide and high neck options and has great pictures of all styles on her site.

Pattern can be purchased here.

There are 1126 projects on Ravelry , join the craze and check out everyone's projects to see which style, colour and yarn would work best for you.

Here is Sarah's version she knit for herself - she used 3 skeins of Cascade 220, 7.5mm and knit the 46" size. I don't know about you, but I can't decide which colour to make for myself. A grey one? A purple one? The same colour as Sarah? Blue? Ack!!!