May Newsletter Now Posted!

Our May newsletter is now posted and can be read HERE.

Highlights include:

• DKC Knitter's Frolic - May 8th


• Naked Sheep Annual Yarn Swap - May 12th


• Fun Classes


• New Yarn


• New Samples

If you don't receive our newsletter - get on it by clicking the pink square on the right sidebar.

pretty little knit

here I am modeling the cowl that I blogged about the other day





I love it so much! I'm just a little bummed that I won't be able to wear it until winter comes...its very soft and cozy!

I didn't have a pin handy, but I think it would look pretty folded and pinned up tight around the neck. Hmmm, have to wait for the cold weather to experiment.

NEW BOOKS!

I love when the mailman arrives at the shop - it always means new goodies have arrived. Lookie, lookie:

Toe Up Socks for Everybody, this site gives a great preview of the book, or if you want to be held in suspense, come to the shop and browse through the book, there are some awesome sock patterns to knit!

Felt Me A Smile. OMG, this has to be one of the cutest books EVER. Oh my goodness, you HAVE to come in and take a look at all the cute felting projects.

From the publisher:

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Cute, quirky, huggable, & lovable animal-inspired projects for crafters of every skill level! These 16 simple, useful, and wonderfully whimsical animal-inspired projects are guaranteed to elicit smiles all around.

They use felting, embroidery, crochet, and fabric-painting techniques and are suitable for crafters of all levels and interests thanks to the step-by-step photographs, templates, and stitch-by-stitch instructions. Fans of today's popular Japanese crafts as well as animal-lovers everywhere, will find these ideas totally irresistible—from the twinkle-toed poodle baby booties to the adorable pair of hugging bears.

Crochet Lace Innovations: 20 Dazzling Designs in Broomstick, Hairpin, Tunisian, and Exploded Lace - this is the type of book that makes me want to become a better crocheter! Lorraine our resident expert**, will be in love with this book, and I believe you will be too.


**(I don't give her this title lightly, Lorraine is an amazing crocheter and can fix ALL crochet errors, help you with reading the pattern and anything else you need to know!)**

a little progress

I think I've already shown you the cute little baby sweater that I'm kntting with Baby Cashmerino. the pattern is the Playful Stripes Cardigan By Alana Dakos of Never not Knitting. Cute!

Anyway, I thought I'd give you an update on my progress (since I'm always demanding them from you folks) here you go...










...at the moment the amount of ends that I have to weave in is terrifying me, but I think it will all be worth while. I'm super happy with the colours I chose, but have realized that all the colours of Baby Cashmerino look great together! You could close your eyes and grab 5 balls and they will always look good. At the moment I am finishing up the neckband, with just underarms to graft and a buttonband to knit...so close to completion.
I have made some modifications; I'm repeating the adorable picot edging on the neckband, i wanted some conitnuity from the bottom of the sweater...plus I love picot edging! I also plan on modifying the button band, no big deal, but I'll fill you in when I decide what to do there.

well, thats all for now!
happy knitting!

a very colourful WIP

So I think you've all heard about how much I love Noro's new laceweight cotton/wool/nylon/silk blend Sekku...anyway, I love it!

I'm knitting a baktus from 1 ball of colour # 8...it reminds me of crayons, what do you think?...

a very soft FO

I've just finished weaving in the ends on this super squishy sample...







...its the cashmere lace rib cowl from Purl Bee. Can I say, easy peasy?! Man this was quick to knit. I whipped it up while taking a break from a sweater that I am still not speaking with. The yarn I used is Viola Fancy Sock, which is 80% alpaca 10% silk and 10% cashmere.....its soooooo soft fluffy!

I used 1 full skein with just a few metres to spare!

Vaila!

Brenda, you amaze us with your awesome knitting skills! Look at the sweater Brenda just finished. It is Vaila from the Twist Collective site. All of Brenda's sweaters are knit top down, (a style that looks stunning on her) and most, if not all designs she knits are re-designed by her to knit top down style.

The original yarn Vaila is knit with is Malabrigo, a heavy worsted yarn, but Brenda knit hers with Mirasol Tupa, a DK weight yarn. No matter the project and yarn, Brenda will knit until the sweater is perfect. I love that attitude.

Go check out her Ravelry Project Page to look at all the fab sweaters she has knit over the years. I am proud to know you for almost 6 years girl! We met at the Sheep when it first opened and have remained friends since.

Felted Clogs!

look what just arrived at the shop....





... perhaps the world's favourite felted clog pattern, now available in a kit! Each kit contains the Fiber Trends Felted Clog pattern and two generous skeins of beautifully hand painted yarn to knit them out of! Great as a gift, or just a special treat for your own feet. Each kit is just $40.

Enjoy!

New Colours Amalfi

Just a heads up, a few backordered colours of Amalfi just arrived at the shop...





Amalfi is a lovely DK weight cotton/viscose/linen and silk yarn from Debbie Bliss. Each 50 gram ball has 100 metres and cots just $7.95!

I am in love with the colour on the bottom, to anyone who knowss me this is no surprise!

New Sample

Check it out...Lisa just bound off this cute little vest...







Its the Mondo Cable Vest from Chic Knits. She used 3 skeins of Estelle Cloud Cotton and 4.5mm needles. Lisa knit the 38" size, and the only mod she made to the pattern was to knit 4 cable repeats.

Classic Silk

Yippe, the summer yarns are just piling in here at the Sheep! The latest edition is Classic Elite Classic Silk...









...its a worsted weight cotton silk and nylon blend. Lovely, light and tweedy, this pretty yarn will knit up into a great summery garment! each 50 gram ball has 135 yards and costs $11.99.

Happy knitting!!

New Yarn from NORO!

Hey folks, take a look at Noro's latest summer yarn...







...Its Shirakaba, a light worsted weight silk/cotton/wool yarn. Working in a yarn shop that carries a lot of Noro, I hear people crying the blues about that one wacky colour that throws off every ball of Noro (I'm paraphrasing here...I kinda love those odd colours) Anyway, if you are one of those people who wants to know what you're getting when you look at a ball of yarn, this Noro is made for you! It still stripes, but very subtly. So you're getting the same colour all the way through; goodbye wonky lime green stripe!

you get 125 metres per 50 gram ball and each one costs $9.95. Awesome!

Learn to Knit Lace

We have a class coming up to teach you how to knit lace! Join Kate on May 30th and June 6th from 10am to noon to learn how to work lace stitches, how to read and understand lace patterns in both chart and written form.

Kate Atherley will provide tips, tricks and techniques to make lace knitting easy and fun. We’ll also talk about properly blocking and finishing your lace to show it off properly. By the second class, you’ll be well on your way to completing your first rectangular lace scarf or shawl!

Price: $40 + materials,Includes Leaf Lace pattern. Bring or buy at least 500 yards of worsted weight yarn & 5mm or 5.5mm needles.

Please note - You can only get this pattern at the Naked Sheep - it is an exclusive pattern design by Kate Atherley! If you would like to purchase the pattern online = GO HERE.

This is the scarf/shawl you will be making. We knit ours in with 5 balls of Classic Elite Princess!

New Knitscene 2010 Issue!

Sorry for the absence - don't know how the days flew by so quickly without blogging, with the shop being super busy, I guess it slipped our minds. Opps = I'm sure you will forgive us - lots of posts are scheduled for the remainder of the week, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, we received the new Knitscene 2010 Issue! See inside the magazine HERE.

This issue is full of patterns for the beginner knitter, but they are all so awesome, you will want to make them all!

Sprout Yarn

Here are some project ideas you can knit with the Sprout yarn we recently knit a baby blanket with:

The Bunny Blanket Buddy - you only need one skein!

How about some face/wash cloths? These are great to scrub deep, but not abrasive against your skin:

The Circle Washcloth - looks like a lot of fun to knit!








Or some crochet scrubbies: UPDATED TO INCLUDE PATTERN LINK.

There are a million and one patterns you can find online (okay, I might be exgratting just a bit, but there are alot you can find!)

We also have a lot of other cotton yarns you can use for these projects or anything else you have in mind that cotton is great for.

All Alpaca Yarn is 20% off!

Hey Naked Sheep knitters - all regular priced yarn with alpaca content is 20% off for the month of April. Only exception - Viola Fancy sock yarn is not included, no special orders, no holds.

Choose from our ever popular Alpaca Peru (think Fiddleheads, Baktus scarf, fingerless mittens - we have all of these knit up with this freaking fantastic yarn)

Why not our Baby Alpaca Sport - an aran weight 100% alpaca yarn that is heaven to knit with or our Misti Alpaca Lace or Sock yarn?

Customer Finished Object!

Suzy, one of our great Naked Sheep knitters spun Dyed In The Wool roving, designed and knit herself this awesome shawl:

Believe me, the colours in this shawl are awesome, just a bit hard to tell in the photo! Great job Suzy!

April Newsletter Posted!

Our April Newsletter is posted!

See all the great news happening around the Sheep in April!


CLICK HERE!

Spin Off Magazine Arrived.

This is an awesome magazine for beginner and expeirenced spinners! Check out their website HERE. Great free patterns, a forum and tips galore. Have fun.

playful stripes cardigan

We are just so smitten with the Never not Knitting patterns that recently arrived at the shop that we just couldn't wait to cast on! So I am knitting the playful stripes cardigan in my beloved Baby Cashmerino. I LOVE baby cashmerino! Knitting with it again has reminded me of just how soft and squishy this yarn is. Colour selection was a bit of an ordeal, just ask anyone who was in the shop at the time.

Anyway, here is a look at what I've knit so far...





This little sweater is the extreme of cuteness! And great if you have scraps of yarn to use up, because the stripes done use very much yarn. Pop in to visit the sweater in person, at the rate I'm knitting it will be finished before long.

NAMASTE

These bags are GORGEOUS! I love them so much that I considered running away with them...





But my conscience got the better of me and I put them back on the shelves (for everyone else to admire!)

So, here is the scoop. We got it a bunch of new Laguna bags and their newest style the Monroe bag. We have them in black, red, teal and eggplant...so pretty!!



Laguna bags are $75 and the Monroe bags are $85. These bags are perfect for knitters, they have great compartments inside for storing all your knitting notions, patterns and other bits.





We love these bags, and use them as our everyday purses...though there is always some knitting in the mix too!