Life LackaDaisiCal

Yes, MORE ARAN designs coming your way, this time from Martin Storey in his  "Easy Aran Knits" This design collection uses two Aran weight yarns.... Rowan's Fine Art Aran - now with 6 tonal shades added to the 8 hand painted original shades; and the new Super Fine Merino Aran - in a range of 12 sophisticated solids! The designs in this collection are classed as "easy", but that doesn't mean they are plain or heaven forbid, boring! "Clayton"  teams the casual sweatshirt style  (neckline detail, raglan sleeves... and a hand warmer pocket),  with the new "Super Fine Merino Aran" (Dusk 013) to reach a whole new level of casual sophistication! "Woolley"   is another "easy" raglan design,  with a knit/purl textured  allover check pattern. It is shown here in Fine Art Aran (Squirrel 002) "Saltaire" is a long "Coatigan" with side slit  deep bottom rib  and handy front b...

If you love knitting Aran weight yarn, you are spoilt for choice this season!  Rowan is introducing two new Aran weight yarns! First up - Hemp Tweed! Yes, HEMP! (75% wool, 25% hemp) I loved knitting with this....look at the soft tweed effect, beautiful stitches, a light feeling Aran! Another "breathable" combination....and the hemp keeps the knitted fabric from stretching out, while naturally softening with wear. Hemp sounds like a pretty amazing addition to wool (my favourite fibre). I LOVED knitting with this yarn (Yes, I know I've already said that!), so much that I'll be doing a bit of an "acid test" on it to see just how much I love it! (I've said it before, and I'll say it again....buy a ball of yarn, take it home, swatch with it, wash it, block it, rub it up a bit....see how it reacts. Is this a yarn you can live with? If it is, then it is worthy of your knitting time.) I'd buy this collection of designs by Lisa ...

So we're at Charleson House, in the workshop room.... and there is LOTS of yarn! a serious amount of yarn! +RowanYarns   Big Wool! And we've got Martin Storey, yes, THE Martin Storey! right there to lead the way...... not only did I have a weekend workshop with Martin, we stayed in the same hotel! .....it's Friday night, we've finally found our hotel and settled in....it's been a long day... and we're either going into or coming out of the dining room.... the front door opens and in walks this tall man.... "Martin Storey?" I ask.. "Why yes" he says..... about now he's wondering what he has got himself into... crazy stalking knitters in the same hotel! It wasn't surprising....not many hotels in Lewes.....but it was a fun coincidence. We gave Martin lifts to and from the workshop, had meals together...yup, spent the weekend together! A great teacher, is our Martin. He went around the table to make sure everyon...

My Swatch Cowl Trilogy is complete! This K4 P4 cowl really compliments this yarn.... This photo shows how this shade, Bachata 551  looks in stocking stitch.... (go to KnitRowan.com to see how the other shades of  +RowanYarns  Fine Art Aran looks in stocking stitch!) Sometimes it is hard to visualize how a skein of yarn will knit up.... that's why I highly recommend buying a skein or two and swatching.... you can always use a simple cowl to add to an outfit.... and they make great gifts.... with Christmas coming up fast, that can only be a good thing!

While I was waiting for the Rowan Yarns Fine Art Aran mini collection to come out....I've been knitting up one-skein "Swatch" cowls. Trilogies are all the rage - The Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, The Chronicles of Narnia....for more great books written in trilogy....go to  Goodreads  here... There are Trilogy movies too.....like the Jason Bourne series, the Mission Impossible movies and the Lord of the Rings trilogy! so I had to do one more to complete my own trilogy, a Trilogy of Swatch Cowls! This time I'm using a fabulous neutral shade called Bachata (no 551) Surprise, surprise.... I just got an e-mail from my LRS to advise....that.... the Rowan Fine Art Aran mini collection booklet has just arrived! (ahead of the January 15 release schedule!) Mini-collections are "vintage" designs reworked in new yarns... This one called "Dali" - it was Chippy by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan 27  This is the fabulous Lowry by Martin S...