Twofer Tuesday

As of just a little bit ago, I have two finished hats on this gloomy Tuesday.

This is a new design using one of my favorite breed-specific yarns, the Ross Farm's Shetland Sport. I didn't think I liked Shetland as a wool breed until I knit with this yarn. It's incredibly soft (the previous Shetlands I'd knit with were decidedly scratchy), and because it's yarn from the farm that's minimally processed, there's still a bit of lanolin left in the yarn, which has an added benefit of softening my hands as I work with it. The other thing I love about working with this yarn (and really any yarn from the Ross Farm) is that it's not only breed specific, but you know the actual sheep who supplied the fleece for the yarn -- the sheep's name and picture appear right on the label! The sheep who had a hand (hoof?) in making these hats are Marigold and Nassau. Marigold, the lighter of the two colors, actually supplied the yarn I used for my Smithfield Scarf, and it's interesting to see how she's gotten lighter in color as she's gotten older.

The pattern for this hat is in progress and (fingers crossed) should be on its way to my tech editor soon.

I've got more design knitting ahead, including some that I won't be able to show you, so would you settle for seeing some yarn that's recently joined the stash?

First, last week I finally got my very first skein of Voolenvine Yarns, and it was one I was really coveting. If you are a fan of indie-dyed yarns, then you've likely heard about the recent Tits Out Collective that many indie dyers were participating in. I tried to get my hands on a skein of Kristin's first batch but was too slow, and miraculously, I was successful in my second attempt. So now I have a skein on her Blitzed base (superwash Merino, nylon, and gold Stellina) to do something fun with.

I also received yarn late last week from an order from the Woolly Thistle for a Floozy cardigan. I decided to try out some Blacker yarn for this sweater (in part because I'd gotten a discount code from the Woolly Thistle that was good on some of their yarns) and picked out three colors of Blacker Classic 4-ply. The main color will be Pale Blue:

And for the contrast colors, I'll be using Mid Blue:

and Mustard:

While most of the yarn has been moved up to the stash room, I've got one ball of the Pale Blue patiently waiting in the bedroom to be used for a swatch. The pattern drops this Friday, so I really ought to get onto that!