Shetland wool blog

Cables & Wool......with Qiviut. Today is a cheeky day off work day, a 'last of the summer wine day.. ...watching summer wine DVD's all day while knitting cables. This show really relaxes me & I find i knit much faster with the old guy's playing away in the back ground getting up to their tricks. The Yorkshire Dales is a beautiful setting too & that has a lot to do with me watching the show, rolling hills, sheep grazing...lambs bleating. I know November is cable month but to me they can be knit any month of the year. 2016 I plan on knitting only Yummy Cables with my Shetland wool; big & Chunky cabled hats, cabled neck warmers, cabled sweaters, cabled leg warmers & possibly a shawl or two. And here's a random picture of my cat Napoleon......he's huge, weights in at 19LB's   The ''Bressay'' headband above is knit wider than most cabled head bands. Measures 6.5'' inches wide so its a good size & will...

I LOVE MY WARM BOOT SOCKS...... It's that time of year again, socks are coming out of the sock draw faster than i can knit them ! Can't complain, had a wonderful summer, my grand daughter Ruby is a joy & my sheep all had healthy happy lambs with beautiful fleece.....life is Good ! Back to the socks...I just love how Shetland wool socks are kind to your feet. The only drawback is they are not very durable unless they contain 25% Nylon. I can not bare the thought of adding this awful disgusting man made fibre to my yarns so i came up with the idea of adding kid mohair/silk yarn to the sock for durability. Kid mohair is tough. Its soft & tough. The silk too is very strong & adds some sheen & Luster to your knitting.              This past summer i introduced a new qiviut sock that contains kid mohair/silk & customers tell me they are very durable compared to qiviut alone so why not try the same with the Shetland wool socks. S...

Beautiful Heather ! After the dark long winter we have been through in North America we could all do with some much needed colour. The photo above is some very Beautiful heather found in the British Isles.  I don't know about you but that colour makes me smile & my Spirit Soar !   And here is the Shetland Heather lacy glove kit that is a Warm welcome on a fresh Spring morning ! Knit circular on 3.5mm's with all over lace stitches that add such a feminine touch to the open fingered gloves. 100% Organic Shetland wool is light & airy & Perfect for all seasons. There is something very comforting about pure organic wool yarn & Knitwear that you DO NOT get with crappy Acrylics. Crappy Acrylics are just a waste of knitting time. In no time at all knitwear looks shabby... like its been to hell & back so what do you do....put it in the garbage....more crappy land fill ! Wool on the other hand is well worth your knitting time & Healthier for you ...

Shetland Wool Sampler Blanket. Been years since i knit a wool Throw & i thought its about time i knit another ! In the past i have knit throws from crappy acrylic, scratchy old sheep wool but the best were knit from soft Buffalo yarn or musk ox wool. Every throw has been gifted to friends or Family or sold as a custom knit order. Our kids grew-up wrapped in hand knit throws & to this day they still mention them from time to time.  I'm sure when this is finally finished there will be heated debate over who gets to keep it ! The Natural colours i have chosen to work with are  100% shetland in Musket colour(sample on needles shown above), 100% shetland yarn in light grey,  100% shetland in pureWhite ?,(Not sure about the white)  50% very black shetland blended with 50% grey angora rabbit, Shetland Tundra yarn in natural greyish brown with qiviut, 100% magical qiviut in 3ply ....all spun...

Name That Yarn This is it....our newest shetland yarn blend. A lovely soft squishy 3ply, sold in 50 gram skeins. Contains 85% shetland lambs wool-15% qiviut-Musk ox, at $9.95 a skein its not too pricey. the natural colour is a greyish brown looks quite similar to qiviut yarn in its natural state so would make a gorgeous looking, soft feeling, warm shawl, i blended long 4'' inch qiviut into this batch so we should have a lovely Halo with age....yum.....we can also dye the yarns to any of these shades below if greys not your thing ! if you dont know about qiviut this is where it comes from this hairy bugger ...... its soft warm down from the musk oxen who live close to the Arctic circle. Their fibre is 8 times warmer than sheep wool and extremely soft and lofty....its a  knitting Luxury that is well worth the investment ! to visit my musk ox blog go here: www.theqiviutblog.blogspot.com  every month we have a giveaway so do check it out ! .....and he...

The two winners from February giveaway drawn at randon are: Michelle and Dragonxser......congratulations, pls contact me so i can mail you your kits.   The March blog giveaway is for another shetland mitten kit. I had some Hunter green left over and thought this would be perfect for my new mitt pattern.......we are all sick of winter and some lovely green is just what we need....hang in there its almost spring !   I have a few shades of green. You could choose: Evergreen, key lime, Blue spruce(not shown) the colours are true and as the name suggests or Hunter green shown above ! Or scroll down to choose another Glorious colour listed.   This is the new mitt pattern. Cabled Cluster stitched cuff and smooth palms.....easy to knit! In the kit you get the pattern and a 100 gram skein of your colour choice. decided to add the pattern to this post, you'll find it at the end of this post ! You will need 4mm- US size 6 and 3....

Feather and fan scarf with beaded closure Happy new year......another year gone already !   This months giveaway is for the yarn and beads to knit the scarf shown above. Easy feather and fan pattern, old shale stitch, Victorian lace stitch however you like to call it it is so lovely and this scarf has a beaded slide closure so the scarf can be knit shorter as there is no need to wrap it around your neck. Slip both ends of scarf into the tube and slide up to neck.    The yarn is a natural grey and from the softest grey fleece that i purchased on the internet.....its not very soft but i dont know what soft is anymore as i always have my hands in qiviut fiber and once you touch that nothing else can compare softness wise. I rubbed it against my neck and as far as sheep wool goes its not too scratchy ! it would have been much nicer if i had blended the batch with either qiviut or Angora but its too late now !     ...

To Find the Lotus hat pattern pls go to the ''knitting patterns'' page above. Here is the link to the pattern: www.shetlandwool.blogspot.ca/p/knitting-patterns.html That will be the page that i post all free patterns to ..... go see ! Over the coming months i will try and list as many shetland wool patterns as possible so you always have something to knit in lovely Affordable shetland wool You might also want to check out my other blog www.theqiviutblog.blogspot.com  for a chance to win some Luxurious qiviut-muskox yarns ! The September and October blog will feature the Lotsu Hat Kit in 50% qiviut-50% merino and a Lotus 'Circle scarf'....... enter for your chance to win some gorgeous yarn to make this soft warm hat for yourself or to gift to someone special ! Link to the Ravelry KAL for the Lotus hat: www.ravelry.com/groups/lotus-hat-knit-a-long