Shetland wool blog

Destined to be a Lace smokering Long dark days are ahead. winter is upon us. rejoice in all that is knitting.      The yarn has a beautiful soft handle to it so much so that it is of fine enough quality in texture & Luster to be either a smokering or beautiful flowing lace scarf.                      I'm never without a scarf or smokering. A scarf really adds the finishing touches to your outfit all you have to do is colour coordinate & if you get it just right adds a little bit of pizazz to you & your clothes !                      Now I'm not a white person. White on me makes me look Pasty ill, I'm more a Black person. I love rich dark colours, Moorit reds, browns & deep blues & solid Raven black etc. so if this smokering was going to be for me I would have to dye the yarn or dye the finished smokering to sooth my need for colour. Voila.....here are the choices: The dye really loves to soak into sheep wool. White sheep wool gives a t

And the winner is Lori Ann....congratulations please contact me at cottagecraftangora(at)Hotmail.com Next blog entry will be posted 3rd December. This month its all about smokerings......lovely soft lace smokerings knit from 100% pure Shetland yarn in natural shades & hand dyed colours too !

A Shetland work In Progress ! Been so busy making yarns, filling and shipping orders, making knitwear have not had time for blogging. Now that my shetlands are settled in to their cozy barn, the Ram Brae is busy doing his job on the ladies, all my little girls (gimmers=Virgins) are seperated and bed down for the winter at last i have a little more time to enjoy what keeping Shetland sheep is all about......lots of Gorgeous yarns & comfy knitwear. I started this week off with a fair isle throw knit in the yarns shown above. Pure Natural white and a light shade of gray in a beautiful lace weight yarn. I think i love Shetland yarn almost as much as i love Qiviut yarns.  Here is a little Glimpse of the Throw that i will send to the lucky winner. As you can see this is the back of the throw, you will have to wait until its finished to see the front. Here is a 100% Qiviut throw i made so you can see the quality of my work and how i love the details of FINISHING !  (To en

''spirit of Shetland Throw'' I had a really difficult time choosing just one name as there were so many great entries !   A big Thank you to all for helping♥ I think the given name sums up this throw as all the fiber came from Pure bred Shetland sheep (except for the small amount of 100% qiviut) and these little sheep are very spirited indeed. Will be adding the border to the throw over the next few days, adding the remaining blocks and writing the patterns with Finally a picture of the finished throw. well done Vanessa, please contact me so i can mail off your yarns Check out the October blog entry (coming soon), for 2 smokerings knit with our dreamy soft Shetland Tundra blend and the 2 winning entries get to choose the natural colour or hand dyed in your colour choice as shown below !

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 the same yardage & weight so the finished throw will be perf

And the winner is Poppy with her name ''Shetland Tundra'' we love Shetland and we love the Tundra so it had to be  Thank you poppy and Thank you to all who took part ! We had a very hard time picking the name as there were so many great entries. My next blog entry and giveaway is for a Shetland wool Sampler blanket to be posted in a few days

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 here is the shawl

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 3.75mm- US size 5 needles. The yarn is 8

Felted shetland mittens with lace cuffs ! Giveaway for February 2013.......i know i was supposed to be showing the shetland shawl but just have not had the time to clip and spin the wool. We are so busy in the mill working on 100% qiviut yarns, machine knitting orders and all the packing and shipping !  I hope to be able to have the shawl kit ready for the April Blog entry so do check back for that its worth the wait !!!!  All is not lost though, i have managed to work on these mitts from 100% shetland wool in this lovely 3ply in Rich Bordeaux......i Love how the natural Shetland wool takes the dye. Colours are clear and bright with wonderful stitch definition ! The mitts at the top are knit from Natural white shetland 3ply yarn with a little bit of fawn.....got no white left until i clip my shetlands on 24th feb ! The mittens are very thick and sturdy. I'm knitting them with 2 strands of 3ply held together and will soften up after i throw them in the dryer for 15 minutes

Winner of the January giveaway is ''HPOM''......pls contact me so i can mail out your yarns ! Check back for the February blog entry & shetland wool giveaway.....

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 !         The winter is on full blast here....4 feet of sn