A New Yarn from Brooklyn Tweed – Peerie is Here!

We are unpacking our first shipment of a brand new yarn from Brooklyn Tweed. It’s called Peerie. Hailed as being the softest of all the Brooklyn Tweed fibres Peerie is made of 100% merino wool. It is a fingering weight yarn – just the perfect thing for colour work patterns but with a bouncy twist that will make crisp cables and textures too.
Like all Brooklyn Tweed yarns Peerie is made entirely in the USA. The sheep are breed in Utah and Nevada and the wool is spun to perfection into a smooth 4-ply construction in Maine.
We have 9 colours of Peerie now nestled into the Knit Café shelves, 9 more will be coming any day and even more colours in the next few weeks. We wil keep you informed.
To coincide with the launch of Peerie, Broooklyn Tweed has created a new hat pattern called Lucerne. They have also released several of their other patterns with new specs suited to Peerie – Afton, Ashland, and Boardwalk.

Craftily yours
Kristin

 

Reclaimed Cotton Yarns

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reinvent, Reinvigorate, Rejoice!
The Knit Café has two new products that hit all these notes.

Billie Jean Yarn by Wool and the Gang
It’s made from all the bits and pieces left over when making your favourite pair of jeans. All these off-cuts would otherwise end up in landfill but they have been repurposed and spun into this gorgeous cotton yarn. All the colours are variations of blue as no dyes or chemicals are added to the fibres.
This is a lovely cotton that will make comfy garments perfect for Spring and Summer wear.

     

Jersey Be Good by Wool and the Gang
Is also made from remnants left over from textile manufacturing. In this case it is surplus t-shirt material that is remade into yarn. Cotton with a wee bit of elastane has amazing crafting potential for imaginative souls. Knit it or crochet it into household goodies like pillow covers or puffs. Make it into hand bags and bins and hampers of all kinds. Macramé your heart out and make wall hangings and plant holders and jewelry. Add it to your tapestry weaving for a chunky textural treat. Iwona has already taken some home to remake her Chevron Rug Project of years past. You can find that pattern HERE.

Both Jersey Be Good and Billie Jean Yarn are in The Knit Cafe’s webshop!

Craftily yours
Kristin

Nothing says Happy New Year like Hedgehog Fibre!

Our Happy New Year present has arrived and it’s a big box of Hedgehog Fibre Yarn! Our lucky day is also a lucky day for you if you are also a fan of this hand dyeing enterprise.
Hedgehog Fibre has rocked the yarn landscape with their amazing colour explosions like fireworks!

27 colours of Hedgehog Fibre Sock are now in stock. This yarn is great for socks or shawls or SWEATERS! WOW! wouldn’t that be great!

In addition to the glorious colour ways that Hedgehog Fibres regularly stock they also create whimsical limited edition colours they call “Potluck” colours. The Knit Café has 4 of these potluck colours! See them above. There are only four of each so come in soon if they strike your fancy.

We also have 10 delectable colours of Merino Aran. This extra squishy two ply yarn screams HAT! to me, but you decide.

Craftily yours
Kristin

Brioche-ing!

There are so many beautiful projects made with brioche-stitching out there right now. Brioche patterns look almost like ribbing stitches but with this technique and two colours you can make a fully reversible fabric that far surpasses good ol’ rib in its scope.

We are still in love with the beautiful Crosshatch Scarf pattern we made last year from Brooklyn Tweed’s Woolens Collection.

There are a few Indie Pattern Designers that are just brioche-crazy, in a good way. One of them is Stephen West, who has many brioche patterns, hats, scarves, sweaters and wraps including the one pictured above called Briochevron Cowl and Scarf

Andrea Mowry has some gorgeous patterns too including this fantastic hat called Vintage Prim.

Then there are some very advanced brioche patterns out there like this one by Lesley Anne Robinson. It’s called Dandelion Fields.  

There are also more simple one like the Brioche Bandana Cowl by Lavanya Patricella.

All four of these designers have many more brioche patterns in their lexicon, I encourage you to check them out if you are interested in this kind of knitted fabric. If you are intimidated to start your first Brioche Pattern all on your own then you are in luck, we have a class for that, and it’s this coming week!

Brioche Knitting Class

Wednesday October 11, 18, 6:30-8:30pm

Register HERE

In this class we make this cute and serviceable cowl. Explore brioche stitching in rounds with both one colour and two colour techniques. Learn to recognize your stitches and fix your mistakes.

Craftily yours
Kristin

Custom Colour from Riverside Studio

Super Sock from Riverside Studio is here!

Included in this batch is The Knit Cafe’s exclusive colourway called Firefly. This is the colour that we designed with Kathryn from Riverside Studio in Quebec for our yarn club members. We loved it so much!

It seems like a lot of others loved it so much too. We saw so many disappointed faces when we told people it was unavailable. The answer to this torment we decided was to ask Riverside Studio to dye us up a new batch of the custom colour but this time make it sock yarn!

The original batch was a soft  one ply worsted only for Yarn Club 2016 members. We knit it up into our Starry Night Chapeau pattern ↑
This new batch is Super Sock, a fingering weight yarn that would be outstanding knit into light weight garments and of course, into socks. We have a limited supply of the “Firefly” colour-way so come in soon to get yours.

I bet you know what this is for ↑
It’s Riverside 4ply worsted in a colour called Flamingo – ripe and ready to become PUSSY HATS! Meow!

Craftily yours
Kristin

What we’re making

Iwona and I both, have just finished projects.

Because we can’t get enough of the Sashiko Pattern, Iwona knit up another version. The Sashiko Pattern can be knit into a cowl but it can also be knit into a scarf. Here it is in the scarf version in a poppy pink and a graphic black and white mix. So pretty!

With the Sashiko you mix and match your favourite colours of Shibui Silk Cloud (silk and mohair) and Madelinetosh Prairie (merino) to get yourself a decadent masterpiece!

Here are some mix-and-matchables that are in shop right now. ↑

I just finished this ↓

This big guy is called Snoqualmie. It is a Brooklyn Tweed Pattern from the Winter 2016 Collection made from Brooklyn Tweed Quarry. What knitter does not want to make a classic fisherman sweater? I certainly did, and I can’t wait till it gets chilly enough to wear it. Fall come soon!

You can find the Snoqualmie pattern HERE

Brooklyn Tweed has just released it’s latest patterns -Fall 2016! Check it out HERE

Craftily yours
Kristin

New Weaving Class!

Today I created a brand new window display featuring the work of Edie Kim.
Edie is a very talented crafter who teaches many classes here at the Knit Café – quite brilliantly too!
She is about to teach another one.

Weaving!

If you are like me, then you have been transfixed by the influx of beautiful examples of hand woven wall hangings that seem to be popping up everywhere. It’s a whole new way of playing with fibre!
Edie has made us some beautiful examples that are now hanging in the shop. Would you like to make a wall hanging of your own?

The Knit Cafe’s is hosting it’s very first Weaving Class this October. Our class is quite unique. Students will not have to invest in expensive looms to create there first hand woven pieces. Instead we will be making our own simple tapestry looms in class. All the materials for your DIY looms are included in the class fee.

The Knit Café will also be putting together some yarn and fibre, tapestry weaving, sampler packs just for students in this class. This is a great option for those new to the textile arts but for knitters and crocheters who have yarn and fibres in bits and bobs in your stash you can start planning your woven masterpiece around your favourites.
Here are the details:

Tapestry Loom Weaving Class

Sunday Oct 16, 2-5pm and October 23, 2-4pm

Register HERE

Craftily yours
Kristin