Ellison Lane Bags and The Periwinkle Sheep Yarn

Happy mail day! These colors just scream Spring to me. Ellison Lane's Ellie bags are the perfect size project bag for your knitting or crochet. The Periwinkle Sheep has updated her shop with luscious mohair lace weight and vibrant speckled aran weight yarn.

Yarn Review: Vinni's Colours Bambi Yarn, Crochet and Weaving

I am picky when it comes to cotton yarns. Cotton can be hard to work with because it lacks elasticity. I was pleasantly surprised when I started crocheting with Bambi by Vinni's Colours. It was cool to the touch and smooth. The yarn is a blend of 70% cotton and 30% bamboo viscose. It crocheted so easily and it was enjoyable to work with.

The yarn is textured with parts of it being thick and thin. As you can see, it crochets up pretty evenly.

Cotton yarns can be very difficult to weave on a pin loom. The 3 layer warp plus the 4th weaving layer can be tricky to execute if the yarn does not have much elasticity. I warped the Schacht Spindle Co Zoom Loom with a little slack. It got a little tight at the very last row when I wove it, but it wasn't hard at all. I know for next time, I will give the yarn more slack when I warp it.

I think it wove up nicely on the Zoom Loom. The thick and thin of the yarn gave the finished square some texture. I would definitely use this yarn for weaving, crocheting and knitting. The yarn is all hand dyed and comes in many delightful colors.

Yarn Review: Filatura Di Crosa SOLOCASHMERE

I recently had the opportunity to try a cashmere yarn from Filatura Di Crosa. They are an Italian luxury yarn brand. Solocashmere is a fingering weight 100% cashmere yarn. It comes in 25 gorgeous colors. As you can imagine, cashmere is very soft. I wanted to make something with it that would be worn close to the neck.

This is a fingering weight yarn, but I had a feeling it would weave up nicely on a 4" pin loom. The yarn is made of many strands and plied. It has a soft halo. I used a Zoom Loom from the Schacht Spindle Co to make a test square and I really liked the woven fabric. The test square showed me the yarn bloomed and filled in the spaces. I was able to weave 11 squares from 1 ball of yarn.

I played around and decided to use 6 squares to make a close fitting cowl. I seamed all the squares together like above first. This way I can check the fit. This size actually fits me and my two daughters. After that, I joined the two ends together.

For the bottom of the cowl, I single crocheted around and I added a crocheted pom pom at the point of the cowl as I went around. The little pom pom is cute and decorative.

I think a crocheted edging gives a nice finishing look to pin loom projects. The crochet hooks I used are from Knitter's Pride. I used a 4.5mm hook.

Look at my cutie pie wearing her new cowl. It is so soft and light. This is going to be perfect to keep her neck warm.

She loves it and is super excited to wear it to school. I love that I could use one ball of Solocashmere to weave a cozy cowl. My older daughter has requested I make her one also.

Thank you to Filatura Di Crosa for letting me review your yarn. Molte grazie!

Yarn Review: Dale Garn Lerke Pluss

Today, I am reviewing Dale Garn's newest yarn, Lerke Pluss. The yarn was provided to me for review from Heart of the Mitten. They are a online store and yarn shop located in Michigan. Now, they are the exclusive US retailer of Dale Garn.

Lerke Pluss is a blend of 53% Merino wool and 47% Egyptian cotton. My first impressions when I touched the yarn was that it was soft, smooth and cool to the touch. It has a soft ply. There are many strands plied together and the color has a marled look.

The yarn is easy to knit with and it went smoothly across my needles. I have to say it didn't feel like I was knitting with cotton. It had plenty of elasticity because of the merino wool. It has a very nice feel as you are knitting with it.

I used size US8 needles and it was perfect for this yarn's gauge. It knitted up very quickly. The knitted fabric is soft and stretchy, but it still had structure. It wasn't floppy. I also liked the texture of the knitted fabric.

My second test for the yarn was to crochet with it. I used a size 5mm crochet hook. It was easy to crochet with this yarn. It works up quickly and is very smooth. Some times you have to be careful of the plies splitting a little if you don't pay attention as you are crocheting, but it wasn't difficult to manage. The resulting crochet fabric is smooth and stretchy and not stiff at all.

Lerke Pluss would be a great year-round yarn for many projects. I could see myself using this for baby garments. Thank you to Heart of the Mitten for sending me this yarn to play with.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Everyday Fingering in Northern Lights from OnTheRound Yarn

 

Swatching

 

Crochet

 

Coffee Mugs I recently saw at Home Goods.

 

Cute cat stitch markers from a Instagram friend.