More Great New Items in O~Wool!

Another beautiful book has come to our attention, Joanne Seiff has completed her latest effort, Knit Green. And has been gracious enough to include a beautiful project featuring O~Wool Classic. She also included a great quote in her recent e-mail to me:

"If you should have need of pattern support in the future, please let me know. Your yarn just jumped off my needles, I enjoyed it so much. How's that for gushing!?" - J.Seiff

The book provides both interesting projects and strong educational information regarding how to Knit Green. We are very pleased to be a part of this project.

Here is the sweater, shown in Saffron-

It does often strike us that we are lucky to work on such a wonderful mission with such talented and giving people. We are indeed very fortunate.

~Again, we must mention our KAL's on Ravelry~

We have reached October and have a brand new afghan square... Please join us before you get too far behind!

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/12-month-afghan-k-a-l-from-owool-and-woolen-collectibles

The sample show is in Tea Rose, O~Wool Classic.

There is also a second KAL going along on Ravelry.com
http://www.ravelry.com/groups/beautiful-balanced-bolero

This one for the Knitting Pure and Simple pattern by Diane Soucy. (see pictures below in the previous two posts)

We discovered a great stitch pattern, which looks fabulous in the Balance yarn while playing "knit-a-long" for this project. It is knit here in Agate, Malachite and Sunstone.

We think that we will have to come up with a nice design in Balance to incorporate this great looking stitch.

Don't you agree? Please let us know!!!

Happy Knitting~

Autumn has BEGUN...

Happy Autumnal Equinox~
It's time to snuggle down and knit away!

We have recently been lucky to be reminded how many talented people love to play with our yarn.

Vickie Howell and Adrienne Armstrong have just begun singing about their beautiful book AwareKnits from Lark Books,
with an Oct. 2009 release date...

The design "Global Warmth" features our O~Wool® Legacy Bulky,
shown here in Natural (undyed) 100% certified organic merino wool.... YUM!

Quick KAL reminders....

Joanne Cole's Beautiful Balanced Bolero group on Ravelry.com has begun... join in the knitting FUN and get a jump on a great Holiday gift...

we will be posting a link to make this fabulous matching button as well!

12 Month Aran Afghan continues on Ravelry.com with September, Square Number 2, it's not too late to catch-up!!!

shown here knit in O~Wool® Classic, Oatmeal...

Special thanks again to Tammy E. Thompson of Woolen Collectibles for this pattern offer, we have many people enjoying this project and learning new techniques for cabling and the ease of chart reading. We are very excited to be able to offer this to any 'raveler' who wishes to play along.

Here Comes FALL in Vermont!!!

Summer had finally arrived in full force of heat and humidity here in Vermont, and almost as quickly we are receving possible frost warnings... bring on the knitting weather.

We have been delighted at the reawakening of our shops' thirst for wool. The slow days of summer are transitioning to the brisk days of fall, and the approach of knitting weather. We have a little bit of news regarding Knit-A-Longs on Ravelry.com
and a couple of new patterns we are offering from an independent designer.

We will be following this with some exciting news about a couple of new colors in our Classic 2-Ply, fingering weight. And a free pattern for Christmas! I hope you all are doing well and looking forward to fall.

Knitting Along with O~Wool

12 Month Afghan "KAL"
I am amazed that we were at the magic number of 99 members on our KAL in less than one week. Thanks for so much enthusiasm for this project, let's see how many more people will join and how many of us we can get knitting together!
Here is the first square of a free project generously offered by Tammy E. Thompson of Woolen Collectibles (scroll down to see a couple of new patterns of hers we now carry).
I knit this August square up pretty quicky in Robin's Egg and I think it looks wonderful. This square, aptly named, "August Aran Afghan Square" took about 3 ounces of wool and is about a 12" square.
I have started a Ravelry Knit-A-Long for this pattern. I realize I am a bit late for August, but we will have to catch up over time!!!

And speaking of "KAL's" on ravelry.com... Beautiful Balanced Bolero

Bolero Adult or Child's version

FROM: Knitting Pure Simple

is being hosted by Joanne Cole, one of our wonderful sales reps. She works in MI, IN, OH and Western PA. If you do not know her, this would be a great way to 'meet' a retired engineer from the American Auto Industry who has transferred her brilliance and energy toward the hand knitting yarn industry.

She is welcoming anyone interested in knitting this pattern in either our Classic or Balance yarn.
We are coming along for the ride to help her get her version, in Balance 'Lapis', done for her daughter this Christmas!

Let's put our sticks together and make a great sweater for someone we love; a family member, a best friend, or... ourselves!!

Llyr

by Woolen Collectibles
We have added two great new patterns from Tammy E. Thompson to our independent designer collection. This elegant cabled swinging sweater was designed to be knit up in Classic, and is shown in Natural... here is a detail of the beautiful cable patterning:

Stor Mo Chroi
Treasure of My Heart
From Woolen Collectibles
This beautiful new pattern features our Legacy DK yarn and uses one skein of 2-Ply Classic on the lower border and neckline. She used Legacy DK 'Russet' for the Main Color, 'Gamboge' for the patterning and 'Slate', Classic 2-Ply for the lower border and collar.

Tammy Eigeman Thompson has done a lovely modern piece steeped in the tradition of Scandinavia and updated with modern touches. Named after a traditional folk song, it is sure to be a great gift or wardrobe addition!

We are working on a knit-up to lend to shops in a slightly different colorway...
I am using Legacy DK in 'Clay' for the Main Color, 'Lava' for the scroll patterning, and 'Rose Gold' in Classic 2-Ply for the lower border. It is lots of fun to knit. The pattern works in the round with steeks for the sleeves and a break in the work for the collar.

O-Wool's Marin goes for a visit

Last weekend Marin made a trip to southern Vermont to visit Knit or Dye at Rachel's request. Located right on Main street in beautful historic downtown Brattleboro, this light airy shop has been a popular spot for local knitters and tourists to Vermont alike.

Rachel opened her shop last fall, and has been experiencing quite a steady flow of business despite the economic slowdown. Her focus is local, sustainable and organic yarns with classes and projects in knitting, felting, crochet, spinning and dying.





She has devoted this quarter of her store to an O-Wool display area, and has a number of knit up garments on display as well.



Elizabeth Zimmerman's crafty and everpopular Baby Surprise jacket is here ...knit up in O-Wool Legacy DK. (There are over 8,000 projects listed in this pattern on ravelry!)





So Lets join in with Marin and Rachel! Say O-Wool all together Now!

O-Wool Balance Pattern "Andy"

In the spring issue of Knitty.com there is a free downloadable pattern of this sweater known as the "Andy". It is made with the O-Wool Balance, (50% organic Cottton and 50% Organic Wool) which is a light weight worsted yarn. I think most men who would find a heavy wool sweater too warm for indoor wear would really appreciate this comfortable sweatshirt like garment.



You can find this pattern at http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring09/PATTandy.php
The colors used in this model are agate (brown) and malachite (green).
Jillian Moreno has designed such an interesting garment. I love the leaf pattern, and the twisted rib that almost hides under the arms and against the sides of the body. The malachite bands are knit from another ball of yarn, with twisting of the yarn to prevent holes.

New Knitting Patterns from O-Wool

We are happy to share some new patterns!

The Elements in Balance pattern is now available. This lightweight summer vest is made with our 50% organic cotton and 50% organic wool yarn called Balance. When I was originally designing this vest I used 4 colors which represented the Elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. And as I knit I had time to contemplate the balance of these elements here on our own Earth.



For this pattern release we used a different "Fire" only version of the "Elements" as our photo shot.



We also have our first two Legacy Patterns available. We used the Bulky O-Wool Legacy to make this Fun Earflap Hat in the color Grove. This is a quick knit up, uses just one skein of yarn, and can be worn with flaps down, tied, or bomber style tied up over the top of the head. You can see Courtney of Rosie's Yarn Cellar wearing hers in the blogpost below.



In the DK weight we have Marin's beautiful new Entrelac Pillow. This "interwoven" design is knit in the entrelac style, doing successive small rows of knitting. The end result is truly wonderful. You can find more information about entrelac knitting at many sites such as this one:

http://www.needlepointers.com/displaypage.aspx?ArticleID=34263&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwolfandturtle.net%2fYarnpath%2findex.php%2fYarnpath%2fcomments%2fall_aboard_the_entrelac_express%2f





The back of the pillow makes it possible to remove the pillow from its cover.


Finally, we are very close to releasing the pattern for a wonderful capelet which was designed by Joanne Cole and took first prize in our Danforth Button contest last year. It is knit using our Classic O-Wool worsted weight yarn, and uses three colors: these are willow, evergreen and rust.

The border of the capelet is finished in lacy crochet. Marin had never done crochet before, but found the crochet directions easy to follow, with great results.





Marin knit up the caplet in these colors: plum,sky and cornflower, which also look very nice. The beautiful buttons are Danforth Pewter, in a design called Celtic Knot. We are so very lucky to have Danforth Pewter as our neighbor!

Marin visits Philadelphia

Cathy Campbell, who has been our hand knitting yarn manager for the past 3 years has left us to pursue married life closer to her home in New Jersey. We will miss her wonderful loving style and wish her well in all her new projects. She is looking forward to staying involved (in a more part time way) in the world of knitting.

In the meantime, here at O-Wool in Middlebury VT, we welcome Marin Melchior to our routine. Marin is an avid (as in VERY avid) knitter who started knitting right after she learned to walk. Besides her great technical skills, she also has a vibrant, energetic sense of color. The one word I would NEVER use to describe Marin is boring. She always has a new project underway, (an older one to finish), a new idea, a pattern to tweak, a book to buy and a swatch to experiment with. She is a wonder, and it's great to have her working with us.



Last week Marin met with Cathy as they visited Caledonian Dye Works in Philadelphia. This is the dye house that dyes our yarn, and you can see Rick with his welcome smile outside the magestic entry way.




Inside the lighting wasn't really good enough for photos, but Rick gave them a tour of the large dying vats, and explained how the dye is washed back and forth through the skeins.

After the skeins are dyed they need to be wound into the right yardage for the small skeins that a customer will purchase. This winding is done by Bill Clemson, just a short distance away in another large cavernous building.




Here Bill is measuring out the correct yardage on some Classic Natural O-Wool yarn. Later these will be twisted and tagged by us here in Middlebury. Then they are finally ready for retail sale.

Speaking of retail sale, Marin and Cathy did get a chance to visit Rosie's Yarn Cellar in Philadelphia where they were greeted very enthusiastically by Courtney!




Courtney modeled her new O-Wool earflap hat, and held up some of the cozy yarn.