Fibres West this weekend!

New from WildWestDye

One of the many nice thing about a Fibre Show is that it really puts a rocket up your you know where to dye up some new colours, and make some new samples (for those of you who don't know, I'm the yarn dyer of WildWestDye)

The marination of ideas probably starts in December, nothing is concrete, ideas come and go, you want something new, but what exactly is it. And if I let myself sit in my marinade, there at the back of my mind, not forgotten, but not agonizing over, the idea will come.

I had a *fabulous* time crochet-ing Sophie's Universe, so what then felt somewhat obvious once thought of, of course I should dye a colourway inspired by my Sophie's Universe blanket, and so came to life Flower Fairy.

All of WildWestDye's yarn are dyed with Natural Dyes, Flower Fairy starts with being twisted and dyed in Indigo, then retwisted for another dip in the vat. Next up the yarn is immersion dyed in Weld + Myrobalan (yellows) to get the green. Then to hand paint the 'flowers'. To decide on the blends, I laid out 8 of the flower colours I used for my blanket, and mixed up 8 different extracts, some I'd used before and some new.

The skeins were then hand painted in stripes of 3 randomized flower colours, and once all applied the skeins are steamed to set.

Flower Fairy has been dyed on three bases, Merino/ cashmere/ silk DK, Singles fingering, and Mohair Silk. Only the mohair silk is limited edition, there's 12 cakes and once it's gone it's gone. This will be first available at Fibres West, then in store from Sunday.

Of course I had to make a sample, Flower Fairy looks great in a plain stockinette, or regular crochet, but, I wanted to add a bit of something to keep me engaged whilst knitting. I knew the colour could handle a simple eyelet pattern, so I spent a few weeks hunting down something whilst I was dyeing, washing and drying the yarn.

Rigmor Tee (Ravelry link) by PetiteKnit was the winner, it was a fun knit, and I loved the rounds of flower like eyelets!

More inspo: all Ravelry links

Calx Sweater by Kayen-itee

Starburst Sweater by Kay Hopkins

Pop Crop cardi by Ambah O'Brien

Anker Sweater by PetiteKnit

Basic Raglan Sweater by Joji Locatelli

Gullane Tank by Ysolda Teague

All Season Vest by Noriko Ichikawa

Friday Slipover by PetiteKnit

And a *perfect* design was recently released by Sous Knits, Mermaid Vest (Ravelry link). I'm going to be making my sample with DK instead of Aran, and I've got a swatch knitted up with the mohair that I'll be bringing to Fibre's West.

Silk/ Merino Sport

50% silk/ 50% merino sport weight, 300m/ 100g yarn from WildWestDye is also back. This is a *beautiful* base, and the shine from the silk is just stunning. I dyed 14 colours, inspired from Monet's paintings, think flowers, glistening water, and seas of green. Again, this will be first available at Fibres West, then in store from Sunday.

I just had to make a new sample of course, and Alula (Ravelry link) by Natasja Hornby was just perfect! I choose short sleeves, and picked up more stitches for the neckline (120 vs 96ish) for an open neck summery feel. I love knitting textures, and this sideways knit was a lot of fun.

More inspo: all Ravelry links

Spring Sorrel by Wool & Pine

Kuutar Top or Kuutar Tee by Sari Nordlund

Sommerknus by Elsebeth Judith

Staple Linen Top by Joji Locatelli

Aliso Creek Top by Irina Anikeeva

Senecio Top by Ksenia Naidyon

Koigu

Hot off the needles, Venation Shawl (Ravelry link) by Ambah O'Brien, made with the beautiful Koigu Pencil set in Mojito!

We'll have all the beautiful Pencil boxes with us, as well as Koigu's 50g fingering KPPPM!

There are so many fun things you can do with a Pencil Box set!
Koigu have a collection of patterns you can browse through on their website, and I've been looking through Ravelry for inspiration too, for both the sets and the stand alone yarn.

All Ravelry links:

Striation Scarf by Ambah O'Brien

Free your Fade by Andrea Mowry

Sea Glass Cowl by Wool & Pine

Chevron Cowl by Shannon Sanchez

Extra Lite Bright by Wool & Pine

Luminos Tee by Yamagara

Yarnbox by Donna Higgins

Olivia Shawl by Toni Lipsey, a stunning Tunisian Shawl

You can take a look at all my favourites so far in this Ravelry Bundle.

Leo & Roxy

We will have the beautiful Leo & Roxy with us, and I was really happy to get the Anniversary samples finished, Tassels in the Sky Shawl (Ravelry link) by Vincent Villapando and Basic Raglan Sweater by Joji Locatelli.

More insp: All Ravelry links:

Espace Tricot Chevron Cloud (Ravelry link) a free pattern which ebbs and flows in a straight forward yet stunning design.

Chelsea in Paris (Beret) by Christina Lundborg

Oslo hat by PetiteKnit

Musselburgh by Ysolda Teague

Paddle (fingerless gloves) by Tincanknits

Curvette Shawl by Stephen West

Novice Sweater by PetiteKnit

Alder Grove by Samantha Guerin

Wave of Change pullover by Denise Bayron

Hand Maiden

The beautiful Hand Maiden Flyss will also be with, check out inspiration for this base here.

Embroidery & Cross Stitch

And of course we'll be bringing our Embroidery, Cross stitch kits, and Needle minder's galore with us!

We're in booth 106, take a look to the left when you walk through the door, we're booth sharing with our Sisters Baaad Anna's!