We are busy knitting up alpaca samples in preparation for the Florida Alpaca Breeders Assoc. show on the 10th.  Mom was nice enough to knit this up for me.  It’s the tweedy topper from Knitters Fall 06, using Alpaca With A Twist Highlander in Birch and Braeberry. 

More colors…

Teenagers are quite…..funny.  When shopping with mine, everything I try to point out as nice and stylish, immediately seems deserving of a nose wrinkle.   When I want to haul my knitting to her basketball game….I’m told “But Mom, someone will see you!”

And yet…..

Oh my, Oh my!  It is truly Christmas when the delivery truck sets a box of Schaefer yarn down in front of me.  It’s usually opened before it hits the floor.

We received in several colorways of Miss Priss, Laurel and Martha.  They are breathtaking!

Here’s a pic of Mt. Laurel, 100% mercerized cotton :

It won’t be long before these hit the door!

Just a quick entry to mention a shipment of INOX needles we just received.

We carry straights, double-pointed and circular needles all in various sizes, in addition to notions.   

The circulars come in Express (similar to Addi-turbos, but with a more pronounced point), and then “The Grays” which have a tiny bit of drag for better control.  The gray needles are great for lace knitting, not so slippery.

All are available at The Local Needle.

Every once in a while I’m in need of that immediate satisfaction, so I’ll knit something small that can be admired, or I’ll knit something like this…out of bulky. 

October 06 Knit N’ Style, Winter Lace.  I’ve just bound off for the sleeves and hope to have this finished this weekend.  I’m using Alpaca With A Twist Big Baby in Autumn Leaves.

The yarn is kind of funny, in that you wouldn’t think to see florescent yellow in a color called Autumn Leaves.  And you don’t see it, unless you look real close, there’s even some hot pink and bright blue in there!

This yarn is incredibly soft, 100% baby alpaca. It’s a multi-strand yarn so you have that funny stitch definition, where the left side of the stitch creates one continuous column.

Daughter has an interview today and I’m hoping it’s a long one.  I could use the knitting time!

In preparation for my booth at the Florida Alpaca Breeders Assoc. (FABA) annual show, I ordered, and have now received in a bit more Alpaca With A Twist yarn. 

Sort of a mixture of winter and spring colors.

More Big Baby, 100% baby alpaca.  I’m currently knitting a sweater (I’ll try to post that later) using Big Baby, Autumn Leaves color.    Shown here are Purple Mystery, Run For the Roses and Cotton Candy.

Baby Twist, also 100% baby alpaca in Red Wagon, Alfalfa and my favorite, Lemon Zest:

Landscapes, is 30% silk and 70% baby alpaca.  Sort of has a barberpole look to it.  I replenished stock for Shimmering Sands and added Laguna.  I really liked the gray and red together.

For lace knitters, Fino.  Also 30% silk and 70% baby alpaca, but lace weight.  I have some beautiful shawl patterns on file for this yarn too.  The color, Yellow Ribbon shown here is a new spring color.  If I were to describe it… I’d say it was a mustard yellow, but that makes it sound ugly and it is far gorgeous for that.  Let’s just say its not a pastel yellow. Out of all the yarns that came out of the box, this one was my favorite. 

OK, so I lied, Highlander yarn is also my favorite too (45% baby alpaca, 45% merino wool the rest is microfiber and viscose) Highlander is a fairly new yarn put out by Alpaca With A Twist.  I received a sample of it at last year’s June TNNA show, but then just recently received the color card and info.  Mom’s making the Tweedy Topper, from Knitters Fall 06 using this yarn and I’m eager to see it. 

Now I just need to get a few samples knit up and I’ll be ready!  You can find more details about these yarns at The Local Needle.

And that’s exactly what this idea did - GROW!

Cornucopia is a 100% corn yarn.  I’m not entirely sure what they do to the corn to get it into it’s current yarn state, but I do know how one faithful Local Needle customer put it back into the state it was in, prior to being processed.

Look, little rows of corn!

This knitter thought it would be a brilliant idea to knit a sweater out of corn, have it look like corn, and have it worn by someone that works with corn!  She did all this for her chemist friend that makes biofuels and synthetics from corn. 

Anne used 14 skeins of Kollage Yarns’ Cornucopia to make approximately, a size 40 sweater.  She says the yarn knits up quickly and is much softer than most cottons. 

The ribbing was taken from Nicky Epstein’s Knitting on the Edge, an elongated “layered leaves” pattern.  Then she cut and tied the tassels from a piece of Flutter yarn. 

“I like to do something interesting for the ribbing, especially on a khaki stockinette sweater, and since it was corn yarn…”

She also showed great ingenuity when working in a dye lot mismatch…striping!

Anne has been knitting since college and her 35th reunion is approaching, so has a wealth of knitting experience!

Thanks Anne for sharing your wealth!

I just received our order in for Alpaca With A Twist. 

Mostly I was just replenishing my stock, with the exception of their new yarn Highlander. 

Oh my, it is VERY soft.  It’s (almost) half alpaca and half merino wool (10% is viscose and microfiber), a nice worsted weight.  I’ve always loved the look of tweed, and with flex of brown/black or white, this yarn is sure to make a beautiful sweater.

This yarn is magical!

I have been dying (is there a pun here, or just an incorrect spelling?) to see what this yarn looks like and cast on for a little test swatch.  The yarn is Lorna’s Swirl in dk weight.  The darker plies are 100% superwash merino.  The lighter ply is a blend of silk and non superwash merino.  The dye behaves differently with the superwash and non- superwash yarns.  That’s what gives it the barber pole effect.   

It has potential for being something grand!