It's a Love Fest

A little housekeeping to do before my post:

Don't forget to enter to win some yummy yarn! A skein of Brooklyn Tweed's Shelter Yarn in the colorway Woodsmoke could be yours if you do one or more of the following...

1. Leave a comment here on Monday's blog entry
2. Become a follower of this blog
3. Join our Mighty Distractible group on Facebook
4. Follow us on Twitter

Winner is announced Friday! Good luck!

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Last night I realized something as I was pouring over my project list on Ravelry. I never did follow up with you on my little boy cabled sweaters I knitted for the winter holidays. There was a promise of a follow-up here and I totally spaced it. Oops!

The perfect sweaters for spring...who knew?

But, it's actually okay. In Wisconsin May is chilly, so my littles have been wearing these sweaters nearly every time they go outside these days. Way more than they did over the winter months. I'm so glad I chose bright green and blue cotton yarn because it is so appropriate for spring. I think I might make this sort of choice again next fall when I plan their next sweaters.

The yarn, Classic Elite Provence, was spendy, but worth every penny. What a dream to knit. I have used cotton many times and this was by far the least "splitty". The colors were so vibrant and fun that I never actually tired of them after all those hours of cabling. And speaking of the cables, wow did they pop with this yarn. This was the recommended yarn for the pattern and I'm so glad I didn't try to substitute it with anything else.

This blue is amazing.

The pattern itself was just spot-on. All directions were clear and perfect. A FREE pattern (aptly named Provence Child's Pullover) published by Classic Elite. How awesome is that? The cables were simple and I think anyone experienced in sweater construction who wants to try their hand at cables should consider this pattern. It took some time to follow that chart, but the results are well worth it.

Loved the yarn and loved the pattern.... love the little sweaters!

–Cassandra

Our First GIVEAWAY!

Cassandra and I are proud to announce our very first give-away! One skein (140 yards) of Shelter yarn by Brooklyn Tweed in the colorway Woodsmoke, Lot 02.9902.

From the label of the yarn:

100% American wool. Grown in Wyoming. Spun in New England. 

Shelter is an artisnal, woolen-spun yarn made from the fiber of Targhee-Columbia sheep grown in the American West. The yarn - spun in the historic mill town of Harrisville, NH - has been meticulously crafted to suit the needs of the passionate knitter. We hope you'll love working with this yarn as much as we do!

To win this skein, simply read our reviews below and then correctly answer the question at the end by leaving your answer in our comment section. Each correct answer will be an entry to win. You can also enter by following us on Facebook and Twitter. If you already follow us, leave us a comment on our Facebook wall or send us an @reply and mention this review. Each new follow and each comment from an existing follower counts as one additional entry. Winner will be chosen by random drawing from all the qualifying entries on Friday, May 6 at 3pm CST.

Cassandra's Review:

The Yarn
Score: 5 out of 5

When I first opened the mail package containing the yarn for this review, I have to admit to being a little wary. Not sure what I expected, but, this yarn seemed way too lofty and had the appearance of being frail. I am a big fan of Jared Flood’s style and taste and so I put my reservations aside and pressed on. So glad that I did. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Yes, it was lofty...and that meant it was a dream to knit. And I lost nothing in stitch definition, as you can see from my knitted sample. And frail, no way. I actually gave it some hard tugs to test it out. I had some trouble understanding the pattern I was knitting and had to rip out a couple inches about 5 times (in the same spot). The yarn sprung back each time. Strong!

This yarn is gorgeous. I am making a sweater at the moment (with another yarn purchased before I discovered this) that I wish I was knitting up in Shelter. It would have a wooly appearance but I think is softer and wouldn’t itch the wearer. Oh, and I haven’t even talked about the color. All of the colorways are so tasteful, you really can’t go wrong. This yarn is lovely, go buy some!

The Pattern
Cassandra’s Score: 4 out of 5

Yes, I made a tea-cozy. What of it? 

The Lumpy-Bumpy Tea Cozy 
by Kristen Rengren

The finished product speaks for itself on this pattern. It turned out as cute as I hoped that it would. Sure, I had some painful moments at first (refer to the ripping above), but once I got it I cruised along nicely. The ripping I had to do was not a reflection on this pattern... total user error! As a matter of fact, I messaged the pattern author on Ravelry for help and she got back to me right away. How sweet is that? This was a free pattern, it knitted up quickly and it only took 1 skein of  Shelter. Love! The one thing I might do to change it is to thread a grosgrain ribbon through the eyelets to cinch it up instead of the crocheted yarn chain. I think the bows at the handle would be sweet. 

Alex's Review:

I had some trouble choosing a one-skein (140 yard) project for this yarn.  I knew that, whatever I made, I wanted to keep it so it had to be a hat or scarf or something. I ended up choosing – of all things – a Jarod Flood pattern to go with my Jarod Flood yarn!

The Yarn

Alex's Score: 5 out of 5

When Cassandra brought the yarn in and handed it to me, my first reaction was that it was oddly springy and not soft but not coarse either.  I couldn’t decide whether I really liked the feel of it or not. The color Cassandra chose is a wonderful, earthy mushroom color that, of course, appealed to me right away. 

Once I went to work with it, I fell in love. The springiness I felt makes for a great “feel” while you’re knitting. The fibers held together beautifully – no splitting AT ALL – and it was much softer than I’d originally thought.  The yarn is just a tiny but “rustic” in that the spin isn’t slick and even all the way through. I like this because I think it lends a more interesting look to a project but one slightly off-putting thing was that I’d occasionally hit a bit of something scratchy or hard in the spin. I have no idea what this was. I’ve worked with wool that was spun on farms and found bits of straw or hay in them but this didn’t seem to be barn-floor-debris.  I just left them in there. My finished project – a really cute hat (see below) – came out beautifully.

I will definitely be buying more of this yarn in the future.

The Pattern

Alex's Score 4.5 out of 5

I ran through the one-skein choices on Ravelry and, oddly enough, ended up with a Jarod Flood pattern called Quincy. This hat has an interesting Mobius strip design that makes it look like a cloche when worn a certain way. The image on the front of the pattern is what attracted me.

The pattern was easy enough. It required a few techniques I’d never done so I got to break out my old pal, The Knitters Companion. Basically, you do a provisional cast on (thank you Knitters Companion) and then you knit a 144 row “scarf” with a built-in I-cord on either edge. Once that’s done, you flip the band in the middle, fold the thing in half and Kitchener stitch (thank you Knitters Companion) the seam together. Once that’s done, you pick up stitches from the inside of the I-cord and knit the crown. Easy-peasy!  Of course, my Kitchener stitch seam is REALLY crappy but, overall, I really love the way this came out.  I did find that I had to reinforce the crown “join” at the point where the Mobius strip meets but, otherwise, this was a solid pattern, well written and easy to follow. 


So that's our review of Shelter yarn by Brooklyn Tweed. Now... answer the following correctly in our comments section and you'll be entered to win one skein of this yarn!




What observation did both Cassandra and Alex make about this yarn that led them to assume the yarn might be problematic?

Comments are closed. Please see May 6, 2011 post for winner.

Good luck and thanks for reading us.

- Alex (and Cassandra, of course)


* Mighty Distractible is in no way affiliated with Brooklyn Tweed or Jarod Flood (although, we're pretty big fan girls and would love to be!.) Neither Brooklyn Tweed nor Jarod Flood are aware of or participated in this give-away.