Apple Oak Fibre Works 2 swatches

Yarn Review Apple Oak Fibre Works

Lindsay Lewchuk Announcements, Eco Elements, eco world, Fiber Focus, Puddles, Q&A, Yarn, Yarn Review Leave a Comment

In contrast to last week’s 25/75 linen/cotton blend, today’s fiber is a 30/70 linen/cotton blend. The two couldn’t be more different! In today’s LinCot review, coarse strands of strong linen engulf puffy thick/ thin roving of cotton. The resulting texture is incredible with bristles and softness at the same time. If you’ve ever thrummed with virgin wool and roving, I suspect the feel is similar. Apple Oak Fibre Works brings Irish naturalism to hand dyed yarn! Wife and hubby team, Jennifer and Tristan, apply botanical dyes to a variety of fibers (animal-based and plant-based) in both roving and yarn (and a few other specialty items).

Puddles in Je Ne Sais Quoi

Puddles Spring Summer Round Up

Lindsay Lewchuk Announcements, Eco Elements, Pattern Related, Puddles, Yarn 2 Comments

Batten the hatches, check the generator, trim the trees back from the house, and stock the pantry with food for both humans and GDCSJ. Yes, this week has been a “check list” in prep for Hurricane Florence. Anyone else in hurricane mode with us? I’m delighted to see it’s down to a category 2, but know that it is still a threat so I’m ready with projects to snuggle it out with this guy! He doesn’t look to scared at all ?. Before we head full force into cold weather knits, let’s “paws” and recap the year thus far. Landfall Shawl – designed in honor of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, looks like this is the shawl of the moment with …

shot in our neighbourhood

Eco Elements Lake Breeze Tank

Lindsay Lewchuk Announcements, Eco Elements, Pattern Related 1 Comment

Popping back into the 3 R’s eco element and staying with the learning eco element, I’m thrilled to re-introduce you to Lake Breeze Tank. Not just refreshed, the pattern was striped back to a blank page and started from scratch – new grading, new writing style, new sizes, new text, and expanded info for substituting yarn. The elements that remained – the overall design aesthetic, the charted and written detailed decreases and increases, and the original yarn.

Boscage edge fern edge close up

Eco Elements Boscage

Lindsay Lewchuk Announcements, Eco Elements, Fiber Focus, Pattern Related, Puddles 4 Comments

From continuing education to exploration and innovation, finding the most efficient and effective uses of natural resources is a great way to stay eco!! Not to mention, learning keeps you young… and apparently it also helps stave off Alzheimers ?. As we enter into this stage of learning, I’ve got lots of yarn reviews lined up with fun pattern releases and a forayer into the grading class I took. First up, though, let’s look at back at the eco elements involved in last week’s Boscage release.

pile of swatches

Shibui Knits Fern Yarn Review

Lindsay Lewchuk Announcements, Eco Elements, eco world, Fiber Focus, Pattern Related, Puddles, Yarn, Yarn Review 3 Comments

The drape of this cotton grows more airy with each needle size. Ideal for summer knitting, especially items that are intended to hang loosely from the body. Knitting a variety of knit and purl combinations in the swatches, when it came time to designing I jumped in with lace, cables, and a fun self-edging… the yarn held up to it all!