It’s so nice to have an excuse to work with my own hand-spun yarn. I really enjoyed making this Blackberry crescent shawl even though I was on a deadline.
Here is a version of one of my newest released patterns called Loganberry. I dubbed this hand-spun merino-silk version with the name Blackberry because of its color. Make sure to click the photo to get a better view of the texture and subtly varied colors.
The yarn is hand-spun merino/silk plied with hand-dyed silk hankies. The yarn structure is a 2-ply (S) of:
- merino/silk blend spun Z
- hand-dyed silk hankies spun Z
Actually, I’m not back to actively spinning yet. (but hopefully this will start getting that back into my life priorities). I don’t have a date on the tag for when I spun this yarn, but it was probably around 1998! It was time for it to become something else, don’t you think?
The merino/silk fiber was from Lambspun in Colorado (they are still in business). Unfortunately I did not make a record of the exact name from Lambspun on my tag, so I am not sure if there actually was one. The hand-dyed silk hankies came from Woodland Woolworks, which closed not too long ago. I really liked that place for the range of spinning tools and fibers they carried. Good thing that I still have a good stash of some of my favorites from them.
The Loganberry pattern was launched at TNNA. I knit the original Loganberry in a new yarn that Mountain Colors just came out with (a luscious cashmere/silk blend called Louisa). I had so much fun knitting up the sample model in the Loganberry color of their yarn that I wanted to do one for myself. However, there was not enough time to get more yarn dyed and mailed to me in time to knit before the show, so that was my excuse to check my handspun stash. I always have some sample models at TNNA that are made in handspun (there are some spinning vendors and shop buyers there), so I figured that having the sample at the Mountain Colors booth and another sample at my own HeartStrings booth would cover even more bases.
Although I had not planned to make this additional model until just a few days before the show, I’m glad I had an excuse to enjoy knitting this handspun. The shawl moved along really quickly (the Hiya Hiya needles I was using helped a lot, I think) and I had the knitted shawl completed and blocked in plenty of time before the show. It looked nice on display, too! Others thought so, too. In fact, Nancy George of Knit Stop in Indianapolis talked me into selling it and it now is on display in her shop. If you are in the area, be sure to check it out!
