Commuter Knitter Podcast

For this week's edition of Road Map Mondays, I bring you a review of Dream in Color's line of Everlasting yarn.  The generous folks at Dream in Color sent me this yarn for review, but as always opinions are my own. The Everlasting base is made up of several plies of 100% super wash Australian merino wool spun and hand-dyed here in the U.S.  The DK version is a 12 ply yarn and the Sock  has 9 plies.  The multitude of plies adds to the durability of the yarn - hence the name, Everlasting.  The DK yarn has a put-up of 275 yards for 100 grams and knits at 5.5-6 stitches to the inch on US 5 or 6 needles.  On the other hand, Sock  comes with 420 yards in a 100 gram skein, knitting up at 7.5 to 9 stitches per inch on US 0 to US 2 sized needles.  A quick search of online retailers carrying the yarn shows that each sells for about $25-26 per skein. For purposes of this review, I knit up the skein of DK that I received in the Naked Shame color ...

As I am writing this post, winter has not quite set in her in New England (50*F on Christmas Eve!) but the calendar tells me it's coming. (There is some sort of Game of Thrones reference in there that goes over the head of this gal who doesn't watch the show…)  Eventually when those cold temperatures set in, wouldn't it be nice to dream of some place warm and sunny?**  Well A Good Yarn Sarasota has just the solution to those winter blues!  The yarn shop has teamed up with several yarn companies to create color ways exclusive to A Good Yarn inspired by the oceanfront lifestyle of western Florida.  I was fortunate enough to receive a lovely skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Grape Jelly from A Good Yarn for review.  As long-time listeners of the podcast and readers of the blog know, all opinions are my own. There are currently a dozen or so exclusive color ways available on the newly revamped shop site.  Reading those inspiration descriptions and see...

After a bit of a bumpy fall, I am glad to be back here on the blog to share with you another beautiful yarn that I was sent for review.  Today, I bring you Manos Lace, a 70% baby alpaca, 25% silk, 5% cashmere blend lace weight yarn from Manos del Uruguay .  How is that for decadence after the holidays?  I'd like to thank Manos' US Distributor,  Fairmount Fibers, LTD , for sending me this skein of yarn for review.  As always, opinions stated here are my own. Before I dive into the yarn itself, I wanted to tell you a bit more about Manos del Uruguay .  Whenever I receive a skein of yarn, needles, books, etc. from a company with which I have not worked before, I always like to dig deeper to find out more about that company - what is their story?   And Manos' story is quite the fascinating one.  The label gives you a bit of background, but I encourage you to read more about Manos (which means hands in Spanish) on their website as well as th...

As part of the Red Barn Yarn Name This Yarn Contest blog/podcast tour , I am excited to tell you about a new to-be-named yarn base.  Thank you to Red Barn Yarn and Stitchcraft Marketing for including the Commuter Knitter podcast on this tour and for providing a skein of this lovely yarn for me to check out. This is a 2-ply, worsted weight blend of 45% mountain merino, 40% alpaca and 15% mohair. The 225 yard skein I received is a vibrant Hot Pink, which let me tell you was a difficult color to capture on the camera! I scoured my Ravelry library for the perfect pattern to cast on for this yarn.  I knew that I wanted a hat and was immediately drawn to the Koolhaas pattern by Jared Flood from Interweave Holiday Gifts 2007.  Who doesn't love a good lattice cabled hat in bright pink, right? So far I am only into the ribbing of the hat, but I'm enjoying the knitting quite a bit.  I do not have a sensitivity to alpaca or mohair, so you will want to take th...