August update

That was fast!  All invoices are out; paid orders will go in the mail tomorrow (Saturday).  Please note that Monday is a holiday in Canada, so shipping may be slightly slower than usual.

The end of my summer was marked by a magical week up in the Haliburton Highlands.  My partner, Elizabeth, was taking indigodragonfly‘s amazing Dye Camp (where I learned to dye many years ago) and I had a quiet week reading, rug hooking, knitting, and swimming in the lake.  This update’s colournames are based (more or less) on Random Things We Saw at the Cottage.

Note that many of the gobsmackers are paired together; these are suggested pairings that would work well for Nim Teasdale’s Earthstar (or other two-colour shawls suited to gradients).  If a single cake better suits your plans, it’s fine to just request one part of a pairing.

As always, please email gobsmackedyarn@gmail.com to claim the cake(s) that you’d like.  Things usually get pretty fast, but I promise I will reply to your email to let you know if you got the yarn that you wanted.  Remember that everything is one of a kind and cannot be repeated.  If you’d like clarification of colours or have other questions, please ask!

Four Quarter Pairings: Top: Sinking in Seas (top left) & Floating at Dawn (top right); Bottom: Agatha’s Agate (bottom left) & Gertrude’s Stein (bottom right)

Four Quarter Pairings: Top: Water At the Ready (top left) & Stoking the Fire Pit (top right); Bottom: Letting the Coals Die Down (bottom left) & Seeking the Moon Through the Trees (bottom right)

Four Quarter Pairings: Top: A Bit of an Eggbeater, Really… (top left) & And a Fern For Good Measure (top right); Bottom: Second Annual Corn Roast and Regatta (bottom left) & The Diving Woman (bottom right)

Four Quarter Pairings: Top: String Up the Scissors (top left) & Rattling the Rust (top right); Bottom: Woodshed Revival (bottom left) & Washboard Reverie (bottom right)

Four Quarter Pairing: Bathing Beauty (left) & Water Weeds (right)

Four Quarter: Can You Wind a Wind Chime? (left); A Weed By Any Other Name: Flowers (right)

Four Quarter: Caution, Exposed Wiring

Four Quarter: Impeccable

merino/ silk fingering (note that these cakes look lovely together, but that merino/ silk will have less stitch definition that typically wanted for cables): Left: Twilight Blossoms; Right: Refreshed

Earthstar

Friends, a bit of fibre alchemy has happened once again: I sent some gobsmacked cakes off to the fabulous Australian designer Nim Teasdale and she made magic happen.

This is Earthstar:

Earthstar, by Nim Teasdale, knit in two cakes of Four Quarter (100% merino, fingering weight).  Photo courtesy Nim Teasdale.

Isn’t it glorious?  Earthstar combines cables that form a satisfying star shape, outlined with mosaic knitting and finished with striped lace.  I’m blown away by what Nim has done with my yarn; honestly, I keep coming back just to gaze at her pictures.  Look at the stitch definition that the Four Quarter gives to those cables!

Detail view of the cables at the top of Earthstar; the rounded 4-ply construction of Four Quarter provides great stitch definition.  Photo courtesy of Nim Teasdale.

Part of what makes Nim’s shawl so successful is the colour combo, with that beautiful orange-on-blue contrast at the beginning transitioning to a darker, quieter blue-and-brown at the lace edge.

Detail of Earthstar, with the quieter colour combo in the striped lace edging.  Photo courtesy of Nim Teasdale.

I’ve been thinking a lot about colour combos that would work similarly well for this shawl– something with a strong contrast in hue for the cables up top, with darker or more muted contrast at the finished edge. Green and purple, gold and blue, red and turquoise, blue and brown…?

With Nim’s shawl in mind, I put the new gobsmackers out on my work bench yesterday and started playing match-maker.  What fun!  When the update appears later today (at 3pm Eastern Daylight Time), I’ll present the Four Quarter in pairings that I think would work well for Earthstar.  (Of course, you’re welcome to buy cakes individually as well, if you have other plans in mind.)  See you soon!

The pattern for Earthstar is available for purchase on Ravelry (no account required).

gobsmacked is back!

It’s true– I’m back from my summer break, refreshed in mind and spirit (if somewhat tired in body) after a summer of travel and home renovations.  The house is shaping up nicely and is habitable, which frees me up to return to the dye pots!  I have lots of creative ideas bubbling, so expect to see some interesting new gradients in the days to come.

Updates for the next several months are as follows:

Friday, 30 August

Sunday, 22 September

Sunday, 27 October

Friday, 15 November

Sunday, 8 December

All updates are at 3pm Eastern (Toronto/ NY time).

If you’re new to the ordering process (or just want a reminder of how it works), check out this page.  And if you want some inspiring eye candy, take a look at the projects in the Work of Art make-along in the Gorgeous Gradients group on Ravelry– there’s some truly stunning work going on there, in my gradients and others’.

On break

Gobsmacked is on break until mid-August.

I have a lot on my plate this summer, what with work travel and personal travel and a whole ton of work on a charming old house that my partner and I are buying.  So, I’m putting gobsmacked on hold for the summer.  I will be on Ravelry a bit, so do feel free to keep posting WIPs and FOs and requests for pattern suggestions.  I won’t be monitoring emails or selling any yarn, though; if you have special requests or questions, I’ll be back in time for the Highlands Fibre Fling at the indigodragonfly studio (near Haliburton, Ontario) on Saturday 17 August.

So toss your stash, find some of those classic gobsmackers that’ve been hiding away, and cast on something fun!  I’ll see you in August!

–Marit

April update

Welcome, and good luck!  This update is small-ish, as it’s mostly yarn remaining from Saturday’s Knitters’ Frolic in Toronto.  Never fear, though– there are some really fun colours left for those of you who weren’t able to make it to the big show!

To claim a gobsmacker, send me an email (gobsmackedyarn@gmail.com) letting me know the name of the cake and the base.  The first person to claim a cake gets it.  Things can be pretty fast and furious at the beginning, but I promise I’ll email you back to let you know whether you got what you wanted.  Once the dust starts to settle a little, I’ll follow up with a PayPal invoice; if you haven’t ordered from me before, please include your mailing address (and phone number, if outside Canada).

Note that orders paid by about 9 am Tuesday morning (Eastern time) will ship on Tuesday; any orders that are still outstanding will ship in mid-May.

Four Quarter: Top left: Leaping Leapfrogs!; Top right: Flyaway; Bottom left: Not-so-quiet Coral; Bottom right: Anxious Arugula

Four Quarter: Left: Of Good Cheer; Right: Rarified

Four Quarter: Left: Sensitive; Right: Coming Up Coral

Four Quarter: A Vespa For a Violet

ASL (alpaca/ silk/ linen): Top: The Shrimp All Nibble At Their Knees; Bottom left: Spinning & Ginning; Bottom right: All the Worms Come Up to Breathe

BFL-DK demis (150g of DK, joined with a single knot, dyed in one long gradient, $60 per 150g): Left: The Bottomless One; Right: A Bit Red in the Face (true scarlet red to dappled reds, mahogany, and charcoal to dappled lavender and cadet blue)

Merino DK: Sargasso Spring (teal and turquoise dapples to turquoise with aqua dapples to acid green/ yellow)

Silky Yak DK: Time to Tend the Iris

BFL/ silk lace: The Eternal Blue

A Leafwood update

Thanks, all!  Everything has now been sold.  I’ve sent out most of the invoices and will be shipping tomorrow morning (Monday).  If you missed out on this round, remember that I’ll be posting another update on a day (to be announced!) shortly after the Toronto Knitters’ Frolic (which takes place on Saturday, 27 April).

This update was designed with a particular purpose: to showcase thoughtfully paired sets of gobsmacked gradients and tonal Straights that would work beautifully for Nim Teasdale’s soon-to-be-released shawl design, Leafwood.  These special gradients and coordinating skeins are sold only as sets; please don’t ask for me to break them up or swap out colours.  Of course, you’re welcome to use them for any pattern that you like, whether that be Leafwood or Gallivanter or Mechanical Mermaid or something else entirely!

To claim a gobsmacker, send me an email (gobsmackedyarn@gmail.com) letting me know the name of the cake and the base.  The first person to claim a set gets it.  Things can be pretty fast and furious at the beginning, but I promise I’ll email you back to let you know whether you got what you wanted.  Once the dust starts to settle a little, I’ll follow up with a PayPal invoice; if you haven’t ordered from me before, please include your mailing address (and phone number, if outside Canada).

Please remember that colours may vary across different devices; if you have any questions or would like additional description of colours, just ask.

Four Quarter ($70): Tranquil & Quiet

Four Quarter ($70): Tried & Tulip

Four Quarter ($70): Spring & Sprung

Four Quarter ($70): Tree & Bark

Four Quarter ($70): Deep & Lucid

Four Quarter ($70): Alert & Watchful

Four Quarter ($70): A Gift & a Grapefruit

Silky Yak DK (double + Straight, $132): Fire & Water

Silky Yak DK (double + Straight, $132): Sky & Mist

 

The sweet spot

It’s no secret that designer Nim Teasdale’s shawl patterns hit my knitting sweet spot.  Stripes, a little bit of lace, lots of opportunity for colour play, and simple but very, very clever construction?  Yes, please!

Check out what she’s done with Verdigreen, in a Silky Yak DK double:

Verdigreen shawl, designed and knit by Nim Teasdale, in two Silky Yak DK gobsmackers. Photo copyright Nim Teasdale.

Or what about my favourite shawl of all time, Around the Bend?

Around the Bend, designed by Nim Teasdale & knit by Marit Munson using two Four Quarter gobsmackers.

There are so many great gobsmacked versions of Around the Bend (see them here) that I may have accidentally declared that several Around the Bends are my second-favourite-ever.  (Mine being the solid first place!)

Lots of Nim’s designs work well for gobsmackers, so I always pay attention to any new designs she has coming along.  Well, let me tell you– she recently finished a new shawl that had everyone in my Ravelry group practically foaming at the mouth in excitement.  It combines a DK double (a two-skein gobsmacked gradient) with a semi-solid as the contrast colour, all worked in stripes with a touch of leafy lace at the end.  The pattern, called Leafwood, is currently being tested and should be released shortly.  I won’t post pictures here, as it’s not officially done yet, but if you’d like to see Nim’s lovely version, check out her project on Ravelry.

If, like me, you’re smitten with Leafwood, then keep a close eye out for Sunday’s update!  I’ve dyed this one specifically for Nim’s new design, with kits available in Silky Yak DK (a double + a coordinating Straight) and in Four Quarter (a fingering weight gobsmacked gradient + a coordinating Straight).  See you Sunday!