Happy gobSMACKdown!

Happy new year, everyone!  I hope that 2020 brings many good things your way.

For me, the new year finds me headed off to New Brunswick, on a sabbatical from my day job.  I’ll be establishing a new dye studio (gobsmacked East) in our home in Sackville and will be carrying on from there for the winter.  I am planning to have an online update in January, but won’t schedule it until I’ve gotten settled in the new digs.  I’ll send an announcement of the update as soon as I can; if you’re not already on my email list, you might want to sign up for my newsletter.

In the meantime, please come check out the annual gobSMACKdown on Ravelry.  The gobSMACKdown is a friendly make-along (knit, crochet, weaving, etc.) that runs from 1 January until the Ides of March.  There are a lot of inspiring projects, great pattern suggestions if you’re looking for just the right idea for your own special gobsmacker, and of course prizes as well!

December

There are still lots of hat sets and some merino fingering doubles left, so do take a look!  I’ve sent out all invoices for existing requests and will get packages ready to go out tomorrow (Monday).

It’s early December and we’re already buried in snow and bundled up in woolens here in southern Ontario.  And even though I have a big stash, and access to the dye pots, I find myself eyeing more yarn– especially Silky Yak DK in hat sets and shawl sets to use for making warm cozy accessories.  Check ’em out below!

Remember that colours vary from device to device; I always include a written description of how I see the colour, but please do ask if you’re uncertain about a particular cake or skein.  To claim some yarn, email me at gobsmackedyarn@gmail.com.  An update can get pretty wild on my end, but I promise I’ll respond to your email to let you know if you got your choices.  I’ll send out PayPal invoices about an hour after the update starts, once things start to quiet down a bit; please note that invoices are due upon receipt (with a little leeway for different time zones and schedules).

Shipping notice: If you are in the US, tomorrow is the last day that Canada Post recommends shipping for arrival before the holidays.  Folks overseas should realise that packages are unlikely to arrive before Christmas.  The Canada Post recommendation isn’t a guarantee– if you would like to expedite or track your package (today or in any update), let me know and I’ll get you a quote for the increased shipping cost.

Four Quarter: Left: Far From Shrinking; Right: Forest Flight

Four Quarter: Top left: Significant Growth; Top right: Loverly; Bottom: Moving to Molehills

Four Quarter: Top: Why Not Get To It?; Bottom left: Home Safe; Bottom right: Keep Going Up

merino fingering doubles (one long gradient, across two 100g cakes): Left column: Rising Heart (bright magenta to dappled purple and magenta to purple dappled with lavender and very pale pink); Middle column: Bringing It Forward; Right column: Oh, the Theramin!

merino fingering doubles (one long gradient, across two 100g cakes): Left column: A Community Effort; Right column: Down at the Shore

BFL DK hat set (50g gradient + 50g Straight): In a Pool in the Woods

Silky Yak DK hat set (33g gradient + 50g Straight): Outside the Straight and Narrow

Silky Yak DK hat sets (33g gradient + 50g Straight): Left: Stealth Plum; Right: To Sing and Shine

Silky Yak DK hat sets (33g gradient + 50g Straight): Left: Although It’s Night; Right: Here and There

Silky Yak DK hat sets (33g gradient + 50g Straight): Left: Mix and Match; Right: Running Hot and Cold

Silky Yak DK: Set For Tuesday

Silky Yak DK shawl sets (one long gradient over two 100g cakes + 100g Straight): Left side: Off To the Fields; Right side: Finding the Ocean

Silky Yak DK shawl sets (one long gradient over two 100g cakes + 100g Straight): Left side: Dept. of Night Mysteries; Right side: Gone to See

Update details

The final update of 2019 includes:

• Silky Yak DK in the perfect yardage for Nim Teasdale’s Leafwood (a 200g gradient, across two cakes, plus a 100g Straight)
• Silky Yak DK hat sets in 33g gradients plus a 50g Straight for the contrast colour.  That’s 70m/ 76 yd; if you have plans for a hat, please check your pattern’s requirements to see if that would be enough yardage for you.
• a BFL DK hat set (50g gradient plus 50g Straight)
• a single cake of Silky Yak DK (100g gradient)
• merino fingering doubles (a 200g gradient, across two cakes)
• Four Quarter (100g cakes of merino fingering)

When the update begins, please email me directly with your request (gobsmackedyarn@gmail.com).

If you are ordering for a holiday gift, note that Monday is the last day that Canada Post recommends for shipping to the US for receipt by the holidays– this is a recommendation, not a guarantee that your yarn will arrive on time!  If you’re concerned about delivery dates, please let me know in your email and I can quote some other (expensive but fast) options for you.

After this update, I’ll be finishing a few special requests and then packing up for a temporary move to the East Coast while I’m on sabbatical from my day job.  I’ll wait to schedule the January update until I get set up in my new digs.  The annual gobSMACKdown— the gobsmacked knit-along– will begin as usual on January 1st.

November

Thanks, everyone!  Invoices are out, but there is still some yarn left– be sure to take a look.  Packages will go out for all paid invoices on Saturday.  The next update is right around the corner: Sunday, 8 December at 3pm EST, to ensure reasonable time for packages to make it to the US before the holidays.

Despite the unusually early blanket of snow across southern Ontario, it is still November.  But the cold is a good reminder of all of the days ahead where those of us in the north will need wool to keep us warm!  Today’s update features gobsmidgeons (small cake-dyed gradients) that are great for hats or for a contrast colour in shawls or sweaters.  Enjoy!

Remember that colours vary from device to device; I always include a written description of how I see the colour, but please do ask if you’re uncertain about a particular cake or skein.  To claim some yarn, email me at gobsmackedyarn@gmail.com.  An update can get pretty bonkers, but I promise I’ll respond to your email to let you know if you got your choices.  I’ll send out PayPal invoices about an hour after the update starts, once things start to quiet down a bit; please note that invoices are due upon receipt (with a little leeway for different time zones and schedules).

Shipping notice: If you are outside Canada or the US, this is the last update before Canada Post’s recommended holiday shipping deadlines.  Remember that standard gobsmacked shipping is by air, without tracking or insurance; if you would like to expedite or track your package (today or in any update), let me know and I’ll get you a quote for the increased shipping cost.

Four Quarter: Top left: Get That Glow; Top Centre: Past the Garden Gate; Top right: Going Up?; Middle row, left: Drawn In; Middle row, centre: Cheer Up, Chipper; Middle row, right: Foamflower; Bottom left: When Eels Fly; Bottom centre: Not Available; Bottom right: At Home in the Depths

gobsmidgeons (50g of Four Quarter, $22 each): Top left: Listen Up, My Friends; Top right: Keep It Quiet, Folks; Bottom left: The Big Idea (purplish blue to bright acid green, with lots of dappling on the way); Bottom right: Jazz Safari

gobsmidgeons (33g of Four Quarter, $15 each): Left: Gotta Go There; Centre: A Force of Nature; Right: Working With the Music

mini skein gradient sets (Four Quarter, 5 x 20g minis): Left: Springy; Right: Autumnal

mini skein gradient sets (Four Quarter, 5 x 20g minis): Left: Sunset Bonfire; Right: Electric Garden

Rainbow mini skein sets (Four Quarter, 6 x 20g): You Be You edition (bright primary rainbow; 2 sets available)

merino fingering doubles (one long gradient, dyed across two 100g cakes): Left: A Community Effort (dappled blues, aquas, sky blue, and white); Centre: A Generous Bunch of Folks; Right: Thanks to a Helping Hand

merino DK (100g): Left: Sargasso Spring; Right: The Most Dignified of Clowns

Left: Silky Yak DK (100g): Wintery Wednesday; Right: BFL DK (100g): The Freezing Mark

Silky Yak hat set (33g gradient + 50g Straight, $50): Here to There (royal purple to dark blue to dark sage green gradient + warm taupe-grey Straight with a few subtle yellow-green speckles)

Silky Yak hat set (50g gradient + 50g Straight, $50 per set): Left: Zero to Infinity (scarlet red to greyed purple to denim-blue gradient + silvery denim blue Straight); Right: Eternity to End (turquoisey-charcoal grey to dark turquoise to greyed aqua gradient + deep royal purple Straight)

BFL DK hat set (50g gradient + 50g Straight, $45): Earth to Sky (turquoise to sky blue to blue-green gradient + deep reddish-brown Straight)

merino BFL DK hat sets [I initally posted these as BFL but they are in fact merino DK, as labelled on the yarn itself.  I’ve edited here but wanted to leave indication of the error for transparency.  If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me by email and I’ll make things right.] ($45 each): Left: Sea to Shore (40g gradient in bright green to dark red-purple dappled with navy-purple to navy + 33g Straight in deep blue with green dapples); Right: Today to Tomorrow (40g gradient in dark blue-grey to rusty brown + 50g Straight in denim blue)

gobsmidgeons

Friday’s update will feature small but mighty gobsmidgeons (aka gobbets)!  These are mini cake-dyed gradients, like a regular gobsmacker but smaller– usually 33g or 50g.  They’re great for accents in a shawl or sweater, or as smaller projects.  Here, for example, is my Loop:

Loop, by Casapinka; knit in a Four Quarter gobsmidgeon (33g) and a Straight (100g skein, though I didn’t use all of the yarn).;

This was an entertaining, easy knit; those loop rows are fun and addictive; the colour change makes for a lot of more-loops-please knitting!

At least two knitters have used their little gobsmackers as the glorious sunset sky in the colourwork Alaska hat.  If you’re not feeling like colourwork, 50g gobsmidgeons would also be great with the textured design of Amy Van de Laar’s Ascent or Louise Zass-Bangham’s Slipstream.  Friday’s update will also include some great hat options in DK weight: full-size (100g), gobsmidgeons, and a few hat sets (50g gradient + 40-50g Straight); they’d work really well for many of Wooly Wormhead‘s patterns.

And if you’re luck enough to be outside the polar vortex (what happened, November?) and aren’t feeling like hat knitting, there will be plenty of Four Quarter, some mini skein gradient sets, rainbow sets, and some merino fingering doubles for good measure.  See you here on Friday at 3pm!  (Remember, our clocks have shifted; we’re now on Eastern Standard Time.)

 

October update

Thanks, all!  Everything is sold, with the exception of a few rainbow sets.  The next update will be Friday, 15 Nov. at 3pm Eastern time.  (Note that we will be on Standard time then, not Daylight Saving time– that’s one hour different).

Fall is well under way in Canada, the days are getting shorter, and tomorrow is that festival of all things spooky– Halloween!  So I figured I’d do (mostly) deep dark gobsmackers, named after the entertainingly gruesome Gashleycrumb Tinies, by that master of gothic oddities, Edward Gorey.  So brace yourself for an alphabet of death and check out the yarn!

Remember that colours vary from device to device; please ask if you’re uncertain about a particular cake or skein.  To claim some yarn, email me at gobsmackedyarn@gmail.com.  An update can get pretty bonkers, but I promise I’ll respond to your email to let you know if you got your choices.  I’ll send out PayPal invoices about an hour after the update starts, once things start to quiet down a bit; please note that invoices are due upon receipt (with a little leeway for different time zones and schedules).

Four Quarter: Top left: G is For George, Smothered Under a Rug; Top centre: D is For Desmond, Thrown Out of a Sleigh; Top right: E is For Ernest, Who Choked on a Peach; Middle row left: W is For Winnie, Embedded in Ice; Middle row centre: R is For Rhoda, Consumed By a Fire; Middle row right: M is For Maud, Who Was Swept Out to Sea; Bottom left: B is For Basil, Assaulted By Bears; Bottom centre: I is for Ida, Who Drowned in a Lake; Bottom right: S is For Susan, Who Perished of Fits

 

Four Quarter: Top left: A is For Amy, Who Fell Down the Stairs; Top centre: J is For James, Who Took Lye By Mistake (muted blue-green to soft yellow-green to pale sage); Top right: Z is For Zillah, Who Drank Too Much Gin; Bottom left: Nightshade; Bottom centre: T is For Titus, Who Flew Into Bits; Bottom right: F is For Fanny, Sucked Dry by a Leech

Four Quarter: Top: Deep & Dearly; Bottom left: N is For Neville, Who Died of Ennui; Bottom right: Fly Forward

Four Quarter mini-skein gradients (5 x 20g minis): Left: A Problem With Peaches; Right: I Think Your Zombie’s Getting Moldy

Rainbow mini skeins (Four Quarter, 2 x 60g): You Be You edition (four sets available)

merino/ silk fingering doubles (one long gradient over two 100g cakes): Left column: By the Pricking of My Thumbs; Centre column: Stratosphere; Right column: In the Darkling Dusk

Camel/ silk lace (left): A Kinder Place; BFL/ silk lace: Swim Along Home

September update!

Thanks, all!  I’ve sent most of the invoices and will begin working on shipping later tonight.  Most packages will go in the mail on  Tuesday 24 Sept.  Please swing by for the next online update on Wednesday 30 October!

My summer away not only meant work on the house, but also time for some new dyeing experiments!  This update is entirely new techniques or unusual formats, sold in sets.  The main details are in the previous post; in the captions for this update, I’ll make sure that you have the essentials to help you understand what’s what.  Please note that shipping will happen on Tuesday 24 Sept.

As always, please email gobsmackedyarn@gmail.com to claim the yarn 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.  (Rainbow mini sets come in editions of multiple sets.)  If you’d like clarification of colours or have other questions, please ask!

mini-skein gradient set ($45): The Murky Corner of the Garden

mini-skein gradient set ($45): And the Results Are Sweet

mini-skein gradient set ($45): Expanded to Elevation

mini-skein gradient set ($45): Waterdown

mini-skein gradient set ($45): Mosquitos, 8pm

mini-skein gradient set ($45): A Darker Deal

mini-skein gradient set ($45): A Delphinium Deal

mini-skein gradient set ($45): Out on the Farm

mini-skein gradient set ($45): Ketchup Chips

mini-skein gradient set ($45): Buying the Barn

Rainbow minis (six 20g minis of Four Quarter, $54): Wallydrag edition

rainbow minis ($54): Experimental Edition

merino DK ($45): left: Rust & Ruin (50g gradient + 50g Straight); right: Live & Learn (50g gradient + 50g Straight)

merino DK ($45): left: Flower & Field (50g gradient + 50g Straight); right: Flag & Flight (50g gradient + 50g Straight)

BFL DK ($45): Board & Batten (50g gradient in medium blue to dark sky blue to green, with dapples of lighter blues + 50g Straight of rich rust brown)

silky yak DK ($50): left: Lavender & Lace (33g gradient from blue-purple to green + 50g Straight in pale lavender grey); centre: Growth & Decay (33g gradient + 50g Straight); right: Above & Below (33g gradient + 50g Straight)

silky yak DK ($50): left: Warm & Cozy (50g gradient + 50g Straight); centre: Wish & Wonder (50g gradient + 50g Straight); right: Swamp & Circumstance (50g gradient + 50g Straight)

silky yak DK ($50): Sea & Salt (50g gradient + 50g Straight)