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)

 

 

Minis, in many forms

There’s a lot going on this month!  September’s update involves three different formats of yarn: mini-skein gradient sets, rainbow mini skeins, and hat-sized gradients.

1. First up, a new style of dyeing that I’ve been playing with behind the scenes this summer.  Still gradient, still with intriguing saturated colours, but a different format.

Mini-skein gradient set: One gradient, spread over five minis, in complex variegated colours.

Introducing mini-skein gradient sets!  Each set has five 20g minis, dyed using layers of colour so that each is its own uniquely variegated skein– and when you work them in sequence, they create a gradient effect that plays out across the full 100g set.

The progression of colours is sometimes subtle, sometimes wild– but either way, they’re a blast to work with.  The colours shift from one stitch to the next and then, mini by mini, change proportions across the entire set.

The result is yarn that demands to be enjoyed.  Choose a simple knit like a garter stitch shawl and watch the colours flip by, pooling in places and then spiralling off again into delicious chaos.  Or use just the right amount of yarn from each mini to work a pair of matching mitts, a mirrored gradient cowl, or a colour-shifting sweater yoke.  (How about hinagiku, by eri, Twice Again, by Debra Gerhard, or Borobila, by linolimon?)  Or pick a pattern like Always Be Brave (by Helen Kennedy) that will show off the chaos while keeping it in check.  Or let the short-rows and the rows of dropped stitches in Joji Locatelli’s Storm Shawl help the colour of each mini shine.

This version of Storm Shawl is by estregger; Ravelry members can find her project details, including a diagram of the distribution of each mini, here.

Mini-skein gradient sets consist of five 20g minis of Four Quarter (fingering weight superwash merino) and sell for $45 Canadian.

2. Rainbow minis!  I’ve been thinking a lot about Pride recently, and queer visibility, and about the many different ways to celebrate who each of us is as a person.  Although I’ve never been a particular fan of raucous parties, I found myself wanting to join in by knitting with a good rainbow colourway.  One with some variegation, a bit of chaos, and deep saturated colours….  “Well,” thought I, “I can dye that!”

Rainbow minis (Wallydrag edition)

So I did.  Rainbows are sets of six 20g minis, dyed so that each colour is softly variegated with some of the following colour in the rainbow.  The red carries a bit of orange, the orange some yellows, the yellow a touch of green, and so on.  This means that you can knit a full rainbow while still enjoying lively colour passing through your fingers.  Each edition is its own unique blend of rainbow colours– but unlike most gobsmacked yarn, seven just-about-identical sets come out of the same dye pots.  This means that if you want more than 120g of rainbow, you can buy two or three or more sets from the same edition (dye lot), then work them together in whatever fashion tickles your fancy!  Rainbow sets are in Four Quarter and cost $54 Canadian.

3. Last but not least, I’ll be offering some hat sets at the next update.  A lot of folks are excited about working some of Woolly Wormhead‘s stunning patterns in gradients, but there’s always the problem of getting the right yardage: too much and you miss out on part of the gradient; too little and you’re left with an incomplete hat.  I can’t promise that I’ve solved that problem entirely, but I am pleased to offer DK gobsmackers in smaller sizes (50g and 33g), each paired with a coordinating 50g Straight (a semi-solid that goes nicely with the gradient).

Prices are $45 Cdn for sets of merino DK or BFL DK and $50 Cdn for a Silky Yak DK set.  These prices are the same whether the gobsmacker is 50g or 33g; that’s because the 33g cakes are really fussy to work with and take extra time.  But the upside of the smaller cake is that you have the chance to match the gradient to the amount of yarn that you’ll need.  To help with planning, 50g of merino or silky yak DK is 105 m (115 yds); 33g is 70 m (76 yds).  The BFL DK is available only in the 50g cake, with 112 m (123 yds).

See you at Sunday’s update!

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).