We’ve been so busy since the store re-opened, and are delighted to introduce Roz.  Roz is an enthusiastic knitter , spinner, and patchworker, and is helping out in all ways with your orders.

This beautiful Peacock Feathers shawl was knitted by Marcy P out of Footscray.  She intends to dye it after knitting – hopefully we will be able to see the shawl as well after dyeing.  Marcy receives a $10 Yarn Workshop voucher.

The craze for Ishbel is sweeping the world, and Soozs has knitted a gorgeous one out of Kiama.  The yarn was dyed using Ashford Acid Dyes, and Soozs wrote a lovely blog post about the scarf as well – she gave it to her cousin’s wife, after they were the victims of a bush fire.

Of course, Soozs has also received a $10 Yarn Workshop voucher.

Yarn Workshop is relocating to Sydney, Australia, and the store will be closing soon to allow us to organise the move.

The last date for orders in the retail store will be Friday 6 November 2009. We would like to thank all our customers for their support throughout the needle sale, and Friday 6 November will also be the last date for those discounts.

The last date for wholesale orders, until we re-open is Monday 9 November 2009.  All orders need to be paid by Wednesday 11 November 2009, and will be shipped by Friday 13 November 2009. Please send your wholesale orders to ingrid@yarnworkshop.com, and we will weigh them up as promptly as possible.

We are very grateful for the support that Yarn Workshop has received, and look forward to it continuing in Sydney.  When we re-open in Sydney, there will be changes at Yarn Workshop. We will be revising all our pricing into Australian dollars, and while shipping will be reduced for orders to Australia, they are likely to increase for orders to all other destinations.

We will continue our commitment to quality yarns, but will change the range to include more Australian and New Zealand yarns.  We will communicate through the mailing list when we are planning to re-open, and will also be communicating with the Ravelry Group.

We have finally received our stock of Addi Lace Needles, and they are part of our Massive Needle Sale – 25% off all knitting needles.  We will not be stocking knitting needles in the future, mainly because the Hong Kong distributor for Addi came under pressure from Skacel to block sales to Yarn Workshop.

Please shop soon, our stock of Addi Click sets was sold out very quickly, and we will not be ordering more knitting needles once a size or set is sold out. We are dealing with orders in the order that they are received, so be quick to enjoy the widest range of sizes.

At the Sock Summit, one of our most popular yarns was Bomballa, mainly because people could see and feel this Clapotis that was knitted with Bomballa.

Because Bamboo is a cellulose fibre, it must be dyed with dyes that are designated as being suitable for cotton.  It is easy to achieve a subtle variegation on Bomballa by using Rit dyes, or Dylon all-purpose dyes.

To achieve the variegation, the instructions that accompany the dyes must be modifed somewhat.  We halved the salt – salt is added to make the colour more even, and deliberately refrained from stirring the yarn in the pot, and left a portion of the yarn out of the pot while the colour struck. If you are dyeing more than one skein, then they should both be treated identically, with the same portion out of the pot.

After a period of time (under 15 minutes), all the yarn was immersed in the pot, and the yarn was simmered in accordance with the directions on the dye.  Once the dyeing was completed, the yarn was placed in a lingerie bag and washed in the washing machine on the gentle cycle.  Some dye did affect the colour of the lingerie bag, so don’t use a brand new one!

We’ve had great success with this method, and below you can see another Bomballa Clapotis that was knitted by my mother after we dyed the yarn together.

This beautiful Aoelian Shawlette was knitted by the fabulous Knitabulous, out of Ailsa that she hand dyed.  As you can see, she has an amazing eye for colour and design, as well as some great technical knitting skills. I was proud and delighted to wear this to opening night reception at the Sock Summit. If you visit her etsy store, you can also knit with her superbly dyed yarns, maybe even some 100% silk laceweight for your own Aoelian Shawlette? One skein should make all sizes, and the smallest size only takes 0.4 of a skein.

Speaking of the Sock Summit, I was delighted to meet so many of you there, and to be surrounded by yarn, and people who are so enthusiastic about yarn and knitting.  We have been looking for some of the yarns that you requested, and expect to be receiving samples of a merino/cashmere/nylon fingering weight yarn in the near future, as well as a kid mohair/silk blend laceweight yarn.

Ene’s Scarf (Ravelry link) is finally completed, after several false starts with Chart 3. The Awaba is an excellent yarn for this project, and the scarf has a lovely drape and subtle sheen.  We will take modelled photos in the near future.

We have just updated the store to introduce our new yarns, Ailsa (100% silk laceweight), Kiama (50% wool 50% silk fingering weight), and Awaba (100% silk fingering weight). Watch our mailing list tomorrow for a special coupon code for all retail orders placed before 19 June 2009.

We are so excited about these yarns, and are delighted to say that they have already been well received by the customers that have seen them.  I have been knitting Awaba into Ene’s Scarf, and have been thoroughly enjoying the process.  The yarn was dyed by me using Ashford acid dyes, and I am just about to start Chart 3.  There will certainly be more photos to come!

We have discounts available on Roma, KnitPro knitting needle sets, and Ashford Acid dyes until June 19. Enjoy all thse wonderful products at specially reduced prices.

Yarn Workshop will be taking vacations this summer, and we have updated the blog sidebar, with the dates that we will be away. Yarn Workshop will be on vacation from 20 June 2009 until 4 July 2009; and then from 13 July 2009 until 24 July 2009. We will be a vendor at Sock Summit 2009, and will have all our yarns there for you to  touch and feel. All sales at the Sock Summit will be at retail prices, but we will be taking wholesale orders.  While we are at the Sock Summit we will be unable to post any orders.

If you would like to find out about Yarn Workshop promotions sooner, please consider joining our mailing list. You will receive notice of our promotions, coupons, and new yarns.

We are delighted to introduce our new cobweb weight yarn from Zegna Baruffa, Roma. It is milled for us in Italy, and might be familiar to you as Baruffa Cashwool. It is 100% extra-fine merino, and is wonderfully soft.

Each skein of Roma is massive, with over 3,750 metres, or over 4100 yards.  Many of our customers are already dividing each skein into 3 for resale. The softness of this yarn is amazing, and its even twist really enhances stitch definition.  I am currently knitting an Icarus Shawl from it, and I am sure that my enjoyment of the yarn is making me knit faster!

As always, Roma can be purchased both retail and wholesale.  At this stage, it is only available in hanks.

In shop news, we have updated our summer vacation schedule with our dates in the top right sidebar.  We will be exhibiting at the Sock Summit in Portland, Oregon in August, and I am really looking forward to meeting many of you there.

We have also been fortunate enough to have engaged a new assistant about the business – Rebecca.  She just recently finished these “no purl” Monkey socks out of hand-dyed Footscray.

These socks are a gift for a friend who loves pink, orange and yellow. They look absolutely amazing!

At Yarn Workshop, we love to knit with all our yarns, and I have recently finished two projects using Yarn Workshop yarns. Above is a completed Juno Regina scarf (free pattern) knitted with kettle dyed Geelong. The yarn was dyed with Jacquard Fire Engine red dye, and then overdyed with Ashford Brown dye.  I made the scarf 6″ longer than specified in the pattern, and knitted it on 3.25 mm KnitPro fixed metal circular needles; and was able to squeeze the whole scarf out of slightly less than one skein of Geelong.  The KnitPro needles are wonderful for doing any kind of lace manouveurs.

The Anais top was worked out of kettle dyed Ultimo, and used just under 3 skeins.  When I kettle dyed the yarn, I added 50 grams salt to the dyepot to maximise eveness in the colour, and I stirred the yarn thoroughly prior to heating.  I used a combination of Ashford acid dyes from the 11 colour dye pack with citric acid, and left the yarn overnight to fully exhaust the colour.

This top knitted up very quickly, partly because the Ultimo is such a pleasant yarn to knit.  I was able to get exactly the gauge specified in the pattern with the needle sizes specified in the pattern.  This top was knitted on KnitPro metal interchangeable needles.