Black Sheep Yarns

Mother’s Day Sale

helendanforth — Thu, 10 May 2012 02:33:15 +0000

Flowers and Mother’s Day go hand in hand, but they don’t have to be of the wilting variety. Use small bits of yarn to create a knitted bouquet or corsage for Mom. The “Mother’s Day Knitty Brooch” by Claire Garland is a free patterm for a simple knitted brooch, that Mom can attach to a jacket or purse. Or knit this cute “Rose Corsage” by Alison Hogg. I love this flower shaped pin cushion by Kris Knits called “Posey”

Mother’s Day is a great time to take Mom shopping at your local yarn shop! Our annual Mother’s Day Sale starts Saturday May 12th and extends thru to Friday May 18th and you will find up to 50% off selected items. See you then!

We’ve got Spinning Fiber!

helendanforth — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:18:27 +0000

It seems that the word is out that Black Sheep Yarns is now carrying spinning fiber! We have designated part of our downstairs classroom to a spinning center. We are a Louet distributor and we will soon have a Louet Julia wheel for demos. Our fiber supply is growing and so far we have the fiber from Louet, Aurelia Wool & Weaving, Pear Tree, Zitron and Two Sisters Stringworks. Our Louet fibers include, BFL, Corriedale (natural & dyed)), BFL/Silk, Merino/Silk (natural & undyed), Wool/Mohair, Falkland, Tussah Silk, Superwash Merino and Shetland (Grey, Black & Brown).

Upcoming Events at Black Sheep Yarns

helendanforth — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:42:00 +0000

Check out the following upcoming events:

“Mawata Silk Hankies Drop In Class” Sat April 28, anytime between 1 & 4 pm: Here is another opportunity to play with silk hankies beautifully dyed by Jayne of See Jayne Knit. Jayne will be on hand to demo the simple process of turning the hankies into yarn and knitting. $5 drop in fee includes 3 silk hankies. Bring your own needles (3.5 to 4mm) or we have some you can borrow.
“Lumberjack Socks”: Learn basic sock construction while knitting your chosen size of DK weight socks. Alexa will have you on your way to being a sock knitter after taking her class. See the Classes page for details
“Beginner Lace Knitting with Alexa” Intimidated with the thought of following lace charts, but want to be able to create some of the beautiful lace projects which are so popular right now? Chose one of the suggested lace patterns and Alexa will make it seem simple! See the Classes page for details

Habu Textiles

helendanforth — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 03:42:16 +0000

I am pleased to announce that our Habu Textiles order has finally arrived! We have two versatile yarns which are great for summer knitting. A-1″Tsumugi Silk” is a lace weight 100% silk which is great used singly or 2 or 3 strands held together. It comes in 450g cones and is also useful for weaving. A-174 “Cotton gima” is a lace weight cotton, which resembles linen (”gima” means “fake linen” in Japanese). It softens greatly with handling and washing and is also great for weaving. Just 2 or 3 cones of “Cotton Gima” is all you need to knit “Gretel” a seamless, A-line tank with a flattering cowl neck:

Easter Weekend Store Hours

helendanforth — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 03:54:08 +0000

Friday April 6th 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Saturday April 7th 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Sunday April 8th 12:00 am to 4:00 pm

Monday April 9th CLOSED & NO KNIT NIGHT

Henry’s Rabbit by Sara Elizabeth Kellner of Rabbit Hole Knits is a great pattern for a simple but very cute bunny. In worsted weight yarn it is approximately 12 inches long and 6 inches high, but you can make it any size. Try it in Orkney Angora or Aslan Trends Invernal for a fluffy Easter bunny!

Mawata Silk Hankies Drop In Workshop

helendanforth — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:29:39 +0000

Many of you have been intrigued by the beautiful hand dyed “silk hankies” on display at the store. Drop in on Saturday March 10th between noon & 4 pm for a workshop on how to easily turn these hankies into yarn for knitting. A $5.00 drop in fee will allow you to play with silk and chat with the dyer Jayne of See Jayne Knit. Bring your favourite 3.5 to 4.5mm needles or we have some you can borrow.

New Arrivals

helendanforth — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 04:15:42 +0000

Lots of new arrivals these past few week, including a few new yarns, such as Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace. This is a beautiful extra fine merino perfect for delicate stitch patterns and feminine lacey knits, such as in the accompanying pattern booklet “Rialto Lace.” We also have new stock of Classic Elite, Sublime, Malabrigo, Trekking & Cascade yarns. A new yarn perfect for a little summer sweater or shawl is Araucania Lontue, a 50% cotton, 50% linen blend, hand-dyed in Chile. The colours are rich and the texture very natural. And our button collection is growing!

Madelinetosh DK

helendanforth — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:44:15 +0000

We just received 3 huge boxes of Tosh DK – some new colours and some of our old favourites. More new colours just released at the recent TNNA to come in a few weeks, along with Vintage.

More Mawata

helendanforth — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:48:14 +0000

Mawata Silk Hankies

helendanforth — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:30:55 +0000

If you want to take a knitting adventure then try knitting with silk from Mawata Silk Hankies. Each “hankie” is a single silk worm cocoon spread out into a square (Mawata is Japanese for “to spread out”). The silk fibers in each thin hankie can then be easily stretched out by hand into fiber which can be knitted directly. This is so simple to do and in seconds you can make fiber in any thickness you chose! Because the silk fibers are so long they are very strong and don’t need any twist.

The Yarn Harlot describes the mittens she made from Silk Hankies as being like “hand oven pillows” as silk is warmer than wool but very light and of course very silky! Hers took just 30g of fiber and you can check them out here.

Now if you are fortunate enough to have a local dyer, such as Jayne of See Jayne Knit, hand dye the silk hankies into vibrant shades, then you are really in for a treat. And that is just what we have at Black Sheep Yarns! Here is a photo of Jayne working on her “Hitchhiker” scarf in multiple colours of her Mawata Silk Hankies.