The sun is shining, we’ve been knitting in beer gardens, and as it’s 1st June, we thought we’d share our favourite things from May, before looking forward to the things we’re excited about this month.
Designer: Karie Westermann
May has been an unofficial We ❤ Karie Westermann month at Tipsy Knits. Pip has been working away at her Frances Herself shawl, whilst Cia finally managed to find the most ridiculously and stereotypically girly colour combination for her Byatt (it’s only taken a year!). Both of us have been enjoying knitting these lovely shawls- and there are more in our queues! We genuinely could wax lyrical about how much we enjoy Karie’s designs; everything from the inspiration behind them, to the techniques used, to the wonderfully accessible way in which each pattern is laid out… We’ve both knit a few patterns between us, and there are more in our queues waiting to be matched with the perfect yarn!
It naturally goes without saying that we’re extremely excited by Karie’s latest project, This Thing of Paper and eagerly backed the Kickstarter. At the time of writing, there’s still 20 days left to go- plenty of time to check out what amazing plans Karie has up her sleeve! Go on- we’ll wait here for you…
Yarns: La Bien Aimee Merino Singles & Ginger’s Hand Dyed Splendor
We’ve both been using yarns which are relatively new to us throughout May.
Cia has just started adding her Contrast Colour to her Byatt, a lovely skein of La Bien Aimee‘s Merino Singles in the ‘pinku graffiti’ colourway which she picked up at this year’s Edinburgh Yarn Festival. Although a self-confessed lover of high-twist merino 4ply, Cia has fallen in love with this yarn. It’s surprisingly smooth for a single-ply, and doesn’t felt, shed or pill the way some single-ply or worsted spun yarns do. It’s a dream to work with if you’re cabling without a needle- the loose twist of the single-ply means that it’s rather “grabby” and stitches don’t unravel when merrily pushed off a needle when rearranging stitches. In terms of the colour- boy is this a well-layered beauty. Beyond the pink in the ‘pinku’ name, there’s shades of red, orange, purple, navy and black. We have yet to find out how it will block, or cope with being washed, but so far, top marks from Cia!
Pip’s been having a blast working with the 50-50 merino-silk Splendor 4ply from Ginger Twist Studio. If you’re looking for a yarn that will make everyone around you say, “Oooh!”, this is your yarn. Splendor is one luxurious yarn to work with, and it only improves with blocking. It’s also rather versatile, making a lovely, springy fabric in garter stitch, and some brilliant stitch definition when used for lace or stockinette sections. The colours of this yarn are glorious- as you can see, the grey is lovely and subtle, but the navy and purple skeins used are deliciously bright and saturated. Pip spent a while simply admiring the various colours available at the Ginger Twist stall at Edinburgh Yarn Festival before she eventually settled upon her skeins- suffice to say, there’s something for everyone when it comes to this yarn! We’ll both be visiting Ginger Twist for this year’s IBYC, and who knows, maybe some more Splendor will find its way into Pip’s stash?
So that’s May. June is set to be a very knitty and yarn-squishing-filled month, with the release of The Book of Haps (of course we both pre-ordered it!) and IBYC 2016. We’ll be back in a few weeks to share our thoughts, squeals of delight and more!
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