Imagine

Imagine a yarn shop that is a haven for savvy shoppers with discerning taste.

Imagine such a shop belonging to two yarn whisperers who are not only able to match the right yarn to the right project, but who inspire local knitters and crocheters to instinctively know what  yarn wants to become through holding, looking, smelling, touching and listening to it.

Imagine being able to purchase top South African produced plant and animal fibers along global brands such as Rowan and Pierrot. 

Imagine attending various crochet workshops or joining in for a craft share, a cup of great coffee and a piece of cake that is almost too nice to slice.

This is "I Love Yarn" and imagine my luck as I live less than 2 km away from this shop located in the leafy suburb of Baileys Muckleneuk in Pretoria, South Africa.

Imagine, just imagine Stephni and Elaine decide to hand dye and hand ball their own label.

They did!  They imagined a wide range of colours to inspire knitters and crocheters in a fiber that can be used for a plethora of projects.  This is IMAGINE, a 70% bamboo-30% cotton yarn that is hand dyed and hand balled with the assistance of previously disadvantaged South African women. 

IMAGINE just what will be hanging from my hooks at some point!

I bought 21 skeins in colours Guava, French Affair, Butterscotch, Mustard, Windswept, Abyss and Granite.

But first I am making their heirloom blanket (available as a kit from their shop) in my own preferred shades of coal, cement, mud and milk. I bought the kit a month ago and imagine my patience as I will only start working on it next month. 

Lovely crocheted items on display in the shop

 

Where can I find I Love Yarn?

Facebook Page

Website

Pinterest

A blast from the past!

FABULOUS FRENCH KNITTING

Made by my dad 60 years ago when he was a 10 year old kid in Primary School!

Don't you just love it?

The Tween, Teen and I are having a blast in our store room today! 

I just love how different items fascinate me during different stages of my life. I have had all of these items in storage crates for over 20 years and all of a sudden I have the need to surround me with it on a daily basis.

I will need to figure out how and where to display the Maize Sacks and French Knitting. For some reason up-cycling does not inspire me at the moment, I quite like looking at the raw product and am thinking it should stay like this. Putting it in frames for example will not fit with the raw, industrial feel of our home.  I also do not want to bring a scissor near the sacks - maybe 10 years ago cushions would have been a great idea. Now I am not so sure that it would be a good idea to cut up a piece of vintage cloth.

 

VINTAGE MAIZE SACKS 

These beautiful sacks (more than 50 years old) are from South Africa and given to me by my mom.

A Picture is worth a Thousand Words

THE STORY

Moroccan Inspired Throw for my Dad

(Follow Link to previous posting)

YARN:

Vinnis Bambi, 100%  Bamboo, 5 Skeins, 50gr each

Colours: 5 Skeins in total of Clouds, Dark Denim, Denim, Blues Brother, Baby Blue

Vinnis Nikkim Colours, 100% Cotton, 28 skeins, 50gr each:

Stone, Old Gold, Aluminium, Steel Grey, Blue Grey, Blue Bell, Denim, Kingfisher, Baby Blue, Deep Blue, Cloud Blue, Blue Canard, Pale Blue Green

Images: Raw Rustic Pinterest

What a scarf!

A gorgeous Winter Scarf in locally produced hand dyed wool for an equally gorgeous old school friend

Pattern: Saint-Malo by Cath-e-design, Ravelry

Hook Size: 5mm

Scarf Size: 220cm
Yarn: cowgirlblues 100% wool, hand dyed, colour Silver Fox

This yarn is terrific, another smashing product available to South Africans! I bought the same colour from two different dye lots (on purpose I daresay), resulting in two of the skeins being lighter than the others. I used the lighter skeins in the single stitch rows and absolutely love the subtle play on the pattern as a result. I bought my yarn from Beatrix - see her Facebook Page and Blog for more details.

“If you take any activity, any art, any discipline, any skill, take it and push it as far as it will go, push it beyond where it has ever been before, push it to the wildest edge of edges, then you will force it into the realm of magic.” 

Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues

Because I am used to working in Bamboo and Cotton Yarns that yield a softer drape, I initially struggled to settle on a pattern. I needed a sensational pattern to suit the unique qualities of the cowgirlblues. I tried the stunning Muirlands Cowl, the Tall and Wavy Stitch, the Wavelength, and the Vega Crochet Cowl, before I finally felt happy with the look and feel of the Saint-Malo Pattern.

The frogging even had Captain America in a state!

Have a nice week!
This is your brain on knitting (and crocheting): CNN.

Freakin' Brilliant!

I used the seamless join technique on the last round of each square for the Moroccan Inspired Throw. This is brilliant!  For super neat, seamless joins, see the tutorial by Sarah London.

Thank you Tanya for including me in your 5 Things I love Saturday posting. Your Little Things Blogged blog is brilliant! So many ideas, such inspiration.

I've got a hankering, a HANKERING I tell you for walking the isles of IKEA again.

IKEA is targeting space poor hipsters with their newly released space saving collection.

We are neither hipsters nor (space) poor, but I just asked The Husband to get me these. 

Brilliant for organising my WIP, hooks and yarn! 

I met up with three super talented ladies this week. Cornel from I love pom-poms blog and the Craft Share get togethers gave me this Freakin' Brilliant stamp. Thank you, it is a winner!

I also met Elsbeth Eksteen, she is a brilliant artist! Take a look at her blog and Purl and the Woodpecker Facebook page.

This old tin mess plate is serving as the background for all the photos I have been taking for the Moroccan Inspired Throw.  Don't you think it makes for a brilliant background? 

I use this Apple SD card reader almost every day. It is included in the Apple Ipad Camera Connection Kit and I use it to import photos directly from the camera's SD card to the ipad for editing on Snapseed.  Brilliant!

Have a fun weekend

xxxxx