previews and ideas.
Phew, with our first shop update of 2021 set for this Sunday, March 21st @ 3pm, the Viola studio is in full blown chaos once again. Knowing that these yarns and colours won’t be with us for much longer, everyone has been a little more wistful than usual about our favourites. So our previews this time around are very much focused on our own project ideas, wish lists and cast ons. Hope you enjoy…
a few of our Polwarth & Alpaca with Mohair swatches: 1. Silt P&A with Peat and Melt mohair 2. Natural P&A with Cygnet Mohair 3. Silt P&A with Amethyst Mohair 4. Natural P&A with Apricot Mohair
Big news first…
Polwarth & Alpaca is back at last!
So many of you have been patiently awaiting the return of this beautiful yarn and your wait is almost over. Held double with Mohair Lace, this yarn creates the most airy, soft and warm fabric with beautiful drape. You’ll find it together with Mohair Lace in Soirée, Snowdrift and sans mohair in the short Frost Tunic. It is a blend of natural white and brown Alpaca along with Polwarth, meaning that before dyeing the skeins are a soft and warm grey-ish beige (totally dreamy!)
We’ve picked out some of our favourite Polwarth and Mohair pairings for you to contemplate before the update. The more we look, the more great options we see, so feel free to choose any of these combos, or use them as a jumping off point for your own colour inspirations…
Polwarth & Alpaca (l to r): Slate, Overcast, Prophecy, Currant, Crazy Pink, Natural, Silt, Persimmon, Avocado & River Witch
We decided to include some natural skeins because they are truly gorgeous. I’ve said this before and I’m saying it again, sheep (and in this case, alpacas too) know what they’re doing and I like to enjoy colours exactly as they have created them. Plus those natural skeins look excellent with every colour of mohair. Just saying ;)
We are also very excited to be offering the very last skeins of Black Sheep Farm yarn! Here’s Brit wearing her excellent Wool & Honey Pullover by Andrea Mowry. She used Black Sheep’s Natural black-ish brown fingering weight yarn, a blend of 80% wool from Back Sheep’s flock and 20% mohair from Wellington fibres. I went on and on about how much I love this yarn in our last newsletter, so I’ll just say that this yarn is an absolute treasure and is 100% grown and processed in south western Ontario. Huzzah for that! To follow along with processing of this year’s fleeces, take a peek at Black Sheep Farm’s Instagram feed. Because Brenda and Skyler at Black Sheep are busy caring for lambs and growing veggies, we’ve decided to add these skeins to our Viola update in order to make shopping and shipping easier for everyone. Don’t miss out, I love this yarn so much!
Also appearing in Sunday’s update will be lots and lots of Mohair Lace, Sock, Sock Minis, Sock Kits, West Country DK and West Country 4ply.
Yowza!
this is Hummingbird Sock yarn. It’s blown our minds. Each skein is a unique beauty.
doing something new with sock kits…
Viola’s newest team member, Marcelina, has been exploring colour permutations through her sock knitting and she has discovered that two 100g skeins of sock yarn make 3 complete pairs of socks! (If you’re worried about running out of yarn, she also knits long cuffs on all of her socks). When she suggested these super duper sock kits we all knew it was a great idea. We’re throwing in two mini skeins to be sure that you have plenty of yarn to complete three pairs and even more colour mixing possibilities. Knit three pairs, or six unique but complimentary socks, or mix in some more minis. We’ve narrowed our kits down to three colour combos, along with two mini bundle options. Hope you enjoy!
Oh and one more news worthy note on socks…Marcelina has also discovered that Favorite Socks with a strand of Mohair are…well utterly fabulous. Just in case you have been searching for ways to dress in head to toe mohair (as I have been for quite some time). You won’t regret it and it’s a nice opportunity to use up mohair bits and bobs. You’re welcome.
the instantly popular mohair enhanced favourite socks (oh boy!)
Searching for our classic sock kits? Head Over to our friends HandKnit Yarn Studio because they recently received some of our original sock kits (1 x 100g & 2 x 50g) and still have a few remaining in stock…available right now! Lovely HandKnit is in Hamilton Ontario and is one of my all time favourite yarn shops. Recently I’ve also been enjoying their great selection of Organic yarns from BC Garn!
Marcelina exploring sock colour options in a Barn Sweater knit using 2 Strands of Frozen Earth Mohair!!
an oversized Soirée Sweater my mum knit a couple of years ago. We deepened the armholes by 1 cable repeat and adjusted the sleeves accordingly from there. Send me an email if you’d like more details! Colours are Evergreen P&A and Moonlight Mohair.