Cotton Yarn just got Sassier!

Cotton Yarn just got Sassier!

New Arrival! Our friends at Sassy Skein have built their reputation on designing bright, washable and colorfast yarns ideal for kids knits. Their four newest shades are no exception. These fresh, mouthwatering colors include: Lime Daiquiri, Bubble Gum, Fruit Punch and Pirate's Chest Brown...arrgh!

Sassy Skein yarns consist of 100% mercerized cotton and are available in Worsted or DK weight.

Shop Sassy Skein Yarns at NobleKnits

Girl's skirt pattern (shown in photo, above) - Bekah Knits Girls Lollipop Skirt Pattern

How Much Yarn Do I Need?

How much yarn do I need?

That is a perplexing question for many knitters! So many variables are involved. The weight of the yarn, gauge, needle size, and garment dimensions all are important bits of information you'll need know, to make an educated guess to determine the amount of yarn you need.
Well, no worries!

This Knitters' Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements includes yarn yardage requirements for eight of the most popular knitted items: sweaters, vests, mittens, gloves, socks, scarves, tams and hats. The yardages are for sizes ranging from baby or toddler to large adult, and for multiple gauges appropriate for fine to bulky yarns. Keep this leaflet in your knittng bag and use it as a reference for all of your basic patters-you'll no longer need to guess how much you need! Pamphlet is laminated and perfectly sized to fit in your knitting basket!

Knitters' Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements

Red, White & Blue!

Happy 4th of July!
Flex your Knitting Independence!


To celebrate, I've listed my Top 10 Red, White, and Blue yarns now 17.76% Off!

1. Adriafil Duo Plus Color #84 - self-striping yarn, great for socks or baby!
2. Farmhouse "I'm Allergic to Wool" Cotton yarn in Carolina Blue - chunky weight hand-dyed cotton
3. Plymouth Kaos Collection Perplex Yarn in Winter White - multi textured, that changes as you knit
4. Misti Alpaca's Suri Silk Handpaint in Blues in the Night - rich blend of silk and baby alpaca
5. Plymouth Poppin Yarn in White - pom-poms explode all over this fun and fluffy yarn. Knit a one-ball scarf free pattern
6. Sassy Skein Worsted Weight Cotton in Strawberry Daiquiri, Marina Blue, and Coconut - great for knitting kids clothes, colorfast and machine washable
7. Plymouth Happy Choices Sock Yarn Panel - Nautical Stripes - arrives as a flat panel scarf and includes instructions to knit a pair of socks
8. Rowan Cashsoft DK yarn in Poppy and Navy - so-soft blend with a touch of cashmere
9. Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica Yarn in Natural, Cherry, and Navy - kettle dyed yarn, great for felting
10. Plymouth Happy Feet Sock yarn in Multi Blend and Red/Wine

Hurry! Sale ends Midnight, Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Happy 200th Blog Post!

It's official, our 200th blog post!
We hope we've kept you entertained, informed, and most of all...knitting! In honor of our 200th post, we're celebrating by offering our Top 20 Most Popular Items on sale. That's right, we took the top twenty most popular yarns, patterns, and notions and we're putting those items on sale for 20% off! Enjoy!

Top 20 Most Popular Items (and why knitters love them)!

1. Plymouth Heaven Yarn - Ultra-quick knit project. "WOWs" 'em at a baby shower. Only 4 or 5 balls makes up the free blanket patterns on our site.
2. Plymouth Galway Yarn - Felting, felting, felting! Felts beautifully and holds the color. Also popular for traditional knits - Knitters' Favorite worsted weight yarn
3. Fiber Trends Felted Clog Pattern - Year in year out, everyone loves to knit, felt and wear these clogs. By the way, you'll need the Galway yarn listed above to make these!
4. Rowan Colourscape Chunky Yarn - It's no wonder this Kaffe Fassett designed self-striping yarn is at the top of the list. The colors are gorgeous, with long repeats. The yarn is very soft and knits up quickly. Look for even more colors and a new pattern book this fall!
5. Be Sweet Magic Ball - No other yarn like it! Combinations of hand tied mohair, boucle, and ribbon make up this stunning yarn. Free one ball scarf projects make it great for gift giving.
6. Baby Alpaca Grande Yarn - Amazingly soft, chunky weight yarn is available in a wide range of colors. Fun patterns you love to knit. Also popular for hats and scarfs.
7. Pick Up Sticks Snugs Pattern - Fun and functional boot patterns to knit, then felt. Available in Little Snugs (kids) or Big Snugs (adult). Knit them for the entire family!
8. Mission Falls 1824 Cotton Yarn - 40 sophisticated shades of this textured cotton make it popular for both adults and kids knitting. Excellent pattern books available.
9. Manos Silk Blend Yarn - Kettle dyed silk and extrafine wool blend makes this yarn soft with a hint of luxurious shine. Available in the most popular colors of Manos Wool. Look for even more new colors and a new pattern book for fall!
10. Ecco Organic Camel Yarn - Eco-friendly, organic yarn. This delightful baby camel yarn a treasure in it's natural shade and knits up at a chunky 3.5 sts per inch.
11. Plymouth Baby Alpaca Brush Yarn - Light, lofty and super soft brushed alpaca that knits up at a chunky weight. Baby Alpaca Brush is also popular for it's fun to knit patterns and affordable price.
12. Manos Geometry Afghan/Throw Pattern Booklet - collection of beautiful and fun to knit afghans and throws that will look like a piece of art to have in your home.
13. Himalaya Recycled Sari Silk Yarn - Absolutely stunning! Yarn is made from remnant fibers from the silk weaving mills in India or from old silk saris. Free Unbiased Knit Bag Pattern available.
14. Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needle Set - Handy and compact kit includes needles from size US 5-15 and cords to make straight or circular needles.
15. Polar Knit Yarn - 8 bright colors of Polartec Fleece yarn keep you cozy and warm. What makes this a favorite are the free downloadable patterns for Polar Fleece.
16. Mission Falls Recollection Pattern Booklet - This collection of wearable sweaters, scarves, hats, and even a handbag featuring Mission Falls 1824 Wool makes this one of their most popular pattern books ever. View projects in this booklet.
17. Sassy Skein Cotton - Vibrant cotton yarn that is wearable, washable and color fast. Available in DK weight and Worsted weight. A knitters' favorite for children's garments.
18. Knit One, Crochet Too Ty-Dy Yarn - Soft self-striping yarn, so wonderful to knit you won't believe it's cotton! Great for diagonal and modular knitting.
19. Suede Tote Bottoms & Handles - Knit a tube, then sew on the suede bottom and the handles, Presto! You have a professional looking tote bag. Available in 8 colors instructions, knitting instructions included with the suede bottom. You'll need approx. 300 yards worsted/aran weight yarn.
20. Knit One, Crochet Too Paint Box Yarn - Self-striping worsted weight yarn. Softer than another popular brand of self-striping wool, with long color changes. Excellent yarn for hats, bags, sweaters, entrelac and modular knitting. Also great for felting.

Hurry! Offer ends midnight, June 30th, 2009.

Warning Sock Knitters! The following contains yarn you'll want to knit!

Warning Sock Knitters!

The following contains yarn you'll want to knit!

Just arrived from Plymouth, Sockotta yarn new colors for Fall 2009! This season's trend is tone-on-tone color for a subtle, mottled effect. Sockotta is still the popular blend of cotton/superwash wool/nylon you've come to love and packed with a whopping 414 yards per ball and priced at only $10.95! You'll only need one ball to knit a pair of average sized socks. So grab your size 2 needles and whip out a pair, your feet will thank you!

Need some sock inspiration? Shop sock patterns!

How to Hand Dye Yarn with Kool-Aid. A Step by Step Tutorial!

How to Hand Dye Yarn with Kool-Aid!
A step-by-step tutorial

Today my daughter and I dyed yarn with Kool-Aid. It was a really enjoyable experience. Since I've never hand dyed yarn before, I was a bit anxious with the whole experience. Concerns I had were: Is it going to be messy? Do I have the right material? Will all the colors mix together and make the yarn look like mud? Did I buy enough Kool-Aid to do this correctly? Will I screw this up and ruin some very nice yarn?

Well, now it's time to find out! Acutally, it was a lot like dying Easter eggs, but easier and not as messy! My daughter and I had a lot of fun. Here is a step by step tutorial of the process.

Step 1 Gather Materials
I purchased four Ziploc large rectangle containers, distilled vinegar, 3 packets each of my favorite unsweeted Kool-Aid colors, 2 pairs of latex gloves, and Plymouth Dye for Me yarns. Overall, my list was pretty good. I used only two of the Ziploc containers (one for dyeing, one for rinsing), but ended up scrounging around the house for small containers and squirt bottles for different types of application.





Step 2 Mixing the Dye and Preparing the Yarn
Mixing the dye was really easy! In the plastic pan I poured: 1 quart water (32 oz), 1/4 cup vinegar, and 2 or 3 packets of Kool-Aid. The more Kool-Aid you add, the more intense the shade of dye.



Step 3 Dyeing Main Color and Heat Setting
While my daughter mixed the dye, I prepped the undyed yarn by soaking it in water and the gently squeezing out the excess. We placed the yarn in the pan with the dye, then put the pan in the microwave for 5 minutes on high. Side note: Kool-Aid dyeing makes the yarn smell good enough to eat!
When we removed the pan from the microwave, we placed the yarn in another pan filled with clean, cool water to rinse. Then we gently squeezed excess water from yarn.




Step 4 Adding Spot Colors
We could have stopped with step 3 and used only the single shade of dye. But we decided to adventure on a bit more and add some spot colors. We filled a small squirt bottle with a more intensified version of our Kool-Aid concoction: 1 packet of Kool-Aid, a tablespoon of vinegar, and filled remainder of the bottle approx. 1/2 way with water.

This was my daughter's favorite part! I held up the opened hank and she squirted and sprayed, applying the dye in just the right places.



When the second round of color was applied to her liking, we placed the yarn back into an empty pan and microwaved it for another 3 minutes on high.

Step 5 The Last Rinse

Remove the pan from the microwave. Rinse yarn one last time in cool, clean water. Gently squeeze excess water from yarn.

Step 6 Drying

Tah-Dah! Hang the yarn out to dry. We hung our yarn on a tree in the backyard. It's almost dry! Now to think of knitting projects for each yarn....

Undyed Yarn used in this project, shown from left to right: Baby Llama Glow yarn, Baby Llama DK yarn, Happy Feet yarn, Merino Silk Cashmere yarn, and Dancing Toes yarn.

So Kool! Hand dyeing yarn with Kool-Aid

Okay, I've been thinking about this for a week...hand dyeing yarn with Kool-Aid.

What spawned this crazy infatuation? Well, our friends at Plymouth came out with a new luxury line of dye-able yarns called, "Dye for Me." As if just feeling these cashmere, silk, alpaca, llama and merino yarns weren't enough, they were kind enough to pack a little sheet on How to Dye Yarns with Kool-Aid to peek my interest!

So, tomorrow is the day! My daughter and I are going to give it a try. We've gathered all the necessary materials and, I think, we're ready to go.

If you want to try it too, here's our supply list:

• 3 packets per flavor of unsweetened Kool-Aid (We picked lemon, lime, cherry, strawberry, grape, and blue raspberry. We're hoping that will result in yellow, green, red, pink, purple and blue colors)


• 1 bottle distilled vinegar


• Rubber gloves


• Plastic trays (microwaveable)


• Plymouth Dye for Me undyed yarns
  

Stay tuned! Tomorrow, we'll give a full report of the process; what worked and what didn't.

Check out the Dye for Me Collection of undyed yarns