Anzula Trunk Show

The Anzula Trunk Show is coming to the yarn store this week. Yay! Last year I made quite a few scrummy purchases but it was near my birthday and I do really like to support indie dyers and my store of course. There are always excuses you can make to facilitate buying yarn. I really like the Anzula website with it's social media savvy links to project inspiration on Pinterest and Ravelry for it's 18 lines of yarn.

I found a super video of the founder of Anzula, Sabrina, describing how everything began. Discovering how craft entrepreneurs start out always fascinates me. I haven't inserted a video into a blog post before but nothing ventured nothing gained ...perhaps it will work for some of you!

Variegated (multicolored) yarn is a huge temptation. It always looks the most visually appealing to me but then I struggle to find a crochet pattern that works well since the lovely stitch definition just gets lost. I was extremely happy with my Esther Shawl by Lana Holden though made from Anzula Dreamy and I think it worked because the pattern was very open.  

However there is hope, I have just found a wonderful blog post by The Verdant Griffin, an independent textile and dyeworks company aptly entitled "What the bleep should I make". The title alone makes me chuckle! The post gives a whole host of suggestions and gorgeous photos for variegated yarn. I am going to try combining it with a solid or semi-solid in a contrasting or matching color. Let's go shopping!

Shawls are perfect for Houston TX

Back in March I started making the opalescent top with my gorgeous variegated Anzula yarn but the stitch definition was just lost in the boho colors and I couldn't imagine wearing such a "busy" top. Since then I have been on the hunt again for a pattern to suit the yarn spending endless hours on Ravelry and flicking through magazines and books. But this week I finally completed the Esther Shawl with the yarn and I love it. YAY. My husband's comment was "because you don't have enough shawls already...". But a shawl is just enough for Houston where you're in a/c at times, but want to accessorize. And you really do need a variety of different colored versions!! I wore it, still unblocked, to a Pop Shop event this summer and an exhibitor offered to sell them in her bricks and mortar store if could make more. I really enjoyed making the shawl, having to really concentrate to begin with: the designer, Lana Holden, is a mathematician and it was evident in the pattern! http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/esther-shawl

Holiday projects - part 1

Every summer we travel back to the UK to visit family and friends and the quandary of what yarn and projects to take begins. I pack my clothes in less than an hour but the craft packing takes many days. I settled on a small project bag with the essentials and more trunk show gorgeous Anzula For Better or Worsted yarn: thicker, in blue and lilac blends and two patterns for crochet tops. My extremely pointy scissors went in my checked baggage in my large Cath Kidston project bag with two more projects and a pair of my children's green-handled craft scissors in the smaller project bag.

Realized that I didn't have enough yarn to make a top (note to self: buy matching skeins not small quantities of different skiens!) Eventually I settle on making a cute French style beret for my mum finding the pattern on Ravelry searching by yarn weight and type: Bloom Beret and Cap by Brittney Waterhouse.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/in-bloom-beret-and-cap