Hi, Knitters,
Today is a special day here on the blog, be sure to read to the end for an extraordinary opportunity for you. I have been working for about a year on this new shawl design and developing and coordinating ideas with this incredible yarn company, Infinite Twist. A year in the making for this concept! The hard work has been well worth it. The design and the yarn are a match made in heaven.
Today I am privileged to be hosting a giveaway for a kit to make my new shawl design, the Prairie Ridge Shawl, giving you information on where to purchase your own kit and mostly, letting you know about this interesting and inspiring yarn company, Infinite Twist. It's a big day!
Never have I felt so much love for a design before due to the back story of the handspun yarn and company, Infinite Twist.
I wish you could feel this shawl through the screen. It is soft and luscious. The yarn is 100% wool and the barber poling of colors in the yarn creates a heathered, almost tweedy effect in the fabric. There is something really different and special about this finished project. The color of the yarn really reminds me of the purple prairie flowers I have been enjoying all summer on my hikes.
The Prairie Ridge Shawl is versatile in the ways you can wear it. It sits nicely simply draped over your shoulders, you could add a shawl pin to hold it in place or tie it in the front, you can wrap it up closely around your neck or drape it over your shoulder and tie the ends in the back.
For different ways to wear your shawl check out my video on YouTube called, Ways to Wear Your Shawl. Click here to view!
In the photo above I have the shawl over my shoulders and tied in the back. This is one of my favorite ways to wear a shawl. It stays put this way.
You can see how nicely the shawl sits on my shoulders and just envelops me in the lovely handspun yarn. It is an incredible feeling to wear this shawl.
Above I have the shawl wrapped up around my neck. I can't wait to wear the shawl wrapped around my black wool coat in the winter months ahead. That will be so warm and cozy.
The Prairie Ridge Shawl is like a sister in shape to my shawl from last year, the Quaker Ridge Shawlette. As you know, because I've said it many times, this half-circle shape is my favorite for a shawl. If you knit the Quaker Ridge Shawlette you'll find the Prairie Ridge Shawl similar in shape but different in many ways such as: a different cast on and start up, much easier increases, worsted weight yarn instead of a sport weight, a simple lace pattern worked in with stockinette stitch sections, and two edging options (a ruffle or a simple garter edge). The Prairie Ridge Shawl can be made any size because you can stop of any point in the pattern to make a smaller shawl or continue on with the sections to make a larger version.
The pattern has been meticulously tech-edited by the one and only Amy Detjen! Thank you, Amy. Click here to read about Amy's upcoming knitting trip to Ireland and how you can join her for a future trip! Or click here to read more about the itinerary for the Ireland trip.
Here is some pattern information you might like to know:
This is a perfect first shawl/lace project!!
Finished
Measurements:
68-inch wingspan, 22-inch depth after blocking
Yarn:
Infinite Twist Halo Heather (worsted weight handspun 100% wool); 550 yards
•
Needles:
US size 7 circular needles, 32-inch or longer
•
Gauge:
5 stitches per inch in Stockinette
stitch before blocking
•
Sizing
and Yarn Notes
The gauge
for this shawl doesn’t have to be exact, however, the yardage requirements will
vary if the gauge is different. Also, this pattern doesn’t require a certain
number of stitches at any given point; you can easily make your shawl larger or
smaller by continuing on or stopping at any time. Stopping at the end of a
repeat is recommended when changing the size of the shawl.
(The 3 colorways for the shawl kits!)
And only because I know I will be asked this, right now the pattern is only available in kit form exclusively through Infinite Twist! Please take advantage of this beautiful kit offering if you are able. You won't regret it.
In January 2014 the single pattern will be available for download through my Ravelry Pattern Shop. I will let you know when the pattern is available for download. It will become available on this page, click here! The Prairie Ridge Shawl is a great project for your own handspun as well.
Here is some important information about Infinite Twist provided by the founder, Cate Carter:
Infinite Twist provides
fiber artists with hand-crafted supplies and beautiful tools, and provides
living wages for skilled artisans.
Your fingers only need to dip into a
skein of Infinite Twist yarn once to understand that this is no ordinary yarn.
This is a labor of love that has taken generations to perfect, and provides
much-needed income to vulnerable populations of women in China.
All Infinite Twist yarn begins its
journey as buttery, super-soft wool from Northern China. It is dyed in small
batches and passed into the hands of masters of a fast-fading craft, to be
hand-spun into heirloom-quality yarn.
Hand-spun yarn is a tactile delight to
work with. Interacting with materials made by a craftsperson rather than a
machine takes your knitting, weaving, crocheting, or other fiber art to a new
level.
Cate Carter-Evans, founder of Infinite
Twist, is responsible for the magical color combinations. All dyeing is done
with safe and colorfast dyes sourced in the U.S.
Infinite Twist offers four flavors of
hand-spun yarn, plus multi-yarn kits.
Qinghai Hand-spun is a
springy wool that gives great stitch definition and an attractive corded
appearance. This yarn is spun by the women
of the Qinghai Spinner’s Cooperative.
The Cooperative was founded by social-venture Shokay in 2010, and
provides jobs for rural Tibetan women in China’s Qinghai Province.
Halo Heather is
hand-spun from hand-painted roving, resulting in subtly shifting colors that
don’t pool.
Halo Shine pairs
one strand spun with hand-painted roving with a Navajo-piled strand of shiny
rayon.
Halo Semi-Solid is
kettle-dyed in small batches, and can be custom ordered in a range of 28
colors.
Our Halo family of yarns takes its name
from the gorgeous bloom of fibers it develops after blocking. The Halo family
of yarns is spun by Infinite Twist’s Shanghai-based spinners.
Infinite Twist’s yarn line may be new,
but the development of our heirloom-quality yarns began generations before.
Founder Cate Carter-Evans inherited her
passion for spinning and dyeing from her grandmother, learned knitting and
crochet from her mom at the age of 5, and adopted patience from her father by
spending time in his wood shop.
Cate has conducted more than six
trainings in the Qinghai Province for the cooperative’s members, helping them
apply their traditional spindle spinning technique to spinning with
foot-powered Acadia spinning wheels.
With a professional background in product
marketing for apparel and accessories, Cate is thrilled to be putting her
skills to work in service of what she’s most passionate about – yarn!
Her love of fiber began with color and
she considers herself a colorist first and foremost. Take a look at the
whimsical colors in the Infinite Twist collection, like the orange rose Shreveport,
the incandescent Indoor Fireworks and the delicious Granny Smith,
to see her talent in action.
She
currently lives in Shanghai, China with her husband and three cats. When she
isn’t teaching knitting classes you can find her dyeing yarn in her kitchen or
spinning in her studio.
(photo provided by Cate Carter, Artisan Spinning Wheel made by Cate's father, Rich in Maine)
Zuo (in the photo above) is one of the spinners who has been working very hard on spinning up the kits for the Prairie Ridge Shawl. She is a very talented spinner as you'll see in the yarns below. I thought you might like to know a little about her:
Spinner
Profile: Zuo
Zuo
grew
up in Anhui province, one of the poorest in China.
With a
7th
grade education, she moved to Shanghai with her husband and young sons
in
search of a better life for their family,
good
schools, and jobs.
She worked
as a restaurant dishwasher, and her husband worked as a driver.
In
her home village, her mom and the other village women were all makers – they
could all spin knit, sew, and do embroidery. Zuo
continues this tradition with her spinning and knitting.
Zuo
has worked for Infinite Twist for just over a year. She and her mom spin the
Halo family of yarns.
Zuo
says
she loves her job
because she can work from home. She saves gas money for her motorcycle, doesn’t
have to commute, and gets to spend more time with her family.
I had so much fun working with Cate on customizing and selecting the kit colorways for you to enjoy. I love nature and the nearby prairies and of course, fall. All of these loves of mine played into the color selections being offered by Infinite Twist.
Can you believe the color and depth of the glorious Iris Garden yarn above? As soon as I saw Iris Garden in the box from China I knew immediately that this would be the color for the shawl sample. I only wish you could all squish and feel how unique this yarn is in person.....
The Iris Garden yarn pulls you in and makes you never want to stop knitting. I could not put the shawl down once I started working with this yarn.
My next shawl is already on my needles and it is in this gorgeous blend of milk chocolate and very dark chocolate browns. The yarn colorway is appropriately called, Box of Chocolates. This is another kit colorway for the Prairie Ridge Shawl.
Ahhhh! It is so beautiful.... dark and rich and interesting.
My third colorway choice for you is called, Autumnal and it couldn't be any more gorgeous. It is a deep, rich blend of rusty reds and browns. I love it so much I can hardly contain myself.
I will be knitting another upcoming design using Autmnal so stay tuned....
So here are the color choices, Iris Garden, Autmnal or Box of Chocolates. The kits are selling for $95 and I want to talk about this for a brief second. The Quaker Ridge Shawlette, my last shawl, uses three skeins of Madelinetosh Pashmina. Pashmina sells for about $30 a skein, so the total price was around $90 for the shawl. For the Inifinite Twist Prairie Ridge Shawl kits to be priced at $95 is amazing. You are getting handspun worsted weight yarn and the pattern and you are helping support women like Zuo in China all for about the same price as 3 skeins of Madelinetosh. It's really a good thing.
The kits are a great deal.
Here are the links again for the Prairie Ridge Shawl kits now that you've seen the colors:
You can see the slight halo on the blocked shawl above. The yarn is called Halo Heather and blooms up so nicely when blocked. I love a ruffle and an eyelet row mixed with a worsted weight tweedy yarn. It is a gorgeous combination.
I made video tutorials on how to block the Prairie Ridge Shawl using wires and pins on my YouTube Channel. The tutorial is in four parts:
You, of course, don't need to use pins and wires to block your shawl. You could just wash it in a wool wash and spread it out on your floor or table or bed or wherever is good. That will be plenty to get a good blocking.
My son and I headed out to the nearby nature conservancy where I do a lot of my hiking and walking and running. I am in there almost every day of the week. We brought some twine and ties to hang the shawl somewhere in the prairie section of the conservancy. We ended up stringing the shawl between one small tree and then over the branch of a much larger tree but the twine needed tension to support the shawl once we clipped it onto the string.
So the tension giver was me! My son took this photo without me knowing. I thought you might enjoy seeing a tiny behind the scenes view. Look at the beautiful prairie and the gorgeous skies and that spectacular Prairie Ridge Shawl suspended in the air. It was a day to remember.
I am so excited to give you the chance to win one of the Prairie Ridge Shawl kits from Infinite Twist today!! Cate of Infinite Twist is so generous. Thank you to Cate!
If you win you get to pick the colorway for your kit, either Iris Garden, Box of Chocolates or Autumnal. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of Infinite Twist and which colorway is your favorite. Don't miss out on this chance!
Leave only one comment that includes an email address or your Ravelry ID so I can get in touch with you to get your mailing address if you win. Please be patient and don't enter more than once. It takes awhile for your comment to appear on the blog post because I have to approve each comment to prevent spam. I will randomly select a winner in a couple of days.
Let the comments begin! Good luck to you all. This is a huge opportunity!
best, susie