Saturday, January 28, 2017

Top 20 Pattern Sale & Yarn Giveaway!


Hi, Knitters,
First, I'm so sorry that I put the wrong link to the Barrett Wool Co. Wisconsin Woolen Spun yarn in the last email that went out. It is fixed now on the blog post. Thank you for letting me know. I had answered a question for someone looking for the Juniper Moon wooden cut-outs earlier and it was still copied instead of the yarn link.

There are still a few skeins left in the Wisconsin Woolen Spun Sport Weight in the Harbor and Apple Blossom colorways if you are interested. The rest has sold out. We have a lot more of the local yarn coming, in fact, we are listing another order of the Worsted Weight later today. Remember that these are small batch yarn orders so they are listed and then they go fast. The best way to find out when things are listed, the first notification, is to sign up for the Barrett Wool Co. Newsletter. The box to enter your email to sign up is at the bottom of every page.

The correct link to the Wisconsin Woolen Spun Sport Weight is here!  Apple Blossom and Harbor are still in stock.

Okay, now for today's fun! I thought it would be fun to brighten things up around here in a couple of ways. I started thinking about some sort of pattern sale and was looking at the patterns in my Ravelry pattern shop. I sorted the patterns by most favorited. That was really interesting for me. Things popped up that were really new and things popped up that were really old! I loved looking through the sorted patterns. There were hats, toys, mittens, cowl, shawls, ornaments, ebooks.... a really good mix and variety in the top 20. It was fun to go back and remember all of these good designs from just yesterday and years ago.

Anyway, I decided to do a Top 20 Pattern Sale for 20% off of each of these 20 patterns. The sale is starting today, Saturday, January 28th and ending next Saturday, February, 4th, 2017! A full week of discounted patterns. 

To get 20% off the following patterns enter the code: TOP20 when you are checking out!

Here is the quick linked list of patterns included in the 20% discount sale using the code TOP20:
10.  Ebb Cowl
20.  Owl Babies

I have linked the patterns for you in the list above and also under each photo in the post. Thank you so much if you partake! I really appreciate it. 

There is a giveaway at the end of the post if you are interested!





















photo from the Knitstyleyarns Etsy shop

And for the yarn giveaway I have this beautiful sock yarn by Knit Style Yarns! Sharon, a lovely teacher who is retiring at the end of the year, and the dyer behind Knit Style yarns and podcast has been one of my students at Vogue Knitting Live in NYC two times and I just love her! She gifted me this beautiful skein of her Chic Sock in the Fallen Faerie colorway a few weeks ago and I decided to share it with one of you! The yarn has 400 yards of Superwash Merino 80% and Nylon 20%. It is speckled and beautiful, perfect for socks or a shawl or mittens or anything else!



Leave one comment right here on the blog post to enter to win the Fallen Faerie skein of sock yarn! You must leave your email address or Ravelry username so I can get in touch. Only click on the Publish button once, there will be a delay before you see your comment on the blog. I'll randomly pick a winner in a few days and get in touch if you win to gather your mailing address. 

Don't forget, TOP20 is the discount code for the patterns available for one week. 

Thanks for the continuing fun and support around here, Knitters! You all make my day.
xo ~ susan
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Thursday, January 26, 2017

Wisconsin Woolen Spun Sport!


Updated at 10:40am CST on Jan. 26, 2017: The links have been fixed. Sorry for the error.

Hi, Knitters,
Sorry for the slightly fuzzy photo. I tell you, it is really difficult to get a crisp photo using natural light around here when there has been absolutely no light. It has been gray and fuzzy outside for weeks. Yesterday we did get a new snowfall which was pretty but the snow is so heavy and melty that I don't think it will last long. It is perfect snowman-making snow so I am hoping for a good show around the neighborhood.

Anyway, I am planning a fun giveaway for tomorrow, and a pattern discount, too. In the meantime, we have posted some really beautiful Wisconsin Woolen Spun Sport Weight Yarn over on the Barrett Wool Co. Mercantile! It is so pretty and squishy and light. Remember these are small batch yarns, wool from Midwest farms and milled and dyed right here in Wisconsin. 

Click here to check out the Barrett Wool Co. Wisconsin Woolen Spun Sport Weight Yarns!

We are picking up more yarns at the end of this week from the Wisconsin mill so there will be more to come as soon as we get it labeled and listed. We also just heard that the wool for our Home line of yarns is being shipped to the dye house in Maine so we will be fully restocked in a few weeks or so! 

Anyway, have a great Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow with more fuzzy photos (hopefully not) for a giveaway!
xo ~ susan 
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Saturday, January 21, 2017

Mitten Kits are Back!

Hi, Knitters,
I want to pop in to give you a quick head's up about the Barrett Wool Co. Waiting for Winter Bulky Twist Mitten Kits. As of dinner time last night they are back in the shop. We had a huge number of kits listed (much more this time) and we have almost blown through the entire lot again but there are still some left in the shop if you hurry! 

The best way (and the first to be notified!) to find out about kits and yarn and patterns is the Barrett Wool Co. newsletter. Click here to sign up! There is a box on the bottom of every page on the website to enter your email to sign up. And I promise that we are restocking everything in the Barrett Wool Co. shop as fast as possible.

Click here to find out more or order a Bulky Twist Mitten Kit from Barrett Wool Co.!

Click here if you want the pattern only for the Waiting for Winter Bulky Mittens!

As of right now, there are three different colorways you can order. The photo above shows the Red & Black Licorice colorway. 

The pattern includes three sizes, small, medium and large. The small size will fit a large child/women's small, the medium is the size I wear, the large size will fit a larger woman/men's size. Lengths of course can be varied.
Blueberries & Cream is the next colorway available. We have the smallest amount of this kit version available. 
And last but not least, we have the Coffe & Cream option. This is the colorway of the knit sample.


The kit includes a hand-stamped muslin project bag, a tin of 20 assorted stitch markers, the digital pattern download link, and a Ravelry download code (printed on a card in the kit) for the pattern so you can store it in your pattern library over there, and of course, the wound yarn in your selected color! 


Here is the Blueberries & Cream mitten I worked up yesterday in size large. This took me less than an hour from start to finish. It's such a fun and fast project. Perfect for this time of year. 

I have to say it is hard to get a good natural lighting photo lately as the weather has been so dark and gray. We have barely seen the sun for weeks. And it's been raining and icy. Where did the beautiful winter go? 

We have had a lot of requests to carry the yarn in individual skeins and we are planning to do that as well. We have a big order in with the local mill for more of the Bulky Twist Yarn and also for our Wisconsin Woolen Spun naturals and colors in both fingering weight and worsted weight. We are nearly sold out with only a few skeins left in the shop. These yarns are listed in the Mercantile. 

The reaction to the lovely, rustic local Wisconsin-milled yarns has been overwhelming! Thank you so much. I am glad to see that you love the touch of Wisconsin as much as I do. 

Anyway, happy weekend! I'll be back soon with much more. Maybe it's time for a giveaway around here.... yes, next week.
xo ~ susan

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Wednesday, January 18, 2017

New Mittens, New Yarn, New Podcast, New Restaurant



Hi, Knitters, 
When I get back from a teaching weekend it usually takes me a few days to get back to my regular speed around home. I need a bit of a recovery time. Last weekend I taught at Vogue Knitting Live NYC and honestly, this is just one of the best events out there. If you ever have the chance to go to VKLive NYC just do it. The energy is amazing. My classes were wonderful, filled with happy, fun students who were game to try new things. I really had the best time with my students. I have such love and respect for them and I am really grateful that my classes fill and that I get to teach. I truly love it. So thank you, dear students, and thank you, Vogue Knitting Live for inviting me. 

I won't be going to the Las Vegas Vogue Knitting Live due to already having two other teaching weekends planned for March 2017. It would be too much to add a third. But I'll be back, hopefully, next fall (I don't know where they are going yet) and winter (NYC!) for wherever Vogue takes me and I hope to see you all there! 

Now for those top-notch mittens you see in the first photo. Those are my brand new pattern, Waiting for Winter Bulky Mittens. The original Waiting for Winter Mittens are written for worsted weight yarn and I wanted to add a bulky weight version to the series. To start the Bulky pattern has three sizes, small, medium and large, to fit a large child, through adult large. 

I will be adding sizes, bigger and smaller, as pattern updates for this new Bulky weight pattern as I have done for the original pattern! 

Click here for the new Waiting for Winter Bulky Mitten pattern!

The other exciting thing is that over at Barrett Wool Co. we are introducing a new local yarn line called, Wisconsin Woolen Spun! We launched the Waiting for Winter Bulky Twist Mitten Kits last night and we sold out in less than an hour. We are restocking as fast as possible. I will contact the mill today to see how quickly we can get more of the Bulky Twist yarn and I will keep you posted. 

Our kits (and yarn) have been selling out so quickly. We are amazed. We are working on more kits all of the time and as soon as our yarn gets restocked we will bring back all of the kits we have already done and we will have new kits available as well.

The best way to get notified immediately when things become available is to subscribe to our newsletter. That is always the first notification when kits and yarn are listed. The subscription box to enter your email is always at the bottom of every page on the website.

Click here for Barrett Wool Co.! Please subscribe and join me over there, we are having so much fun.

The second best way to be notified about new product listings is on Instagram. 

Click here to go to Barrett Wool Co. Instagram!

Click here for the Susan B. Anderson Instagram!

Join me on both if you like. I'd love to see you over there. 


The new Wisconsin Wool Spun Yarns are just simply beautiful and rich and earthy. I just love this yarn. We are offering both fingering weight and worsted weight at this time. We will be adding to this line with more colors and weights. Right now we have 50 gram skeins available for purchase but and in addition to the neutrals above, we have some beautiful colors as well. 

Here is a little description of our new Wisconsin Woolen Spun Yarns for you:
Our Barrett Wool Co. Wisconsin Woolen Spun Yarns are about as close to homespun as we can get. The Merino and Corriedale wool is gathered from Midwestern farms right here in the United States. The carefully curated wool is then spun and dyed at a near to us Wisconsin mill. The yarn is spun using the woolen process. Our BWC Wisconsin Woolen Spun yarns are two-ply in both the fingering and worsted weight and are available in 50 gram skeins. 
Woolen spun yarn is known to be light as air, durable, warm and lofty. This yarn delivers on every account. After the washing and blocking of the finished item, the fibers bloom and the fabric becomes very soft. The yarn is that perfect combination of rustic and beautiful and can be used for any colorwork or lace project, sweaters, toys, shawls, hats, mittens and even socks. 
Our small batch of Wisconsin Woolen Spun yarns are charming, sweet, fun to knit, and they leave you wanting more when your project is completed.

Enjoy having a little part of Wisconsin in your knitting! 

In the photo above from left to right the colors are; Birch, Rain Shower, Quaker Gray, Stone, and Coal. All of the Wisconsin Woolen Spun is available for purchase in the Mercantile section of our website.

Another fun thing to note is that Evan and I were interviewed for the Fruity Knitting Podcast. Do you know this one? It is fantastic! The hosts are a married couple from Australia living in Germany (I hope this is correct) and they are wonderful. Andrea is a phenomenal knitter and she shares her knitting and does tutorials that are clear and helpful. They both knit and really, I highly recommend this podcast. I was a subscriber long before I was asked to be on the show. You will really enjoy this one.

The exciting part is that Andrea wanted to interview Evan, my son and business partner for Barrett Wool Co. Evan did a great job on his first online interview. Our part of the episode starts at about 41 minutes into the show. 

Click here to watch our episode of Fruity Knitting!


Lastly, I have to share one more fun thing. We went to dinner at a great restaurant in NYC called Ma Peche (that's My Peach in English, I hope). My baker son is a big fan of Christina Tosi and Momofuku. I think he has every book of theirs. He gave Evan and Miss Molly a restaurant gift certificate to use while we were in NYC this past weekend. The food was delicious and different and we ate way too much. And yes, if I didn't mention it earlier, Evan and Molly joined me in New York.

Click here for Ma Peche!


The best part is that right when you walk into the restaurant there is a Milk Bar which is the creation of Christina Tosi. It is all fun desserts. I had the Sweet Potato and Cereal Milk Twist with cereal crunch on top. It was tiny and so yummy. Perfect.

Phew! It has been a busy week. I am sending off my next design for the Making Magazine Issue 3 today. I finished the pattern writing yesterday. That was strenuous. I have another design and pattern due at the end of the week for another magazine contribution which I am so excited about. It is something different and I'll tell you about that soon.

Okay, dear friends, I'll be back soon with more. Thank you for the support and love! I'm sending it right back to you.
xo ~ susan

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Wednesday, January 11, 2017

String Along Toys ~ Now Available!

photo from Quince & Co.
Hi, Knitters,
I hope you are doing well. I had a relaxing family vacation that was just wonderful and then I came home to a series of design deadlines for several magazines so I have been keeping my nose seriously planted in my knitting over the last couple of weeks. I am off to Vogue Knitting Live in NYC tomorrow so if you are going to be there I'd love to see you in class. My Sunday classes still have a few openings but I believe the other days are sold out. Anyway, be sure to say hello if we cross paths. I'd love to see you.

I am so excited to offer you my latest ebook originally published by the lovely Quince & Co. The ebook has the patterns for three toys, a mouse, a monkey, and a frog, that can be made as stand-alone toys or by creating a loop for a hand or foot can be strung together to create a garland or just to hold hands. The ebook is called String Along Toys and it has just become available for purchase in my Ravelry Pattern Shop.

To celebrate I am offering the digital ebook for 50% off the original price. The original price is $10 and it is now available for $5 starting today, January 11th and ending January 15th, 2017. No code is necessary as I've just set the price to make it simple for you.

Click here to find out more information or to purchase the String Along Toys ebook!

The patterns are also available in a beautifully printed book by Quince & Co. if you are interested. It makes me so proud to see how Quince presents my work in both the printed form and the digital form. They really do an outstanding job. I love how Quince incorporated both my personality by adding in my original artwork in the book and how they capture the personality of the toys through the wonderful photography. It is very well done overall.

But most importantly, the patterns, knit in Lark (worsted weight) are clear and the toys are extremely fun and quite quick to knit. The construction for all three is completely seamless from the bottom-up. The mouse and monkey construction is a little different than the frog. With a clever twist at the neck, the stitches change direction without adding any short rows. 

photo from Quince & Co.

Here is some information about the pattern and yarn you might like to know:

String Along Toys

by Susan B. Anderson
Quince & Co.
Knitting
Softies → Animal
August 2016
Quince & Co. Lark
Worsted (9 wpi) ?
6 stitches = 1 inch
in stockinette stitch
US 5 - 3.75 mm
3½" [9 cm] tall when sitting, 6½" [16.5 cm] body circumference, and 3" [7.5 cm] arm and leg length
This pattern is available for $5.00 USD 
 buy it now or  visit pattern website
Susan B. Anderson, a knitting name synonymous with sweet, adorable stitched creations, brings us a trio of storybook friends in String Along Toys. Worked in Lark, frogs, mice, and monkeys can be worked with loops for hands or feet so they can be linked together with their buddies.
yarn 
lark / 1 skein each in the following colorways: 
Frogs: Snap Pea 128, Leek 131, and Parsley 129 
Monkeys: Bark 121, Chanterelle 118, Egret 101, Bird’s Egg 106 or Nasturtium 136 
Mice: Egret 101, Dogwood 135, Kumlien’s Gull 152
needles 
set dpns in size US 5 / 3.75 mm
skills required 
Long-tail cast on (link provided), increasing, decreasing, i-cord, bobbles (instructions included), working in the round.
Here are a few photos from Quince & Co. for you to enjoy!

photo from Quince & Co.

The worsted weight Lark from Quince & Co. is excellent for toy-knitting and it works up quickly.

photo from Quince & Co.

The Frog has knit-in bobbles that have a uniquely simple construction that doesn't involve turning back and forth. 

photo from Quince & Co. 

photo from Quince & Co.

You could make a string of all frogs, mice or monkeys or you can mix-and-match them together!

photo from Quince & Co.

I think the Monkey might be my favorite. He's so silly and mischievous.

photo from Quince & Co. 

The bodies can be striped or solid and the small-scale of the toys make them perfect to use up your small bits of worsted weight leftovers.

photo from Quince & Co.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new pattern collection as much as I enjoyed creating it. All of the photos in today's post were taken by Whitney Hayward for Quince & Co.

Remember, if interested, the digital pattern ebook is on discount for 50% off starting today, Jan. 11 and ending Jan. 15, 2017! Click here to purchase or find out more about the String Along Toys!

Thanks for joining me today. I'll be back soon with much more.
xo ~ susan

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Monday, January 02, 2017

The Baker's Hat


Hi, Knitters,
I'm still on a family vacation but I quickly wanted to pop on here to let you know that my latest hat pattern was released today. It is called, Baker's Hat, due to my baker son requesting a new, lighter weight hat to wear both indoors and outdoors. I wrote the simple hat pattern in four sizes, baby through adult large, which my son is wearing. For me, I would make the adult medium size.  I've already made a second Baker's Hat for my other son in the Pepin colorway of Barrett Wool Co. Home Fingering Weight.

To celebrate this pattern release we are offering $2.00 off the pattern with a purchase of one or more skeins of our Barrett Wool Co. Home Fingering Weight. 

Click here to read all about the pattern for Baker's Hat, the yarn and the special offer on Barrett Wool Co.!

Click here to see the Baker's Hat on Ravelry!

And here are some nice photos of the hat to enjoy! 





And by the way, my son hasn't taken the hat off since I gave it to him before Christmas. He is wearing it all of the time and every time I see him. The Bluff colorway just suits him.

Enjoy! I'll be back soon with more.
xo ~ susan
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