Skein - News

Quick Knitted Gift Ideas For Christmas

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 13:19:28 +1100

It's that time of year! Christmas is on its way and gift knitting is in full swing. If you haven't yet cast on and are looking for some gift ideas that are quick to knit, we have you covered! Here are our top picks: most of these patterns are free and only take one skein. Of course, our shop is full of yarn, so if you need some stash enhancement you know where to look.

Sophie Scarf by Petite Knit

Bandanna Cowl by Purl SoHo

Classic Ribbed Hat by Purl SoHo

House Socks by Purl SoHo

Hexagon Market Bag by Salena Baca

Olallie Legwarmers by Rachel Kieselburg

Apiarist Cowl by Claire Borchardt

Simple House Slippers by Simone Alexandra Ærsøe

Headband With A Twist by Mirella Moments

Sunrise Coasters by Toni Lipsey

Sock Yarn Sale - 6th May

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Wed, 4 May 2022 11:15:39 +1000

Our sock yarn sale begins this Friday at 9am AEST. All of our sock yarns are 20% off with the code SOCK20. Yarns will be on sale until Sunday night. Skein Points cannot be used during the sale. To see all the sale yarns and to do some pre-sale shopping, click here.

New Tie-Dyed Colours! Friday 29th April

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 14:33:04 +1000

This week, we are thrilled to be releasing more new colours, this time tie-dyed! I was wanting to introduce colours that, when knit up, have little flecks of colour throughout the fabric. I didn't want to use speckling because I wanted something more subtle. I realized after a bit of trial and error that, if I tied the yarn in random places, I could get the effect I was looking for. Here's a little swatch I did using the Indigo colourway.

It's a very subtle effect which just adds a hint of interest. As you can see, the flecks are randomly spread over the fabric, which is perfect because I didn't want any pooling to happen. The swatch shown was knit from our Cushy DK/8ply, which is our yarn base this week. Keep an eye on Instagram for some sneak peaks of these new colours. The swatch has been knit using the Indigo colourway and the main picture above (the orange colour) is Daylily.

Also this week, I have been dyeing up minis on our Cushy DK/8ply! Minis are great for adding just a pop of colour to a project. You can use them for adding a contrasting rib or stripes, as well as for heels and toes for some warm winter socks. All of our minis are OOAK, so make sure you get enough of what you need. I'll be dyeing these regularly and adding them to the shop, so keep an eye out for more to come!

Finally, we have combined some minis and full skeins of our Cushy to make some yarn sets. These are great for hats, socks, gloves, cowls, pretty much any one skein DK/8ply project. Of course, there are lots of yarns in the shop that you could make your own yarn sets from, but sometimes it's easier to just grab and go.

All of our yarns are going live this Friday 29th April at 9am AEST (Sydney time). Make sure you've signed up to our newsletter to get a reminder as the yarns go live. We also send you a little gift for signing up.

Have a great week and hope to see you Friday! xxoo

New Sock Sets - Friday 8th April

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 5 Apr 2022 13:38:50 +1000

This week we will be adding new sock sets to the shop. These are fun and bright and have been dyed to micro-stripe when knitting socks! Each sock set comes with a full skein and a contrasting mini dyed on our new BFL/Nylon yarn. This yarn is perfect for socks and will hold up to lots of wear and tear, it's also the softest BFL sock I have found so great for people with sensitive skin. Our sock sets go live this Friday at 9am AEST. Hope to see you there!

Dyed-To-Order Cushy DK/8ply - Friday 25th Feb

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 13:30:28 +1100

This Friday we will be offering our Cushy DK/8ply as dyed-to-order. Yarns will be dyed next week, so you will have from Friday to Sunday (midnight) to put your order in. They will ship the week beginning 7th March.

Let's have a look at the colours on offer:

From top L-R: Eclipse, Soft Blush, Golden Peach, Tamarind, Whisper, Sky, Tempest, Olive, Cassia, Sea Glass, Barley and Plum.

As always our update goes live Friday at 9am. Hope to see you there!

Uptown Sock - Friday 18th Feb

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 14:14:34 +1100

This Friday we will be updating the shop with our lovely Uptown Sock. This yarn base is a single ply, 100% superwash merino. Its a wonderful yarn for tops, sweaters and shawls. As always I'll be posting a few teaser pics via Ravelry. Our yarns go live this Friday, 18th Feb at 9am, hope to see you there!

Sportlicious - Friday 11th Feb

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 8 Feb 2022 14:12:11 +1100

This Friday we will be adding our first lot of Autumn yarn bases to the shop! With cooler weather just around the corner we are getting our shop ready early this year giving you time to plan and cast on your cooler weather knits! This week we are kicking off with Sportlicious, a wonderful 'in between seasons' base. This sport/5ply yarn is fabulous for cardigans, shawls, sweaters and ever thicker socks.

As always, our yarns go live Friday at 9am AEDT. Hope to see you there!

Silky Sock - Friday 4th Feb

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 1 Feb 2022 14:14:04 +1100

Our Silky Sock will be back this Friday! I've been dyeing up lots of colours for this weeks update, so keep an eye out on Instagram for a few sneak peaks.

Yarns will go live at 9am AEDT, hope to see you there xx

Special Valentine's Day Colourway And Kits! Friday 28th Jan

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 14:28:35 +1100

Our Valentine's day colourway for 2022 is Heart Of Glass. This sweet colourway is a very pale teal with speckles of pink, purple and gold. I was wanting a colourway that was a little different to the usual Valentine pink and red. It's inspired by the song 'Heart Of Glass' from Blondie, which is why its a pale blue/green, the colour of glass. This limited release colourway will be available this Friday on our All Rounder, El Merino, Sportlicious, Mohair Silk Lace and Cushy DK yarns.

We will also have a few Valentine's Kits available, made up of our Journey yarn. Make sure you check out our Instagram feed for more pic's! Hope to see you Friday.

El Merino - Friday 21st January

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 12:16:04 +1100

This Friday we will be topping up the shop with lots of lovely El Merino.

I've also been inspired again this week to create a new colourway (far right in the pic above). This new colour is called Tempest. Check out our Instagram feed to read about where the inspiration for this new colour came from.

As always our yarns go live Friday at 9am. Hope to see you there!

Hello 2022! Kits and a New Colourway

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 11:41:06 +1100

We are back after a lovely break. Hope you had a fabulous holiday season and a big Happy New Year to you!

All week I have been putting together lots of shawl kits ready to kick of the Shawl Season. I'm in a shawl knitting mood, so it's a rather selfish update this week. Kits have been based off four of my favorite shawls, check out our homepage to see them! Kits will go live this Friday.

Also this week we are releasing a brand new colourway called Hydrangea. If you follow me on Instagram you will know all about my love for these flowers, so I decided to honor them by creating a colourway. I dyed up two big batches of Uptown Sock and Merino Silk Sport. These will also be available Friday.

All of our yarns and kits go live at 9am AEDT Friday 14th January. Hope to see you there!

Last Update For 2021 - Friday 17th December

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 13:24:03 +1100

It's our last update this Friday and we thought what better way to end the year than with Mohair Silk Lace and Uptown sock. I have dyed up loads of colours on both bases. Make sure you check out our Instagram or Facebook pages for a sneak peak of this weeks colourways. As always or yarns go live on Friday 17th December at 9am AEDT, hope to see you there!

Fun And Festive - Friday 10th December

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 7 Dec 2021 13:38:47 +1100

This week I have been totally taken over by the festive spirit and all I wanted to dye was fun speckles and colour pop colourways. So I did!

This Friday we will be adding lots of colourful colourways dyed on our super lovely All Rounder yarn. This yarn is a blend of merino and nylon (80/20) so it's great for socks, but it's such a soft and wearable yarn that it's also ideal for garments and shawls.

I'll be posting lots of pic's on Instagram in the lead up to Friday's update. As always, our yarns go live 9am Friday (AEDT). Make sure you sign up for our newsletter so you don't forget!

Hope to see you Friday xx

Botanical Garden Shawl - Friday 3rd December

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Wed, 1 Dec 2021 15:41:53 +1100

The Botanical Garden Shawl was first released in March 2012 and has become one of my most popular patterns. So, as soon as we launched our new yarn Journey, I knew it was time to re-write the pattern!

I chose our lovely new yarn Journey for this pattern because, not only is it super soft and lovely to wear, it is perfect for lace! It's a warm-yet-light weight yarn that is ideal for shawls, because you can fold it up and pop it in a bag, wear it under a coat or over a summer dress on a chilly night. I knit my sample using Forest, but any of our Journey colours would look fabulous.

We will be releasing the new version of the shawl this Friday. Make sure you sign up for the newsletter to receive a special 20% subscriber discount. Of course, if you buy the yarn the pattern is free!

Hope to see you Friday! xx

Silk Road - Friday 19th November

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 13:54:19 +1100

Our popular Silk Road will be back in the shop this Friday. This base is a luxurious blend of Merino, Yak and Silk that's been spun up into a fingering weight yarn. It feels silky and very soft to the touch and knits up to produce garments and shawls that have lot's of drape. I have dyed up seventeen colours this week, so lot's to choose from! Keep an eye on Instagram for a few pre-update pics.

As always our update goes live Friday at 9am AEDT. Hope to see you there!

Our New Yarn Line - Journey

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 9 Nov 2021 13:25:00 +1100

One of the things I love to do is source yarns for the shop. A while ago, I had the idea to create our own line of yarn. This led me on a quest to find a mill and a yarn I loved. And now, after quite a wait, it's here!

Journey is named after two things: firstly the journey of the yarn, from the Alpaca who roam the mountains in Peru, to the mill for processing, to us and then to you! The other reason we named it Journey is more personal: it's our journey as a business that started back in 2010 on Etsy, where I began selling hand-dyed yarn, to the present time where we have a busy studio and, now, our own line of yarn!

So, let's talk about the yarn. As I mentioned, we work with a fabulous mill in Peru known for its commitment to Alpaca research, sustainability and the production of high-quality yarn. Journey has been spun from 100% Superfine Peruvian Alpaca that is beautifully soft and has a lovely halo. We decided on a fingering weight - the most popular of all our weights - and we chose to have the yarns wound into balls. This was a big priority for me because I really hate hand-winding yarn. The yarn knits up to produce very soft and light, yet warm, fabric that is ideal for all types of garments as well as hats and shawls.

When selecting our colourways, we decided to have the yarns spun from dyed and natural roving, which is how the colours are produced. So, there is no batch dyeing of skeins. Producing colourways from a combination of dyed and natural roving produces a heathered effect which, just like hand-dyed yarns, has a beautiful depth of colour. If you look closely at each of the ten colourways, you'll see hints of all the colours used to create them. It's rather magical. Each colourway is colourfast: they do not bleed when washed, meaning they are perfect for colourwork projects.

To celebrate the release of Journey, we will be re-releasing our Duet top pattern which we have sampled using this yarn. There will also be lots more patterns to follow! Make sure you sign up for our newsletter to see some of our pattern suggestions! Now, the big question: how much are the yarns? Our price is $25 AUD (which is around 18 USD) per skein which is 400 yards / 366 metres in 100g.

We hope you love Journey as much as we do. I am so proud of this yarn and I can't wait to see what you create with it! Journey goes live this Friday at 9am AEST; we hope to see you there!

Merino Silk Sport - Friday 15th October

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 13:45:25 +1100

This Friday we will be adding our stunning Merino Silk Sport/5ply to the shop! I've dyed up fifteen colourways in a mix of semi-solid and tonal. I'll be posting lot's of pic's of this weeks colours over on Instagram in the lead up to the update, so check them out there. As always, our yarns go live 9am AEDT, hope to see you there!

Silk Road & All Rounder - Friday 8th October

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Wed, 6 Oct 2021 16:23:10 +1100

This Friday we will be stocking our shelves with two of our favorite fingering weight/4ply yarns, Silk Road and All Rounder. We will be posting pics prior to the update over on Instagram, so have a look there if you want to know what colours will be added! As always, our yarns go live Friday at 9am AEDT, hope to see you there!

Sportlicious - Friday 1st October

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 13:42:20 +1000

This Friday we will be adding Sportlicious to the shop. This lovely Sport/5ply yarn is fabulous for garments and shawls. It's 100% SW Merino which is soft to the touch and knits up to create a cushy fabric. Keep an eye on our Instagram feed for preview pics. Yarns go live Friday 1st October at 9am AEST, hope to see you there!

El Merino - Friday 24th September

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 13:55:03 +1000

This Friday we will be stocking our shelves with El Merino, our lovely 100% superwash merino fingering/4ply. This yarn base is ideal for sweaters and shawls but can also be used for socks! Its super soft and knits up with fabulous stitch definition. Our yarns will be in the shop Friday 24th September, hope to see you there!

Silky Sock - Friday 17th September

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 14:18:12 +1000

This week we will be stocking our shelves with more Silky Sock. This yarn is a heavenly blend of merino and silk (50/50). It's ideal for shawls as well as sweaters and will knit up to produce beautiful, soft fabric with lots of drape. Our yarns go live Friday at 9am AEST, hope to see you there!

Westknits MKAL Kits - Friday 10th September

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 7 Sep 2021 14:38:13 +1000

This week we will be adding kits to the shop for the upcoming Westknits MKAL! Our kits have been specially curated for the MKAL and consist of five skeins of our All Rounder base. There will be seven kits to choose from, keep an eye out on our Instagram page for kit previews leading up to Friday. In the meantime, don't forget to sign up for the MKAL via Ravelry.

Our kits go live this Friday at 9am AEST, hope to see you there!

El Merino - Friday 3rd September

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Wed, 1 Sep 2021 16:52:26 +1000

This Friday we will be adding El Merino to the shop! We have dyed up lots of colours as well as put together a couple of kits for the upcoming Westknits MKAL! We plan on adding kits each week for the MKAL, so if you miss out this week don't worry, there will be more available in the weeks to come.

As always, our yarns go live Friday at 9am AEST. Hope to see you there!

Silky Sock - Friday 27th August

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 14:22:52 +1000

This Friday we will be restocking our Silky Sock. This base sold out very quickly last time so we've made sure to dye up lots more this time around. Our yarns go live at 9am AEST, hope to see you there!

Cushy DK and Winter Worsted - Friday 20th August

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 14:40:41 +1000

This Friday we will be topping up the shop with Cushy DK and Winter Worsted. Both of these bases have been spun with super soft Superwash Merino and are ideal for any project worn next to the skin. Hats, shawls, sweaters and cowls are all perfectly suitable to knit with either of these lovely bases. Our yarns go live this Friday at 9am, hope to see you there!

El Merino - Friday 13th August

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 12:52:25 +1000

This Friday we will be topping up the shop with El Merino, our lovely 100% Superwash Merino. This Fingering weight yarn is lovely and soft making it ideal for all types of garments and shawls. As always, our yarns go live on Friday at 9am AEST, hope to see you there!

Instagram Shawl KAL/CAL And 15% Off Fingering Weight Yarns This Friday!

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Thu, 5 Aug 2021 12:01:39 +1000

We've just started a shawl KAL/CAL over on Instagram! To participate, just cast on a shawl in any weight yarn using at least one skein of our yarn. Our KAL/CAL will run until the end of September, so plenty of time to cast on. Please make sure you tag us or use the hashtag #skeinshawlkal2021 so we can feature you in our stories and feed as well as add you to our prize list!

We have lots of lovely prizes from some of our favorite Australian creators. We will of course share these as they arrive. Prizes will be awarded to those who post pictures of their WIPs and FOs using the hashtag #skeinshawlkal2021 or by tagging us.

Pictured above is the Crazy Diamond Wrap by Ambah O'Brien. Make sure you sign up for our newsletter to see more pattern suggestions!

If you are in need of yarn, keep an eye out on Friday for a code to get 15% off all of our Fingering weight yarn. The code will be valid until Sunday night!

I cant wait to see what you cast on and hope to see you Friday at the sale!

New! Silky Sock - Available Friday 30th July

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 13:50:45 +1000

This week we are very excited to be introducing a new yarn base. Silky Sock is a beautiful blend of 50% superwash merino and 50% silk. It is heavenly soft and beautiful to knit with. Ideal for garments and shawls and a great substitute for our discontinued base Daintree. Each 100g skein has a yardage of 400 meters / 437 yards and is priced at $37! We are super happy with our new yarn and we hope you love it too! Silky Sock goes live this Friday at 9am AEST, hope to see you there.

Sportlicious - Friday 23rd July

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 13:48:15 +1000

This Friday we will be adding Sportlicious to the shop. This lovely Sport/5ply weight yarn is a super soft superwash merino. It's wonderful for shawls, sock and garments and is perfect for our lovely Porto sweater! Our yarns go live 9am AEST, hope to see you there!

All Rounder - Friday 16th July

noemail@noemail.org (Kristen Finlay) — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 14:53:26 +1000

This Friday we will be adding lots of lovely colours dyed on our All Rounder base. All Rounder is a 100% superwash merino which has been spun up into a very cushy 2ply which makes it ideal for shawls and garments. As always our shop update goes live Friday at 9am AEST. Hope to see you there!