Snow Capped Preview

Preview of new Snow Capped Yarns and Patterns!
Take a peek!  More to come...but here is a quick look at the premiere today...

http://southofultimathule.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/winter-light-yarn-release-teaser/

Enjoy!!

They're here!

The Awesome Quartets and Mini Skeins Sets from Three Irish Girls have arrived and they are quite lovely and perfect for edgings and colorwork in sweaters, hats, mittens....

We have five different  sets: four quartets and one set of six miniskeins.  The quartets are the same total yardage as one skein and the Mini Skein Sets amount to one and half skeins.

The sets are available in yarn bases listed below.  The yardages listed for the quartets,  the Fireside Chat set has more total yardage, but same amount per individual mini skein.  Prices listed are for quartet/six miniskein set.  Supplies are limited and available to stock on hand.  As always, US Freight is free with $100 purchase and International free after $150.  Up to three quartets $3.95, International  by weight and country exact postal fee. CONTACT US AT thenetloft@gmail.com for orders with your name and phone number and best time to call if you would like us to call you.  We can visa over the phone or do paypal. 

Adorn Sock    80/20 Merino/Nylon, 435 yards total yardage  (108 yds per mini skein)  $27 / $38

Glenhaven FIngering   80/10/10 Merino/Cashmere/Nylon, 370 yards  (92 yards per mini skein)  $30  (Bellisimo, Fresh Earth)  $35  (Wonderland, Trip to Tropics)   /$50  Fireside Chat

Kells   Sport Merino Wool,  320 yards total yardage (80 yards per mini skein)  $27.00/ $38

Springvale Dk   Superwash Merino Wool ,  270 yards (67 yards per mini skein)    $26 / $36.50

Springvale Superwash    Superwash Merino Worsted, 230 yards   (57 yards per mini skein)  $26 / $36.50

Carys BFL    Blue Faced Leicester Wool  220 yards (55 yards per mini skein)  $26 / $36.50

Here are the Awesome Quartets!

The Bellisimo Collection Quartets

Fresh Earth Quartets

The Wonderland Collection Quartets

Trip to the Tropics Collection Quartets

Fireside Chat  Collection Set of Six

So there you are!  Hope you like them. Would love to see how you use them!

Enjoy...

Net Loft Dotty

Skeins in the Stacks

Blessed

in just a single word

Blessed

In the midst of the many things that don’t go right, I am in constant and active remembrance of an overwhelming  appreciation for all the things that do.

This summer they came like ocean waves.

swells after swells of them

Why yes, there was the retreat of them, but all I choose to see, feel and remember is the soft and gentle seafoam of those moments  that wrapped around my ankles and swept me  up.

I realized at one point that I had to start writing them down.  There  were just so many of them…these waves of gratitude for these exceptionally priceless moments that were there for a fleeting moment and then gone in the same way that a wave on the beach is there one brief moment and then  not the next.

Last week it was found in the moments preparing and creating these little felted mushrooms for our celebration of the local fungus festival.  I am such a pushover…give me a handful of  colorful wool,  some soapy water, fresh gathered green moss, sweet little alder cones, with a friend by my side, and I am in heaven.   I was thinking of this one thing.  It is the power of multiplication in handcrafts, and how it is actually an exponential process, for the passing of a new creative idea multiplies itself in unforeseen ways.  One idea always seems to expand itself into many more, above and beyond what I initially introduce. We ended up with a wonderful array of beautiful mushrooms under glass and globe.  I don’t know what it is about a bright red cap and a little white stalk that gets  to me, but it just does, and I was delighted to see purple ones and multicolor shaded ones appear and come to life in this amazing way when surrounded by fresh moss and miniature woodland gatherings.   A wave upon the shore.

Two nights ago ,  Anna Hernandez, our local librarian came by the shop.  Her arms were full of a heavy load; large bags overflowing with skeins of  beautiful hand dyed yarns.  We were to put together her new yarn launch, and so together, we visited and shared an evening filled with thoughts and ideas, as we prepared the upstairs Net Loft tables for the unveiling. 

As I scurried about, under my breath, I thought to myself,  “THIS moment… is one of those moments, don’t miss it”.  And so, paying close attention, I tried to keep my eyes wide open to all that was going on around me.

Anna’s new yarns are lovely, just like her, full of beauty and grace, both  sweet and thoughtful.

Read here and you will understand better the concept of  “Skeins in the Stacks”  and Anna’s first release.

True to her librarian roots, the yarns are organized in a Dewey Decimal sort of way,   100 being the finest laceweight, 200  Fingering,  300 Sportweight,  400 DK..etc.  Each weight is named after an author such as “Potter”,  which is a luxurious laceweight cloud-like angora with over 437 yards per 50 grams.  

The first release has two components.  The natural dyed component,  “First Frost Cranberries” is dyed with hand gathered low bush cranberries, gathered by Anna and her mother.   It has shades of soft ballerina pink,  that vary into a soft  pale magenta.  Natural dyed yarns have an essence unique to them alone.  The soft undertones of this plant dyed collection causes one to simply say, “Ahh..”   It has immersed within its fibers, walks in the woods on fall days with buckets filled with natures gems, ripe bright red cranberries.  These yarns have a few that are not part of her regular yarns including a fine 4 ply Corriedale, 50/50 Mohair Wool DK, and a 12ply Heavy Worsted Corriedale.  All yarns with great wearability.  They may not be as soft, but they are good wearing wools and make for articles that need that wearability factor.  Good old fashioned wool.  Some are on angora lace, and a few are on the Organic Dk.

"First Frost Cranberries"

The other component is a collection of conventionally dyed yarns that follow the book theme of the story of Peter Rabbit.  Named after different elements of the storybook,  Anna stays true to her librarian roots with displays that are a reflection of that aspect of her life using the old familiar card catalog trays for displaying her creations. 

Her colors are:

 "The Little Jacket and the Shoes"

"Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail" 

"Camomile"   (we think this would make a lovely tea cozy)

 

The bases she uses for these are the following, which are all Anna’s invention:

Laceweight Yarns – “Potter”

   Long Staple Angora

   437 yards  50 g

Like a cloud.  If the fog could kiss you, this would be what it would be like. Ultimate luxury. Perfect for a fine lace scarf or cowl.  The bunny yarn.

Fingering Weight Yarns – “Herriot”

Superwash BFL 75%, Nylon 25%

   464 yards  100 g

Rarity, warm and durable Superwash Blue Faced Leicester is great for sweaters, socks, and wristers. Picture James Herriot pulling on his handknit socks from this yarn as he goes out on a late night winter call.

DK Weight Yarns – “Thoreau”

Ultrafine Organic Merino Wool

   246 yards  100 g

Ultrasoft, high quality organic yarn, as Thoreau would have appreciated. Very good stitch definition. Great for babywear and children’s clothing, men or women’s accessories such as  hats, mittens or wristers.

Worsted Weight Yarns – “Austen”

Merino Worsted Superwash

   218 yards  100 g

If Jane could have had a superwash wool,she would have chosen this yarn to knit herself a cozy shawl. 4 ply with great stitch detail, perfect for cable stitch patterns. Would make a beautiful sweater.

And so, we had a lovely party yesterday afternoon, complete with Anna’s delicious home baked carrot cake with yummy frosting decked with fresh juicy blackberries in true Beatrix Potter fashion.  We gathered around, oogled over her yarns, hand made dolls and knitted kitty cats, made lavender sachets with Anna’s trial skeins, drank chamomile tea and Net Loft punch and left the world beyond the doors of the classroom behind.

 I have recently begun to refer to this space as “La La Land”, where, for that moment I walk through the doorway, there is nothing left behind the doors that open into our classroom loft.  Paperwork, boxes of unpriced freight, piles of unfinished and unresolved merchandise issues and unopened mail, conveniently  disappear when you pass through the gateway to “Lala Land”.  And these past two weekends were a pleasant journey to this special place, where the waves lap up and wrap themselves around your ankles, and the pleasant sensation of the moments that make up these special times amongst the company of friends and fiber prevail. 

We are excited to be the launching site for Anna’s new yarns and hope you get the opportunity to swing by and take a peek and soak up her Peter Rabbit inspired collection.  For any of you whose childhood or parenthood included repetive readings of this familiar tale, it will conjure up memories of this sweet bunny and Beatrix Potter’s engaging watercolor drawings that often say as much as the words themselves.  We look forward with anticipation to Anna’s future releases and wonder… which book will she choose next? 

We hope you will join us, even if it be via the internet as we journey into that place where handcrafts and friendship intersect, and that you are able to sense and savor the waves of special moments in your own daily life that lap around your very own ankles, even if they be for brief moments as they retreat to the sea.

Blessed

Truly blessed.

as always,

Happy Handcrafts

yours truly

net loft dotty

next week...the premiere of Sharon from Three Irish Girls Fall Collection..

Yarnista Fall Premiere

All this wonderful yarn!

Knitting and Crochet Season is upon us.

Come see next week our cozy up and knit for fall table

the wools are waiting for you...

Celebrating Shorebirds

The snowheaps are melting, the bare land is cropping up with new growth, the fishermen are swarming and getting their boats geared up for the first opening  on the flats of the Copper River Delta, and a sure sign that spring has arrived and summer is right around the corner is the annual migration and arrival of thousands, literally thousands of shorebirds into the area.  There is a buzz in the air and soon, before we know it, summer will be in full swing, town swollen with cannery workers, fishing boat crewpersons, and visitors from afar.  The mountains of snow will be a memory and in their place will be wildflowers and berry bushes full of ripe and delicious berries.   It is a comfort knowing that  even our own winters are a time that will surely pass and  will eventually transform into a season bursting forth with growth and abundant life.

In Cordova, we have an annual Shorebird Festival to observe the arrival of the massive numbers of birds that pass through our region.   We celebrated here at the shop by making bird garlands and by presenting three new shop colorways.

We hope you will enjoy the newest members of our collection of nature and art inspired custom Net Loft yarns.  First off, to celebrate the magnificent flocks of  sandpipers that meet up at Hartney Bay, is a yarn we call Hartney Bay Sandpiper, dyed by Sharon McMahon of Three Irish Girls.

                              

Golden Yellow/Orange  and brown are the feathers , white for their chests and dots of color represent their dotted chests, all against a lovely soft blue sky.   These are the colors of Hartney Bay Sandpiper, and are inspired by the rt of Erin Cooper and the photography of local photographer Milo Burcham, as well as the photos of Jon Cornforth and Arthur Morris.  Colleen has knit a lovely sock in the “Mountain Colors Fascine Braid Sock” pattern  by Mountain Colors, to show how the color knits up.

It is very fun, (can you see the little specks?) and I just keep imagining a little boy or girl sweater in this colorway,  to be worn with brown little sweatpants or leggings underneath.  A sweet colorway on a multitude of Three Irish Girls Base Yarns, as well as fiber. There is a limited number on each base.  Call or email for details or requests.  (thenetloft at gmail.com)

Our second new colorway is a lovely teal blue green with a little brown variegated called “Three Mile Bay after a painting by local artist, Susan Ogle called “Three Mile Bay”.  

                                

Oh my goodness, this is a beautiful color if you like natural northwest scenery.  Sharon did a fantastic job incorporating the colors of the painting into this yarn, which really reflect  the beautiful colors of Cordova surroundings.

The scene in the painting is at Three Mile  Bay and the view of Orca Inlet and Hawkins Island.  The yarn and the painting together captures this time where new growth has just begun, but in the midst of still patches of snow.

It is a tone darker and more developed than “Almost Spring” and reflects the movement of color into more saturated tones as the snow melts and the colors of the oncoming season continue to emerge, with a background of spruce forests.   It is showing clear signs of the inevitable melting...that white layer is making way for those lovely  shades of oncoming variating blues... Susan's painting is so lovely and the colors of this yarn resonate with Sharon's own artistic interpretation.

                        

Can you tell how much I love this colorway? It is  a softish medium tone,  subtle and very natural, and perfect for both men, women and children. Colleen knit this Chic Knits cupcake hat  in “Three Mile Bay” Elenya Alpaca, modeled here by Malia. This is a simple pattern which has a nice fit, and the soft watercolor effect of the yarn makes for a very wearable hat.

Our third color is from Shelly at Snow Capped and is modeled after an Erin Cooper art  piece entitled “Dowitcher”. 

              

This yarn is a shaded tonal rose brown and one staff member is planning on mixing this with the ‘Three Mile Beach” for a colorwork pattern as they go so nicely together.  What is wonderful is that we are featuring this yarn in very very fine camel lace (1750 yards/100 g) as well as on both Aran and DK Cashmere. 

This is a limited edition yarn and available in short supply on  eight different bases, some only having two skeins each.  I would like to work with the Cashmere Aran and make something cozy and yummy to wrap around my neck.  Shelly captured the colors in Erin’s artwork perfectly and I love the neutral yet rich color tones in her newest Snow Capped colorway. 

    

And then, there are the new necklaces…

The artwork is from the art and photography of the same artists who inspired the yars, Erin Cooper, Milo Burcham, Jon Cornforth, and Arthur Morris.  On the back side are a variety of maps cut outs of Cordova, Hartney Bay and the Copper River Delta.  They are $22 each and come with a chain but can also be worn with a long velvet or satin ribbon. 

Do stop in if you can, if anything just to see the wonderful photographs and artwork that celebrate this time of year when the birds just simply know where to go and what to do.  I sometimes wish it were that simple just taking to the air and knowing deep inside which way to go.  I do have a general sense of direction, but often not sure which way I am heading, and often bogged down with all the decisions.

Today I say, enjoy watching the birds, and remember  who takes care of them and shows them where to go,  and   take it to heart and follow their lead...not to worry, listen for that inward direction and just head thataway.

Welcome Shorebirds!....Happy May everyone...Hope you like the new yarns...Come take a peek...

with love,

Net Loft Dotty


Artwork and Photography Credits and Thanks to :
 Milo Burcham, Erin Cooper,  Jon Cornforth,  Arthur Morris,  and Susan Ogle

ps...Thanks to daughter Nelly for helping with display and hanging branches with flowers for me...