Ireland’s arrival.

Something exciting arrived in the post this week.

It cam in a big red plastic vacuum-sealed envelope:

To be honest, I was very surprised how quickly it arrived since the estimated shipping dates were 4 – 6 weeks. I ordered about 2 weeks ago …

The customs label doesn’t fully express the contents of said red envelope with it’s simple statement, “Wool.” What is actually inside is luxurious, grey-green, Donegal tweed from Kilcar, Ireland. The yarn is Donegal Yarns’ Aran Tweed.  Donegal, and the tweed yarns we associate with the name that come from that area, is in northern Ireland but the company (or rather, store) that ships their yarn all over the world is Commodum Art and Design, which is located in Dingle, Co. Kerry, which is located in southern Ireland. They re-skein the yarn into 200gm hanks, I suspect for ease of shipping, which is the equivalent of 4 x 50gm balls. The 200gm hanks are about 350 yards. I bought 4 for a jacket with the intention of having a little leftover to add a belt if I want.

Gorgeous, ain’t it?

I had hoped to buy some Donegal Tweed from my LYS but unfortunately, it seems to be no longer available … and I was starting to think I should choose another tweed for this jacket project (to be revealed later) like Berroco’s Blackstone Tweed or Aran Tweed from Rowan. But I was torn.

What I really wanted, though, was an authentic Donegal like the one’s I had seen a few years ago when we backpacked all of the British Isles and Ireland. But how to get them? They generally aren’t available in Canada – or at least not in my area of the country out West. I have heard of people back East being able to get these yarns more easily… what to do?

I stumbled across a Canadian Raveler who had Donegal Yarn’s Aran Tweed in her stash and listed Commodum as the supplier she had been able to buy it from – I followed the link and purchased! It arrived without a hitch :)

It’s funny. Yarns that aren’t 100% wool don’t interest the dogs but as soon as I lay real-deal 100% wool, rich with the smell of lanolin on front of them, they can’t seem to get enough of it [Charlotte, above, proceeded to steal a hank and carry it around].

The more I knit and work with a variety of yarns, the more I am realizing I am much like my dogs – 100% wool makes me really happy and satisfied. It’s my favourite to work with and wear (I’m lucky that I grew up in a northern BC town because wool against my skin doesn’t bother me – thank goodness!). What are your favourite yarns to work with? I am quite interested to know :)

ps. Thank you for all the wishes of congratulations from last post!

radio resurgence.

After the much needed period of radio silence, I have been able to catch up on things. This included focusing for the final months of 2011 on finishing my master’s degree and fighting off feeling sick for three months. I’m sure you can guess why – yes, I am almost 4 months pregnant. We are very excited and I am due in the middle of July.

Now that I am feeling caught up and definitely better, I am able to start thinking about knitting and crafting again. Looking forward to knitting for a growing family, as well as starting to design a little bit, I am hopeful that this space will once again be busy.

I have finished quite a few things during my radio silence. One of my favourite projects is Gamine, a cardigan-vest from designer Tori Gurbisz. Another one of her patterns I am looking forward to knitting is Zephyr, a simple contiguous yoke cardigan. I am, however, on a yarn diet, and will not be purchasing the yarn for this sweater for a while!

One of my ‘projects’ this January has been to empty out my 'office’ as it will morph into the nursery. In rearranging and preparing to store much of my yarn and notions, I have been able to cull my stash of a large bag of yarn for donation. It is strangely liberating. If the remaining has not been touched by December 2012, the rest  is being donated as well.

So, Gamine. I used stash yarn – which will be an ongoing trend here at Chez Welfordpurls for the rest of the year!

Berroco Flicker is a relatively new yarn that is very pretty. Odette, the colourway I chose, is a soft cream with flecks of green-gold in it. The flicker is not overpowering and because it’s gold, it’s very subtle against the cream. Gold buttons set it off nicely. As I mentioned on my rav page, though, the yarn is quite splitty.

In terms of modifications, I added about 2.5 inches of length to the body. Flicker’s gauge is strange. It’s listed as a worsted weight but when knit up on 5.00mm needles, it’s quite stiff. Even with washing, I wasn’t too happy with the look or feel of it after. On 6.00mm needles, it’s light and airy – I think it shows off the yarn nicely. And that gave me gauge too.

I hope this finds you happily knitting, enjoying the new year and looking forward to the projects you have planned.

r.