Autumn Brings Us October GOLD!!! and November Thanks 2018

Hello Everyone!

No sooner did Summer end than the cooler weather of Fall was upon us. And what better way to celebrate the beautiful color and textures of Fall than to have two KALs featuring Andrea Mowry's spectacular designs. Our October KAL had us knitting the “The Golden Hour” shawl. This shawl has everything to display color combination through mosaic knitting, bobbles, and even lacework eyelets in the beautiful warmth of worsted weight yarn. Foe my shawl, I chose the brighter pallet of the Lorna’s Laces fuchsia, turquoise, and speckled black, with hints of the two brights and more subtle grays and even a hint of orange. I think the hardest part for me was to decide which bright went first. I chose the turquoise but I do think either bright would have worked. I find that knitting with US 8 needles are very comfortable in my hands, especially when knitting so many different techniques. Andrea Mowry includes the best tutorials as part of her patterns, some of them her own, some by others. The links in the pattern to the Garter Tab Cast On, Bobbles, and Cable Cast On are so helpful and very clear. For me, the tutorial on bobbles helped me make them stand up. My bobbles don’t always stand out and this tutorial solved the flat bobble dilemma. Blocking is very important for this project because it really brings out the texture. What is so wonderful about this shawl is the many color combinations you can use. I think this shawl lend equally to neutrals as well as brighter colors. Check out the projects page under the pattern on Ravelry. 

The Golden Hour

Another first for Yarns by HPF was the introduction of our Yarn Club. We offered a choice of two Madeline Tosh yarns for our October debut. The Yarn Club rules are on our Facebook page. What makes our Yarn Club a bit different from the others is that the club members get to choose their color bases. We also offer a surprise or two as part of the experience. Our Yarn Family has given us very positive feedback and we are continuing the club. Stay tuned for new yarns, some one of a kind (a nod to Madeline Tosh, one of our favorites).

As we moved onto November Thanks, our second Andrea Mowry KAL featured her very popular “The Shift” cowl. This cowl drapes like a shawl

The Shift

without the figuring out how to drape it. The colors shift, hence the name, throughout the cowl, making it very eye appealing. We used Schoppel Wolle Edition 3 yarn for our projects. This yarn is an excellent substitute for the patterns Spincyle yarn, offering dynamic and subtle color changes. Perhaps the most exciting thing while knitting this cowl is to see how the colors play off one another. Edition 3 is perfect for marled and striped projects giving artistic and very eye catching results. I used three combinations that all had blacks, grays, and tans (of course) with hints of red, fuchsia, and orange! Yes, I am braking out of my all neutral, all the time mode, one small color burst at a time.

We also featured a pop up art show with the beautiful work of Diana Cadwallader. As part of this show, 20% of the proceeds went to out annual charity donation. This year our Yarn Family supported the Calhoun County Humane Society.

Diana Cadwallader

We rounded out November with the start of our Gnome Workshop. Yes, those cute little guys that we could not get enough of last year are back and they’ve brought friends! We started off with “Here We Gnome Again” by Sarah Schira. These gnomes are a bit more sophisticated than their pals, with their cabled hats and coats, but they are no less cute! Once you knit one, as the saying goes, you cannot stop! There is definitely something about making gnome that get you into the holiday spirit!

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we look forward to the wonder that the Winter season and holidays bring. We have some great quick gifts for that someone special (including yourself!) and more gnomes for December! Knit On! Lisa

GNOMES