Trendspotting: laceweight neckwear

Lately we've noticed many more people getting interested in knitting with laceweight yarn. For years, we had a few customers who would knit shawls in elaborate lacy patterns. Everybody else seemed too intimated to try such complicated projects, or just hated the idea of knitting with anything so fine.

But things are shifting now, thanks to some great patterns that have been popping up calling for laceweight yarns. These designs look sleek and modern, and because many of them are knit at a (relatively) bigger gauge, they knit up faster than you might expect.

If you fall in love with a skein of luscious laceweight while you're shopping (or if you have one in your stash), but don't know what to do with it, take a look at some of these projects for inspiration.

Gradiente by Jocelyn Tunney is a stunning scarf that uses a US 8 needle and three strands of laceweight held together. It subtly blends three different colors, 440 yards each. We have a sample of this in the shop, and everyone who sees it goes crazy for it!

Citron Grand by Hilary Smith Callis features a simple ruching technique to create textural interest. Knitting the laceweight yarn on a size US 8 makes a wonderful drapey fabric. You can knit this wrap in a variety of sizes, using anywhere from 435 to 1445 yards.

Arnhem Loop by Silke K. is a bit more of a time commitment because it's knit on a US 2 needle, but the result is so chic, it's worth it! This cowl is knit flat on the bias and then joined at the ends to create a long, luxurious loop. It calls for about 880 yards of the main color and 440 yards of the contrast.

Melanie Berg has designed a trio of fabulous striped wraps using laceweight yarn and a size US 4 needle. Left to right: Assante (650 yds MC, 325 yds CC); Aviendha (450 yds MC, 300 yds CC); and Miara (650 yds MC, 325 yds CC). The patterns are available individually or you can get all three as an eBook called It's All About Stripes. Really.

You can buy all the patterns mentioned in this post through Ravelry. Better yet, let us download the PDF for you at the shop, so you can receive credit toward your next Sheepish Reward coupon!

On The Needles: Wriggle Wrap in Kauni

We're mixing it up a little bit with this edition of On The Needles. Instead of showing you a staff project, we want to highlight one of our customers' works in progress!

Wriggle Wrap, designed by Sally Brandl

This is Kris's fantastic Wriggle Wrap that she's been bringing to Knitting Night on Tuesdays. It uses two colorways of Kauni Effektgarn to spectacular, well...effect. The texture is a simple feather and fan pattern that adds wonderful movement to the color changes of the two alternating Kauni skeins.

For those of you who thought Kauni was only for colorwork projects, think again! This would also look gorgeous in Zauberball, which we plan to get back in stock later this fall.

The Wriggle Wrap pattern is available here at the shop via our Ravelry sales program. Buy it from us and your purchase will count toward your Sheepish Rewards!

Ravelry patterns for you

Since enrolling in Ravelry's in-store pattern sales program a few months ago, we've been very excited about how many of you have been taking advantage of this service. For those of you who aren't aware of it, or just haven't tried it yet, here's a little recap about how the program works.

 

Here's the Cowl Shell that Stacy recently made for our shop mannequin, Epiphany. If you'd like to make this top yourself, here's what we do:

1. You tell us you want it.

2. We buy the PDF via Ravelry.

3. A copy of the PDF goes automatically to your email account and, if you wish, to your Ravelry library.

4. When you check out at the register, we ring up the pattern like any other purchase. 

Ta-da! 

There are several advantages to buying Ravelry patterns from us this way. Designers earn a higher percentage from in-store sales than from normal Ravelry sales, and the shop also earns a percentage. And, unlike when you download patterns yourself at home, when you buy them from us, those purchases count toward your Sheepish reward points.

Of course we still stock hard copies of patterns in the shop, but being able to sell Ravelry patterns is HUGE for us, because this means our customers have almost 30,000 patterns to choose from--way more than we could ever physically stock in the shop. Settle in with your favorite beverage, browse the Ravelry selection, and next time you come in to Sheepish, bring your list!

Ravelry in-store pattern service

One of the most challenging parts about running a LYS is deciding which patterns to carry.  It's difficult to predict what kinds of patterns customers will want in any given season.  We want to offer you a wide variety of things to choose from, but we don't want to end up having to put a lot of unsold patterns on clearance.

Well, today we're pleased to announce that we've teamed up with Ravelry to offer you a wider variety of pattern choices than ever!   That means thousands of patterns from participating designers are now available for purchase here at Sheepish, on demand.

Just a few of the patterns you can now buy at Sheepish.

Here's how it works: let's say you see the model of the Flyaway Vest that's hanging on our wall and decide you want the pattern.  We'll pull it up on our Ravelry shop page and with a couple of clicks, boom! Ravelry will send the pattern .pdf to your email and/or your Ravelry library.*

We'll ring up your pattern like any other merchandise, so you can buy your yarn, needles, pattern, and notions all at once.  So convenient!  If you're a member of our rewards program, these pattern purchases will count toward your rewards total.  And you can feel good about supporting your local yarn shop and independent designers.  EVERYBODY WINS.

We're really excited about being able to offer this service for our customers and hoping it will be very useful for you all.

*For a small fee, we can also print the pattern for you here in the shop.