Maxima--new colors and patterns

It's always a happy day here when a big box of yarn arrives from Manos del Uruguay. Most recently, we've received our fall shipment of Maxima. Take a look....

Mmm...Maxima.

It's easy to see why Maxima is one of our best-selling yarns. The hand-dyed colors are gorgeous! We have a nice mix of old favorites and new colorways in stock. And the softness and warmth of this 100% extrafine merino make it a great choice for cold weather accessories.

If you need pattern ideas, Manos del Uruguay has you covered! Here are some brand new patterns they've just released. All of these call for Maxima, and they're all available here at Sheepish through our Ravelry pattern service.

The Antuco cowl comes in three different sizes, calling for one, two, or three skeins of Maxima. Part rib, part basketweave, this would be a great simple project for the new knitter who wants to practice working in the round and combining knits and purls.

Tromen is a stylish cowl knit in a brioche stitch, using two skeins of a neutral color and one skein of a bright to achieve a dramatic look.

And here's Calbuco, a cabled earflap hat that's equally cute and cozy with the pom-pom (two skeins) or without (one skein).

Buy these patterns through us, and your purchase will count toward your Sheepish reward points!

New: Perfection Lights

You asked for it, and we heard you! Customers have been asking for yarn with a bit of sparkle in it, and we think you'll really like this one.

Kraemer's Perfection continues to be one of our all-time most popular yarns, so we're really excited to be able to offer you Perfection Lights Worsted. Like its non-sparkly cousin, Perfection Lights is an easy care, classic worsted weight blend of superwash merino and acrylic, but with the addition of a tinsel-like polyester thread.

Here's a closer look at the colors we have in stock. The rich palette is, well, perfect for fall and winter knitting. What will you make with this yarn--a festive hat? elegant evening shawl or cowl? blinged-out Christmas stocking?

Perfection Lights Worsted comes in a 200-yard ball for $7.50.

Magazines galore!

For some reason, we've had a really hard time getting some of our distributors to understand that we've moved. Despite giving them our new address repeatedly, some of our stuff has continued to get lost in the mail, even nine months after our move. So frustrating.

ANYWAY. Yesterday we finally received a backlog of magazines and now we're having tons of fun catching up on looking through them. If you need pattern inspiration, you're sure to find some here. Whether you're in the mood to make a modern update for your own wardrobe, or you just looked at the calendar and realized you need to knit a dozen gifts in the next seven weeks (!), these issues have something for everyone.

So...much...knitting!

Stop by and spend some time looking through these, and you'll have plenty of new project ideas in no time!

Dream Club: November 2013

Wow, Dream in Color has been really outdoing themselves with this season of their Dream Club. Just feast your eyes on their November installment:

Oh my....

That's Alpaca Silk Wool Lace (50% domestic wool, 25% silk, 25% alpaca). Each big, beautiful skein has a generous 640 yards and retails for $30.

Ornata shawl designed by Susanna IC

The pattern of the month (included with purchase of the yarn) is the lovely Ornata shawl. This project knits up with just one skein of the Alpaca Silk Wool Lace.

The colors on this yarn are just spectacular. They're kind of like a rainbow, but deeper and richer. Pinks, oranges, greens, blues, browns...this colorway will go with so many items in anyone's wardrobe!

As always with Dream Club yarns, this is an extremely limited edition colorway, and we only receive ten skeins. So if you like it, come and grab it while you can!

Dream Club: October 2013

The latest installment from Dream In Color's Dream Club is another gorgeous autumnal gem. With Everlasting Sock ($26) as the base yarn, the warm colors of falling leaves really pop out in this smoothly-twisted 100% superwash merino.

Everlasting Sock

Accompanying this beautiful yarn, the Dream Club pattern of the month is Sand People Always Ride Single File (S.P.A.R.S.F.) by Claire Ellen. Dream In Color calls these cabled socks, "A perfect match between our wonderfully hard-wearing Everlasting Sock and an entertaining intermediate level pattern."

S.P.A.R.S.F. socks

This pattern might look intimidating at first, but if you have basic knowledge of sock knitting and cable construction, you can make these.

Remember, as a Dream Club shop, we only receive ten skeins of each month's yarn from Dream In Color. It's first-come, first-served, so be sure to stop by and get a skein for yourself before they're all gone!

Dream Club: September 2013

This month we're thrilled to be kicking off another great season of Dream In Color's Dream Club. Without further ado, let's take a look at September's installment from the club.

It's even more gorgeous in person!

Wow, they're really setting the bar high by starting the season with this yarn. It's one of Dream In Color's most popular yarns, Smooshy with Cashmere, dyed in an exclusive Club colorway that features all the rich tones of autumn. With 400 yards in a skein, this fingering weight blend of 70% superwash merino/20% cashmere/10% nylon is a real deal at only $30/skein.

With your purchase of this month's Club yarn, you'll also receive the pattern of the month. Dream in Color calls Menagerie "a unique accessory piece that can be worn in a variety of ways." Like all Dream Club patterns, this garment is designed to be knit with just one skein of the month's yarn.

Remember, we only get ten skeins of each month's yarn, so if you want one, come and get yours soon!

Kitts and mitts

First, a quick update to let you know that Ruby and Sapphire went to their forever home this week! We're thrilled that they got adopted together--those two little ladies had really bonded, despite not being actual littermates.

Bon voyage, munchkins!

So we're kitten-less for now, but we'll probably be fostering more babies in the future. In the meantime, if you would like to be an animal foster parent yourself, please contact Dekalb County Animal Services. There are so many critters in need, and fostering is a great way to help them without making a lifetime commitment.

Now for some knitting news! We've already told you how much we love Silk Blend from Manos del Uruguay, and judging by how well it's been selling so far, you love it, too. For those of you who haven't tried this yummy yarn yet, here's a little project to entice you.

Salto Mitts, designed by Christine Marie Chen

Stacy made the Salto fingerless mitts as a shop sample in the Briar colorway. This is a one-skein project and a rather simple one at that. If you've never knit lace before, these eyelets are a perfect introduction to lace knitting techniques. The eyelets also help the mitts expand to fit a range of arm sizes without having to resize the pattern. Clever!

This pattern is available through Ravelry's in-store pattern sales program. Let us download Salto for you at the shop, and your purchase will count toward your Sheepish Reward points. Get started on these mitts now, and you'll have a gorgeous new accessory ready to wear when the weather turns chilly.

Labor Day weekend sale

New fall yarns are arriving regularly, and we need your help to make room for them! So...

Brown Sheep yarns, just waiting to go home with you.

Now through Sunday, Sept. 1, all yarns from Kraemer, Cascade, Classic Elite, and Brown Sheep, are 25% off. Out with the old dye lots and in with the new!

Sale yarns include: Perfection, Tatamy, Heritage, Fixation, Ultra Pima, Seedling, Silky Alpaca Lace, Lamb's Pride Bulky, Cotton Fleece, Nature Spun, Burly Spun, and many more. If you're coming to Decatur for the Book Festival anyway, you might as well stop by and see us and grab some bargains, right?

New yarns from Misti Alpaca

This time of year is so much fun for us. The UPS man brought us two big boxes of gorgeous fall yarns today!

We're pleased to be adding several Misti Alpaca yarns to our fall line-up this year. We think you're really going to love these.

Misti Alpaca Worsted

First up, here's their worsted weight baby alpaca, simply called Worsted. This yarn is buttery soft and its medium weight makes it a versatile option for our climate. It knits at 5 sts./in. on a US 7 needle. $8.00 per 109-yard skein.

Tonos Worsted

Next, this is Tonos Worsted. It's a 50% baby alpaca / 50% merino blend in amazing hand-painted tone-on-tone colorways. Like the solid worsted, this yarn knits at 5 sts./in. on a US 7 needle. $20 per 218-yard skein.

Misti Alpaca Chunky

Last but definitely not least, we have Misti Alpaca Chunky. Folks, we've snuggled up to a lot of alpaca yarns in our time, but this just might be the softest of them all. And the colors and drape are absolutely heavenly. This 100% baby alpaca yarn will be a great choice for quick, luxurious accessory projects. It knits at 3.5 sts./in. on a US 10 needle. $16 per 109-yard skein for the solids; $23.50 for the hand-paints.

Come in and feel these goodies for yourself!

Sweater weather

What's up with these temperatures? It is still summer, right?

We know this chilly weather is a fluke and there's plenty more heat to come, but this little preview of autumn is a handy reminder that the cooler months are right around the corner. Now's the time to start on some cozy projects to keep you warm this fall and winter.

We're so happy that Andi Satterlund's gorgeous Chuck sweater design is now available as an in-store Ravelry download. Stacy knit this longer version in Liberty Wool (color 7880, Golden Poppy). It's on display in the shop right now, and you can read more about it on Stacy's personal blog.

This pattern has so many features we love--flattering fit, seamless top-down construction, enough cables to keep the knitting interesting, and enough mindless stockinette to keep things moving fast. It's soft and comfy in Liberty Wool, but would also be wonderful in Perfection or Nature Spun.

Remember, if you buy this pattern from us, the designer gets paid, we get paid, and the purchase counts toward your Sheepish Rewards!

Fall arrivals from Manos del Uruguay

Today we received our first shipment of fall yarn, and it's a beauty. Check this out:

Autumny goodness.

That's Manos del Uruguay's Silk Blend, a luscious DK-weight combo of 70% extrafine merino / 30% silk. Some colorways are space-dyed and some are semi-solid, and all come in 150-yard skeins. Space-dyed colorways are $15.00 and semi-solids are $14.50.

If you need some inspiration about what to make from this new-to-us yarn, here are some lovely accessory patterns to ease you into your fall knitting. These are in stock now!

Manyara beret and cowl set.

Salto fingerless mitts.

You need to experience this yarn in person so you can feel how fabulous it is and see the gorgeous hand-dyed colors for yourself. Photos just can't do them justice!

Sneak peek: Gradient

Back in the spring, a sales rep left a ball of Schoppel Yarn's Gradient with us so we could try it. Stacy knit it into the Honey Cowl, and the sample has been living here at the shop all summer, where many of you have commented on how much you like it. That's exactly the kind of feedback we were hoping for!

Gradient is a soft, slightly felted wool single with very long color repeats. It comes in the same kind of ball as Schoppel's Zauberball, but knits at a worsted weight gauge. It's really nice to work with, and watching the slow, gradual color changes is so much fun.

We met with our sales rep yesterday, and based on your positive reaction to Gradient, we ordered it for fall. We'll be getting five colorways, and we ordered extra balls of the orange shown in the sample because it's gotten such a great response. It will sell for about $22.50 per 284-yd. ball. Our Honey Cowl took less than one ball.

We look forward to seeing what kinds of projects you'll make with this gorgeous yarn!

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!

Dream Club: October

October's installment from Dream in Color's Dream Club is available now, and it's another lovely one.

This month's yarn is Merino/Silk Sock, a deliciously squishy blend of 75% U.S. domestic merino and 25% silk. The colorway is a beautiful autumnal mix of rusty golds and greens.  A 440-yard skein retails for $30.00. 

October 2012 Dream Club yarn

In case you're just joining us, here's how the Dream Club works: each month we get a shipment of ten skeins of yarn from Dream in Color in an exclusive colorway.  With the purchase of the Dream Club yarn, you get the PDF of the pattern of the month.  This month, it's the Autumn Fern Mobius, designed by Jessica Correa.

Autumn Fern Mobius

Remember, both the yarn and the pattern are Dream Club exclusives, and you must buy the yarn to get the pattern. Don't miss out--get yours soon!

P.S. In case you missed it, we still have a few skeins left of September's Dream Club yarn, too!

Bear Creek yarn

Here's another great new yarn from Kraemer, the folks who brought you Perfection Worsted.  Bear Creek is a very loosely spun wool, almost like a pencil roving.  But unlike some loosely spun yarns that pull apart when you work with them, Bear Creek is wrapped with a fine nylon thread that holds the strand together and gives it a wonderful texture.

We have ten fabulous colors in stock:

Top Row, L-R: Berry Blast, Peach Cobbler, Blueberry Pie, Peppermint Stick, Grapevine.  Bottom Row, L-R: Orchid, Snickerdoodle, Black Licorice, Kiwi Ice, Pepper Pot.

This yarn is an ideal choice for those times when you need to whip up a project in a hurry.  It calls for a size 17 needle, with a gauge of 2 stitches per inch, so a little goes a long way.  Each skein has 130 yards and retails at $19.00/skein.  Stacy knit this Super Bulky Button Hat (free Ravelry download) in just a few hours, and used less than half a skein!

Bear Creek Button Hat in Peppermint Stick

By the way, this hat pattern is perfect for showcasing our wonderful handmade buttons from Gail Hughes.

Resin button created by Kentucky artist Gail Hughes

The hat was knit on a size 13 needle, creating a wonderfully cozy, squishy fabric.  Stacy reports, "I really enjoyed knitting with Bear Creek, and I don't normally knit with anything this thick.  But this was a pleasure!"

Fall shipment from Brown Sheep

The day we receive our fall shipment from Brown Sheep is always one of the most exciting days of the year.  Yesterday was that day:

Brown Sheep goodness!

We would have posted a picture of this yesterday, but we were too busy being up to our necks in FIVE HUGE BOXES of yarn.  There was much rearranging, inventorying, price stickering, and re-rearranging to be done.  But now we're stocked to the ceiling with fall/winter favorites Lamb's Pride Bulky, Burly Spun, and Nature Spun Worsted--yippee!

Ty-Dy Superkid

Now in stock: Ty-Dy Superkid, one of the newest yarns from Knit One Crochet Too.  This is for all you mohair lovers out there who've been looking for a multi-colored mohair option.

Colors L-R: Berry Patch, Magenta Moss, Berries, Oceana

Ty-Dy Superkid is listed as a laceweight, and it's 35% kid mohair/21% wool/44% nylon. The yardage is generous (246/ball) and the price is very reasonable ($9.00/ball).  This yarn has fairly long color repeats that create a striping effect.

With its fine gauge, Ty-Dy Superkid is obviously great for lace projects, but you can also hold it together with another yarn to create some really interesting textures.  The Burlesque scarf is a new pattern for fall that calls for one ball of Ty-Dy Superkid and two balls of Wrapunzel.  (This pattern and the Wrapunzel are also in stock.)

Burlesque Scarf by Helene Rush

Get creative--we know you'll come up with lots of fun ways to use Ty-Dy Superkid!

Fall yarns from Manos del Uruguay

This is our favorite time of year at Sheepish--new yarns are arriving faster than we can tell you about them!  Here are two more recent arrivals for fall, both from Manos del Uruguay.

This beautiful stuff is Wool Clasica, a handspun, kettle-dyed, 100% wool yarn.  If you've never knit with handspun yarn before, you're in for a treat.  This yarn gives wonderful texture to your stitches, and knits up at about 3.5-4.5 sts/in. on a US 8-10 needle.  Wool Clasica retails at $17.50/skein for the solid colors and $18.50/skein for the multi colors.  The solids and multis both have the same yardage, 138 yds/skein.

Wool Clasica yarn from Manos del Uruguay

And here we have Maxima, a luxuriously soft kettle-dyed merino.  This yarn is so wonderfully bouncy and squishy!  It's a worsted weight, knitting at 4.5-5 sts/in. on a US 7-8 needle.  Maxima retails at $14.00 per 218-yd. skein, so it's a great value, too.  (The solids and multis are priced the same.)

Maxima yarn from Manos del Uruguay

Stacy knit up a quick sample of the Maxima, using the free Malabrigo Neck Thingie pattern from Ravelry (yes, Maxima is an ideal choice for any pattern that suggests Malabrigo Worsted!).  This is the Arctic Shadow colorway.

Maxima Neck Thingie

If you're not familiar with Manos del Uruguay and their yarns, you can read more about this certified Fair Trade company here. We're proud to carry these products, and can't wait to see what you all will make with them!

Dream Club: September

We're very excited to announce that Sheepish is now a member of Dream in Color's Dream Club.  Each month, Dream in Color will send us 10 skeins of a new, exclusive colorway--a different base yarn every month.  When you purchase a skein of this special yarn, we'll email you a PDF of that month's Dream Club pattern. Each pattern will be designed specifically to showcase that month's yarn.  Each month the base yarn, colorway, and pattern will be a surprise for everyone--including us!

September 2012 Dream Club yarn

Our first installment of the Dream Club is available now.  The yarn is Baby, a wonderfully soft superwash merino laceweight, dyed in a lovely periwinkle blue with streaks of gray.  It's a 700-yard skein for $24.00.  The photo really doesn't do justice to this colorway. 

Twilight Accessories Set, exclusive pattern with purchase of September 2012 Dream Club yarn

With the purchase of the Dream Club yarn, you get the PDF of the pattern for the Twilight Accessories Set.  This set includes a hat, cowl, and fingerless mitts, designed by Andrea Jurgrau of Bad Cat Designs, and you can make all three out of one skein of the Dream Club yarn.

Remember, we only have 10 skeins of this yarn available (correction, nine skeins--someone's already bought one!) and you must buy the yarn to get the pattern.  We expect these to sell out pretty fast, so be sure to get yours before they're gone!

Done Roving yarns

Now in stock: two beautiful yarns by Done Roving, a small company based in Maine.  We'd never heard of Done Roving until a few months ago, but we instantly fell in love when our sales rep showed us her amazing samples.  We immediately placed an order for fall, and it has arrived!

First up, for all you sock lovers, we have Frolicking Feet.  It's a 100% superwash merino with a wonderful tight twist.  We currently have it in 15 colorways (we started out with more, but a few have sold out already!).  Frolicking Feet retails at $21.00 per 480-yard skein.

Frolicking Feet

Next, we have Natural Ewe.  It's a brand new yarn for Done Roving, and Sheepish is one of the first shops in the country to have it.  Natural Ewe comes in 15 colorways and we have all of them in stock right now. This is a super soft fingering weight yarn that will be perfect for lace projects or whatever else you can dream up.  It's a 100% organic merino (What makes a wool organic? Learn here!) and retails at $14.00 per 300-yard skein.

Natural Ewe

Stop by and treat yourself to these exciting new yarns soon!  We have a feeling they're going to be very popular.