Baby Me Boo for you

Take a look at these lovelies that arrived this week.

This is Baby Me Boo, a wonderfully soft blend of 50% baby alpaca, 30% merino wool, and 20% bamboo. Hand-dyed by the talented artisans at Misti Alpaca, the thick-and-thin construction of Baby Me Boo creates a gorgeous, textured fabric.

When a yarn itself is this beautifully designed, you don't need a complicated pattern to create projects that look fantastic. That makes Baby Me Boo a great choice for beginners who aren't yet ready for a challenging pattern but want to make something that looks fancy, as well as for anyone who needs to crank out some nice gifts without much effort.

Convertible Scarf - Worsted Cowl

Basic Lace Scarf

These patterns and more are available as free downloads via Misti Alpaca. For more Baby Me Boo project ideas, check out what Ravelry users are making with this yarn.

Baby Me Boo is listed as a worsted weight yarn that knits up at approximately 4.5 sts/in on a US 7 needle.

Cozy up to Hand Paint Sock

Many of you who were here for Shop Hop were excited about the multi-colored yarn we used for our shop sample.

Detail of our Shop Hop shawl.

Those pretty, artistic colors are courtesy of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock. The colorway used in the shawl is called Treasure. We have quite a few other fabulous colorways in stock as well. See?

So many pretty colors!

Hand Paint Sock is a delicious blend of 50% superfine alpaca, 30% merino wool, 10% silk, & 10% nylon. It comes in a 436-yd. hank (which, course, we'll gladly wind for you on our ball winder when you purchase it here).

Misti Alpaca has plenty of pattern support for this yarn on their web site. Sock-wise, the color changes of this yarn are really best displayed in simple designs like these.

Maybe the softness and fine gauge of HPS make you think about items for the little ones in your life. The Misti Alpaca web site offers this cute set for ages 1-5 years.

For those who think this yarn might be a bit too luxurious for socks or kids' stuff, how about using it in a pretty scarf? Lisa Bruce's Favorite Scarf Ever was designed with HPS in mind. It's a free Ravelry download and takes only one skein.

Need more ideas, for this or any other yarn?  Come on in and we'll help you brainstorm! :)

Misti Alpaca Chunky is a hit!

When we decided to stock Misti Alpaca Chunky, we knew you'd love it, but we had no idea how much you'd love it. We won't name names, but we have a few customers who are downright obsessed with this stuff. Why not? It's super soft and, well--just look at it.

Pretty much irresistible, right?

In case you haven't jumped on the Alpaca Chunky bandwagon yet (or if you've stashed a ton of it and haven't quite decided what to make with it), here are a few project ideas. All of these patterns are available for purchase from us through our Ravelry in-store pattern sales program.

 Salt by Andi Satterlund

 Arctic Circle by Antonia Shankland

Early Morning by Taiga Hilliard Designs

Grown-Up Cozy by Justyna Lorkowska

These are just a few ideas. Stop by the shop to see the latest shipment of Misti Alpaca Chunky, and we can help you add more projects to your queue. :)

Have you met Ayllu?

We're so glad we decided to open an account with Misti Alpaca Yarns last year. It's been such a pleasure to support this Fair Trade company, not to mention the fact that their yarns are WONDERFUL!

Well, hello there.

Case in point: Ayllu (which Misti Alpaca informs us means "community" in the Andean language of Qechua) is an alpaca yarn that's wrapped with a fine nylon thread to create a cozy thick-and-thin texture. It's overdyed, so some parts of the skein show the hand-dyed colorway and other parts are black. Gorgeous! Here's a closer look at the colors we have in stock:

Top, L-R: El Dorado, Italian Ice, Cabaret. Bottom, L-R: Dynasty, Galapagos, Rose.

 

Misti Alpaca classifies Ayllu as an aran weight, knitting up at 3.5 sts/in on a US 9 needle. 120-yd skein/$23.

We haven't made a shop sample with this yet. What would you like to see made out of it?

New: Hand Paint Sock

Ooooh, it's so exciting when a new-to-us yarn arrives. We're very happy to introduce you to our latest addition, Hand Paint Sock from Misti Alpaca.

Colors currently in stock, clockwise from far left: Tilt-A-Whirl, Reggaeton, Northern Lights, Manu, Eiffel.

We're crazy about this yarn. The colors are great, obviously, and it's also wonderfully soft. The fiber blend is 50% alpaca, 30% merino wool, 10% silk, and 10% nylon. Hand Paint Sock comes in a 437-yard skein for $23.00. The label recommends hand-washing.

While Misti Alpaca calls this a sock yarn, don't limit yourself by thinking of it only in terms of socks. A quick browse through its Ravelry project pages will give you plenty of inspiration for scarves, shawls, mitts, and other great items to make with this wonderful yarn. Let your imagination run wild, and have fun!

Free pattern for Shop Hoppers

One of the most fun aspects of Shop Hop is that each participating shop gives away their own free, exclusive pattern to Shop Hoppers. It's always cool to see what everybody comes up with.

Here at Sheepish, we're very proud to carry a number of yarns that have been certified Fair Trade. Our free Shop Hop pattern for 2013 spotlights some of them.

The Fair Trade Cowl makes use of a simple slip stitch pattern to create a wonderful texture that's surprisingly easy to knit. The version shown here uses two colors of Manos del Uruguay Maxima, a super-soft worsted weight merino. The pattern also includes instructions for a bulky-weight version in a single color. Our shop sample of the bulky version (which you can try on for yourself when you stop by during Shop Hop) was knit in luxurious Misti Alpaca Chunky.

Shop Hop starts Saturday, Sept. 28, and runs through Sunday, Oct. 6. We look forward to seeing all of you!

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!

On The Needles: Amalthea in Pima Silk Hand Paint

This Pima Silk we got in recently was just begging to be knit into a shop sample. To refresh your memory, these are the colors we got, just to try out this lovely cotton/silk blend from Misti Alpaca:

Three of the four are dyed with subtle tone-on-tone shading, but the one on the left is a Pima Silk Hand Paint in a colorway called April Showers. How would the colors knit up? Would it stripe? We had to find out! So, Stacy's started knitting this little fringed shawlette called Amalthea, designed by Tori Gurbisz.

Wow, aren't those colors gorgeous? Mostly shades of blue, but with little shots of green, red, purple, and gold throughout.

Stacy says, "This yarn is a dream to knit with! It feels so soft and smooth in my hands, and the drape is perfect for a summery wrap like this."

Amalthea is available for download from us via the Ravelry in-store pattern program. You can get her as an individual pattern for $6.00, or as part of a larger eBook (six shawl patterns) called Myths and Fairytales for $16.50.