Early Stripes

Ah, now this is what happens when you have nearly a week off work, the shop update happens earlier.... I don't know what on earth I will do with myself!

The following self-striping yarn will be added to the shop by Friday. They will all produce approx 0.5" (1.25 cm) stripes, knitted over 64 sts.

Aztec in Tangy Sock
(a repeat colourway in bright pink, red and dark green)

Crocus in Tangy Sock
(a lovely new colourway in rich purple, sun gold and dark lime)

Conch in Tangy Sock
(another new colourway in charcoal grey and a lovely variegated light coral pink)

Cheshire Cat in Tangy Sock
(another repeat colourway in bright purple and pink - Alice in Wonderland inspired)
An example of this yarn knitted up can be seen below.

Carnival Stripes in Tangy Sock
(eye-popping colours of turquoise, lime and pink!)
An example of this yarn knitted up can be seen below.

All my yarn can be found at Twisted Limone Designs. Thank you for looking :)

~Karen~

This week's stripes.....

This week's stripy update will be added to the shop tomorrow. This little selection of yarn has all been dyed so that the stripes will knit up at around 0.5" when knitted at a tension of 16 sts = 2", over 64 sts.

Shadowland in Zingy Sock

(unusual colour combination of plum and teal - the teal has lovely subtle hues of greeny blues running through it. This colourway is not too bright and would make fab 'man socks').

Pink-a-Dink in Tangy Sock
(a repeat colourway; lovely vibrant shades of pink and green)

Grasshopper in Superino
(another repeat colourway; lovely strong greens)

Fruit Salad in Tangy Sock
(A gorgeous, mouth-watering citrus lime and bright pink colourway)

Finally............

I love this one............

Crystal Waters in Superino
(To me this yarn conjures up an image of diving into a cool, crystal clear pool on a hot, hot summer's day! Two shades of aqua blue. The lighter of the two blues is slightly variegated in shades of light blue)

Have a great weekend everyone! I will be dyeing as usual, but lovin' it! ;)

~Karen~

The one that got away....

....Carnival Stripes.....has now found its way onto my sock needles. I dyed this one up last weekend and loved it so much I couldn't bear to part with it, so unfortunately here's one that won't make it to the shop this weekend! ;)

I even labelled it......but......no.....

....you're not having it! This one's for me ;)

I've had some lovely comments about this colourway, so I will be dyeing more, I promise!

I'm about three-quarters of the way through the first sock. Just a good plain Stocking Stitch sock to show the stripes at their best. I'm loving the way they are knitting up so far. Now all I need to do is to decide whether to keep them or put them in my shop ;)



Unfortunately due to all the rain here in wet Manchester, last weekend's dyeing exploits are still hanging up and drying, but I promise this week's update will be coming soon. I have some more subtle shades this week, as well as brights (of course!) and a repeat colourway.

~ Karen ~

Shop Update

Just a teeny weeny update of self-striping yarn for this week, which I will be adding to the shop on Friday.

Four new colourways for this week......

Pink-a-Dink in Tangy Sock
(a lovely rich Emerald green and bright pink)

Blue Grass in Zingy Sock
(Lime and bright blue)

Summer Daze in Tangy Sock
(definitely my favourite, lovely bright shades of lime, orange and pink - knit it if you dare! I've already had an extra order for this yarn, so it may be popular!)

Windermere in Tangy Sock
(inspired by my trip to the Lake District at the weekend and all the lovely blues and greens on Lake Windermere)

....and this weekend I will be doing repeat colourways for Aztec and Grasshopper, a custom order and maybe a few new colourways ;)

All these yarns will produce approximately 1" stripes, if knitted at a tension of 16 sts to 2" over 64 sts. This is a slightly wider stripe than I've previously dyed, but I thought they'd be fabulous for shawls and scarves, as well as socks. I hope to do a test knit on a shawl soon just to see how they knit up. However, if you fancy giving it a go before I do, feel free :)

~ Karen ~

Dyeing Today...

I've spent a very fruitful day today dyeing up some more self-striping sock yarn. Four new stripey colourways will be hopefully be photographed, blogged about and in the shop by next weekend.

All of my yarn is now listed on Ravelry and connected to my profile and shop. For those who can't access Ravelry, I have three different sock yarns available:

Tangy Sock Yarn
75% Wool/25% Nylon
4 ply/Fingering
400 m (437 yds)

Zingy Sock Yarn
75% Merino/25% Nylon
4 ply/Fingering
400 m (437 yds)

Superino
100% Merino
4 ply/Fingering
400 m (437 yds)

All are available in self-striping, variegated and semi-solid colourways.

Well, I'm off to the Lake District this weekend for a well earned rest. I've had a mega busy week and just want to chill out, relax, eat lots of nice food and of course catch up on my knitting. Back Monday!

~ Karen ~

Shop Launch

Well it took A LOT longer than I anticipated on Sunday, but I eventually got there in the end and managed to list 'most' of the shop contents.

I spent a very exhausting day and into the evening getting extremely 'goggle-eyed', by late evening I was decidedly cranky so I decided to have a nice glass of Chardonnay and call it a day! The only items I have left to list are my hand knitted socks, which I hope to do some time next week.

My self-striping sock yarn seems to be going down quite well, with a few sales and some enquiries. I am now down to my last two balls, so I will be dyeing some more lovely new colourways in the next few days, ready to list in the shop next week.

These are the two very lonely balls of yarn left, looking for a lovely new home ;) They're in colourways Colbalt Orange and Viola.

There's still some variegated yarn left though...

and don't forget my little hand knits ...

Socks and new self striping yarns coming very soon.....

~ Karen ~

Pre Launch Shop Blog

Tomorrow is definitely launch day, come rain or shine! EVEN if I only manage to list a few items ;) Today's blog is another little taster of the knitterly delights I will be listing in the shop.

Mini Felted Bags
What a pleasure these little bags were to make. Easy and quick to knit up, it was the felting that took the most effort and elbow grease. I prefer to felt by hand in order to get the texture 'just right' and managed to worked up quite a sweat! Here is where my sewing skills came in; the bags are fully lined and I have hand-sewn on the flowers and beading to the front. I haven't done much sewing for a while and found it surprisingly therapeutic.

These pretty little bags are perfect as presents; I gave one to my mum for Mother's Day and popped inside a lovely scented soap, with a bath bomb and one of my hand-knitted wash cloths - it went down very well......

.......and I've also recently discovered they make the perfect knitting project bags; for small knits such as socks and gloves. They are the perfect size for holding a ball of yarn, sock needles and the little necessities, such as a tape measure, stitch markers etc. With no awkward fasteners, such as zips etc, you can just pop in your knitting and go!


Wash/Spa Cloths
Finally my little wash cloths. Made from pure cotton these cloths come in lovely clean and vibrant colours and make the perfect little gift or just to say 'thank you'. I'm selling them as wash/spa cloths, but they would also make great dish cloths too. They come in two designs, in a set of two, and are tied together with a pretty ribbon.

Now all I need to do is get all this up on my shop....I suspect I'll be very busy for the next 24 hours ;) Right! I'd better get cracking!

Karen :)

Almost there...

Oh my goodness is it really December since I last blogged? Doesn't time fly? Well the excitement of the imminent opening of my Etsy shop has galvanised me into action and I'm itching to blog about it.

The last few months have been filled with lots of knitting, designing and dyeing yarn. I have been really busy knitting little knitted goodies for my Etsy shop which I (finally) hope to open on Sunday. Time has flown, but I have enjoyed every minute of it; I am at my happiest when I am doing something creative and the incentive to get my shop up and running has kept my creative juices flowing!

As you will gather from previous blogs, I am addicted to sock knitting, so my shop will be stocking some of my hand-knitted sock creations, along with my other little knitted designs, such as fingerless gloves, felted bags and wash/spa cloths and hand-painted yarn. A little peek of these is pictured below:

A pile of socks.....





Fingerless mitts......



Due to the interest and encouragement I have received on Ravelry, I will also be stocking some of my hand-painted yarn. Specialising in self-striping yarn, but there will also be some variegated and semi-solid yarn available, all in my favourite, gorgeous and bright colours.

Self-striping yarn....


Variegated and semi-solid yarn.......

There will be another little shop update tomorrow and then the grand opening on Sunday :)

Karen :)