June 2022

Newly-published books

The patterns in Traditions Revisited have been designed around five techniques from Estonian knitting: braids, twisted stitches, bobbles, fringes and roosimine.

Roosimine (pronounced something like "rosey-minner" according to author Aleks Byrd) gives an effect similar to embroidery. There's no sewing needle involved though, as the colorwork motif is woven into the fabric as you knit. You move the contrast color back and forth between your stitches as you work, according to your pattern chart, and make a stranded pattern on the front. You never knit an actual stitch with the contrast color, only with the background color.

When I first came across roosimine, I wondered whether it had any advantages over embroidery. I think one of the advantages is that you can create large motifs with a continuous length of yarn. Whereas with embroidery, since you don't want to pull through long lengths of yarn, you would generally use shorter pieces and end up with a lot of tedious ends to weave in. Another advantage of roosimine is that the motif strands are always horizontal, as you can only weave them into the current row. It can be difficult to keep the strands horizontal when you're embroidering finished fabric (or perhaps that's just me!).

One thing about roosimine that I didn't expect was how enjoyable it was to do. Usually with a colorwork knitting technique, I am constantly monitoring the tension of my stitches, especially where I'm changing color. With roosimine, because you only ever knit with the background color, there are no color changes. When I started swatching roosimine, I subconsciously braced myself for tension issues—though I only realised I had done that after I felt the relief of not having tension issues!

Not that I'll be giving up my intarsia or stranded knitting any time soon! I love the results they produce and I can accept the extra care they require as a price worth paying. However, I do find it really cool to know that there's a colorwork technique available that doesn't require constant tension vigilance.

That's not to say that there's nothing at all tricky about roosimine. You do need to be comfortable working from charts. And you have to learn to leave enough slack in the roosimine strands, so you don't restrict the widthways stretch of the fabric. I thought I'd left enough slack in my swatch, but it still felt a bit restricted after blocking. If you've never done roosimine before, I'd recommend experimenting with the technique on a swatch instead of leaping in with a sweater.

The roosimine technique is only a small part of what's on offer in the book. There are three sweaters in the roosimine chapter, and another nine sweaters, plus hats, shawls, mittens, socks and a cowl made using the other four techniques. I think Aleks Byrd has done a great job of coming up with designs that incorporate all these techniques into wearable garments. The book itself includes many pictures of Estonia and is beautifully bound, making it a pleasing experience to curl up with and flick through.

If you are interested in finding out about Estonian knitting, or learning new techniques, I think you'll like this book.

New and discontinued yarns

New

ABC Yarn
Swirly Aran – Aran – 100% Acrylic – Plied – Self-striping

Alize
Superwash Comfort Socks – Fingering – 75% Superwash Wool, 25% Nylon – Plied – Solid colors, Self-striping (fair-isle effect)

Ashford
Merino 4-ply – Fingering – 100% Merino Superwash Wool – Plied – Solid colors

Borgo de'Pazzi
Ortica – Fingering – 100% Nettle Fiber – Plied – Solid colors

Brooklyn Tweed
Imbue Worsted – Worsted – 100% Merino Wool – Plied – Heathered colors

Euro Baby / EYB
Criative – DK – 40% Alpaca, 30% Cotton, 30% Modal Rayon – S on S plied – Solid colors

Hobbii
Limonata – DK – 52% Cotton, 48% Polyester – Chained – Solid colors

Knit Picks / We Crochet
Heatherly Sport – DK – 80% Acrylic, 20% Merino Superwash Wool – Plied – Semi-solid colors
Heatherly Worsted – Worsted – 80% Acrylic, 20% Merino Superwash Wool – Plied – Semi-solid colors

La Bien Aimée
Merino Bouclé – DK – 100% Merino Wool – Bouclé – Tonal colors, Multicolored, Speckles

Lion Brand
24/7 Cotton DK – DK – 100% Mercerized Cotton – Plied – Solid colors
LB Collection Cotton Bamboo Linen – Sport – 40% Cotton, 35% Bamboo Viscose, 25% Linen – Crepe – Solid colors
Touch of Alpaca Thick & Quick – Jumbo – 90% Acrylic, 10% Alpaca – 2 ply – Solid colors
Two of Wands Color Theory – Worsted – 100% Acrylic – S on S plied – Solid colors
Wool-Ease Wow! – Jumbo – 80% Acrylic, 20% Superwash Wool – Plied – Solid colors

Magpie Fibers
Dyed In The Skein – Sport – 100% Superwash Wool – 2 ply – Solid colors

Moda Vera
Bellbird Woolblend – Aran – 70% Wool, 30% Soy Viscose – Single ply – Self-striping

Noro
Uchiwa – Aran – 50% Cotton, 30% Viscose, 20% Silk – Slubby tweed – Multicolored tweeds

Premier Yarns
Dottie – DK – 100% Acrylic – Plied – Self-striping (dotted colors)

Discontinued

ABC Yarn
Little Luxury Aran – Aran – 100% Acrylic – S on S plied – Solid colors
Swirly DK – DK – 100% Acrylic – Plied – Self-striping

Araucania
Alumco – Aran – 50% Cotton, 50% Viscose – Loosely plied – Multicolored, Tonal colors

Bendigo Woollen Mills
Rustic 4-ply – Fingering – 100% Wool – 2 ply – Solid colors, Heathers

Bernat
Baby – Fingering – 90% Acrylic, 10% Nylon – Plied – Solid colors
Softee Chunky Tweeds – Super Bulky – 97% Acrylic, 3% Viscose – Tweedy – Tweed colors

Berroco
Artesia Hand Dyed – Heavy Worsted – 40% Alpaca, 40% Kid Mohair, 20% Nylon – Fuzzy – Multicolored
Cambria – DK – 60% Baby Alpaca, 20% Linen, 20% Tencel / Lyocell – Plied with a soft haze – Semi-solid colors
Liana – DK – 81% Linen, 19% Nylon – Fiber core wrapped – Multicolored
Pixel – DK – 100% Superwash Wool – Single ply – Self-striping (speckled)

Blue Moon Fiber Arts
Corrie – Fingering – 75% Corriedale Superwash Wool, 25% Nylon – Plied – Solid colors, Semi-solid, Multicolored

Cygnet
Chenille Chunky – Super Bulky – 100% Polyester – Chenille – Solid colors
Kiddies Collection DK – DK – 100% Acrylic – Plied – Self-striping

Elsebeth Lavold
Luscious Llama – Bulky – 100% Llama – Plied with a soft haze – Solid colors, Heathers

Estelle
Alpaca Merino Bulky – Super Bulky – 60% Alpaca, 40% Merino Wool – Plied – Solid colors
Alpaca Merino Chunky – Bulky – 60% Superfine Alpaca, 40% Merino Wool – 2 ply – Solid colors, Heathers
Alpaca Merino DK – DK – 60% Superfine Alpaca, 40% Merino Wool – Plied with a soft haze – Solid colors
Alpaca Merino Fine – Fingering – 55% Merino Wool, 25% Nylon, 20% Alpaca – Plied with a soft haze – Solid colors, Heathers
Alpaca Merino Worsted – Worsted – 60% Superfine Alpaca, 40% Merino Wool – Plied with a soft haze – Solid colors, Heathers
Colourbraid – Aran – 80% Cotton, 20% Polyester – Chained – Gradient set

Hand Maiden Fine Yarn
Sea Silk Plush – Fingering – 51% Silk, 29% Merino Superwash Wool, 20% Sea Cell – Plied – Solid colors, heathers, Multicolored

Hayfield
Baby Chunky – Bulky – 70% Acrylic, 30% Nylon – Plied – Solid colors
Chunky Tweed With Wool – Bulky – 74% Acrylic, 20% Superwash Wool, 6% Viscose – Tweedy – Tweed colors
Journey DK – DK – 80% Acrylic, 20% Superwash Wool – Plied – Multicolored

Hjertegarn
Hjerte Light Mohair Wool – Heavy Worsted – 40% Kid Mohair, 40% Nylon, 20% Merino Wool – Fuzzy – Solid colors

Laines du Nord
Alpaca Air – Bulky – 75% Alpaca, 15% Wool, 10% Nylon – Fiber-filled net – Solid colors, Heathered colors
Poema Mohair – Lace – 75% Kid Mohair, 25% Silk – Brushed bouclé – Gradient

Lion Brand
Faux Mo – Aran – 53% Viscose, 37% Acrylic, 10% Nylon – Brushed bouclé – Solid colors

Mirasol Yarn
Llama Una – DK – 100% Llama – Plied with a soft haze – Solid colors, Heathers

Moda Vera
Ombre Delights – Sport – 70% Bamboo Viscose, 30% Cotton – S on S plied – Gradient set

Paintbox Yarns
Wool Mix Chunky – Bulky – 50% Acrylic, 50% Superwash Wool – Plied – Solid colors

Patons (Australia)
Gembrook – Bulky – 55% Acrylic, 45% Wool – Single ply – Multi-colored
Inca – Bulky – 50% Wool, 30% Acrylic, 20% Alpaca – Plied – Solid colors

Patons (North America)
Shetland Chunky Tweeds – Bulky – 75% Acrylic, 25% Wool – Tweedy – Tweed colors

Rico Design
Fashion Cotton Ribbon Chunky – Bulky – 100% Cotton – Tape – Solid colors

Sirdar
Snuggly Heirloom – Sport – 90% Wool, 10% Nylon – Chained – Solid colors, Heathers

South West Trading Company
Phoenix – Aran – 100% Soy Viscose – Tape
Tofutsies – Fingering – 50% Superwash Wool, 25% Soy Viscose, 22% Cotton, 3% Chitin Viscose – Plied – Solid colors, Marls, Self-striping (gradient marls), Multicolored
Yang – Aran – 60% Wool, 20% Bamboo Viscose, 20% Silk – Sequinned
Yin – DK – 60% Wool, 20% Bamboo Viscose, 20% Silk – Plied

Trendsetter Yarns
Lucky – Heavy Worsted – 90% Wool, 10% Nylon – Chained – Self-striping

Universal Yarn
Bella Chenille Big – Jumbo – 100% Polyester – Chenille – Solid colors

Willow and Lark
Nest – DK – 69% Merino Wool, 20% Tencel / Lyocell, 11% Cashmere – Plied – Solid colors, Heathers

If you'd like to get in touch, please send a mail to hello@yarnsub.com (you can simply reply to this mail) or find me on Instagram.

See you in July!

Wendy

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