All posts filed under: Playing With Yarn

KnitPicks Chroma Yarn

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Because of the long color changes and gorgeous combinations, KnitPicks Chroma has always held a place in my heart. I also love the texture of this yarn and how it has a “freshly spun” quality.  Browse my Vibrant Vintage blankets on BabyLoveBrand.net (my portfolio site) – No. 3 and 5 are the gorgeous hexie blankets seen in this post. Just look at this color range, which not only includes a myriad of palettes, but also features a few neutrals for mixing in or making motifs with a solid background. Chroma comes in two weights, fingering and worsted. I prefer the fingering weight for delicate, impressive pieces, but I’ve seen gorgeous blankets made with the worsted. Fingering weight details:  Buy here: Chroma Fingering Weight Fiber Content: 70% Superwash Wool, 30% Nylon Weight: Fingering Knitting Gauge: 7 – 8 sts = 1″ on #1 – 3 needles (2.25mm-3.25mm) Crochet Gauge: 21 – 32 sc = 4” on B – E hooks (2.25mm-3.5mm) Yards: 396 Grams: 100 Put Up: ball Care: Machine Wash/Dry Flat Worsted weight details: Buy …

*New* Scheepjes  Accessories!

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Hi, y’all! I recently opened some super happy mail and felt I just had to share! Scheepjes Yarns has unveiled a new line of crafty accessories, and I had the wonderful opportunity to un-box a gifty package of them.  As I started tearing through the festive holiday wrapping paper (thank you, Scheepjes!!), I stopped myself and decided to make my very first ever video. This is huge! I’ve gotten numerous requests along the way to make videos, and always felt out of touch with technology and completely not savvy.. But I gave it my best shot and it can only get better from here (lol) ❤️ I’ve had my Patreon.com account set up and ready for launch for about two months now, just waiting for the right time to hit that Launch button. Well, what’s a better way to open my Patreon site than with my first video?  Head over and check out the reveal of all the Scheepjes goodies complete with links on how to use some of the accessories that you see in …

Mixing Yarns for a New Project! 

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Hi, y’all! I’m planning a new project and I pulled a few different Scheepjes* yarns to  mix it up. These may have slightly different weights, but if you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know that I’m definitely not afraid to cross yarn types, even if they’re just “close enough.” I’ll mix in a heartbeat!  Yarns: Colour Crafter* – 4 balls – My yarn review Stone Washed* – 10 balls (2 duplicate colors not pictured) Softfun Aquarel* – 6 balls Ran these gorgeous yarns through the Prisma app for some fun!  And here’s my plan for this project. My upcoming free pattern: Moon Landing Blanket! Stay tuned! Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using the links marked with an asterisk*. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, and it helps keep CypressTextiles going!

BQueen Collection – Custom Dye Box

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You may remember my post back in mid-June when I photographed my first experience dyeing yarn with a BQueen Dye Box. If you haven’t seen that post, please hop over! It talks about the process and you’ll see the gorgeous yellow Safflower-dyed yarn. ❤️❤️ (The pattern for this square is “Crystal” from the Vibrant Vintage CAL!)  When I dyed my first hank, I instantly wanted 6 more colors on 6 more hanks to make – of course – a blanket! Wouldn’t that be too lush?? After a chit chat with super-cool BQueen founder, Makenzie, she informed me that she had some gears turning already for a custom type Dye Box.  I waited patiently and finally she told me it was ready! 6 hanks of Superwash Merino bulky and 6 gorgeous natural dye vials.  I put my yarn soaking and started mixing up the dyes in the cups Makenzie provides with each Box.  Here are the remaining 5 dyes and their name tags.. I couldn’t stop the vials from rolling around to get a shot of …

KnitPicks Palette Yarn

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Where to buy: KnitPicks Palette* When you have a winner, you have a winner. I’ve been collecting Palette for a couple years now, ordering when a certain color combo grabs my fancy, and adding the 50g candies to my special Palette Tupperware bin. I just love this yarn. It comes in 150 colors! And it’s a dainty fingering weight with a recommended hook size of teensy, but I use an F hook and sometimes even a G! The yarn has a fuzziness since it’s wool, so you can get away with going up in hook size and not worry about losing stitch structure. Peep some of my Palette lounging in a candid action shot. Honestly you can’t go wrong with your color combo here. And certain shades are delightfully heathered, which I truly love for the added depth it gives the finished piece. Here is some of my Palette stash on the second row down, hanging out with a group of coral and sea junkies. And another pretty group of sweets – my kiddoes at …

Sweet Treat is sweet as candy! 

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Introducing a new yarn by Scheepjes*! I’m welcoming Sweet Treat* laceweight thread to my Scheepjes stash ❤️❤️ There are 87 shades of this 25gr teensy yarn – each little ball is about 2.25″ tall, and recommended hook size is 1.25mm. It’s truly the cutest thing! Check out this color range – wowzers! Colors match back to Catona* too – so neat.  And you just know I had to organize all the yarn in some kind of rainbow… Goodness this was fun, and challenging. There are just so many colors! So what’s the yarn like? Well it’s a mercerized cotton, so you can think “small hook”, but I actually chose to hold it double on my prototype project and use a size G hook. That worked really well! Especially if you’re like me and you get scared by a 1.25mm hook 😝😝 Info drill-down: 100% mercerised cotton, high twist, Lace weight (2ply) yarn 25g = 140m Available in 87 colours Perfect for smaller projects, or larger projects where you’d like to use a lot of colours. Ideal for …

Scheepjes Colour Crafter: A yarn stash staple.

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I wanted to introduce y’all to a durable DK yarn that I just started using. Chances are if Scheepjes Colour Crafter isn’t already your go-to DK powerhouse, you have one that popped in your mind. I used to use a different one too, (probably the one you thought of!!) but the moment I laid hand on Colour Crafter, I never looked back. Check out this rich palette – can you tell I’m amped for Fall? I’ll be using these colors for an awesome pattern coming soon! Y’all will love it! This is only part of the selection that I have right now, and I suspect I’ll have all 93 (!) colors soon.. Here’s another palette that I’m using to update my Desert Bloom Blanket pattern. I love this yarn so much that I’m starting fresh with a whole new – larger – Desert Bloom in Colour Crafter. So what’s the yarn like? Scheepjes CC is ultra squishy and plush. Acrylic and easy care. One of the reasons I like it is that there isn’t much of …

Hurrah for Velvet!!

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Scheepjes || Velvet Yarn has arrived! And there’s one in every color – heart eyes! See all of my Projects and Patterns using this yarn! Ignore the pizza boxes and busy kids buried in Summer workbooks – when this yarn came I had to clear a spot and photograph! The label says Colour Crafter, which got me thinking… Wouldn’t it be lovely to mix and match shades of Colour Crafter and Velvet in the same project?!? I happened to have these coordinating shades of CC in my stash, but you could mix it way up and use any colors.. My head is already brainstorming!! And since these colors with the acid bleached retro look (totally bringing me back to the 90s) remind me of the fabulous WestKnits, I just have to use every one of these babies in the same project – not a solid in sight. Introducing my next free pattern (nameless!!): a biiiig sunburst-flower-type hexagon – 11 inch across, 10 inch tall! Colors on the left for flowers, colors on the right for joining. …

Papatya Batik

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This gorgeous quality yarn is available at Hobfy.com Papatya Batik page I used Papatya Batik and absolutely loved it! It’s so incredibly squishy and soft – I felt in love instantly. And if you think there’s nothing you can do with long color-change yarn like Papatya Batik, you may just need to do some web surfing for inspiration! Check out all the Ravelry projects to get you started! I’m making a top secret project with it 🙂 You’ll find out soon enough! ❤️❤️❤️ I recommend this yarn. Free shipping worldwide, and very good value/pricing. So pretty too! Look at the beautiful collection of colors I got! It only made sense to make a rainbow heart pic 🙂

Shiny Happy Cotton and Billie Jean Yarns

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Made by Wool and the Gang, Shiny Happy Cotton is a fabulous yarn! It is a worsted-aran weight, somewhere in between I’d say. It calls for a smaller hook, but it hurt my wrist to work at that tension with cotton. While I’d normally use a J for worsted or aran, I chose to try out an I size because cotton has a tendency to “bloom” and grow slack with use.  I read some reviews online that said SHC is splitty.. So I’ll say that if you hack away at it with the hook, you can split it, but if you keep even tension and control your movement, you’ll be just fine. The matte color look (despite the name!) is what drew me to this yarn, since most cottons have a heavy sheen. The smoothness,  matte finish, saturated color, and beautiful stitch definition are worth the occasional split of the yarn. And the color range is lovely! While there are currently a limited amount of shades, they are very trendy and off-beat colors like mustard …

BQueen Dye Box

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Today I dyed yarn for the first time! I couldn’t have fathomed beginning a new hobby like yarn dyeing, but I certainly wanted to at least try it without committing to an expensive slew of new gear. Enter BQueen Collection!  At bqueencollection.com you can buy this beautiful kit which includes a hank of yarn and a precious little corked vial of natural dye material. Here’s a good look at all the items in the Dye Kit. Those are gloves in the paper cup. Safety is important! You have to use a pot that you’ll dedicate solely to your dyeing adventures, and I had just the one. My Emeril Lagasse pot set is absolutely gorgeous, but alas, the quartage is just not enough for my hungry family of six. So this wee one will be my dye pot! Before its new job, it was an adornment anyway – on the pot hanger that my husband made for me 🙂 (Idea from andthismarinewife.com) When I used the dye kit, I followed the detailed instructions to the T since …