a fresh take

while at TNNA back in june, my friend kirsten kapur slipped me a slim little book that she had just published—her new shawl book one. we asked her to tell you a little something about her new collection

Kirsten Kapur Shawl Book One is a collection of my most popular designs, as well as a few of my personal favorites. The shawls are all beautifully photographed by Gale Zucker, on location in costal Connecticut. I am very excited to see the patterns knit up in Bare Naked Wools wonderful palette of neutrals. I wish I had the time to knit one or two for myself using these delightful yarns.

 (photos are included here with the permission of the author).

i love kirsten’s take on designing modern lace pieces—there’s a lot of old-fashioned lacy parts to get lost in, but she adds a fresh twist by combining them with stripey body work and bold color pairings (great for stash busting and trying out new yarns or yarn pairings).

she is absolutely queen of a big, bossy border—i bow to her choices in over-the-top victorian trimmings for otherwise simple shawl bodies.

i also admire her daring choices when she decides to go with a solid color.

but these designs do not depend on colorful yarn choices to carry the day. they are equally intriguing in subtle tones and single shades—dare i say that no-color colors even unlock some beautiful traits in them that are otherwise hidden?

our friend hattie recently knit this thalia sample in our new hempshaugh lace yarn, color millet. it’s absolutely delicious to wear with a summer or fall outfit, just what you want when the A/C is too much—nothing sticky or prickly about it, but much appreciated by chilly shoulders.

in the sun, the yarn amplifies the light as it passes through the lace work to a different extent than it would if it was dyed; the whole piece becomes infused with a pretty glow and shows off the subtle aspects of its lacework in more depth.

in fact, we thought that the publication of kirsten’s collection would be a great way to promote the use of our two newest yarn lines, hempshaugh and ginny, now that we have them in all shades.

i can totally picture this laight street wrap knit in ginny DK and it would be a simple task to turn it into a lap throw as well—how super cuddly would that be??

with fall just around the corner now, we’re going to need some lightweight scarves and wraps. or maybe you are already trying to knock out some holiday knitting, but it still feels a little warm to be knitting with stickier fibers. the hemp and cotton blends are the perfect solution

consider a soft, cottony version of moulin rouge (above, in bright pink); just big enough to offer great coverage as a scarf or shawlette, but small enough not to be hot or wintery looking. knit in one of these subtle shades of ginny sport (left to right: texas, mississippi, and georgia) it will transition you nicely from hot summer temperatures into fall—there is an ample period of time to wear such a wonderfully versatile piece. and the yardage in these skeins is just right for this project.

 or consider the beautiful cover design, cladonia—it’s gorgeous!

if the stripes are exactly what you’re after, but you prefer to knit a shawl that will work with a variety of outfits, try a combination of two or three hempshaugh shades (left to right) kasha, buckwheat, and/or millet.

with two or three skeins, you can knit several shawls from the book in fact; using the leftovers from cladonia to make this ulmus shawl, for instance. either of these would be a great choice for a swap project (such as our rhinebeck swap), since these yarns are unlikely to conflict with a fiber sensitivity.

with that in mind, we came up with the idea to offer a book/yarn kit that includes your choice of ginny DK or sport and hempshaugh fingering or lace yarns; the printed book is included at a discount of $3 to knit as many shawls as you like. you can purchase the kit with one or two skeins of a single shade and then expand the possibilities by adding skeins in different shades—or even different fiber types—to your order (check out this nefertem shawl in better breakfast fingering, for example).

and to celebrate labor day, we are giving away one single size kit in ginny sport (any shade) to one lucky recipient. leave a comment at the end of this post by 9 pm EDT tonight; david will pick a winner and we’ll  announce it right away.

ETA: and the winner is . . . cynthia!

happy end of summer and HAPPY fall!