Pattern: Almina by Lisa Hannes
Yarn: New TFA Luxe Yak/Silk DK in Caramel Chaud (coming on Boxing Day!)
Mods: I used 3 full skeins of DK for this shawl rather than the aran weight the pattern calls for. It’s very easy to modify for gauge as it’s basically 2/3 cable pattern to 1/3 ribbed edging so I knit the pattern with my first 2 skeins and then switched to the edging on my 3rd skein. I’m really happy with the size and cozy factor.
I reached a place in my life long ago where I categorically do not NEED another shawl and I feel weird about that. The lack of holes in my knitted wardrobe paired with the fact that I just can’t stop knitting is something that I grapple with. In my head I know that knitting is my job and it’s ok to knit all the things even though I really don’t need them to wear because I do need them as samples of my yarn and I do need to knit to be happy. :) Still, I always feel weird about having so many of my knits just sitting around and not being used. The truth is, I don’t need to keep all of these samples because I don’t do trunk shows or knitting shows and if I did one day I’d probably only bring my most recent examples of knitted items, the things that are the most fresh and relevant.
So, I guess what I’m saying is that I think that I should start selling some of my lesser worn knits. I’m going to go through all of my knits and make piles of what I wear a lot and can’t bare to part with vs. what I’ve barely worn and should probably move on to a better home. It’s a big job for the new year!
Back to this beautiful shawl. The yarn! It’s a new super luxurious DK weight base we’ll be debuting during our annual Boxing Day update and I am very excited about it. 60% superwash merino, 20% yak, 20% silk. The fact that the merino is superwash does bother me, but I’ve made pease with it for now. It’s luxe, it’s drapey, it’s incredibly soft, takes the dye beautifully in a gorgeous layered, rich way and I can now say with confidence, that it is really lovely to knit with. I’m gifting this yarn to my mom for Christmas. That’s how nice it is!
I think that my favourite thing about this yarn (other than the softness and squishiness) is the fact that the undyed yarn is a warm grey, not creamy white. It means that we don’t have any super pale shades (no white or light greys) but all of our colourways have this gorgeous layered look to them. There’s a beautiful depth and richness to the colours that give them a heathered quality that I just adore.
Above is a picture of two cute sweaters blocking which happen to be completely unrelated to this post but luckily there is a rainbow of Luxe Yak/Silk in the corner there to give you a glimpse at the depth of colour. It’s such a gorgeous rainbow.
We’ll be debuting this yarn on Boxing Day as part of our biggest update of the year which features free shipping on CAD/US orders over $30 site wide. It’s an exciting day. I hope to get at least one more sample started (likely not finished) before then because I’m dreaming of a sweater in this yarn. Specifically the new Campsider sweater by Alicia Plummer. I would have cast on by now but I’m really having a hard time picking a colour! Literally any colour would be gorgeous for a sweater. We’ve dyed them using different recipes and aiming for different results than our PureWash line of yarns - the nature of the base made me feel like it needed it’s own thing. But I think that means that I need to come up with new names for all of the colourways. My least favourite part of me job! Life is hard.
This year’s Boxing Day Update will not be quite as big as year’s past because frankly, we’re tired. We’re doing our best, we’ve been doing this for 15 years (WHAT!!!???) and we needed a slower fall and that means a slightly slower Boxing Day. We’re still aiming to have lots, it will be our biggest update of the year by far, but we’re just not willing to kill ourselves the entire months of December and January to make it bigger than ever. Seems reasonable right?
This yarn will be priced at $42 CAD for 100g = 230 yds and is plump enough to work in both your dk or light worsted weight projects.
Yak is warmer than wool and is arguably softer than cashmere (lets say it’s as soft as cashmere and avoid arguing). Since this yarn is definitely next to skin soft I think that my preferred projects for it would be shawls, hats and sweaters. It’s dreamy and delightful and I as soon as is just the motivation I need to power through my Christmas knitting so I can focus on more Luxe Yak/Silk knitting projects.