Our newest color, Love is Love, is a thank-you to all of the brave individuals in the knitting community and in our families and friend circles who have the courage to be who they are and love the person who makes them happy.
We believe that rights of LGBT individuals are human rights and that, when they are able to perform their best at school, work and home, without restriction, discrimination or threat, we all benefit. So in perpetuity, we’ll be donating 10% of the purchase price of this colorway to the Human Rights Campaign.
This colorway was tricky to create; the more colors in a gradient that are very different from each other, the more difficult it is to apply the dye without areas of muddy overlap. The red, yellow and orange bit isn’t too hard, but there’s just no way around it; green and purple make an unappealing brown.
There was no way around it, we thought, but then we came up with a different solution; applying the green as two separate colors, blue and yellow layered over each other. Voila! Now we could create a rainbow with all of the colors in the right order, all caked up and ready to go.
Have I got some big news to share with you! We’ve been working on this for weeks and weeks and finally get to tell you about our brand-new Gradient Stripes Sock Yarns!
Mulberry Street Gradient Stripe; photo by Elizabeth Morrison
Sock knitters have told us that they really enjoy our long-striping Matching Socks gradients, but they wished for something that would move along a little faster, so we listened. We’ve developed a unique dyeing process to bring you the enjoyment of long-striping gradients paired with short, fun-to-knit stripes. Sock knitters asked for a gradient sock with shorter stripes, and we’ve delivered!
Our office manager, Chris, identified a new approach to dyeing and with many different experiments, I figured out how to make it work. The main color of the sock will slowly change as you knit, from almost completely one color to almost completely another.
We’re really excited about this, and are pretty sure we’re the only ones offering a sock that both stripes every few rows and changes color over the life of the project. The yarn does it all for you; no having to change yarns or weave in ends or slipping stitches at the beginning of the round.
photo: Elizabeth Morrison
Of course, so many ideas started hopping around in my head like little chicks as soon as we got the technique in place, because the new medium allows me to present highly contrasting colors and play with just a few shades as well as subtle shifts between many colors as in our usual Matching Socks Sets.
Just like our original Matching Socks sets, all of the Gradient Stripe Sock Sets come as two separate 50-gram cakes, already wound and ready to use. Just like their counterparts, every single stitch and stripe will be mirrored exactly in both socks. We’re offering them in our two most popular fingering yarn bases, Opulence (Merino/nylon/cashmere, 420 yards in the set) and Greatest of Ease, (Merino/nylon, 400 yards in the set).
Now, to introduce the colors!
Andromeda Gradient Stripe; photo: Elizabeth Morrison
The Andromeda Gradient Stripe sock above translates the popular Andromeda colorway from the Corrina shawl into a gradient stripe. The smaller stripes slowly and subtly shift from sapphire blue to lake blue and end with a teal green. As we ramp up the Gradient Socks over the next few weeks, we’ll offer interpretations of all of our regular repeatable colorways.
Candy Cane Gradient Stripe; photo: Elizabeth Morrison
The Candy Cane stripe was one of the first ones I tried. Last year around holiday time, I really wanted to make a candy-striped sock, but didn’t succeed; now my peppermint-sock dreams came true!
It doesn’t have to be Christmas-related; the color works very well as a team color, too; of course, in Madison, Wisconsin, the UW colors are red and white. So this one also looks very much like Go, Buckyto me. As more colors roll out, we’ll showcase lots of different team colors so you can make socks to cheer on your favorite school or pro ball team.
The Great Pumpkin Gradient Stripe; photo: Elizabeth Morrison
The Great Pumpkin was lots of fun to dye, with such deep, contrasting colors. There’s just enough time to work these up before Halloween, and they make great team colors all year round (the Sow’s Ear’s town, Verona, sports orange and black).
Hummingbird Gradient Stripe; photo: Elizabeth Morrison
Hummingbird is a fun one, and perfectly autumn-toned. The stripes work their way from moss green to steel blue to a deep plum.
Mr. Tumnus Gradient Stripe; photo: Elizabeth Morrison
If you prefer subtlety or want to knit for a fashion-shy man, Mr. Tumnus will do the job perfectly; the stripes keep your knitting flying along, but the finished product looks nicely understated.
Just and Loyal Gradient Stripe; photo: Elizabeth Morrison
Our next color isn’t understated at all! Just and Loyal is the first in our line of Harry Potter Hogwarts-house-inspired socks. We can’t wait until the others are ready for you!
Just and Loyal also works great to put zip in your day if you simply like bumblebees or the fun of a high-contrast stripe.
Mulberry Street Gradient Stripe; photo: Elizabeth Morrison
Our headliner and a very pleasing colorway to knit: Mulberry Street. Mulberry Street features a pink-red changing to Cabernet and then a gorgeous, saturated blue. Inspired by one of my favorite books as a kid; we had a mulberry tree in our yard growing up, and I always thought that Dr. Suess must have known about that. Knitting these stripes will definitely remind you of the magical possibilities all around if you “keep your eyelids up, and see what you can see.”
Knitalong
We can’t wait to see what you knit with the Gradient Stripes, so we’re hosting a Gradient Stripes Knitalong in the Knitcircus Ravelry group. The KAL thread is open now, and you can start as soon as you receive Gradient Stripes to knit with! I’ll be dyeing them as fast as I can to get you started. 🙂 We’ll be talking about different toe-up and cuff-down patterns that work well with striping yarns. And, of course, there will be weekly prizes and surprises.
I’m so excited to finally get to share our new yarn line with you, and hope you’ll enjoy knitting with Gradient Stripes as much as I enjoy creating them!
We thought tomorrow would be the big day, but due to some technical issues, the Gifts Special Issue will debut on Thursday instead!
In the meantime, LYS Liaison Sarah has a roundup from the wonderfulDolcetto KAL.
The latest KnitCircus KAL of the wonderful Dolcetto designed by the talented and fabulous Dani Berg has come to a close. Thanks so much for all who joined in on Ravelry and showed Dani and this pattern some love. Congrats to all those who finished the shawl and now have wonderful a finished object to enjoy. The yarn choices were fantastic! As sad as it is to finish a KAL, the good news is there are some prizes to giveaway! Who doesn’t love prizes after all, right?
(Photo of Finished Dolcetto by Chellieanne on Ravelry)
We have lots of fun prizes:
And the Winners are….
Yoganan – Nan from Illinois, who wins a skein of Indigodragonfly lace yarn and a Stitch Marker set from Jeds Joy .
amchart from Nebraska, who wins a Row Counting Bracelet from Crimson Orchid and pair of Stitch Markers from Lima Pop Shoppe
Sewcarolinaknits – Carolina from Virginia, who wins Shawl Pin from Foofaraw, pattern from Aplaca with a Twist and some spinning fiber from Abstract Fiber
Pipnmilly – Fiona from Canada, who wins a Sasha pattern from Bijou Basin.
HelenJ – Helen from Wisconsin, who wins a pattern from Bijou Basin.
(Photo of Finished Dolcetto by Sewcarolinaknits on Ravelry)
Congrats to all the winners and Thank you all again so much for joining in. Just because the KAL portion is over doesn’t mean you need to stop working on your Dolcetto’s. Keep up your fantastic knitting and of course keep posting those finished object photos!
We thought tomorrow would be the big day, but due to some technical issues, the Gifts Special Issue will debut on Thursday instead!
In the meantime, LYS Liaison Sarah has a roundup from the wonderfulDolcetto KAL.
The latest KnitCircus KAL of the wonderful Dolcetto designed by the talented and fabulous Dani Berg has come to a close. Thanks so much for all who joined in on Ravelry and showed Dani and this pattern some love. Congrats to all those who finished the shawl and now have wonderful a finished object to enjoy. The yarn choices were fantastic! As sad as it is to finish a KAL, the good news is there are some prizes to giveaway! Who doesn’t love prizes after all, right?
(Photo of Finished Dolcetto by Chellieanne on Ravelry)
We have lots of fun prizes:
And the Winners are….
Yoganan – Nan from Illinois, who wins a skein of Indigodragonfly lace yarn and a Stitch Marker set from Jeds Joy .
amchart from Nebraska, who wins a Row Counting Bracelet from Crimson Orchid and pair of Stitch Markers from Lima Pop Shoppe
Sewcarolinaknits – Carolina from Virginia, who wins Shawl Pin from Foofaraw, pattern from Aplaca with a Twist and some spinning fiber from Abstract Fiber
Pipnmilly – Fiona from Canada, who wins a Sasha pattern from Bijou Basin.
HelenJ – Helen from Wisconsin, who wins a pattern from Bijou Basin.
(Photo of Finished Dolcetto by Sewcarolinaknits on Ravelry)
Congrats to all the winners and Thank you all again so much for joining in. Just because the KAL portion is over doesn’t mean you need to stop working on your Dolcetto’s. Keep up your fantastic knitting and of course keep posting those finished object photos!
knitcircus 