Shenandoah Fiber Festival

Shalimar Yarns be at the Shenandoah Fiber Festival this Saturday and Sunday in beautiful Berryville, VA. We are so excited to be there and will have a new larger space which means we will have LOTS more yarn for you to choose from. We will be located in booths 7 & 8 of the Dairy Barn.

New for this year we will have a lovely selection of Knit Ready Kit’s. We know it can be hard to choose yarn and patterns while being overwhelmed with the cuteness of sheep, yarn and fibery goodness at a festival (and let’s not forget about the fried twinkies…). We have taken the work out of it by pairing up some of your favorite yarns with easy to knit patterns.

We will have:

The Outer Limit’s which is a brand new pattern being released this week. The kit includes the pattern and two 50 gram skeins of Breathless which is enough to make one hat.

Monkey Jacobus who is an absolutely adorable and fun seamless knit. Knit him up after the festival and you will be ahead on your holiday gift list. The kit includes our new Enzo Sport and eyes, just add stuffing!

Oktoberfest in Breathless DK. This is a super easy to knit cowl that uses just one skein of Breathless DK.

Jo March Mitt’s in Honey Worsted.

Loxly Gauntlet’s by Linda Wei.

Foolproof by Louise Zass-Bangham

We will also be bringing Enzo Worsted, Enzo Sport, Breathless, Breathless DK, Breathless Lace, Paulie and a special selection of “Lost Souls” in Zoe which will be in our sale basket.

Excellent Mystery Sale!

Sizzling Hot! Cool as a Cucumber Down to Earth Gracious Grays Best of the Brights Quick Links   Facebook    Ravelry Group   Website

It's our Excellent Mystery Sale! Wednesday, June 12, 12 noon EST in our Etsy Shop      Occasionally we have a serendipitous moment with the dye pots...a random act of color, a surprisingly fun experiment, or that rare moment when we slip and almost fall in (oops!)...those are the times that can result in a one-of-a-kind, keeper colorway.     We've bundled 3 skeins together in 5 different  Excellent Mystery Kits.  Each bundle contains the same base in complementary colors: Sizzling Hot! - fiery colors, reds, oranges Cool as a Cucumber - greens, lighter blues, pale yellows Down to Earth - earth tones Gracious Grays - grays, blacks Best of the Brights - any complementary bright colors Choose from these bases:  Breathless - $60 reg. $90 Zoe Sock - $45 reg. $66 Homage - $54 reg. $78 We've value priced these so grab them while you can! Supplies are limited    *Excellent Mystery will ship by June 29th   Shipping - $1 domestic and $10 Intl. for 1st skein and $.50 for ea. additional skein  Our Etsy Shop Thanks for supporting small, independent fiber-arts businesses!  Kristi Shalimar Yarns

Zoe

Kristi has been working with our mill on improving one of our most popular yarns, Zoe Sock. It's been one of my all time favorites.  In fact Zoe was the first Shalimar yarn that I purchased when I met Kristi and Paul at Maryland Sheep and Wool several years ago.  It's been my go to yarn for socks and shawls.  When Kristi told me that Zoe was going to be improved,  I was wondering how it would be possible!  Kristi sent me the new Zoe in Driftwood to try out.  It's so soft and lofty, almost like knitting with a cloud.  I cast on immediately for Miriam.  I'm one of those knitters who gets startitits from time to time and Im easily distracted.  I have to tell you, I loved knitting with Zoe so much that I couldn't put my Miriam down!    It was finished in no time and Ive already been wearing it.

 

 

We know you are going to love the new Zoe too and we want you to have a chance to try it out.  Visit our Facebook page for a chance to win a skein in Petal.  With 450 yards of our 100% Superwash Merino you could make a shawl, scarf, hat or mittens. 

 





We will be having a knit a long for Arctium starting at the end of November.  Be sure to keep an eye on our Ravelry group for details and to sign up for our newsletter at the top right hand corner of the blog.  There will be a coupon code from Marnie that will in the newsletter!  Shown here in Breathless, Arctium would also work up nicely in Zoe or Homage.

 

 



Come Join our Sock KAL!

We have an extended Sock Knit A Long running from December 7 thru January 25 on Ravelry.  The Holidays can be a busy time for all of us with gift knitting, baking, visiting family and friends and sometimes just having to wait in line.  We thought the perfect take a long knitting project would be socks and we have two great patterns to choose from. 

Capitola by IrishGirlieKnits is our paid pattern and Carrie has generously given us a coupon code for 20% off good until December 11.  She has a great blog by the way.  If you have a chance be sure to check it out!

Since we haven't really done any manly items for our KAL's we chose Manly Socks by Hannah Six for our free pattern.  Hannah has designed several patterns using Shalimar Yarns and we love her designs!

No Surprise What We're Talking About...

Paul and Enzo were out early after the BIG snow on the 7th. I measured in several places and we got 32" of snow. This is the largest snowfall in Maryland's history.

The drifts were substantially higher, some in the horse run-in were up to our heads. The dogs were initally fascinated with it, but the sheep, goats and miniature donkey are beginning to be a bit depressed after almost a week cooped up in the barn.



Of course there is nothing as pristine as new fallen snow. And the quiet was wonderful.



My best girl, Zoe. It was hard just to clear a spot so they could go outside! But Paul shoveled all day and we were at least able to get around the buildings. This was after SECOND decent snow, where we got at least another two feet.



So, it was a productive week at least. I got tons of dyeing done in the studio, started Knitspot's Trevi Shawl, and did some cooking. Hope you are staying safe and warm where ever you are!

The Nickel and Diming of Me

A wee bit of venting here...you see my daughter is a senior in high school. Need I say more?

This must be the year where the cost of owning a child increases exponentially. Now I see how it gets to $150K (USDA figures cited here folks, even though I say it is waaay low). Weekly she brings home yet another form with a fee requirement and ugh, dare I say it...a deadline. This must be the parents version of 'college prep'. Prepping you to open your wallet on a regular basis.

So that is my wee vent. Most of it is fun stuff; class pictures and invitations, Homecoming, etc. And naturally, she's worth it.

So now that fall is here (I swear this time, it really is) and the weather has dropped into the upper 30's at night (burr) we are well on our way to welcoming Halloween in a few weeks. So, it makes it a good time to introduce another of our new fall colorways: Kumquat. One of our Signature Stonewash colorways, Kumquat is a rich, vibrant orange with overtones of yellow.




And just a peek at my best girl, Zoe. How cute is she?




And my other best girl...



And my girl that I miss so much...