Quick Shawls

We are all about Shawls here at Anacapa Fine Yarns! If you've been in our shop lately, you've probably seen the many samples we have hanging around, and that's because we love to knit shawls! They are so satisfying, fun, and useful! I never thought of myself as a shawl person, but I've really embraced the shawl. They warm you up, and dress up your outfit so easily!

A lot of patterns out there use lace and fingering weight yarns, which are great, but what if you want something a little thicker or faster to knit? Today I want to share with you some of my favorite shawl patterns using thicker yarns. Plus, they are all Free patterns! Let's jump in!

Summer Flies:

I've seen a lot of finished Summer Flies shawls, it's a very popular pattern! This pattern uses a DK or worsted weight yarn and size 8 needles. Quick and pretty!

Quaking Aspen Shawl:

This is a free pattern from the Fibre Company written for their really nice DK weight yarn Acadia, a wool/silk/alpaca blend! Our fearless leader Lois knit a sample of this shawl and it's here on display if you want to come see it in person.


Little Shells:

This is another free one from the same designer of Summer Flies, this one is triangular with a little lace on the edge, so pretty! It was written for a DK weight silk, but would look lovely in any fiber, or even in a worsted weight yarn!


Murcia:

I really like this one, it would probably work up really quick! It's knit in Malabrigo Merino Worsted on size 9 needles.

If you want to see more shawl patterns like these, click here and you can see a ton of them on Ravelry.

Tiny Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner, and I am very excited! We love Halloween at our house, and I wanted to share with you a few cute patterns by the fabulous Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochi Land. I'm pretty sure I'll be making a few of these to decorate around my house before the 31st!

Tiny Pumpkins:

These adorable tiny baby punkins are part of Anna's Tiny Fall Patterns set, available for purchase from her website for $6.00. The set also includes patterns for a football, a squirell, and this cute little bat:

Tiny Bat:

I think it would be so cute to make a little garland of these bats, all different colors!

Tiny Ghost:

Tiny Ghost is in one of Anna's great books; Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi. If you haven't checked out this book, you should! It's so adorable, I've knit a few of the patterns from it. I'm definitely knitting this tiny ghost!

Tiny Candy Corn:

This last pattern is Free! Now, I personally despise Candy Corn, but these guys are so cute, I might whip up a few of them :)

All of these patterns would be really quick to knit up, because they're so tiny! Make a few from some scraps before the 31st to add to your Halloween decor, or throw them in a few Trick-or-Treater's bags!

Bobbi Bear Caption Contest Favorites

We posted this photo on Facebook last week and asked you all to come up with a caption for it, and our favorite would win an autographed copy of The Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet by Hunter Hammersen. Here's our winning caption:
Arleen Ayers: "Malabrigo to the left of me, Lorna's to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you"

I also want to share some of our favorite runner-up captions, too! Here's our other faves:

Carrie Avery Malpica: "I'm rolling in my stash like I know you want to!"

Cheryl Ruiz: "I knew I should have made a left turn at Albuquerque!"

Tim Von Rader: "If I had legs I would walk out of this yarn store and never look back."

Stacy Glassburn: "And this, little bears, is where baby bears come from."

Dale Anne Eucker: "OK, the coast is clear - Lois just left so it's time to partay!"

Thanks to everyone who played along, and stay tuned on Facebook for more contests from us (and if you don't already follow us on Facebook, you should!)

Madelinetosh!

We just got in a big shipment of Madelinetosh yarns in, one of our favorites!! We got Tosh Sock, Tosh Merino Light, and Tosh DK, all lovely!! Here's a little sampling of what we got:

We have a LOT of Merino Light! Want to join in on the Neon trend?

Left to Right - Poprocks, Edison Bulb, Oceana

Maybe a nice blue?

L to R - Demin, Windowpane, Stargazing

A good green?

L to R - Jade, Nassau, Grey Garden

Purple, perhaps?

L to R - Nightbloom, Magenta, Flashdance

These are calling my name, Pink!

L to R - Torchere, Poprocks, Neon Pink

Or maybe you are more of a subdued Grey kind of person:

L to R - Composition Book Grey, Graphite, Cloak

We also have a lot of Tosh Sock, in some really great variegated colorways! Want some bright socks?

 

L to R - Victory Garden, Birthday Cake, Swimming Pool, Vintage Apron, Twain, Clementine

Or maybe you want some calmer socks?

L to R - Clove, Turtle, Stephen Loves Tosh, Home, Foxglove, Wilted Rose

We also got a ton of Tosh DK in some great solids and semi-solids from all over the spectrum:

We hope to see you soon, come see all the pretty colors before we get cleaned out again! :)

-Kaity