December's "Spoiler"

Hopefully everyone has pretty much received their yarns by now. Mail was sure slow with the Christmas holidays.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope it's filled with yarny goodness :)

December's "Teaser"

Off they go in the mail tomorrow! And that's all I'm going to say other than to show you a teaser photo of the yarns - colourway inspired by the holiday season!

I hope you all enjoy this one - you can use it for socks if you like because it does contain superwash merino :) It's a brand new yet-to-be-released yarn base which I thought would be nice for the sock clubbers to receive first before they end up in the store.

January will be our last shipment and last but not least will be the ultra-soft 100% Mongolian cashmere which I know you're all anxious to receive but I had to wait until January so I can include the surprise with the package - it will be ready in January :)

Almost Time for Shipment #2!

Wow! Is it really time for the second shipment already? It really is! Time flies so quickly these days. I hope everyone is doing well and all the best to everyone and their loved ones for a wonderful holiday season.

This month's yarn is a nice one too but you can knit socks with it! It's not as fragile as the cashmere/silk combo so it will be fine to put on your feet :) The colourway was inspired by the season that we're all in.

Packages will ship on Thursday, December 20th. I'm hoping for quick delivery but with all the parcels going out for Christmas, most of you will probably receive your package just after Christmas and hopefully before the New Year.

Have you seen the projects in our Ravelry group page yet? Click on over and take a look! Feel free to post your projects on this blog too :)

Happy Holidays & Happy New Year everyone!

November's "Cabernet" Spoiler

This is the next fun part of the month where I show a spoiler on the blog! If you haven't received your yarn yet, please don't click unless you want to see the yarns up close and personal. This yarn was just as heavenly to dye as it was to pet until I had to dye it. Ahhhhhhhh, cashmere....and the silk addition sure makes it glow too. I really tossed and turned on how to dye the yarn and what colour but something in the red wine colours seemed appropriate....wine and yarn seemed quite sumptuous! And I think I named the colourway "Cabarnet" but I really meant the wine "Cabernet"...LOL Oh well, it's surely a unique name :)

If you're on Ravelry, don't forget to click on over and join the group there too. I'm looking forward to everyone's posts as your projects unfold.

Off they go...

This is the fun part of the month where I show you a picture that doesn't really tell you much...it's just meant to tease a little and to tell you the yarns are in the mail...LOL The colourway name is Cabernet if that helps you to guess what the real colour is of the yarns! I'll be impressed with anyone who knits socks with these yarns - I think I'd just set this on my desk and pet it forever - it's that soft!

If you haven't worked with these yarns before (I won't say what it is but it'll be obvious when you get your packages LOL) don't be surprised by the size of the skein - that's the wonderous properties of this fiber - it's oh-so-light and lightness means a smaller skein. Have I given it away yet? LOL

I hope you all enjoy this month's yarn and I can't wait to see what everyone does with the yarns.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the USA and for everyone else, have a great weekend...see you when you get your yarns :)

It's a good day...

For dyeing yarn for everyone!! It's sunny outside and the weather isn't too bad and I'm in the dye pot as we speak. I am pleased with the colour coming out and the yarn is shiny! Yes, it's a silk blend for the first round!

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Here we go...

Woohoo, registrations are now closed for this 3-month round and I'm off to order the first batch of yarn...only 12 days until the first shipment comes out! Can you believe it? Time surely flies! Stay tuned...

UPDATE: I talked to my yarn supplier and she doesn't have enough of the cashmere in stock for the first shipment, however, I have another fabulous yarn coming that'll be oh-so-nice and the 100% cashmere will be for the second month! We will get our Mongolian cashmere but not until December...can everyone hang on until then?? It'll be our Christmas yarn...ahhhhhhhh... :)

Patience

I love the colors from the Semi Solid sock yarns so I can be patient and wait. And these yarns are mine. The socks will be for me. I have the right to be like that when it involves cashmere. And I can always use bed socks since I can wake myself up with my own cold feet.

Excited for November?

Hi everyone! Getting anxious for November to roll around? It will come quickly and I can't wait. I have had the chance to play around a bit with the Mongolian cashmere and well, yum...LOL It is light and soft and well, let's say, if there were a yarn heaven, it'd be up there... :)

One comment about the cashmere...I'm sure everyone knows this already but I thought I'd reiterate it here anyways. Since the cashmere is up there on the soft meter, I'd recommend bed socks or lounge-around socks if you do decide to do socks. Cashmere is a short staple fibre and won't withstand hard wear. It also is fragile because of the short staple so when you're winding it into cakes for knitting please be ultra careful - it can easily break if tugged too hard. Ahhhhhhhh, the things we do for softness! Cashmere's exquisitely soft luxury feel also makes it warm and light to wear. Cashmere has the highest warmth-weight ratio of any fibre. Amazing!

If my supplier has enough Mongolian cashmere in stock, this will be our first yarn - I can't think of a better way to start a luxury yarn club! :)

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Welcome!

I wanted to say a quick welcome to the new members! I really appreciate your being here and I'm excited to get to dyeing some cashmere and silk blend yarns! I hope you're just as excited to knit with them too. I can't wait to see what people create!

I've had a question or two about colourways so thought I'd elaborate a bit here. What I had in mind was doing a couple of dye techniques so as to minimize pooling and flashing of the colours. That will mean yarns with colour but done a little differently. It's hard to explain as it's in my head (LOL) but I'm excited to try it out and I hope you will enjoy it too. The yarns will vary from variegated to blended in colour.

What about colours? I'm very much an inspiration dyer so when it comes to colours, I can't say specifically what they will be but I can tell you they will reflect the season we are in now so think warm tones - it's cold out there and we need some warm colours! Of course if you're not in North America or in the southern USA, "cold" doesn't apply to you but please think warm tone colours.

Will there be anything else in the packages? Right now I'm focusing on the yarn to help keep costs down (and it's cashmere/silk - yum!), however, depending on how many join, there may be a surprise or two. I've been known to do that!

Club Introduction

In the mood for knitting with luxurious and exotic yarns? Want to wrap your feet in pure luxury? This is the sock club for you!

We will be offering 100% Mongolian cashmere as well as silk blend yarns for this club. All club yarns will be enough yardage for a pair of socks but if you don't prefer socks, don't let that stop you - how about a pretty lacy scarf or shawl? The possiblities are endless!

Colourways will be blended (like the merino/silk yarns pictured) so as to minimize pooling and flashing and will be reminiscent of the seasons.

Won't you join us? Spots are limited for this club and the deadline for joining is November 7, 2007.

We are happy to ship to Canada and USA with this membership and should you be in another country and want to join, please email us at zenyarngarden AT yahoo DOT com and we'll be happy to make the arrangements for you!

YARN SHIPMENT DATES:
November 20, 2007
December 20, 2007
January 20, 2008

Memberships are for sale at:
http://zenyarngarden.com/zencart/
http://knitnpurlzen.etsy.com.