Tag: yarn

Yarny-peeps! I have something fun to giveaway just for you! I’m excited to help announce Yarn Crush, delicious yarn delivered monthly! You can choose between a monthly or bi-monthly subscription, and each box comes with at least one or two full-size skeins of yarn, a KNITTING pattern for a small-to-medium-sized project designed specifically for that month’s yarn, and all the notions – like beads or buttons – needed to complete that project. Currently, the Yarn Crush box will only include a knitting pattern, but Yarn Crush will also be posting fun crochet patterns on their blog each month that would work with that month’s featured yarn.  If you have interest in finding a printed crochet pattern in your Yarn Crush box in the future, just give them a holler! EDIT: Crochet patterns will be added to the October boxes! The retail value of each box will usually be over $50.00 and is always guaranteed to be higher than the subscription price, which is $32.99 plus shipping. Yarn Crush will be sourcing beautiful high-quality yarns that they think you’ll fall in love with, from indie dyers, small businesses, and more well-known yarn brands, offering them to you at up to 30% retail, delivered right to your door! Yarn Crush is brand-spanking new, and the inaugural boxes are shipping in mid-August! The images above are to give you an idea of the type and quality of yarn and patterns you’ll be receiving. The actual yarn is still a surprise. The woman behind Yarn Crush is a knitting designer and graphic designer, so you know that each box will be curated with yarny-love and a keen eye! Enter our giveaway to win yourself a free Yarn Crush box and be one of the first to try out this subscription service.  I can’t wait to see it, too! If you decide to subscribe, your first box always ships free! EDIT! Since we reached over 1,000 entries, we will give drawing TWO WINNERS! YAY! Just use the Rafflecopter widget below for all of your chances to win! Giveaway is open worldwide, for ages 18 & over, and will run for a week until next Saturday night, August 1st, at 11:59pm PDT. Winner will be chosen randomly via Rafflecopter/Random.org, and winner must reply to my email within 24 hours, or I will randomly choose a new winner. No purchase necessary. Good luck! P.S. Please make sure my email address can get through your spam filters! I will only be contacting winners via email. twinkie@twinkiechan.com P.P.S. NO giveaway accounts! Thank you! A giveaway account is a social media account that you use solely for giveaways.   a Rafflecopter giveaway

Since I’m still working on a few projects that I can’t reveal yet … I thought I might make another Yarn Appreciation Post! A few days ago I put together some colors for one of my crochet elves to make cupcake slouchy berets for Renegade which is coming up soon (yes, I am freaking out! no, I haven’t been able to spend any time yet on new designs which I’m dying to write!). I am always on the lookout for the perfect pink when it comes to a nice, worsted weight acrylic. I recently stumbled upon Universal Yarn “Classic Worsted.” They have two shades of pink that I’m pretty crazy about, Bubble Gum 615 (picture above in Photo 1) and Pink Rose 7117 (pictured above in Photo 2) (the colors don’t look as good on their website, FYI). Classic Worsted is 80% acrylic and 20% wool, and I don’t find it itchy at all. Universal also has a 100% acrylic line called Uptown Worsted, but I haven’t played with that one yet. It looks like they aren’t displaying all their colors yet, and I wanted to see it all before placing an order. The weight of the Classic Worsted is a bit lighter than Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice or Deborah Norville Everyday Worsted.  If you are familiar with Knit Picks Brava Worsted, I would say that they are pretty similar, except Knit Picks has a bit more of a sheen. Classic Worsted needs to step it up in the blue/aqua/teal department, but I am definitely totally into these pinks! Most big box worsted acrylic pinks are too gray and washed out for me, or, just baby pink. These are definitely in the Pepto Barbie zone, which is right up my alley! Each ball is $6 from the Universal site, which is obviously a bit spendier than big box yarn prices, but for someone like me who depends on color to evoke a certain look or feeling, I’m happy to pay the extra!

Soooo we haven’t had a Y.A.P. Time (Yarn Appreciation Post) in, like, forever. I only ever made ONE. I’ll try not to go so long again! This Y.A.P. is brought to you today by our friends at Lion Brand Yarn, who so very generously sent me a beautiful box of new goodies! I have definitely wanted some time to play with Keppi ever since it came out. The color range is delicious and fun, and all the balls come with a pompom!! It’s been pretty hot this week, so the idea of playing with bulky yarns is kind of icky, but there are some new yarns and colorways in this package that are pretty irresistible if you want to start planning for Fall. My eye goes straight to the black and white skein of Country, which I’m not really familiar with, but I love how big and squishy it is! I vote we campaign for some pastel and candy colors for Country! Unique is another line I’ve never played with before, but is nice and chunky and comes in a range of painterly tweeds. There are a lot of yarns made by our favorite brands that sometimes don’t make it to the big box stores, so if you are a  yarn-lover, you should definitely check out yarn company websites, because they have a TON of yarn, and you can often purchase the yarn online! Wool-Ease Thick n Quick is definitely a favorite among a lot of Etsy sellers, and it looks like LB will be releasing some new colorways, like the grey and blue one pictured above. The written label says “Blue Jay 514,” which is not available on the LB site, yet, so we should all look out for some pretty new colorways for Thick n Quick! Have you ever worked with Hometown USA? It’s a bulky yarn that comes in a surprisingly wide range of colors now. In fact, I was a bit surprised at the range just now when I took a peek to find the link. Is it chunky enough to crochet an ottoman with!?? Maybe I’ll find out! In my photo, Hometown USA is the one with the hot pink and grey. I’m not sure which one of these I’ll use first, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted on any projects!

I’ve been trying to think of a fun title for yarn-related posts. “Yarn Appreciation Post” came from @bunnycartoon on Twitter, and I liked it because of the acronym: YAP. YAP, yapping about yarn. YAP Time it is! So, I’ve been working on some new secret Yummy You! collab projects, and I’m always really picky about my colors and their exact shades and saturations. This is going to sound lame, but I am very aware of the … connotation of color … what feelings a certain shade evokes and what I think it SAYS to me. I wanted to share some of my thoughts on yarn color with you, even though it will be kinda messed up because (a) it can be hard to shoot/edit the colors exactly the way I see them, and (b) all our monitors will interpret them differently, stupid monitors! But at least you can get a taste for what goes on in my head and also check out some of the brands I use most. Links to where you can purchase yarn are at the bottom of the whole post. Please remember, this is NOT comprehensive. I also use other colors/brands, but these are what I grabbed first from my stash. I also try to stick with using yarns that are fairly inexpensive and accessible to all of us (I can’t have the materials cost alone of a scarf be $50+), and I personally prefer acrylics because (a) a good acrylic is soft, and I am very sensitive to animal fibers being itchy, even some merinos, (b) many plant fibers don’t have the right feel for my projects, like cotton often feeling stiff, or bamboo often feeling too floppy. I also like a huge color range in a worsted weight on the heavy side, so you can see how I can get really picky about things! Okay, on with the color!