Fresh Yarn is up in the etsy store - some bright colours to warm up this chilly Winter's day!

Frangipani - pinks, yellows and rosy orange

Jabiru - emeralds and plums - would look so fab as a pair of socks or hand-woven!

Am madly knitting and charting designs for Christmas Gift Yarn Club.  

I've also taken some time out from charting and knitting my own designs to knit a pattern with some of my hand-spun yarn - Tapan Zee Cardigan by Amy King.  My yarn is spun to laceweight but I reckon you'd get away with sock-weight yarn if you wanted to knit it up with Charlisa Yarns :o)  Here's my cardi so far... The rest of the yarn is a green colour that you can't see very well on the photo but is a pale green same as the colour above the yellow on the knitting...  

Happy Knitting!!  Sarah

Christmas Gift Yarn Club

Christmas Gift Yarn Club has gone on sale!  For 3 months (Sep, Oct and Nov) subscribers will receive a skein of Charlisa Yarns exclusive hand-painted yarn and a knitting pattern.  The knitting patterns will remain exclusive to yarn club for 6 months before being released.  Places are limited so jump onto the Etsy store now to secure your place.  Its a great way to sort your Christmas gift knitting - or to treat yourself...

Due to illness there was no yarn update last week, however, I will be in my workshop today dyeing up some yummy new colourways to brighten up the cold Winters day so look out for the store update on Tuesday next week.

Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show

My daughter & I escaped to Bendigo last weekend - we had a fibre-filled day at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show (the 134th year of it!) is where everything sheep and wool is on show... 

We had a great time watching the Sheep Dog trials and the sheep judging.  There was a petting farm for the kids and a few rides, but mainly for me there were shed-fulls of yarn, fibre suppliers and equipment.  We're already plotting our next trip next year!

Miss 6 turned her hand to weaving at a couple of stands and showed quite a flair for it!

 

We watched a bit of sheep judging... very interesting as they explained why which particular sheep won

We wandered round the fibre/yarn stalls buying some beautiful fibre

More weaving!!  Miss 6 is smitten!

Bit of sheep shearing - wouldn't be an Aussie sheep show without it!

Ahhh!

Spinning my way through the Tour De Fleece...

Ravelry have an event - the Tour De Fleece which runs at the same time as the Tour De France, where spinners set themselves individual goals to achieve during the Tour - we spin every day of the Tour and take the official rest days.  I've given myself a challenge of spinning a sweater's worth of yarn - whether  or not I will get there I am unsure but I already have 4 skeins of yarn (400g) and we're just over a third of the way through... so maybe my target wasn't as crazy as I originally thought!

Charlisa Yarns is Launched!!

Charlisa Yarns was launched in the last week on www.etsy.com/shop/charlisayarns and we also started advertising on the Australian boards on Ravelry.  The new logo is so cute.... my very talented sister-in-law (who happens to be a graphic designer) designed it...

Yarn offerings will be updated every fortnight on a Tuesday, or weekly if the yarn proves popular.  Both yarns are 4-ply which is a great weight for socks, gloves, shawls, baby clothing etc.  100% Australian Organic Merino is a luxurious yarn, gives great variation in colours and Blue Faced Leicester, which is a fantastic hard-wearing, yet soft yarn - takes dye colours fabulously.  I hand-paint my yarns, resulting in a unique colourway, that is unrepeatable - dyed in batches of 3 to keep exclusivity of colour.

Also look out for new knitting patterns being released soon as well as a Christmas Gift Yarn club - sign-ups coming in August with a yarn colour and pattern to make a Christmas gift (for you to give or keep!) in each month of September, October and November.

As yarns are dyed in small batches if you see a colour you like, do grab it whilst you can as the colors are all limited editions.

Scarfy Thing

Its been a while!... We relocated to Australia and all of my work tools and the computer were on a sea container for a few weeks, but finally they are here, and finally 'Scarfy Thing' pattern has been launched.

Its a lovely little scarf that's designed for versatile wearing - draped over the shoulders or around the neck. It has a mesh body with a lace pattern at the end with beading.  One of the test-knitters said it reminded her of snow-capped mountain peaks.  The pattern is aimed at people wanting to make a quick but beautiful project using 4-ply yarn or hand-spun yarn (needs 60g to make the scarf).  Its available from my Etsy Store or on Ravelry

Happy Knitting!

On the Move...

There haven't been any updates from me for a little while as we're organising a move... to Australia.  Yes Charlisa Designs is relocating to the rural edge of Melbourne. Very exciting!

I have been working on 3 new patterns which were due for release early this year, however, with everything else going on, these are taking longer than expected.  The first design is being tweaked at the moment, second is in test-knit phase and will be launched as an exclusive pattern as part of a club, and the third is in the pipeline and once started on won't take too long.  Hopefully they'll all be launched before we leave New Zealand.

Once we are settled I will find a good market or 2 to attend.