SPRING! Tide's In!

Acer rubrum ~ Red Maple

Having grown weary of the long monochromatic winter, my eyes hunger for color this time of year.  As the new season unfolds, I find myself on a quest to seek out the emerging color moments that harbinger spring.  Not the deep lush colors of summer, not the vibrant last hurrah colors of autumn, but those innocent soft colors of spring.  This year I am particularly enamored with the colors offered up by the buds of trees. Although upstaged by showy spring bulbs, trees offer subtle color en masse and inspiring hues up close. 

Lonicera canadensis ~ Fly Honeysuckle Bush

Salix ~ Willow

Populus tremuloides ~ Quaking Aspen

Inspired by all the new spring color, I am eager to get the dye pots going this week and prepare some TIDE colors to take to the island next week for *lambing season* knitting.

Very fortuitous since there is a new batch of Nash Island TIDE yarn ready and waiting for skeining and dyeing.

Starcroft ~ Nash Island TIDE Yarn

And also fortuitous that I just finished this Sea Urchin Treasure Bag by Mary Jane Mucklestone to take to the island with me next week to collect beach treasures during *lambing season*.

Sea Urchin Treasure Bag by Mary Jane Mucklestone in Starcroft Nash Island TIDE Yarn

And did I mention that next week begins *lambing season* on the island? My absolute favorite time of the year ~ SPRING! LAMBS! Tide's in and I'm headed out to the island....

Kanagawa KAL

                 Clockwise : Sea Star. Crustacean. Rockweed. Atlantic. 

Holiday gift knitting all done?  Settling in for a long winter's rest and wondering what to cast on next? How about joining Emily, Sonya, and Beverly (loveaslug , knitsonya , PoMoGolightly on Ravelry) for their KANAGAWA Mitten KAL?  Limited edition Nash Island TIDE POOLs are available at clementine and on our web store! Each colorway contains six mini skeins (60 yds each of 6 colors), the perfect amount to make a pair of KANAGAWA mittens by Through The Loops and have enough left over to make this great TRIG hat by Mary Lou Egan. 

The Kanagawa KAL will begin in January, after the holiday rush, as life quiets down and winter settles in.  You can order your KAL Tide Pool yarn HERE or HERE.  The Kanagawa mitten pattern is available HERE.  And the TRIG hat pattern is available HERE. And don't forget to post pics of your finished KAL projects on the Nash Island and Starcroft Fiber Fans Ravelry group page HERE.  

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Tide's In

     Contemplations for spinning up a new yarn have been simmering on the back burner for quite some time.

     A duel purpose sturdy sock / fine stranded color work yarn. (Made from Nash Island wool, of course.)

     A large backlog of wool, the realization that getting caught up was never going to happen, and my impatience to play with said yarn finally brought things to a boil. 

     And so, with a little help from our friends at Green Mountain Spinnery*....

    Introducing - Nash Island  TIDE yarn 

 A sturdy woolen spun** DK weight yarn made from 100% Nash Island ewes wool. 

     Currently simmering on the front burner in dye pots, TIDE  will be making it's debut next week, exclusively at Starcroft's POPup store at lf8elevate, East 7th Street, New York City. January 13 - 18. 

And I will be knitting some socks. 

* their machines are much larger and FASTER than mine

**  they produce a woolen spun yarn, we spin semi-worsted