Show and Tell: Eden Prairie Shawl

Nancy of WhitKnits.com designed and knit a gorgeous shawl/wrap out of 4 skeins of Madelinetosh’s tosh merino light.

It’s called Eden Prairie and it’s based on a stained-glass design.

Want to buy something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Thanks for sharing, Nancy!

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

Show and Tell: Cinnamon Toast

Laura (LauraAylor on Ravelry) designed Cinnamon Toast, a large crescent-shaped shawl or shawlette/scarf worked from the top down with lots of texture, and knit it up in Madelinetosh Pashmina.

She wrote: "Pashmina is one of my favorites and I’ve knit with it many times. It’s a good weight for the climate where I live and of course, the tosh colors are to die for!"

Thanks, Laura! It looks really warm and cozy.

The photos are from Laura's Ravelry page, and are used with her permission.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

Want to buy something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Show and Tell: Yarden

Nancy Whitman (whitknitsdotcom on Ravelry) of Whitknits.com made her own pattern that uses 2 contrasting skeins of Madelinetosh Pashmina, Yarden.

This is what she had to say about it.

What I liked most about the project was that it’s a fairly simple design and yet the result looks more interesting than the effort required. Yarn, pattern, color choices and everything came together on the first try. A big plus for a designer.

Why I liked the yarn:

This was my first time working with Pashmina and it was love at first touch. Pashmina was very an easy yarn to knit, gentle on my hands and gave quick results making the project fun and rewarding. Also, the way Pashmina takes dye is just lovely.

I would encourage my friends to knit Yarden in Pashmina for many of the reasons I already said. It’s a great choice for a fast project and the yarn is a treat to use. We should treat ourselves to working with such a luxurious yarn from time to time. By playing with different colors of Pashmina, and there are plenty to chose from, you can end up with a subtle, sophisticated and feminine shawl or an eye popping colorful one.

It's lovely, Nancy!

(The photo is from Nancy's Ravelry site, with her permission.)

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

Want to buy a yarn you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Show and Tell: Zuzu Has A Hat

Ina (Hyina on Rav) made this Zuzu Has a Hat - Test Knit out of 1 skein of madelinetosh pashmina. (In fact, she had plenty leftover!)

Ina said,

“As for the yarn…divine. It is absolutely wonderful to knit, as wonderful to wear and the colour options are incredible. I have quite a bit of it in my stash just waiting to be knit into sweaters and shawls.

This project is a hat designed by Carina Spencer called Second Chance. It is designed to match last year’s success, Zuzu’s Petals (a cowl). I knit Zuzu’s Petals using the Pashmina. In fact, 1 skein of Pashmina is sufficient for the hat and cowl.

My favourite part of knitting this project was the yarn. It is so soft it feels like a hot knife in butter. To squish the skein is one thing, but to knit with it is a whole new experience. I could have finished this hat a lot quicker if I hadn’t stopped to admire and pet my project so often.

The pattern is fairly simple but stitch markers are your friend. Also, I recommend the cowl pattern to use up the whole skein. They hat and cowl make great Christmas gifts!”

Thanks, Ina! Lovely knitting.

(The photo is from Ina's Ravelry site, with her permission.)

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

Want to buy something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Show and Tell: Amarillo Shawl

Julie Bierlein (juliebie on Ravelry) made a gorgeous Amarillo Shawl out of 1 skein of madelinetosh pashmina. You can see a bunch more of her projects here.

Here’s what she had to say.

Q. What was your favorite part of knitting this project?

A. My favorite parts of knitting this project were the yarn and the garter stitch edging. The yarn was fantastically smooth and soft and the combination of the yarn and garter stitch turned out super squishy and touchable. It was also a very fast project, and the rhythm of lace sections to stockinette sections provided a nice way to easily track my progress. I have knit with other merino/cashmere blend yarns and there was something so different about Pashmina that I really liked. I think it’s the silk content that sets it apart for me. It adds some strength to the cashmere and complements the softness of both other fibers.

Q. What advice would you offer a friend who was thinking of knitting it, too?

A. Pick a yarn that you love. Something you can’t stop touching or squeezing in the skein. I like to wear my shawls wrapped around my neck more like scarves so for me it was important to have a yarn that was next-to-the-skin soft. Also, try knitting one section per sitting – a lace section one night, a stockinette section the next, etc. It’s a very simple lace pattern good for beginner lace knitters so it’s nice to break it up in chunks in my opinion.

Thanks, Julie! Gorgeous knitting.

(Photos are used from Julie's Ravelry site, with her permission.)

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

Want to buy something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

New Arrivals!

We just received our Madelinetosh Pashmina order!

This is Jessie, reporting on the new yarn shipments!  I opened a box of Madelinetosh Pashmina today.  As you may know, Pashmina is 75% superwash wool, 15% silk, and 10% cashmere.  It is a sport weight that is beyond delicious!  A few of the colors we received are duchess, iris, envy, Heuchera, lowland, and volga. 

We also received the Creature Comforts Cardigan pattern. 
This is the cardigan that Joanna made for me when I was pregnant.

 This is a great pattern that really shows the beauty of Madelinetosh hand-dyed yarn.  Here is the baby Cameron version that Joanna made.

The pattern can be customized by changing the panel of leaves.  Dora from StevenBe found a beautiful cable pattern that she used instead of the leaf motif. 
You can see that Joanna used a "X" and "O" motif in Cameron's sweater.  I wear my cardigan all the time.  To the point that Steven told me I had to wear something else because he was sick of seeing it everyday.

Three Irish Girls arrived with new colors! 
We received replenishment of the Peacock colorway!

 This all just came in today so I think I need to find a new display because the shelves are already stuffed full!  Tove is working on the new display right now!  Come on in to see it!

Malabrigo Sock came in FINALLY!

Calling all Malabrigo lovers!  We have the sock weight and it is going fast!

Stop in to either shop to see all of these beautiful new yarn!

Shop Hop, MadTosh and other things....

Hello all!  BIG NEWS!  The shop hop has begun!  StevenBe is participating and there are big things happening there this weekend!  If you haven't already, you better get to Minneapolis to get your charm, your pattern, and a skein of the limited edition (only 50 skeins produced) Madelinetosh yarn called StevenBe Blue.  This is Steven with his namesake yarn. 

Yes, his shirt does coordinate with the yarn.  No, it wasn't planned.  At least, I don't think it was planned.  You never know with Steven. 

This morning, the UPS man brought me MORE Madelinetosh!  How lucky am I?

Did you see that?  If not.....here's a closer look.

To clarify, the limited edition colorway is at StevenBe in Minneapolis only.  The yarn pictured above is currently at Yarn Garage in Rosemount.  Feel free to stop by and visit me and see the latest MadTosh before Steven even gets to see it. 

In addition to the special Madelinetosh yarn, we also have a limited edition color from Three Irish Girls! Yes, you read that right!  THREE IRISH GIRLS!  We now carry Three Irish Girls!  I am so excited I can't stand it!  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the Three Irish Girls shipment.  It is all at StevenBe for the shop hop, so I guess you will have to go there to see what it looks like.  It is pretty fantastic, I'm not going to lie.  Steven did report to me this morning that it is flying out the door.  I don't mean to pressure you, but if you want to see it you better get there soon. 

And speaking of beautiful hand dyed yarn......we also received a box of Alisha Goes Around.  Steven also swiped this for the shop hop.

You want more hand-dyed yarn, you say?  How about some beautiful Malabrigo Sock yarn!

Keep in mind, we are still have Malabrigo Rasta and Twist.  However, I think most people's minds have turned from wooly and chunky to light and airy.  Which brings me to my latest cowl creation. 

It uses one skein of Gedifra Rosas and one skein of Gedifra Pertinio.  I cast on 100 stitches on a 10.5 needle.  Now, if you ever hear Steven say I don't finish anything.......

Defend me, because there is the finished cowl (without the ends woven in, but that's how we roll!) on display with our Lucatape cowl (on the left).  Ask Steven if he has finished his version of the Rosas/Pertinio cowl.  Go ahead, ask him.  See what he says.

Another reason to stop by the Yarn Garage, (besides saying hello to me and the other girls) is to see our renovations.  We got new rugs and we are moving all the spring/summer yarn to the front of the store.  It looks fantastic!  See you all soon!

Final Days at TNNA

Okay, so we flew back from L.A. on Monday night, and I do realize that I am almost a week late in reporting on our last two days at TNNA.  I beg your forgiveness and I hope the wait will have been worth it!  One of the biggest things that happened at TNNA was Steven placing our first order with Shibui Knits!

Here he is wearing their fabulous Piega Cowl and don't worry, we ordered the pattern and the yarn to go with it.  Their yarn is beautiful and we will be unpacking in a the next month or so.  Julie, the designer behind CocoKnits, uses Shibui yarn.  She will be one of the teachers we are hosting during Yarnover weekend.  Steven will once again have classes before and after the Yarnover.  It will be called StevenBe's Fabulous Fiber Frolic.  Okay, so we are still working on the name of the weekend festivities, but whatever the name it will be amazing.  Also, the Ravelry crew will be in town to discuss Ravelry with everyone!

This is Steven with Mary-Heather, Jessica, Casey and Sarah, all from Ravelry.  This picture was taken in the Madelinetosh booth with the fantastic Madelinetosh girls!  Their booth is ALWAYS beautifully displayed.  They were taking Polaroids of everyone and then you were supposed to write on the Polaroid the name of the color of Madelinetosh that best described your personality.  Not your favorite Madelinetosh color, but the color that matches your personality. 
I chose "Baltic" as my color. 

What would your color be?  Steven got distracted before I could get him to decide on his color.  What color do you think best describes Steven?  Click here to see Madelinetosh colors. 

We were super excited  to see everyone from Namaste and to see the new Namaste Bitty Bag! 
Email Steven for your Bitty Bag pre-order.  Here we are with Kelly from Namaste Inc.

Another celebrity who will be visiting us during Yarnover weekend is.........

Nicky Epstein!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She will be our mistress of ceremonies!  Her new book "Knitting Block by Block" will be in the shop soon.  Steven may let you take a peek at his personalized signed copy before the our arrives. 

We had a good time with the boys from Feza Yarns.  We have some great new samples from them and they sent us great new one skein patterns using Alp Oriental.  Emre and his brother Emir are the brothers that run Feza here in the USA.  Their company has been in the yarn business for 50 years in Turkey, and they have been here in the United States since 2004.  They took us out to dinner at The Ivy. 

Dinner was fantastic and we love Feza and the Feza family!  After dinner we had another run-in with a celebrity.  Well, everyone else had a run-in with Christian Slater!  I just happened to have left the table when he got up and stood right next to our table to talk to a waiter.  When I came back to the table, Steven asked, "Who is Christian Slater?"  Really?! He doesn't know Christian Slater?  Dreamy, dreamy Christian Slater?!?  I just don't think it is fair that Steven kept seeing celebrities and I only saw a terrified Maureen McCormick.  He didn't even appreciate the Christian Slater sighting!  Steven described him as "short and scruffy!" 

Anyway, back to yarn...........

Here is Steven with the Trendsetter team. 

This concludes the TNNA report.  One last picture for you all.  Here is Steven in our rented PT Cruiser convertible.  Please note the amount of luggage sticking out of the backseat.  Keep in mind the trunk was all full of luggage.

And here I am.....

I am attempting to look very chic and sophisticated, but I think it came off as disgruntled.  I have to admit, I was disgruntled that we had to leave the beautiful California weather.  See you later, L.A.!!!