fingering, giveaway, Wooly Wonka Fibers, Yarn

New Sponsor- Wooly Wonka Fibers and Giveaway.

I am so happy to introduce you a new sponsor, Wooly Wonka Fibers owned by Anne Podlesak. Look at some of her amazing colors and products.

Anne was nice enough to answer some of my questions about her and her store.

What is Wooly Wonka Fibers?   

My online indie store.  I carry several different weights of yarn bases from laceweight up through worsted/Aran weight.   I also carry hand-dyed and limited-edition blended rovings for handspinners, as well as yarn packs for various projects. I’ve also got a designer store for my knitting patterns under the Wooly Wonka label available as downloads from Ravelry here.

Who is the mastermind behind the colorways?   

Me and myself!

What are some of your other hobbies? 

I don’t really have a lot that I do outside of fiber-y things, although I read quite a bit and listen to a lot of music.  I used to horseback ride competitively, but after my last older horse passed away last year, I decided I didn’t want to learn to bounce again to train a new one.  🙂

A day in the life of Anne, What would it look like?   

I’m an early bird.  I’m usually up by 5:15.  I have a day job, but I telecommute for it, so I work usually 5:30 to 1:30 at my computer.  I’ll then hit the treadmill for an hour’s run.  After that and a shower, I head to the dye room for several hours most days to dye and skein yarn.  After dinner, I usually sit and knit until I start falling asleep.

If you had your dream job, what would it be?  

My dyeing and knitwear design would be it!

What can we look forward to seeing from Wooly Wonka Fibers in the near future? You jumping on the bright color bandwagon?

 In terms of dye colors, I do carry a few eye-searing brights (the apple green Thornapple and the hot pink Flamingo), but I tend to like blended/grayed/muted colors, so that’s still likely to be the main focus in my dye colors.  I will be offering 2-packs of sock yarns later this spring with one handpainted and one semisolid colorway that coordinate for striped shawl projects, for example, and I’m working on a line of transitional colors that are 4 smaller skeins that blend from one color to another for socks or other smaller projects.  I’ve got a ton of design projects in the works.  I have two patterns coming out in Cooperative Press books sometime this year.  I’m working (feverishly) on three projects for an Interweave special publication that’ll be out this summer, as well as two projects for the Spin-Off magazines this year. In addition, I’m launching a big 3-part design collection that I’ll start photo shoots for in June, with tentative releases in early fall 2013, mid-winter 2014 and late spring 2014.

I was lucky enough to get a skein of Anne’s yarn to play with and OH MY is it dreamy. It is so soft and the color is just so well balanced.  An Aerten Sock yarn with 80% Superwash merino wool, 10% Cashmere, and 10 nylon it is 435 yards in a 100gr skein. Would also love to knit myself a shawl or sweater out of this stuff. You can´t tell while it is in the skein and I couldn’t get a good enough photo of it but the color in this skein of sock yarn dyed in Pewter really reminds me of a nice foggy morning where you know the air is crisp and mittens are needed. There is just such a nice depth to it. It also doesn’t split too easily so the stitches come out nice and even.

The mittens are knit from the fingers up to make sure they are a perfect fit for you. Starting with the thumb and then putting the thumb on scrap yarn while you knit the finger part and then bring the 2 together. I used the magic loop method so that You can try your mitten on as you go so that you know how much longer or shorter you want the cuff or the fingers. If you are use to toe up socks this is just the next step in doing that but to make mittens. Hoping that you will learn this simple method to make mittens for the whole family. In the pattern I am including a fingerless version. Both great to make as gifts and you can get a kick start on holiday knitting early.

This yarn gets 5 stars from me. With it having a nice twist, very workable, beautiful high and low lights and just all around a joy to the fingers.

Even after the mittens I still have plenty left for some mittens for my boys

Anne is also offering one of my readers a skein of her Yarn of the Month which is this sock yarn just like the one I use in my pattern, but in any color you would like from her dye lot, for free! The winner also gets the pattern for my mittens so do 2 other readers that enter and follow the rules.

If mittens are not for you, or you really want to make one of Anne’s sock patterns, Anne has been nice enough to give my readers a discount code for the Fall in Vermont patterns of 10% off and it is 10FIVT. That will include the 2-Horse Hitch Socks that were designed using that sock yarn and will be included in the giveaway this March, any pattern in that collection, or the entire ebook. 

1st place gets Mitten Pattern and the yarn to make it
2nd and 3rd place get the Mitten pattern and can also get the yarn to make it using the 10% discount code. 

Here are the rules. Please follow them or you will not qualify for the giveaway.

You can enter up to 5 times just read how and post a comment for each entry. Don´t forget to leave a way to contact you in the post.
1. Follow my blog and leave in the comment thread how you are following my blog
2. Follow me on twitter. and if you already follow me on twitter then retweet the giveaway
3. Like my Facebook page if you already like my page then share the post about this giveaway
4. Tell me which color you would like of the yarn and which one of Anne´s patterns are your favorite.
5. Tell me what you would name my mittens.

Sign up will be open til Sunday the 10th of March 2013 noon and then I will use Random.org to randomly pick a winner.