Category: Malabrigo

4oz, Fiber, giveaway, Grief, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, interview, Job, Kindergarten, Malabrigo, roving, spinning, Wheel, winner

And the Winners are……………

Olof
Helen W and Angela J!!! 
Congratulations ladies!!! 
I have contacted you individually via email and am waiting for address information to be able to send you your prizes.

I have been spinning with the Malabrigo NUBE roving myself and I have to say I really enjoy the color that is coming from it and spinning with it. Drafting it in the places that are colored pretty dark is a bit difficult but I’m new to spinning and that might be normal. I like to draft the roving well before sitting down at the wheel. I have not finished the 4oz roving to actually ply it to make a yarn so that I will leave for another post with pretty photos but I have finished more than half of it and on the wheel it goes pretty quickly. Spinning almost 2 oz in an evening. I think pre drafting it is what takes up most of my time. 

I am so sorry for the delay. I meant to announce the winners last week. I meant to blog about all kinds of things last week but grief has got the better of me. My days roll by one after the other and so fast. I’m sort of lost through the day. Also with that said I have been busy. My oldest is starting kindergarten tomorrow and I had a job interview yesterday. So with getting school uniforms and having to make some purchases for myself to be updated for the interview I have been a little busy.

What have you been up to? Please distract me with your comments.

4oz, Fiber, giveaway, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Malabrigo, Review, roving, spinning

Malabrigo Fiber Giveaway.

Olof
Before my mother’s death I was sent this great fiber from Malabrigo called Nube, which means cloud in Spanish, to do a review and giveaway on my blog. I will be giving two of my readers one each and I will be doing the review of what it is like to spin with Nube when I announce the winner. What I can say about this fiber is that it is wonderfully soft and the colors are amazingly vibrant. The color combinations are beautiful and I can’t wait to spin it and then knit with it.

Deciding on which two to giveaway was difficult for me. Looking at the photo, can you blame me?
I chose to give away The Lavanda and the Zarzamora. The 2 to the right of the photo.
Nube is 4oz or 113gr of 100% Merino wool and is as soft as a dream. 
If you have never spun yarn then you can get inexpensive Drop Spindles and the book Start Spinning is a great reference. Why not try your hand if you win free roving? 
To win one follow the rules listed below.
http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, kids, Legos, Malabrigo, Mitered Cross Blanket, Parenting, pregnancy, Snowbird Cardigan, Stripes, Yarn

Long Time Coming Knitting Update.

Olof
OK, so I´ve been a little pregnant lately and not posted much.

I had some serious nesting to do and still do. But here is what has happened on the knitting front. I missed my Ravellenic Games goal by a long shot but I´m not sad. I´m so glad that I started this Snowbird Cardigan in the Malabrigo Arroyo that I had on hand. I was worried about the stripes but I really enjoy the way they have turned out so far. I will be so happy when I finish it. Here is what I have finished.

I have also knit more on my Miter Cross Blanket. I´m pretty sure that I will run out of the Eco+ before I finish which will lead to me having to buy more yarn which I have said I won´t do. I´m using the left over Lambs Pride that I had from knitting the princess and the pea doll for the color part. I have one more project that is on hold until I finish some more of my yarn before buying more yarn to finish it.

And what am I doing with the boys today to keep them occupied and happy? It´s a Lego sort of a day.

And how pregnant am I really? 35 weeks. Look like I’m about to give birth to triplets though.

What are you knitting? How did the Ravellenic games go for you?

Baby, books., Boy, DK, Dos Superwash, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, knitting, Malabrigo, Offset Wraplan, Sara Morris, sport, Trilogy, update

Knitting Update-Malabrigo Superwash

Olof

Still have this Dos Superwash yarn from Malabrigo and trying to figure out what to do with it. It is sport weight. What would you do with it?

Maybe the Offset Wraplan by Sara Morris For my little boy?

Anybody have any other ideas it is a sport/DK weight yarn? I might just design something.

I haven´t knit anything this week. I was out of town all weekend and wasn´t feeling well during the week. Plus I ended up reading 3 books in one week which has NEVER happened before. Got hooked on the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy. Those books need to come with a warning that if you start you can´t stop.

Here is hoping for a better knitting week.

What are you knitting?

free yarn, Malabrigo, test knit

Yarn Play!

Olof
Arroyo

Hello everybody! I´m happy to announce that my Spring 2011 semester is over and that my Summer semester in Grad School will not start till the beginning of June. At the end of July I will finish my last class in my Master´s Degree in Counseling Psychology and will only have internship left in the fall. I can´t believe that this degree is almost over. Graduation is in December.

But enough about that. Do you SEE this yarn?!!! I got it in the mail 2 days ago and I have been dieing to start knitting with it. It is a test yarn called Arroyo from Malabrigo and these are test colors that I am trying and going to let them know what I think of and you will also get to know. The top one is called Arcoiris, the Red one is called Jupiter, the dark one to the left is called Escoria, and the grey ones are called Plomo. It´s a sport weight superwash merino wool and Oh I am so in love. I can´t wait to wind it up and then knit it up into something amazing. Just touching them is amazing.

What yarn are you really loving these days?

giveaway, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Malabrigo

Malabrigo Yarn and Pattern Giveaway!

Olof

Malabrigo was nice enough to send me  a BAG of their newest color Garden Gate to review and do a giveaway. This yarn inspired me to design this.

It´s a Collared Cabled Cowl and a really nice quick knit. I plan on selling it both on Ravelry and on my site here. 
Knitting with this yarn is just amazing. I love how the 100% merino wool feels on my fingers and needles. It is just sooooooo soft. The color is very pretty and a great fall color to keep warm with. I´m looking forward to using this cowl under my wool pea coat. The pattern is knitted with the yarn tripled using the Navajo method where you only need one skein and one strand and you triple it. I will post a video on how this is done as soon as I have the pattern ready to sell on Saturday. This yarn turned out so well tripled with it´s amazing colors coming together. It also worked up really fast on size 15 needles.

While doing my research on Malabrigo yarn on their site I realized how much I have been missing out on. I have only tried their worsted weight 100% merino a lace weight. I had never tried their sock yarn or any of those yummy yarns. They also just started a Super Bulky yarn called Rasta.



Their sock yarn looks pretty nice as well.

I would love to get my hands on this and design something Amazing for my boys and my husband. I just LOVE the colors.

There are so many amazing earth tones which I really love in all the different types of Malabrigo yarn. Now I´m just hoping that Malabrigo Yarns will keep me in mind when they are introducing new yarns. I just LOVE this stuff. 

Tobias at Malabrigo was nice enough to answer some questions for me about how Malabrigo Yarns got their start and what is to come.

How did Malabrigo Yarn get it’s start? Who are the masterminds behind this amazing yarn?

We started a few years ago, we thought there was a market for hand dyed yarns and Antonio (my brother in law) started dyeing yarn in his kitchen.  After that we started selling in the US and people liked the yarn very much so we grew and grew, and are still growing. But of course, we started very small.
Antonio is the mastermind, or dyer Supremo!
How do you get your color and fiber inspiration?
Antonio gets his inspiration from many things, Nature, painters, landscapes. He try to include that in the color name, like Paris Night, SFO sky (San Francisco) or Turner.  As for the fiber, we have only one rule, it has to be the softest available.

Why Uruguayan sheep?

Uruguay has one of the biggest wool supplies in the world, and a very, very good wool in regards of softness-  

Anything that you can clue us in on what to expect to see from you in the near future? Any new and amazing fiber combinations or colors?

We are working on a new Superwash Worsted, expected to be shipped on September, after that, we have several projects in mind. a DK superwash and several blends. Antonio is starting to play with other fibers, so you expect another Malabrigo Cotton in the short time, and some blends with Angora or other natural fibers. 
Now to what you have all been waiting for………………
The giveaway.
OK, what I am offering to you to day is 4 pattern kits to make my cowl. In each kit will be a color print out of my pattern and 2 skeins of Malabrigo Yarn in the Garden Gate color. 
All you have to do is follow the rules

1. Go to the website and pick what color and type of yarn is your favorite from Malabrigo. Come back and leave a comment with contact info.
2. Become a follower or sign up for my feed via e-mail at the bottom of the page then come back and leave a comment with contact info
3. Tweet about this giveaway with a link to this site and then come back and leave your twitter id.
4. Put up a blog post about this giveaway and come back with the link to it and contact info.

Yes there are 4 chances to win if you follow the rules. Remember that you have to come back and comment for each entry but if you forgot to put contact info then your entry is invalid. If you forgot to add something please delete your first entry before you enter your correction. 
I’m sorry, but you have to live in North America or know someone in North America that is willing to receive this and send it to you, to be eligible to win this prize.
Giveaway will be open til Saturday at midnight.  Winner will be announced on Monday.

If you like to follow my progress on Ravelry and know when there are new giveaways I have a ravelry group called Knitting with Olof.