news

Mara Bryner of orangeknits has just released her stunning Santa Clara sweater that features an eye-catching colourwork yoke knit in my CLASSIC self-striping yarn. It's shown here in All Together Now, with the sweater body in YOTH Big Sister in Peach . 

The pattern calls for about half a skein of self-striping yarn and it is worked held double. All Together Now a great choice because it has a long pattern repeat that works its way through the rainbow just once over the entire yoke. 

However, this stitch pattern also shines in a more traditional striping pattern, and Mara has her own version pairing Cathedral Grove with YOTH's Saffron. 

It would even be a great way to use up your self-striping leftovers - two different colourways held together would be stunning! 

You're probably here because you saw the yarnharlot's post. (And if you're not, go read that one first...)

To answer your questions:

1. Self-striping sweater yarn is a thing now. Starting with baby sweaters - a single skein gets you a nice striped yoke plus enough of a solid colour for the body and sleeves. 

2. When I say "is a thing now" I mean that I dyed a single skein and then handed it to the most famous knitter in the world who then knit with it and wrote a glowing post about it.

3. Current mental state: *OMG! ...play it cool... WHAAAAAAAT! ...super cool... HURRAY! ...so chill... YAY! repeat from * until basically forever. 

4. So obviously I'm going to be making more of this yarn ASAP.

5. Even the skein pictured above is not the sweater yarn - it's the SHAWL version of the same colours. 

6. I'll let you know as soon as I've made more yarn. The best way to make sure you hear about it is to sign up for my mailing list. (Thank you!)

7. Thank you for all the enthusiasm!

I'm working on some fresh, summery colourways and am looking for some intrepid knitter/photographers to help me test them out! 

Would you like to test knit? I'd send you yarn - you choose the pattern and keep the finished item. What I want in return is photos. Lots of photos! I'd like you to share your progress on social media as you knit (#gaugetestknits everyone, keep an eye out for it!), and take some good quality shots of the finished object. 

I will have yarn in the mail by next week, and you would have four weeks after receiving your yarn to do the knitting and have FO pictures ready. 

The picture above shows the three colourways, and a glimpse at the sock I'm testing out. As you can see, I've done simple two-colour stripes but played around with value - darker and lighter versions of the two colours. There will also be shawl versions of the same colourways. 

I mentioned test knitting on Instagram last week and got an enthusiastic response (yay, thank you!) so I suspect I will face the difficult task of having to choose between many talented volunteers - I've only got six skeins to give away, so please understand I won't be able to say yes to everyone! 

Welcome to Gauge Dye Works!

My husband and I have spent quite a while searching for a new name and overall look that would be a better fit for who we are as people and as a company, and where we see ourselves going. If you've ever written a social media profile for yourself, you'll know how awkwardly challenging it can be to condense the very essence of your being into 140 characters or a 100x100 gif.

But I feel like we really nailed it. Gauge Dye Works. It's classic and memorable, knitting-related but also science-y.

Our designer, Aleya, did a fantastic job of capturing that clean, nerdy aesthetic by drawing inspiration from old pencils, wooden rulers, and scientific manuals. 

Nailed it. 

I'm so excited to finally finally be able to share this with you!

I'm rolling out the new website this week and will have all our new branded stuff to share soon. The full transition will likely take at least a few weeks; please bear with me as I work my way through all of these updates! 

I'm happy to announce a new member of our self-striping family: Merino Sport. With 297 yards per skein (446 yards in an XL skein), it sits perfectly between a fingering and worsted weight.

Our first four sport weight colourways are (clockwise from top left): TGIF, concrete and tulips, weekend, and spaceship. 

We've knit up cowls to use every last inch of the skein and show off the full colourway, but don't let that limit you! This cowl is Oats from the (free!) Simple Collection by Tin Can Knits. And from socks to mitts to baby sweaters, I think all of the pieces in that collection would look gorgeous in this yarn (with some minor modifications for those patterns written for heavier-weight yarns). Personally, I'm itching to cast on a tiny rainbow baby sweater, despite the lack of tiny babies in my household.

We're getting ready for our local fiber fair, Fibrations, this Sunday. See you there? 

Sunday, Aug 21, 10:00 - 4:00

Fairfield Gonzales Community Place, 1330 Fairfield Rd, Victoria, BC

We will be bringing lots of self-striping yarn for shawls and socks, plus a few special extras: studio seconds and a Fibrations-inspired limited-edition colourway. 

Fun, right? It absolutely looks like clown barf in the skein*, but knit up, it's a stripy-gradient starting with rich reds through oranges and yellows to bright, grassy greens. These socks** are too short to fully show the greens, but can you tell we are heading in that direction? 

I only dyed up about a dozen of these skeins, so if this is your thing you have two options: A) be in Victoria on Sunday and swing by our booth at Fibrations, or B) go check my instagram account for a chance to win one. 

I'm loving this new dyeing technique, so there will be more of these stripey-gradienty colourways in the shop soon! (Soon-ish, anyway. September is crazy busy for us all, right?)

Finally, a quick note about studio seconds. These are all high-quality yarns that didn't quite make the cut for being sold in the web shop. Some of them have a knot or bulky join in the yarn. Some are underweight. Most are simply one-of-a-kind and that's awkward to sell online. All of them will still knit up beautifully and since I can't manage that much personal knitting, I'm selling them at a huge discount. Win-win. 

* You might think it still looks like clown barf when knit up? That's fair. But it's organized clown barf. 

** These socks being Rose City Rollers by Mara Catherine Bryner.

With a Canada Post strike on the horizon, we have made alternative shipping arrangements. 

Within Canada: Flat rate of $10, shipping FedEx Ground. Tracking numbers are provided and delivery times are 1 - 7 days.

To the USA: Flat rate of $15 CAD, shipping FedEx Ground. Tracking numbers are provided and delivery times are 1-7 days. Despite the price increase, I think this is pretty good news, since it means shipping will be faster and guaranteed.

Overseas: Absurdly expensive shipping costs mean we will be suspending sales to overseas customers for the time being. If you'd like to make alternate shipping arrangements, please contact me. 

[ETA: I'm still working to find a reasonable solution for shipping overseas. And as soon as the labour dispute at Canada Post is resolved, we will go back to our usual shipping policies and rates. As soon as anything changes, I'll be sure to let you know!]

With any luck, this will all be unnecessary, the contract dispute will be resolved within days, and we can all go back to taking Canada Post for granted.