I made some beautiful mistakes!
I have two beautiful mistakes to show you today.
First up is what I’m calling Small Batch 045 (above). It is what Wildflower Fade looks like if you don’t add any blue: the purples come out pink, and the greens turn yellow. Isn’t it gorgeous? I may dye this again on purpose some day, but for now I have fourteen skeins in the shop. Grab one while they last!
Second is a big batch of Colourwheel, but with blue instead of grey at the end. I knit up this sample and realised that what looks like a shadow is actually dye transfer. There's a bit of blue in the yellow and orange stripes. Whoops!
I don’t know how many skeins in this batch were affected, but it's so subtle that there’s no way for me to tell without knitting them all up. So, I'm turning my mistake into a good deal for you. We are labelling the whole batch as seconds and selling it at a 30% discount. This happened during dyeing, but rest assured the colours in the final skeins are properly set.
Image 1: Small Batch 045 is a variegated-fade colourway that transitions from hot pink at one end of the skein, to golden yellow in the middle, back to hot pink at the other end.
Image 2: Colourwheel is a striped rainbow that starts at blue, moves through pinks and yellow, and back to blue. There was some dye transfer in this skein and a faint tinge of blue can be seen in the yellows and oranges.
Weekend Fade FAQ
Find the Weekend Fade yarn here.
What weights of yarn can I choose from?
At the moment we have fade sets in both fingering and worsted weight.
How many options are there?
So many options! I'm dyeing up one-skein options and multi-skein fades.
One Way Trip: For both fingering and worsted weight, we have a One-Way trip version that transitions from orange at one end, to grey, to blue at the other. Perfect for a cowl or hat!
Round Trip: Designed with matching socks in mind, the colours in the skein are mirrored, with orange at both ends, fading to grey, and then blue in the middle. This is available in fingering weight only.
Multi-skein fades: There are five skeins in the full fade: orange, orange-grey, variegated grey, grey-blue, and blue. Use all five together, or pick your favourite and combine it with a one-skein fade!
How do I make socks?
For matching fade socks, start with a skein of Weekend Fade (Round Trip) in fingering weight. The colour pattern in this skein is mirrored, so you will want to start the socks from opposite ends of the skein. You can either use a scale to divide the yarn in two when you wind it, or simply work from the other end of the cake for the second sock.
You can, of course, also makes socks with any individual variegated skein from the fade set.
How do I make a hat?
For a colour changing Musselburgh Hat, start with a skein of Weekend Fade (One Way Trip) in fingering weight. Cast on with whatever end is your favourite colour and follow the pattern as directed. For reference, used we used 3.5 mm (US 4) needles to achieve a gauge of 6 - 6.5 stitches per inch and found that creates a nice fabric with our Merino Twist yarn.
For a worsted weight fade hat, start with a skein of Weekend Fade (One Way Trip) in worsted. Cast on with your favourite colour!
How do I make a shawl?
There are so many options! In fact, it's hard to give advice here because you can't possibly go wrong. A single skein of One Way Trip in fingering weight will create a beautiful flowing gradient. Any three skeins of worsted weight could work beautifully together.
How do I make a sweater?
Create your own sweater kit! Here are a few options:
- Overall fade from cast-on to bind off. Consult pattern for yardage and order as many skeins as needed. For fingering weight in smaller sizes you will need fewer than five skeins. If you have the green, blue, and purple skeins, you can alternate skeins to blend seamlessly from one colour to the next. Fade sweater patterns have instructions on this blending.
- Fade sleeves. Depending on the size, you can use either the Round Trip or One Way Trip for fingering weight sleeves. The Socks Arms and Worsted Socks Arms sweater patterns are a good option for this.
- Fade yoke with semi-solid arms and body. You can use your favourite sweater pattern (we like Flax and Flax Light).
- Stranded colourwork combined with a high contrast colour like black or white.
Can I buy the fade skeins individually?
Yes! The skeins in the photo above are (from left to right) Weekend A, B, C, D, E. They are all available individually.
Wildflower Fade set FAQ
Find the Wildflower Fade yarn here.
What weights of yarn can I choose from?
At the moment we have fade sets in both fingering and worsted weight.
How many options are there?
So many options! I'm dyeing up one-skein options and multi-skein fades.
One Way Trip: For both fingering and worsted weight, we have a One-Way trip version that transitions from green at one end, to blue, to purple at the other. Perfect for a cowl or hat!
Round Trip: Designed with matching socks in mind, the colours in the skein are mirrored, with purple at both ends, fading to blue, and then green in the middle. This is available in fingering weight only.
Multi-skein fades: There are five skeins in the full fade: green, blue-green, blue, blue-purple, and purple. Use all five together, or pick your favourite and combine it with a one-skein fade!
How do I make socks?
For matching fade socks, start with a skein of Wildflower Fade (Round Trip) in fingering weight. The colour pattern in this skein is mirrored, so you will want to start the socks from opposite ends of the skein. You can either use a scale to divide the yarn in two when you wind it, or simply work from the other end of the cake for the second sock.
You can, of course, also makes socks with any individual variegated skein from the fade set.
How do I make a hat?
For a colour changing Musselburgh Hat, start with a skein of Wildflower Fade (One Way Trip) in fingering weight. Cast on with whatever end is your favourite colour and follow the pattern as directed. For reference, used we used 3.5 mm (US 4) needles to achieve a gauge of 6 - 6.5 stitches per inch and found that creates a nice fabric with our Merino Twist yarn.
For a worsted weight fade hat, start with a skein of Wildflower Fade (One Way Trip) in worsted. Cast on with your favourite colour!
How do I make a shawl?
There are so many options! In fact, it's hard to give advice here because you can't possibly go wrong. A single skein of One Way Trip in fingering weight will create a beautiful flowing gradient. Any three skeins of worsted weight could work beautifully together.
How do I make a sweater?
Create your own sweater kit! Here are a few options:
- Overall fade from cast-on to bind off. Consult pattern for yardage and order as many skeins as needed. For fingering weight in smaller sizes you will need fewer than five skeins. If you have the green, blue, and purple skeins, you can alternate skeins to blend seamlessly from one colour to the next. Fade sweater patterns have instructions on this blending.
- Fade sleeves. Depending on the size, you can use either the Round Trip or One Way Trip for fingering weight sleeves. The Socks Arms and Worsted Socks Arms sweater patterns are a good option for this.
- Fade yoke with semi-solid arms and body. You can use your favourite sweater pattern (we like Flax and Flax Light).
- Stranded colourwork combined with a high contrast colour like black or white.
Can I buy the fade skeins individually?
Yes! The skeins in the photo above are (from left to right) Wildflower E, D, C, B, A. They are all available individually.
Baby sweaters are back!
One-skein baby sweater yarn is back in the shop. See all your sweater options here.
After being out of stock for far too long, our sweater yarn is back in a bunch of colours. If you aren't already familiar with this yarn, it's a one-skein, self-striping baby sweater. Just let the colours do the work for you! You cast on at the neck and the yarn creates a beautiful rainbow of stripes around the shoulders, then switches to a solid colour for the body and arms.
If you’re looking for a quicker knit, check out our worsted options for a Sock Arms sweater. The adorable sweater below used about half a skein of All Together Now for the arms, leaving plenty of leftovers for the matching hat!
Image 1: A family of three sweaters with rainbow striped yokes. From left to right, the sweaters are green, blue and purple.
Image 2: Four skeins of yarn. The three on the left are our White Light colourway and are used to knit the sweaters in the picture above. The skein on the right is called Whiskey in a Teacup and has dark grey for the main colour of the sweater.
Image 3: A toddler sweater with a grey body and colourful, varietgated arms. A matching hat knit with a honeycomb pattern knit with the leftovers from the sweater.
First shop update of the year!
Hello and Happy New Year, friends!
Is January 25th too late to be wishing people a happy new year? No? Great. I’ve already started writing the date as 2023, so that’s a sign that I’m settling in to the new year well. (Sometimes it takes months for my brain to make the switch.)
I’ve been quiet on social media, but we have been busy behind the scenes. I’m pleased to say that we've restocked the shop with a bunch of our most-requested colourways, including Our Solar System and the worsted weight All Together Now so elegantly modelled above.
We’ve also shipped all the January 2023 club yarn, so club members please check your spam filters if you haven’t already heard from me! If you didn’t sign up but are curious to see what we’re up to, check out the chat in our Ravelry group, or search for the tag #GaugeYarnClub2023 on instagram.
Image 1. A profile shot of Catherine (that’s me!) wearing a brightly coloured, ribbed hat. The colorus are variegated and transition from blue at the brim to pink, yellow, green, blue, and purple at the crown.
Colourwheel and other favourites
Thank you for all the love for our worsted weight yarn this past week! We are looking forward to seeing all your Sock Arms sweaters.
Shop worsted yarn here.
Read the FAQ here.
Pattern links:
Worsted Sock Arms (adult XS - 6XL sizes): Ravelry or Tellybean's Shop
Little Worsted Sock arms (newborn - 12 year sizes): Ravelry or Tellybean's Shop
In Other News
Our Winter Yarn Club is coming back!
Join the club and we will surprise you with a skein of yarn in your mailbox in January, March, and May. An excellent gift for yourself or a special knitter in your life! Sign-ups open next week. More details here.
Last week on Substack, I passed along a spicy tip for testing out new yarn.
Image 1: Lottie is wearing a sweater with a grey body and rainbow striped arms. 2. A graphic with text that reads Gauge Dye Works Winter Yarn Club. A vertical striped bar with nine different colours runs down the left size of the graphic.
Shop Update: Worsted Weight Sweater Yarn!
We've restocked our shop with worsted weight yarn, perfect for Sock Arms sweaters!
Shop worsted yarn here.
To make planning your project a little easier, we put together an FAQ with details of the gorgeous sweaters our testers made, and an explanation of the different size options for our yarn. Read the FAQ here.
We highly recommend the adult and children's versions of Worsted Sock Arms by designer Tellybean Knits:
Worsted Sock Arms (adult XS - 6XL sizes): Ravelry or Tellybean's Shop
Little Worsted Sock arms (newborn - 12 year sizes): Ravelry or Tellybean's Shop
Image 1: Arika is wearing a Worsted Sock Arms sweater with matching Colourwheel rainbow arms. The body of her sweater is dark grey. 2. Sarah-Mae is wearing a similar sweater but with mis-matched arms. 3. Jacquie used Love is Love for the striped arms.
