26 January 2008

'50 pairs from 50 shops'


For those who prefer a softer color shift in their projects this week is for you :)

Jessica Elliot owner of Zweena Yarns (zyarns.etsy.com) kindly sent me a whole skein (220 yards, in center-pull ball form) of her Sky Blue Worsted Weight yarn to work with.

Having experience with her natural base yarn I was thrilled when Jessica replied to my convo about using one of the beautiful colored yarns in her shop for the 50/50 project.

After much consideration, I choose the aforementioned Sky Blue for it's gentle shifts between a bold turquoise blue and natural wool. Sky Blue is a very fitting name for this yarn.




About Zyarns:
Happily married and located in Denver, this etsy shop owner has a keen sense of nuance when it comes to yarn dyeing. Her yarns offer soft shifting colorways in single and multi-color combinations. The characteristic saturated vs. natural provides an impressive balance allowing the colors to show their richness and dept without being overpoweringly one color or the other.



Per Jessica's etsy site these subtleties in appearance are due to the fact that
Zweena Yarns only uses natural dyes and earth/people friendly processes in there hand-painted/dyed yarn production. The end results are just awesome and meld well with the strong stitch definition supplied by the multipurpose 100% Peruvian Highland Wool her yarns are made from.

These yarns are well suited for next to skin or outdoor accessory type projects and come in a wide range of yarn weights.



To purchase the shoes mentioned above please visit mysweetiepeas.etsy.com.
At least $13.00 of every '50/50' shoe purchase goes directly to
http://www.directrelief.org - no strings attached (well... you know what I

mean *smile*.)

For more info on Zweena Yarns and her natural dye colorways, please visit
her http://zyarns.etsy.com to see for yourself.

For more details about contributing to '50 pairs from 50 shops' please leave
a comment or convo me on Etsy at http://mysweetiepeas.etsy.com Thanks and
Have a great week

18 January 2008

'50 pairs from 50 shops'


Multi-craftual, that's how I'd describe this weeks Etsy Shop owner Catherinette aka Katie Stack. She's most well know for her ultra cute hand made pin cushions which include forest animals, monsters, an anatomically correct human heart and um... a swimmer... yeah a swimmer.


She's also creating hand bags with plastic bags and learning to spin. One busy gal, I'd say. The skein Katie sent me spent half it's first day being randomly oogled because it is so squishy soft :) It's colorway is a rich mix of periwinkle blue, plum and chartreuse (lime green).


Katie also sent a little nugget of yarn equally well dyed in a chartreuse, deep red and plum colorway. I'm sure the project this was from turned out smashingly.


Check out the specs below for a bit more detail: 95 yards 55% Superfine Alpaca 23% Silk 22% Merino

The good new is there is another skein just like this for sale at her shop
:) (cheapo shipping too!)

Swatch Round Up: So I've come to the conclusion that my shoes are actually just a unique way of swatching yarn, that being said the pair this yarn worked up was just '2!' stitches away from being identical, which is an incredible feat for variegated yarns on such a tiny project. There will probably be enough yarn for two pairs from this skein... we'll have to wait and see.



To purchase the shoes mentioned above please visit my etsy shop. At least $13.00 of every '50/50' shoe purchase goes directly to http://www.directrelief.org no strings attached (well... you know what I mean *smile*).

For more info on this awesome chic with a natural skill for the crafty, please go visit her blog and shop to see for yourself.



For more details about contributing to '50 pairs from 50 shops' please leave a comment or convo me on Etsy at http://mysweetiepeas.etsy.com
Thanks and Have a great week

11 January 2008

'50 pairs from 50 shops'

Welcome, welcome to the first weekly installment of '50 pairs from 50 Shops'

The first shop's yarn arrived earlier this week and oh my gosh!



Noelle of Noelle's Noodles sent over 600 yards of fingering wt. yarn my way. (that's a lot of baby shoes!) The picture below shows the first two pairs with more to follow.


Additional Bits and Pieces:
This top shelf quality arrived in my post box in the form of two very awesome colorways 'Eat.Sleep.Knit' and 'Sweetheart A'.

The 'Eat Sleep Knit' yarn was created specially for the online store EatSleepKnit.com. This colorway features saturated blues, greens and reddy browns consistently spaced and clearly defined. I used double strands while crocheting with this yarn... the colors matched up perfectly! (Yes, she's that good.)

Plus since I received a whole skein they'll be more than one pair available, so keep an eye on my Etsy shop for more details. Remember all proceeds benefit Direct Relief.


To see this yarn in sock action check out Noelle's blog for some very cool socks in progress.

Please note: Eat.Sleep.Knit has been selling Noelle's yarns like hot cakes so hurry while supplies last!

The other colorway 'Sweetheart A' is not currently available on NoellesNoodles.com, however there is a teaser skein of Sweetheart B listed on her site (again, hurry).

This girly mix of pinks and red bits created an uber cute pair of shoes/booties. To add to the yarn love, I'd been secretly oogling this color for a little while ... so sweet to receive 178 yards of yarny goodness (that's at least 2 pairs for the 50/50 project). The picture below doesn't quite do the yarn justice, visit Noelle's sites for a better appreciation of what this gal can do. Seriously.



Noelle's has had a shop on Etsy since 2005, she's super professional, accommodating and very gifted. Her shop currently contains a wide assortment of yarn weights, unique colorways, kits and accessories including roving.

Trust me these wool yarns
are extremely easy to care for, richly dyed and handle like a dream :) so hop on the bandwagon and get them before they're gone.

Additional details about each new pair of 50/50 booties can be found on my Etsy store. All proceeds from the '50 pairs from 50 shops' project go to http://www.directrelief.com.

Be extra sure to check out
Noelle's shop and Eat.Sleep.Knit for her special limited colorways in Aran and Sock Weights.

07 January 2008

Charity Selected!

After a lot of research I've discovered a great charity that reaches globally while also maintaining an amazing bottomline. Voted as 99% efficent by forbes.com the charity which will be benefiting from my 50/50 project is...