Fiber & Metals Artist
7 Yaks Design is giving away a sock yarn sampler
along with 2 full skeins of yarn and a scarf pattern to use it all!
How to enter:
Just LIKE 7 Yaks Design on Facebook and then SHARE the contest with your friends. Four people will be randomly chosen on February 14th to receive one of the 4 sock yarn samplers with scarf pattern. EZ PZ!
This scarf pattern is perfect for using up left over bits of yarn from your shawl and sock knitting.
The Be Mine Valentine Samplers:
You may have heard that Krystal Kraft discontinued their line of acrylic blanks for altered art and stamping. Blue Tatsu on Etsy rallied to the rescue and has created a line of products to fill the gap!
The shapes include dominos, hearts, starbursts, crosses and frame borders with more to come!
For expert instruction on how to decorate your acrylic blanks, be sure to visit The Enchanted Gallery.
Pinterest is an amazing source for inspiration! Here are some of my favorites.
7 Yaks Design scored a great deal on raw Alpaca fleece and we are passing the savings on to our loyal customers! (More about that in a second.)
Hmm…
A sale of raw fleece at 7 Yaks Design?
Did you know that Alpaca does not have lanolin making it wonderfully hypoallergenic so that people who are affected by wool will not have a reaction? The hair shafts are hollow which makes them excellent insulators. It will keep you warmer than wool in the winter but breathes nicely too. This soft fleece is great to wear next to the skin!
Raw fleece still needs to be processed to rid it of dust and little pieces of vegetable matter.
Here is a quick tutorial for cleaning the fleece. (Only a minute long.)
And here is a short video showing how to card Alpaca once you have washed it.
Now all you need is the fleece.
From me to you… Enjoy!
We have three Alpaca Fleece colors available. (Click on the pictures to link to the Etsy offering.)
Light Fawn Color:
Light fawn color Alpaca.
Medium Fawn Color:
Medium Fawn Color Alpaca
Light Brown Alpaca:
Light Brown Alpaca Fleece
We were able to get a good deal on this fleece and we are passing the savings on to you. Get yours now while they last.
We love Alpaca Fleece. You will too!
You can have a custom knitting or spinning tool with your message on it!
One of the designs for a knitting needle gauge available with your unique message.
A variety of knitting needle gauges and spinning tools made of acrylic are available:
Octagon Shaped Knitting Needle Gauge. In U.S and Metric
Custom Shapes are available.
I can work with you on a variety of tools or design ideas, let’s collaborate.
Shield design for Lord of the Rings Sock Club
The Knitting Room needle gauge anniversary promotion using the store logo.
Annual knitting needle gauge design
The latest store promotion for the Unique Sheep!
To get more information, email me at sevenyaks@yahoo.com. Please put “Custom Order” in the subject line.
Terrific time at Tri-Loom workshop.
I attended a tri-loom workshop at Magical Farms taught by Roo Kline and it was terrific!
First of all, I want to say how nice it is at Magical Farms, home of America’s largest and most varied huacaya herd. The Forstners and staff are great hosts - knowledgable and helpful.
Here are a few of the 1500 cute Alpacas at Magical Farms
And of course, Roo Kline is always a fun and helpful instructor. Visit her site when you get a chance.
Roo Kline
The coolest thing about the tri-loom (also called the triangle loom) is one continuous piece of yarn is used for both the warp and weft. This makes the weaving faster and easier than traditional weaving. (Really nice that I don’t have to do all that complicated loom set up and learn intricate weaving skills.)
I was using a fuzzy white alpaca fiber and let me tell you…. big mistake for me! It was like trying to weave with sticky spider webs.
However, with just a little practice, you can make a beautiful shawl in just a couple of hours.
Tri-Loom and start of a project
Tri-Looms ready to go and waiting for us newbies
Weaving with fuzzy white Alpaca, aka sticky spider webs.
Fun weaving at the tri-loom seminar.
One strand of fiber is used for both the warp and weft. (note the sticky spider webs I was trying to work with.)
This is Ty from Magical Farms showing us some of the new arrivals.
Oh yeah, it was a fun day!
What a happy coincidence that I recently taught myself how to crochet, not to mention falling in love with the technique!
I incorporated a knitting needle gauge into the sock blocker design. I thought instead of choosing an arbitrary shape to provide ventilation, what if I could add a useful tool… and so it was born.
The blockers are available in my Etsy shop in small, medium and large sizes.
By popular request, there are several new drop spindle designs in
The drop spindle kit includes a WPI (wraps per inch) & diz combination tool, 1 ounce (28 g) of mulberry silk and 1/4 ounce (7 g) of blue crystal angelina fiber.
Mulberry silk comes from the Bombyx Mori silkworm and is also known as Bombyx Silk or Cultivated Silk. These silkworms are raised in captivity and fed exclusively on Mulberry leaves. Soft, smooth and lustrous with the ability to just suck up color in a dye bath. Beautiful when blended with other fibers such as wool, merino, camel, cashmere, yak or cotton. It spins to a luxurious yarn.
The drop spindles are also available individually.
It’s time to add some socks to the Tevas and Birkenstocks! The customary transition into full blown winter 
…
To help out with that I put together some yummy superwash merino sock yarn with my sock blockers. Now that’s a great combo (great deal too.)
Each kit comes with 2 skeins of yarn for a total of 386 yards.
Also included is a needle gauge just for sock knitters and it’s the perfect size for your notions bag. Sweet!
Put some heat on your feet.
Do you love all things Halloween?
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(¸.·´ (¸.·`¤ ** Here’s some magic you can use! ·:*¨¨*:·.
This 1.8 ounce spindle is a great medium weight for spinning DK/sport weight yarns. Made of cut acrylic and oak, it’s as much fun to watch the spindle as it is to create yarn… and it spins like a dream! Fly on over to 7 Yaks Design and check out the rest of the wicked fun!
The kit includes a Spinner’s Cauldron of Fibers:
1 ounce – Wicked Witch wool assortment
1/2 ounce – Carbonized Bamboo
1/4 ounce – Franken Monster Green Firestar
1/4 ounce – Sunset Red Firestar
1/4 ounce – Vampyrism Red Angelina
Included in your coffin:
Back in January of 2009 Grace contacted me through Ravelry and asked if I would consider designing gauntlet and mitten blockers. She had finished knitting Bella’s Mittens (free PDF pattern on the blog) and was having trouble blocking them properly. So I measured my hand and drew up a preliminary design to cut.
It never ceases to amaze me in the design process, where things that percolate in my brain, don’t seem to reach any logical ‘that’s not right’ conclusion. And it wasn’t just me, I was bouncing ideas off of a friend, and neither one of us saw it coming…
1st Mitten Blocker kna Dog Sweater Blocker
Once the design was cut we both just laughed, because what came out was about the size of a small dog body. Mind you I don’t have abnormally large hands, but something disengaged in the brain, as it sometimes does, even with 2 brains working on it. Waste not, want not – I shall call it the first ever Dog Sweater Blocker! Apparently there isn’t much of a demand for dog sweater blocking, so if you have a particular penchant to blocking, these are still available.
Design Process Round #2 – Next I decided to measure some of my finished knitted mittens and use those for a template. This was a much better idea and resulted in an improved product. I like to add functionality to my designs. My thought process constantly revolves around form and function, so instead of cutting an arbitrary shape, why not have it be something useful, with added value.
Mitten Blocker - Design Phase 2
This blocker design includes WPI gauges for the thumbs, a metric and US knitting needle gauge as well as a diz for spinning! These were a great hit among knitters who also spin. After these were out for a bit, I had a request from a customer who loved them but would like a version to narrow the cuff, because in the blocking process, that part of the mitten was being stretched – Duh! Another brain failure. It makes you wonder how the design process of the car went through the years.
Mitten Blocker with Narrow Cuff
Not everyone needs or wants all the extra doo-dads that came with this design, so I streamlined it and made a version of the mitten blockers that just has WPI gauges in the thumbs.
Mitten Blocker Featured in Interweave Knits Magazine
To complete Grace’s request for both mitten blockers and gauntlet blockers, I created a much longer version. These are wonderful for blocking wrist warmers too.
Gauntlet & Wrist Warmer Blockers
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