Foula Wool

Have you heard of Foula wool yet? If you're a knitter like me (here's where I fully admit that I am a decent knitter, but by no means experienced!), you've probably heard of the Scottish woman Kate Davies and her wonderful patterns. You've probably also lusted after her life - she just moved into a beautiful home near a loch and the West Highland Way. I'm jealous! But I digress...

She recently wrote about Foula wool, and I was immediately intrigued. When I was younger, I had the warmest, softest Shetland sweater. It was one of my favorite things! Foula is the most isolated of the Shetland islands, and known for its flocks of sheep. They are the closest match to the native Shetland sheep, preserved in many natural color varieties by shepherds over the centuries. The colors you see here? They're natural - not dyed! The black version is shown above.

Here's a beautiful fawn version, and other shades of brown are available. Magnus and Justyna only recently started making Shetland wool from their own and other flocks on the island. Here's hoping demand makes much more yarn available, as pretty much everything in their wool shop has already sold out! Kate Davies made two patterns using their wool - one for a hat, one for a tea cosy - that you can order.

Here's a lovely gray variety. This is one that I bought a ball of. I couldn't resist the color - it reminds me of the sea on a rainy day, or rocks along a shoreline. Now I just have to decide what to knit up with it!

Find out more about Foula Wool Shop here.

Knit Pumpkins for October, Halloween, and Thanksgiving

When you live in a small city apartment with not enough closets for storage, you need versatile seasonal decor. I made these easy knitted pumpkins because I knew I could use them for both Halloween *and* Thanksgiving! That's also why I used brown and yellow-brown yarns. I thought orange might be too Halloween-y, while browns could work for both October and November.

I loosely followed the directions for these knitted pumpkins. Scroll down and read the comments before you knit - helpful amendments have been added there! I made the two bottom pumpkins shown here using those directions, but varied my needle and yarn sizes. The larger pumpkin was made on larger needles, and I did 55 stitches across and I think about 30 rows.

I didn't have the right tools for the stems shown in the tutorial, so I cut about 6 - 10 pieces of yarn (depending on my pumpkin size) all the same length. Then I knotted them at the bottom to form a sort of tassel, trimmed the yarn beneath the knot, and then glued the "stem" onto the pumpkins with tacky glue. 

I'm debating whether or not to add veins like the original tutorial does. I think I like them as is so far!