Apache Plume

Hello Friends!

I always apologize for not writing as often as I should. The fact of the matter is my life is complicated, more specifically, my health. If you've been following me for any length of time, you know this. I will make more effort to attend to this page more often. 

In any event, I finished up a new shawl! It was a collaboration with Desert Bloom Yarns of Arizona. I finished up the shawl just before going to the Edinburgh Yarn Festival in Scotland and never wrote about it. I want to take this time to show you the new shawl and absolutely RAVE about the yarn I used! 

There is a time and place for every kind of yarn. Lace, fingering, sport, DK, worsted, and bulky. Break that down even further to the particular fiber blends in each of these and the possibilities seem endless. For all my shawls for years now I have been using fingering weight yarn. I enjoy working with all types of fiber blends and like I say, there are better uses for some depending on what you making and the outcome you are looking for. For this shawl collaboration, I used something special. My current favorite fiber blend is baby alpaca, silk and cashmere. And in fingering weight it can be hard to find. Certainly at an affordable price. I know of several dyers who carry this blend but at a hefty price.

I started following Desert Bloom Yarns on Instagram some time ago, their yarns are AMAZING. The colorways are beautiful. Then I discovered they carried this alpaca/silk/cashmere blend in fingering and DK weights! The base is called "Lush" and it is truly sublime! I contacted DBY and asked if they would possibly be interested in a collaboration. The response from them was wonderful. Once we decided we would work together, I knew I wanted to work with this dreamy, drapey and heavenly soft yarn they had. It would be so great for the shawl I was making. The cool thing about getting yarn from DBY, you can choose whether or not you want your yarn to be solid in color or tonal. I think that an awesome thing to offer customers! All of their yarns are named after plants, flora, and cacti that grow in the Sonoran Desert which I also love. 

I chose two coordinating tonal colors to work with and got down to business. Without further ado, here is Apache Plume!

Both of these colors represent the Apache Plume. When it blooms in the spring (and sometimes in fall) the pink, silky -plumed seed heads develop and cover the tips of the branches for several months. The Apache Plume flowers are made of beautiful white petals. I felt a more neutral color would represent this best. I live in the New Mexico desert and I have an Apache Plume in my garden and its one of my favorites! I love this shawl! 

I finished this shawl within a week or so of my trip to Scotland. I really wanted to finish this shawl so I could take it with me as advertisement for my shop.I will write about my Scotland trip in the coming days...that's a separate adventure altogether! 

Working with Desert Bloom Yarns was a wonderful experience and I highly recommend you try their yarns! She has what seems like a million different colorways to choose from. If you are not familiar with them, you can visit them here!

I would have had this post up sooner but I have been so sick. I was sick before the Scotland trip, after the Scotland trip and am currently still sick. LOL. I will be back soon to tell you all about my Scotland trip and I will give you a sneak peek of my upcoming design too! 

Until next time...Knit On!

PS... I have no idea why the print in this post is two different colors. I tried to fix it but alas, here we are!