Yarn yarn yarn!

Have you been itching to get your hands on some of the lovely worsted yarn from Mrs. Crosby? Steamer Trunk is a smooth, soft, substantial yarn that I designed two sweaters with for Great Northern, and love so much. It's a workhorse yarn that feels luxurious and rich.

For a limited time, you can get free shipping on your Mrs. Crosby Steamer Trunk yarn order! Thanks to Gather DTLA, you can order some yarn and knit along with us on this sweater this fall. 

If you're in Los Angeles, come to the swatch party at Gather on Thursday, July 21st!

Which color combo of Steamer Trunk would you choose?

Take advantage of this offer through July 31st! 

Special Neon Logo Bag, now with More Yarn!

One of the wonderful things about my tendency towards stash hoarding is that I occasionally have more yarn in a certain dyelot than I think I do... this time you get to reap the benefits!

I found an additional skein of Mrs Crosby Steamer Trunk in Hot Pimento... meaning that the Special Neon Logo bag now contains:

bright neon happiness!

• 3 skeins of Mrs Crosby Steamer Trunk in Hot Pimento (reds)
• 2 skeins of Mrs Crosby Steamer Trunk in Squid Ink (blacks)
• 1 skein of Fancy Tiger Crafts Heirloom Romney in Hubbard (aqua)
• 1 Cascade Kid Seta Shawl kit (teal/aqua)
• 1 gorgeous handknit beanie made by designer Allyson Dykhuizen (featured in Knitscene--this ACTUAL hat sample!)

GOOD DEAL.

The yarn retail value ALONE in this bag is over $180. For $200, you also get the handknit hat, the one-of-a-kind Neon Logo Bag, and print book and ebook of Great Northern.

Look for this one-of-a-kind reward on our Kickstarter page at the $200 level!

Kickstarter Rewards: Handknit Mitts, Deluxe Yarn Bag and Special NEON Logo Bag!

More amazing rewards to entice you to support our Kickstarter! If you've already backed us (high five!), remember, you can change your pledge any time before the campaign ends on Oct. 9th. ;)

This is the good stuff, people.



First of all, these handknit (by WORK+SHELTER) handwarmers are pretty sweet. I've got a couple pairs of each color available up on the Kickstarter.

Blue pair is soft acrylic-- really nice, actually. Women's size S/M
Purple pair is supersoft wool. Women's size S/M
Red pair is supersoft wool. Child size M/L



Next, feast your eyes upon this Chic-a bag stuffed with gorgeous hand-dyed and specialty yarns (I'm calling this the Deluxe Yarn Bag:

In there, we have skeins from:

Alchemy (Silk Straw, 4 skeins already wound, color is Soft Turquoise)
Artisan Yarns (Alpaca Silk light worsted, 1 skein, color is Brick)
ArtYarns (Beaded Mohair w/ Sequins, 1 skein, color is 108s Purples)
Baah! (La Jolla, 1 skein color is Orchid yellow)
Baa Ram Ewe (dovestone dk, 1 skein, color is Parkin)
Bijou Basin (Bijou Spun, 1 skein, color is Lhasa Wilderness)
Lorna's Laces (Shepherd Sock, 1 skein, color is Miami)
Your Mom Knits (Lolo, 1 skein self striping sock yarn, green/gray)

All are 100g skeins except Art Yarns and Bijou Basin, which are 50g.

There are so many beauties in there!




And finally, there's this baby.

I painted 1 (one) neon bag.

The camera had a hard time capturing this vibrant beauty.
The triangle is neon red/orange!

Then I put some amazing yarn from the collection in there, plus a beautiful shawl kit PLUS a handknit hat. Oh my.

Yes, that's 4 skeins of Mrs. Crosby Steamer Trunk (in Squid Ink and Hot Pimento), a skein of Fancy Tiger Crafts Heirloom Romney, a Cascade Kid Seta Shawl kit (yarn + pattern), and the Lake Ontario Hat, handknit by Allyson Dykhuizen, the very same one that was featured in an issue of Knitscene!

I'm calling this the Special Neon Logo Bag, and again, there can only be one. May the best (probably) woman win.


Swing by the Kickstarter to pledge!

If you want to know more about Great Northern, visit our site. We're very excited to get this book printed and into your hands!

Great Northern: Even More Yarn Rewards!

Welp, you all are amazing, and have snapped up all the yarn we've offered. Thank you.

So, here's some more! Some of this is vintage, some is just good stuff. You can find all of these on our Kickstarter. Tell your friends before they're gone!



Malabrigo Mix (700g):
5 skeins Worsted (3 Dark Earth, 1 Cinnabar, 1 Vetiver)
1 skein Chunky (Jacinto)
1 skein Rios (Aguas)

Cascade 128 Superwash (800g):
2 skeins in four colors (8 skeins total!) Light Gray Heather, Medium Gray Heather, Charcoal Gray Heather, Bright Pink

Cascade 128 Tweed (700g):
3 skeins Turquoise blue Tweed, 4 skeins Navy blue Tweed

Sirdar Nova (500g):
5 balls of a gentle Oatmeal color. Thick, pretty and machine washable.

Berroco Artisan (150g):
Three skeins of this beautifully textured merino/silk blend. Color is 6007, a varied light/medium gray.

"Spring Mix" Lux skeins (250g):
2 skeins Mirasol Tupa (50 Merino/50 Silk) in pink, 2 skeins Shibui Linen in "apple" (yellow/green), 1 skein Jil Eaton Minnow Merino in yellow.

Classic Elite Lush (150g):
Three skeins of this 50/50 Angora/Wool blend that is heavenly soft. Color is 4492, a deep sky blue.

Peace Fleece (300+ g):
Three skeins (plus!) of this worsted weight yarn in color Father's Gray, a lovely tweedy heathered shade.

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (250g):
Three balls gray, one ball white, one ball black.

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (300g):
Six balls of super-soft yarn, color is 102, a cool khaki.

Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky (300g):
6 balls of lovely Robin's Egg blue (color 202) chunky softness.

Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky (300g):
6 balls of bright teal (color 203) yarn.

Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky (300g):

6 balls of soft khaki (color 102) yarn.

Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky (450g):

5 balls Black and 3 Navy in this soft chunky yarn.

Thank you so much for looking! Check the kickstarter to see what's still available!

Great Northern Kickstarter Rewards: Yarn Bundles, Part 2

Hey dudes! I am back from an island-camping trip with my family, to a place we used to go nearly every summer in WI. Growing up in Madison put us fairly close to some wonderful wilderness.

Oh, and I have some more lovely stash rewards for our upcoming Kickstarter, which starts this Wednesday, September 9th (link here) holycrap!!!

If you see something you want, I can make up a reward for you including the print book, ebook, and whatever else you want to bundle together. Email me at rubysubmarine (at) gmail (dot) com.

A general rule for our Kickstarter campaign will be that any item valued at $18 or up will include the ebook, $27 and up will include the print book and ebook.


Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky - Off white - 300g

Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky - Lavendar - 250g

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran - Olive (color 503) - 5 balls

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran - Gray/green (color 500) - 6 balls plus one of another dyelot (freebie!)

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran - Black (300) - 3 balls. Same dye lot.

Sign up for news about our Kickstarter here!

Great Northern Blog Tour!

Here's the schedule for the Great Northern Kickstarter Blog Tour! (Back the Kickstarter here)

Visit the different stops to learn more about the book, the yarns, the designs, and more.

• August 22: Blog Tour Kick off with Bridgeen Gillespie of Geen Geenie
• September 9: KICKSTARTER LAUNCH DAY with Canary Knits and Ruby Submarine
• September 10: Visit Rain City Knits to learn more about the yarn and pattern for one of the Log Lady inspired sweaters, Cherry Pie
• September 11: Cynttende
• September 15: Hands Occupied
• September 16: Emma Welford
• September 16: Ewe Ewe Yarns
• September 17: Visit Berroco to learn more about the three patterns being designed in their yarns
• September 18: DoogKnits
• September 21: Visit Knits in Class and read more about the yarn and design for the Maddy-inspired poncho
• September 22: Silly Little Lady
• September 22: Under the Red Umbrella
• September 23: Klever Knits
• September 24: Noir Knits
• September 25: Harrisville Designs
• September 28: SweetGeorgia Yarns
• September 29: My So-Called Handmade Life
• September 30: Carina Spencer
• October 1: Holly Chayes
• October 2: MediaPeruana
• October 6: Sweatshop of Love
• October 9: KICKSTARTER LAST DAY

Great Northern Kickstarter Rewards: Yarn Bundles, Part 1

Here are some of the vintage yarn rewards that will be available once our Kickstarter campaign launches on September 9th (edited-- here's the Kickstarter link!). I hand-picked it from sealed plastic containers, and it's all in pristine condition and really fun stuff!


Bright Turquoise Mohair- 360g of two bright turquoise shades.

Colinette- 4 skeins of vintage Colinette yarn. 400g

Mohair- 2 cobalt blue balls o' pristine vintage mohair yarn - 80g

Multi Mix- Colinette, sari silk, Knit One Purl Too, Cotton tape-- 450g of various funky, colorful, beautiful yarns.

Japanese Silk- 25 skeins of gorgeous golden yellow silk, it's all in perfect condition. I know nothing about this other than what it says on the label: "Pure Silk, made in Japan, 100% silk"

Each skein is about 32-38g each, making for an approximate total weight of 850g or so!

This is an amazing quantity of gorgeous vintage yarn. Just the labels alone are little works of art. The yarn has been kept in a plastic bag all it's life, from what I can tell. It's perfect.

Muted Turquoise Mohair -4 balls of pristine vintage mohair. 160g

There will be more, soon! Thanks for checking out these rewards. Make sure to sign up for our newsletter to be notified when these are available!

Great Northern: More amazing yarn support!

I recently got some very exciting packages in the mail. These two yarns will soon be sweaters for Great Northern!

Harrisville Highland

Fancy Tiger Crafts Heirloom Romney

Teresa has also recently posted some of her designs for the collection (two of them are finished!), and they are so beautiful! More sketches and photos are in the works.

To see all the fantastic yarn companies who have given us materials for this project, visit this ravelry thread.

A great day

Sometimes issues are very complex and messy, and sometimes they are simple. Humanity wins today. Love is love.

Testing pom pom techniques - Holla Knits Blog Tour

It's that time again... new pattern time! Meet Pom-A-Rama, the slippers with pom-tastic toes. I loved making these babies, and they inspired me to learn some new techniques to make these joyful embellishments.

For this stop on the Holla Knits Accessories 2014 Blog Tour, we're talking all things Pom pom.

Essentially, pom poms are tight bunches of yarn tied at the center and trimmed so they have a circular appearance. They can also be snipped into other shapes, such as these amazing fruit poms by mrprintables (there's a tutorial in the link!):

These pretty much blew my mind, and I've yet to try to make them. If you attempt some fruit pom poms, let me know how it goes!

A cool thing about pom poms is that you can make them all sorts of ways-- with or without a store-bought pom pom maker. I'm going to test out a few ways to make them, after poking around on Pinterest for ideas. In my previous pom-making attempts, I've used both the "cardboard donut" method and the plastic store-bought gizmo method. These are both good ways to do it, and have their little quirks and drawbacks like anything slightly fussy. As with anything yarn-related, yarn choice is very important to the outcome, as is keeping tension consistent when you're wrapping.

Let's try some other pom-making techniques!

1. Tiny Poms with a Fork

Technique here.

Why do I suddenly want noodles?

This was surprisingly simple. It felt easy to wind the yarn around a fork, and the tines provide a nice even place to slip the tying yarn through the middle. I had a little trouble cutting the yarn while it was on the fork, but then I looked at the directions again and she did NOT cut it on the fork... so. There you go.

Wee pom!

The resulting pom was a little oblong and required lots of trimming, but it's cute and worked pretty dang well.

2. Giant Pom with a Whole Ball of Yarn

Technique here.

I should have known this was going to be a disaster. Yarn choice is EVERYTHING when knitting and crocheting... and yet, I picked mohair to make this pom pom. Mohair. 

Let's learn from my mistakes, shall we?

Only halfway there, and that's enough

This technique requires you to sort of finger-comb the yarn out from the center and trim it until you have all the strands roughly even. My Mohair Monstrosity was so sticky and fuzzy that I could barely get my fingers through it. What followed was about 45 minutes of frantic pulling and frustrated laughing while I chopped at the fuzz.

I gave up after it became evident that the most I could hope for was a demented Tribble-esque creature. I got halfway through and decided it needed a face to reflect this hilarious epic fail. You're welcome, world!

I'm as surprised as you are, dude.

It should be said that this pom-tastrophe was 100% my fault, and does not reflect a problem with the technique. I want to try this again with a more appropriate yarn, but don't currently have a ball on hand that is this shape and not already spoken for.

3. Hand-Poms

Technique here.

My first thought was "this seems like a great way to cut off your circulation," but fortunately no fingers were severed in the making of this pom pom.

While at times it felt like I might need another hand to pull this off (PUN INTENDED), the pom came out pretty sweet. Getting the wrapped yarn off my fingers was a little tricky, as was tying the yarn evenly around it, but overall this is a pretty solid in-a-pinch method.

post-haircut -- not too shabby!

That's a wrap, folks. I hope you enjoyed this foray into the fuzzy world of pom pom making!

Pardon me while I go vacuum bits of mohair out of my everything.

--

Check out the Holla Knits Accessories 2014  collection, and the blog tour including some awesome giveaways!

Holla Knits Accessories 2014 Blog Tour Schedule:

Nov 4: The Sweatshop of Love

Nov 5: Ruby Submarine

Nov 6: Knits in Class - Pattern giveaway

Nov 7: Karen Whooley

Nov 10: WeaverKnits - Interview with Karida Collins of Neighborhood Fiber Company

Nov 11: Under the Red Umbrella - Cedar Glen Mitts kit giveaway

Nov 12: Patty Nance at the HK Blog - SEG: 2 Foliage Cowl WofA Bulky Blackberry Kits

Nov 13: Manos del Uruguay - Giveaway: Embrace Your Inner Pixie Kit

Nov 14: Neighborhood Fiber Company - Interview with Ann Weaver

Nov 17: KnittingKirigami - SEG: Embrace Your Inner Pixie KP Stroll Fingering Kit

Nov 18: Angry Knits - SEG: Wooly Mammoth Knit Picks Kit

Nov 19: Baah Yarn

Nov 20: Willow Yarns at the HK Blog - SEG: 2 Cedar Glen Mitts Daily kits

Nov 21: Lion Brand at the HK Blog - SEG: Foliage Cowl LB Kit