Stranded In Oz » Tofutsies

the yarn that was and will be…

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:55:21 +0000

Hello and thank you to the amazing knitters who came by to say hello, fondle, and sometimes purchase, a hank or ball or two of SIOz yarn to knit this summer. The dust is slowly settling here at SIOz Central.

Thank you also to Jonelle and Jonette at SWTC for making the SWTC selection what it is — fabulous! The hanks of Jazz and cones of String Me Along are loaded onto the webshop again. And the Tofutsies selection was nice and varied, a colour for every knitter. The Tofutsies is loaded online as well in all its glory.

Inventory must be taken. The webshop must be restocked. The orders must be mailed. And the deadlines must be met. Usual stuff.

Here’s a piccie of the display at the Adelaide Craft and Quilt Fair last weekend.

Stranded In Oz at Adelaide C & Q Fair Nov

If you missed out on a colour or type of yarn, please feel free to inquire via email or ring 08 8341 0213.

Here are some of the yarns that are on the next dye runs:

Shadow Kin Ltd Edition Sock (thank you for your enthusiasm) Interested in urban fantasy fiction? Check out the book, Shadow Kin by M.J. Scott.

Shadow Kin by MJ Scott

Yes, the colourway Shadow Kin is the cover colours — and darn it — I didn’t stash a hank of the first run. A few hanks of Sunmage (far right) are on the webshop now. Mmmmm. Premium sock yarn!

Shadow Kin Ltd Ed Sock

Banjara Quilt –4ply

Around the Campfire – 4ply

Banjara Quilt and Around the Campfire

I’ve painted both Banjara and Campfire a lot this past winter. These colours hadn’t been in my repertoire for 2 years or so — on a whim I took them out of retirement. Thank you for the thumbs up for both.

Surprise hit of the show? Night at Timberlake (hank on the far left of photo below:

Merino 3 from Stranded In Oz

For those of you who are new to SIOz yarns, I tend to name my yarn colours after places. Timberlake is the name of the place where I spent a few summers at camp (a peculiar American tradition where parents send their kids off to be eaten by mozzies and served revolting food). Camp Timberlake will forever be etched into my memory as the place where I lived with a fair dinkum dunny for 2 weeks. Apologies, but I may have written about this previously. The scars run deep.

I plan the colours, then paint them based on the formula I’ve worked out for the colourway. Other times, I just go with whatever strikes my fancy — usually when I am using up dye at the end of a day — to not waste dye and water. Those I call wild mixes and they’re def. not repeatable colourways.

Knit, spin, and crochet in good health and happiness.

Back to the workpiles. Melissa

Thank you and New Year Knitting

admin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:11:00 +0000

Thank you to everyone who came by the market on Sunday. It was a lovely day at the Port — plenty of people taking advantage of the dolphin boat tours and the Maritime Museum.

There will be some new silk shawls and scarves for the weekend as the dye lots come through (see previous recent posts).

Summer Sock Knitting:

Tofutsies on special until the end of the month of Jan: $20.00AU per ball. There are lots of new colours, including the Harvest Sock and Bees Knees (blues/grays). If you haven’t tried Tofutsies, don’t take my word for it – this yarn is the perfect sock yarn for Australian weather — a touch of soy, cotton, wool, and Chitin — it’s cool in summer and just warm enough for our winters. Most of the new colourways are semi-solids and variegateds, so not so many self-stripers, which makes it ideal for baby’s clothes and light-weight garments.

Awaiting:

New Stock of yarns, including tree pulp (a sustainable viscose) and linen blend, some lovely alpaca/silk laceweight, and assorted other gorgous, lighter-weight yarns that will head to the dyeworks upon arrival.

Colours slated for this week:

Banana Palm Silks in blues, reds, copper, and the popular Machine Gun (kinda charcoal, metalic tinge, v. punk).

New Lace Merino and Pure Alpaca

I’ll be updating with photos later in the week.

CU at the Port.

Thank you and New Year Knitting

admin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:11:00 +0000

Thank you to everyone who came by the market on Sunday. It was a lovely day at the Port — plenty of people taking advantage of the dolphin boat tours and the Maritime Museum.

There will be some new silk shawls and scarves for the weekend as the dye lots come through (see previous recent posts).

Summer Sock Knitting:

Awaiting:

Colours slated for this week:

Banana Palm Silks in blues, reds, copper, and the popular Machine Gun (kinda charcoal, metalic tinge, v. punk).

New Lace Merino and Pure Alpaca

I’ll be updating with photos later in the week.

CU at the Port.

Stash Sale Trois

admin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:20:00 +0000

Even with the outrageously cold conditions (hail!) the Stash Sale is going great guns. If you want to snag a yarn bargain, come on up to the Port and say hello! The hot coffee vendor was especially popular yesterday.

In the Stash Bin this week: all yarns on clearance are AT LEAST 50% off retail, some even cheaper

Jo Sharp mohair — priced too cheap to mention
more sock yarn — fine quality Italian sock yarns in solids
more ****picks lace yarns — still a few nice colours left
excellent quality acrylic chenille — not the cheesy stuff, but nice, plush stuff great for blankies
and scarves
Cherry Tree Hill — the pile is greatly depleated, but still a few nice sock yarn (wool as well as alpaca) hanks left.
====

From the dyeworks this week:
More Impressionist sock yarns — this lot is predominantly blues and deeper tones — there are still some green/blues left (not much)
A few hand-painted florals in reds, blues, greens

The Hemp and Wool Think Global and Greens/Oranges/Browns with Gray are dry!

And…

The big lots of laceweight are ready for sale.

TOFUTSIES: Replenished selection of colours in now, so be sure to stop by and grab the balls you want for summer sock knitting. I will be happy to put aside your colour for online sales — email strandedinoz AT gmail DOT com and I’ll arrange your order today.

Knit something nice today!
mel, still stranded

Stash Sale Trois

admin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:20:00 +0000

In the Stash Bin this week: all yarns on clearance are AT LEAST 50% off retail, some even cheaper

The Hemp and Wool Think Global and Greens/Oranges/Browns with Gray are dry!

And…

The big lots of laceweight are ready for sale.

Knit something nice today!
mel, still stranded

Tofutsies Fever – Sock Knitting in Adelaide

admin — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:21:00 +0000

While the sock-knitting craze has been going for a few years now, there seems no let-up in sock knitting interest around Adelaide. Of course, this is a GOOD THING.

There have been years I’ve been a rather lonely sock knitter — and put up with a lot of ribbing *chortle* for making ‘em — “what would you do that for?”

This month, I’m featuring an Easy Peasy Sock Pattern — buy a ball of sock yarn, get the Easy Peasy. In addition, I’ve been allotted new spaces in the Tofutsies Sock Club. While we played catch up and got December in Jan, February’s is here spot on time. It’s called Hugs and Kisses and is so darned cute, I’ve started one already. I won’t illustrate with a teaser photo here, as you have to subscribe to the club to see the real deal. No fair peeking.

Here’s the funny part: the colourway is… Port Power coloured. I kid you not. So, if there are any die-hard Crows supporters… make a pair for a rival-lovin’ friend. GO THE SOCK KNITTING POWAH!

A big thank you to the customer who purchased the latest version of the soy vest. It looked so perfect. Wear it in good health!

And to all the women who came by to say hello, have a chat, pat the yarn, check out new designs – thank you. You make Sundays really great.

Mel, Still Stranded In Oz

Tofutsies Fever – Sock Knitting in Adelaide

admin — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:21:00 +0000

While the sock-knitting craze has been going for a few years now, there seems no let-up in sock knitting interest around Adelaide. Of course, this is a GOOD THING.

There have been years I’ve been a rather lonely sock knitter — and put up with a lot of ribbing *chortle* for making ‘em — “what would you do that for?”

Here’s the funny part: the colourway is… Port Power coloured. I kid you not. So, if there are any die-hard Crows supporters… make a pair for a rival-lovin’ friend. GO THE SOCK KNITTING POWAH!

A big thank you to the customer who purchased the latest version of the soy vest. It looked so perfect. Wear it in good health!

And to all the women who came by to say hello, have a chat, pat the yarn, check out new designs – thank you. You make Sundays really great.

Mel, Still Stranded In Oz

Parting with the Hand-Dyed Yarn

admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:35:00 +0000

It was a fab Sunday, though I’m sure most of the shoppers were down in Rundle Street waiting for the Tour Down Under.

Not to worry, as intrepid knitters found their way to my market tables and did some damage to the 2ply yarns. I sometimes hate to part with a particular hank — and then I remember… I can make MORE! Well, most of the time. Oftentimes, I have dyed something truly unique and rare, like the blues/greens single-ply handpainted laceweight alpaca that was snatched from the table. Yup, the one at the left-hand side of the photo. Can’t wait to see what gets knitted up.

Pictured are also some boldly-coloured cottons and viscose yarns. I mix my colours myself and am enamoured at the moment with the purple I’ve been mixing. I’m aiming for the perfect Phantom purple.

The hank that almost didn’t go on the table is some reclaimed wool-blend machine yarn that dyed up just the way I wanted: pale salmony pink, seaweedy green, and seaweedy purple. Yes, it left on Sunday. But I just had to dye some more — and it’s just as lovely.

I’ve just received the new Tofutsies sock club colour for Feb. It’s a CORKER! Stay tuned for more re Tofutsies.

Merino Laceweight: replacement stock. This weeks are pinks/golds/purples/silver. 100grams enough for an ample triangular shawl project.

Parting with the Hand-Dyed Yarn

admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:35:00 +0000

It was a fab Sunday, though I’m sure most of the shoppers were down in Rundle Street waiting for the Tour Down Under.

I’ve just received the new Tofutsies sock club colour for Feb. It’s a CORKER! Stay tuned for more re Tofutsies.

Merino Laceweight: replacement stock. This weeks are pinks/golds/purples/silver. 100grams enough for an ample triangular shawl project.

Artwear Out There

admin — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:06:00 +0000

Thank you to everyone who came by on Sunday. It was lovely to meet you all, especially the out-of-towners. Look out for SIO artwear vests in Brisbane, as that is the place where people are wearing ‘em. I had to say goodbye to Fairy Floss (see prev. post) — this was hard to do, as I was quite attached to it.

Due to the popularity of watermelon-coloured lace yarn, I’ve dyed up a few more. (at the top o’ the heap above) It’s 2ply merino and enough for a decent-sized shawl. Doubled, it would make kickin’ socks or a scarf.

The Tofutsies sock-clubbers are into their beautiful purple/blue sock yarn and groovy pattern from Deb Lake, the resident sock designer at SWTC. The next month’s allotment is for Feb. Please visit the Market or email me for purchase.

In the yarn basket at the moment: gothy, slick, funky all black sari silk. It shimmers in an almost metalic way. Great for making jewelery, tassles, embellishments of all kinds.

Should be a great Sunday this weekend, what with the cricket and the Tour Down Under. Get to the market early and have a coffee and a chat.

Happy Knitting. Melissa