Bétula

Sally finished up her gorgeous Bétula shawl, and now we all want to make one (or are already making one). I love how the knitted fabric looks like birch bark, especially in this colorway.

Three skeins of Retrosaria Beiroa makes an ample wrap, so Sally is all set for winter! She reported that the yarn blooms like none other, and softens up a great deal. Wool is so cool.

Pic borrowed from Rav project page.

Now, which color do I need? I'm wondering if a dirty pink is the right choice. This one is kind of blowing my mind.

Eye Candy

New shades of Beiroa from Retrosaria. And these new labels are perfect.

Vovó

The newest from Retrosaria is on the shelves! Vovó is a stunning sport weight wool in some lovely shades. How do they make it shiny? I don't know but I love it!

My favorites are this beautiful red and this green.

What would you call this one? Barn red? Crimson? Ruby? 

How about the green? Moss? Forest? Army? I suppose the names don't matter.

Pic borrowed from Rav pattern page.

This hard-wearing yarn would be fabulous for mittens or gloves. How about the Fiddlehead Mittens? This pattern has been around since 2008 and has over 3,500 projects on Ravelry. Seems legit.

Pic borrowed from Rav pattern page.

There are so many gorgeous colorwork sweaters out there in sport weight. The world is your oyster on that front. How about The twigs? I had forgotten that this one was a sport weight. Now I can only imagine it in Vovó.

Bouquet Sweater

Pic borrowed from Rav pattern page.

Have you all seen the Bouquet Sweater from Junko Okamoto? It uses some really unusual colorwork to create a brocade-like fabric. I would not have thought that a marled yarn and this kind of colorwork would play nicely together, but look at this gorgeous detail!

Pic borrowed from Rav pattern page.

I think the newest Retrosaria Brusca would be perfect for this, and I even chose a few color combos for you. I think any of these rust to orange ones would be amazing.

And these three are pretty great, too. That pink is stunning in real life...rich and tweedy and textured. You should pop in to see it.

This sweater seems to be all over Ravelry. Are you thinking about a Bouquet, too? I would definitely take a look at Ravelry for some inspiration. The sweater looks so different depending on the yarns and colors you choose. What a fun project!

Retrosaria Beiroa

 

The Retrosaria Yarn keeps arriving in huge, shrink-wrapped bundles from Portugal, and we are so excited every time! The latest batch brought us this gorgeous Beiroa.

This is a light worsted weight, single-ply wool in the most stunning subtle-grey rainbow. The dark grey streaks add so much depth to this yarn, and I LOVE what they do to the base colors, especially the neon green and the red.

This yarn reminds me a bit of a yarn we used to carry form Manos del Uruguay, and I love the Destroyed Cowl I made using that yarn. 

I poked around a bit and found the Bétula shawl, written for this yarn and absolutely perfect for showing off those dark grey streaks. Bétula means birch in Portuguese, and the finished knit really does look like birch bark.

Pic borrowed from Rav pattern page.

The pattern calls for four skeins which makes a very ample shawl, but I'm noticing that many Ravelers have used three and still made a perfect thing. There is some cool short-row shaping that adds a little length to make it stay put when you wear it.

Every package we receive from Portugal has been such an inspiring treat. I can't wait to see what's in the next one!

Retrosaria João

The new yarns from Portuguese yarn company Retrosaria are just lovely. The weirdly adorable label on João caught my attention right away. What can we make with this lovely singly ply Merino? Ravelry to the rescue with inspiration!

Pic borrowed from rosapmar's Rav project page.

These baby pants (free pattern) are part of the reason we have this yarn in the first place, so let's start there. I know it's not machine washable, but these are too cute to pass up. Now I need to find a baby who needs pants.

Pic borrowed from Orlane's Rav pattern page.

Several knitters have made the Arnica Baby Cardigan to great success. So many cool color combos!

Pic borrowed from tanaiho's Rav project page.

I love the Fidra hat, and some smart knitter used João doubled to make this bright and cheerful version. (I'm noticing a blue and yellow theme here...)

Pic borrowed from Rav pattern page.

Do you have a need for unusual colorwork? These Isabel Mittens look like fun! I love that the tops and bottoms are different colors. Take a peek at all of the sweet color combos (the pink ones in particular).

Pic borrowed from fmf's Rav project page.

This beautiful wrap has been haunting my dreams lately. The knitter gives a basic pattern on her Ravelry project page, and all of that stockinette looks like therapy to my tired brain. Just seven skeins of João and some patience and this could be mine. I would need to choose the right color combination though. Maybe white with the navy blue? Or white with the grass green? Or white with the gold?

We have these fabulous shades in the shop now, and I think there is more on the way. Have you caught the Retrosaria bug yet? I think it's got me.

Eye Candy

Cute project bags to go with our Retrosaria yarn!

Eye Candy

How about a little Retrosaria eye candy this morning? More to come on this yarn soon!