Do you mostly knit for yourself, or do most of your handknits end up being for someone else? I find that I mostly knit for myself these days. I’m not sure why. I decided pretty early on that if I was going to do gift knitting, it was going to go to someone who’d really appreciate the time and effort that went into it. (Like another knitter, or someone else who works with their hands.) The exception is knitting for babies. I haven’t had any babies to knit for, but when I do, it will be just for the fun of making those tiny cute outfits/socks/hats/whatever and it’s totally fine that the baby won’t know the difference between that and the storebought ones! Babies are the exception. (Now I just need to wait for some babies to appear in my life. Well, not in MY life, per se, but you know what I mean.)

Miss Violet emailed me yesterday to let me know about a special new concept in dyeing that she has come up with, and it started me thinking about knitting for others. She calls this line of hers “Intention Yarn” and here is what she had to say about it:

“As prayer-shawl knitters will tell you, there is a certain power in knitting something with meditative intention. There’s a whole school of thought that says that the love you’re feeling when you’re knitting something for someone can be felt when the recipient uses the item.

Lime & Violet’s Intention Yarns takes this concept one step further, attempting to start the process from the very dyeing of the yarn to be used in the project of your choice.

Intention Yarns are dyed using the same process as most hand-dyed or hand-painted yarns, with colors that are selected for a relevance and conveyance of the yarn’s purpose. During the last step, however, just before the skeins are steamed and the dye set, we write the word or phrase on the skein, like you see in the “love” photo.

The final knitted object doesn’t show much sign of the original word, but while knitting with these yarns, every so often, you come across a very small “spot” of the word, which serves as a mental reminder to refocus your attentions back on your wishes and prayers for the project. It’s very subtle, but effective as a reminder to keep your attention and intention on the recipient or focus of the project.”

We are so happy to be getting Miss Violet’s first batch of Intention Yarns here at The Loopy Ewe. (And in the future, you will only find them here and on her website.) This first batch will include 15 different colorways. They are: Peace, Balance, Love, Clarity, Strength, Connection, Healing, Patience, Joy, Faith, Hope (shown at the top of the page), Fertility, Perserverence, Courage, and Creative Inspiration (shown here).

She also says, “The colors will remain constant (but handpainted, expect a few variances between skeins and dye lots), with one exception: Creative Inspiration is different every time, an explosion of colors on a white base, to simulate the creative process.”

Watch for this yarn to arrive and go up on the website in about 2 weeks. We think it’s a very special idea and we know you’ll like it for knitting beautiful things for those you love.

Now we have some prizes to give away! Y’all outdid yourselves in the comments section from last Friday – woohoo! We have loved every comment that you left and we’re going to go back to them whenever we have a bad day! (Not that we have many bad days. But I’m a little concerned that several of you mentioned we ought to avoid “The Terrible Twos” stage. We hope to do just that.) For this contest, we had over 1600 comments, so we’re giving away prizes to 16 different people! Each prize package includes one skein of Wollmeise, one skein of yarn from another one of our awesome indie dyers, one Loopy Red Canvas Sock Bag, one sock pattern, and one Loopy Ewe pin for your knitting bag. We hope you love it! The packages are going out to these 16 randomly drawn people: Julie-Ann in Jamaica, Theo in OR, Teri in VA, Kirstie in Canada, Debbie in WA, Cathy in VA, Erin in MN, Nancy in IA, Liz in IL, Adina in OR, Heather in OH, Janet in CA, Karin in NC, Michelle in IL, Tammy in CA, and Sheryl in VA. All of the winners have been sent an email, so if you’re wondering if it’s YOU, check your in-box!

So – do you knit more for yourself or more for others? We’re curious!

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