New Yarn Alert: Malabrigo Ultimate Sock!

It finally happened: Malabrigo has a true sock yarn! Meet Malabrigo Ultimate Sock!

Malabrigo Sock has long been one of my favorite yarns, with it’s gorgeous merino wool, tight twist and stunning hand-dyed colors. I’ve used it for dozens of shawls, sweaters, and accessories - but when it comes to knitting socks, merino wool really needs a bit of nylon to reinforce it. So imagine my excitement when Malabrigo announced Ultimate Sock, their new line of 75% superwash merino, 25% nylon sock yarn! It’s just as soft and crisp as the original Malabrigo Sock, but now with the perfect bit of reinforcement for hard-wearing socks.

Their tonal colorways are as beautiful as always, and they are perfect for showing off textured stitches. The kettle dyed colors enhance the stitchwork, rather than competing with it as heavily variegated colorways do. I’ve picked out some gorgeous sock patterns to show off Ultimate Sock, pick a favorite color (or three) and cast on some socks! They’ll be ready in time for the first cold snap.

Beachcomber Socks

Bear Mountain Socks

Ipomoea Socks

Almina Socks

Peregrin Socks

70s Socks

Snapshots from Stitching on the Wharf!

Over Memorial Day weekend, we had our first Stitching on the Wharf of the year! Sunshine + knitting with friends + waterfront makes for a really lovely day. The weather was absolutely perfect, and folks came from as far as Western Massachusetts to knit with us.

The original Stitching on the Wharf cover photo!

Antigone’s “Nevasca shawl pose” photo as she called it. Thanks Antigone for sharing!

Join us for an upcoming Stitching on the Wharf!

June 26th

July 31st

August 28th

September 25th

A Fun Warm Weather Knitting Trick!

I love to knit big wooly projects all year. I like to think of it as spending my summer knitting myself gifts for when the weather gets dark and cold. So naturally I have two big cozy sweaters on my needles and I’m planning a third despite the increasing daily temperatures. The best part about this trick? You probably already have everything that you need for it! Just grab a large mixing bowl and plop your project into it. and get that sticky wool off your lap!

I really like this bowl with an extra rounded base because it tilts in my lap nicely and swivels well. The metal material is smooth and cool and won’t break if I drop it. This trick is my favorite for sleeves at any time of the year! Or anytime my project is bulky and needs to turn a lot.

A Casual Tuesday in Salem

My love for Salem is no secret. I dreamed of living in the Witch City ever since I was a budding little teenage witchling back in Brazil, and now after 13 years of living here, I still fall in love with Salem every day.

Jacob and I have a routing for podcast recording days: we meet at the shop, record our episode, then go for a walk and have lunch. So here’s a behind the scenes look at our afternoon after recording Episode 14 of From Salem with Love!

Our special hangout spot is the Garden at the Ropes Mansion, which makes for a beautiful walk across town from the waterfront. We strolled down the pedestrian mall and got to peek at this new art installation by the Peabody Essex Museum. Artist Konstantin Dimopoulos installed these as part of Earth Day, along with similar installations around the world to bring attention to trees in our surroundings and foster a conversation on deforestation.

View down the Pedestrian Mall at Essex Street

Along the way is Lappin Park, a small park right in the heart of Salem, home to an adorable Little Free Library and the ever-controversial Bewitched Statue (remember that time the city hired us to dress up Samantha and someone called the cops on us?)

Note all the tourists gathering around the Samantha statue!

We picked up some lunch to go at The Juicery, which opened its Salem location just a couple of years ago. It was actually my first time there! Salem has lots of amazing places to eat, and I admit I haven’t tried all of them yet. I ordered the Dragon Berry Bowl and it’s deceptively large!

With our goodies in hand, we walked on to the Ropes Mansion, passing the much loved Witch House on the way (the official name is the Jonathan Corwin house, but nobody calls it that). I take a picture pretty much every time I pass it. The Ropes Mansion was famously used as the character Allison’s house in the movie Hocus Pocus (which they screen every October in Salem Common, one of my favorite fall activities).

It’s early in the season, so the flowers haven’t grown in yet. Stay tuned for more photos later in the summer!

We enjoyed our lunch on a bench at the garden, and said hello to passing dogs. Afterwards, I walked Jacob home, down the Pedestrian Mall again and passing the Salem Common on the way.

I hope you’ve enjoyed joining us for our afternoon in our beloved Witch City!

Wool for Gardening

Planning a garden this year? I just learned about the existence of wool pellets. Wool pellets are made from the wool that is rejected during the scouring process, which is then compressed into pellets for gardening. This wool is considered too dirty to clean and would otherwise be thrown away, burned, or composted. This means that your yarn could be zero waste one day!

I learned about wool pellets from Clara Parks’ podcast Voices in Wool. In episode 7 she interviews Anna Hunter, a Canadian sheep farmer who discusses the struggles of wool processing in North America. Wool pellets are not yet available in Canada and they are a newer product in the USA. They are not widely available yet, but they sound so promising that I hope they catch on! You can find them in small quantities online for purchase. I really recommend listening to the episode if you’d like to learn more about the value wool pellets have!  

Benefits of wool pellets to your garden:

• Wool holds onto water. The wool wicks away excess water to help your plants get the water they need at a healthy pace, and holds extra water meaning you can reduce how frequently you’re watering your plants up to 25%!

• Helps with soil aeration. When the wool soaks up the water it expands allowing for better aeration and extra oxygen in the soil. This helps your plants’ roots spread and grow stronger!

• Natural fertilizer. Since this wool is made from 100% raw wool that often has manure stuck to it these wool pellets act as a great slow release fertilizer for the season. They are full of the nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, iron and sulfur that plants need to grow strong and healthy. 

• Repel slugs and snails. When placed around the base of a plant these pellets felt and make a rough surface that slugs and snails avoid. 

• Great for container gardening and inground gardening.

• Wool pellets are all natural, organic, sustainable and renewable!