Thursday 28 August 2014

Shibui Mix Party

It's been a busy winter here at Woolarium, and we finished it off in style by hosting a Shibui Mix party. There was mulled wine and beautiful homemade dips. There was a brilliant talk by Kirsten Johnstone. And there was yarn for our lucky attendees to play with - lots and lots of gorgeous Shibui yarn!

Shibui Party #2


Shibui Knits is a yarn company based in Portland, Oregon. They produce the most incredible yarns, each carefully developed according to their design philosophy - 'elegant with a touch of bitterness', which is what the word shibui means in Japanese.

Singularly captivating on their own, the yarns can also be combined together to create stunningly beautiful knit pieces. During our 'mix' party we provided each guest with samples of different Shibui yarn, and our happy party of knitters had enormous fun creating their own mixes. Linen with Silk Cloud? Why not? How about Merino Alpaca with Pebble? The possibilities for creating beauty are endless.

Shibui Party #4

But as if knitting with gorgeous yarn wasn't fun enough, we also had a fascinating and illuminating talk by Kirsten Johnstone. Kirsten runs her own knitting pattern label, Assemblage, and has also designed for Shibui (Trapezoid, Aperture and Blur are some lovely examples of her work).

Shibui Party #3

Kirsten's talk covered everything, from how she began knitting, to designing her own knits, to collaborating with Shibui. She shared her incredible knowledge of the yarns and their characteristics, and explained her design processes, before wowing the crowd with her samples. If we weren't inspired by knitting with Shibui yarns before then, we certainly were after her presentation!

The evening was a hit, and thoroughly enjoyed by all who came. Each guest got to take home a sample of each of the yarns provided, plus a 'Mix Cheat Sheet' which detailed the properties of each yarn, and the resulting gauges when combined. Perfect for all of the 'mix' projects we're sure to be seeing in the near future.

Here at Woolarium we have a huge range of Shibui yarns, with colour palettes ranging from perfect neutrals to deep jewel shades. We'd love to see you in store to see this fabulous yarn for yourself, and keep your eye on the blog and the newsletter for more parties and events. In fact, we have a very special party happening very soon...!

In the meantime, feel free to drool over this picture of Shibui yarns, all in the Tar colourway. From left to right: Pebble, Cima, Baby Alpaca, Linen, Silk Cloud and Merino Alpaca. You can view all the Shibui yarns and colourways on our Shibui page.

Shibui Party #1