With Jen away on the crochet cruise to Alaska, Kris and I feel a bit left out and thought you might be feeling that way, too. So Kris and I wanted to bring you a taste of Alaska, with pattern ideas we were inspired by from our trip last year. Last summer was a knitting cruise, so most of the patterns here are for knitting. (Sorry, crocheters)
First, we have Memories of Juneau by Melissa Highfill. It’s a free pattern available on Ravelry. It comes from Changing Tides in Juneau using locally hand-dyed yarns in colors inspired by totem poles. Kris loved this pattern and has knit it twice. This shawl is easily customizable using colors that inspire you, and you can even change the number of colors used if you so wish. This is an easy knit using fingering weight yarn. For the most color options, Cascade Heritage would work nice for this. I can see it done in greens and browns for PNW colors, or different shades of blues to mimic the ocean or a favorite lake, etc etc. Kris says this pattern is sweet, and perfect for trips!
From Untangled Yarn & Fiber in Ketchikan, we have Misty Fjords Fingerless Mitts by Deborah Simon. This one sells for $5 on Ravelry. It draws inspiration from the beautiful fjords in Alaska. They are made with a worsted weight yarn, citing Malabrigo Worsted as a good yarn to choose. Woolstok would be lovely for this, and I would be tempted to try Cascade Cantata yarn, a cotton yarn tube with merino wool blown into it. The cotton would make this a cooler yarn than an all-wool one.
In the shop Aurora Yarns of Alaska in Skagway we found specialty yarns like Qiviut (musk ox) and Arctic Fox, ridiculously soft yarns. These yarns are expensive because of the labor involved in gathering the fur to create them. Often the yarns are quite fine, and put up in small quantities to make them more affordable to purchase. Patterns utilizing these stunningly soft yarns were often small projects and whisper thin, such as Dew Scarf by Irene Lin which sells for $6 on Ravelry, or Røllike Kerchief by Fiber Tales (see below) selling for about $8.90. One could recreate the effect of these specialty yarns using Suri alpaca in lace weight, like in Saperlipopette.
From Untangled Yarn & Fiber in Ketchikan, we have Misty Fjords Fingerless Mitts by Deborah Simon. This one sells for $5 on Ravelry. It draws inspiration from the beautiful fjords in Alaska. They are made with a worsted weight yarn, citing Malabrigo Worsted as a good yarn to choose. Woolstok would be lovely for this, and I would be tempted to try Cascade Cantata yarn, a cotton yarn tube with merino wool blown into it. The cotton would make this a cooler yarn than an all-wool one.
In the shop Aurora Yarns of Alaska in Skagway we found specialty yarns like Qiviut (musk ox) and Arctic Fox, ridiculously soft yarns. These yarns are expensive because of the labor involved in gathering the fur to create them. Often the yarns are quite fine, and put up in small quantities to make them more affordable to purchase. Patterns utilizing these stunningly soft yarns were often small projects and whisper thin, such as Dew Scarf by Irene Lin which sells for $6 on Ravelry, or Røllike Kerchief by Fiber Tales (see below) selling for about $8.90. One could recreate the effect of these specialty yarns using Suri alpaca in lace weight, like in Saperlipopette.
The last stop on our cruise brought us to Victoria, British Columbia in Canada. Beehive Wool Shop had samples showing Craigdarroch Cowl by Beehive Wool Shop. The pattern sells for about $3.75. It uses two yarns held together, a DK weight, and a fuzzy lace weight yarn like a suri alpaca. The cowl was stunning, utilizing the two yarns in similar colors. For this cowl, I think Juniper Moon’s Rambouillet paired with Saperlipopette would be gorgeous. We have just a few of Saperlipopette available colors, but we can order in any available color that you would like.
Beehive Wool also showcased this free pattern - Pay It Forward by Nat Raedwulf, an asymmetrical triangle shawl using two colors in fingering weight yarn. Using 2 contrasting colors of Heather Ellis Art yarn would be very pretty for this fun shawl. In the sample we saw, the shawl was made with two different shades of the same color, but using two different colors so long as they contrast well is stunning, too. Hmm…. I just thought how beautiful it would be using Queensland Lapin yarn to give it a lovely fuzzy halo! I might have to try this.
I hope you enjoyed this small peek into what an Alaskan trip to yarn shops brought to us, and how we were inspired. Gorgeous yarns dyed with inspiration from the beautiful nature in this state made it difficult to pass them up! We may have come home with armloads of yarn, including a skein of hand-dyed yarn that was inspired by Tongass National Rainforest where we took a hiking excursion. A beautiful reminder of our time in Alaska. Alaska is indeed an awe-inspiring place. If you ever get a chance to see this beautiful state, I hope you go.
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