Capturing the Autumn :: Knitting ::

Happy Thursday everyone! Thank you so much for the support and messages you have sent me since Tuesday morning. I read every single one of them, and they all touched me. We are all trying to cope in different ways. We are very lucky that Baby MiH has carried on with nursery and has great friends there, so he is happy to go without too many questions. I scheduled my blog posts, so actually October is sorted, so I have some sort of focus. It is all trivial, and at the same time it has become of the utmost importance to find a new routine. I always believed in the healing powers of crafting - I need them to operate just a tiny bit of magic, like now. 

Mindless knitting is great - especially in the round. This hat is exactly that, and I don't often make 3 hats off the same (free) pattern (blogged here and here), so I highly recommend that you have it in our Ravelry library (have you added it yet?). 

I do not often knit with variegated yarn. When I was looking for a project for this skein of Silk Blend Manos del Uruguay, I always went back to stockinette, because it shows off the colours best - and equally I found myself really boring for not trying to knit fancy patterns. I am glad I went for stockinette, because this truly shows the depth of the colours of the yarn - it is like having Autumn in a skein. 

As you can see, comparing my first version and this version, I seemed to have modified the pattern, but this was not done on purpose. I probably mixed the inches and centimetres. I prefer the first version that stuck to the instructions. But this last version let me knit more of this skein. 

Pattern: Mock Rib Watch Cap (free pattern on Ravelry)

Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend in Gracia (I reviewed the ethics of the yarn here)

Modification: Added a pompom. using a pompom maker (reviewed here)

And now for the giveaway winner - it number 31, a new blog follower - Lindsey! Lindsey I tried to contact you, just email me your address! 

Yarn with Attitude :: Manos del Uruguay :: [GIVEAWAY]

Hello Everyone! Happy Equinox and more importantly let the knitting season truly begin! And I have just the yarn brand for you and your ethical stash - Manos del Uruguay. I am sure you heard of the brand, but have you ever knitted with it? I had not. And although I was on a stash diet, I added some skeins to my current stash - oops but I am weak when it comes to test ethical yarns. I started knitted the variegated brown skein shown in my pictures - the perfect autumnal colourway, don't you think? And it knits beautifully, I hope it will look great on me too, brown is my colour apparently, but I don't wear it that often. Also I am never sure what to make with variegated yarn - Manos del Uruguay also has some block colours as well (which I may have 'accidentally' also added to my stash). 

There are different elements that makes yarn special from an ethical point of view, and supporting and empowering communities is a key aspect for me. Manos has, as a non-profit social organization, provided jobs for craftswomen living in Uruguay rural areas since 1968. And during 2009, and after a comprehensice evaluation process, Manos del Uruguay was accepted as a member of the World Fair Trade Organization. This acknowledges Manos del Uruguay mission of eradicating poverty through sustainable economic growth, enabling craftspeople to improve the quality of their craft products, so that, in this way, they can continue their personal development.

This video will probably make you understand why I see a lot of Manos del Uruguay yarn in my future only ethical stash. 

 What the website did not cover was the animal welfare aspect. So I contacted Manos and asked the question, and was very pleased with the response I got. Manos sources their yarns mainly locally and also from foreign sources. In Uruguay the sheep are bred in large cattle ranches, at open air, gazing from natural pastures. There is no mulessing in Uruguay. Manos buys their alpaca yarns in Peru from a well know and responsible Company based in Areuipa. A small part of their yarns is spun in China from South American wool. The silk they use is tussah (a more ethical way to collect cocoons) imported from India. So a lot of care has gone into getting the yarn as well.

What a great option to have, there are many yarn weights to choose from as well. I am knitting the silk blend, but have also some Maxima in my stash, and hopefully will be able to start knitting it soon (just need to finish this cardigan). 

But what would you be knitting should you win the above skein of Manos Silk Blend? Let me know in the comment box for a chance to enter this giveaway. 

Followers have another chance to enter the giveaway (let me know how you follow my blog in a separate comment). 

(There might be another skein given away on instagram as well...)

The giveaway ends Wednesday 7 October at 5pm (UK time). I hope to share what I am knitting with my skein then. 

And please, please, please leave me a way to contact you if you are a no-reply blogger. Good luck!

* This is not a sponsored post - I am just really careful at selecting yarn going into my stash, and sharing my findings here*