Alpaca Direct Blog

It's never too late to knit a holiday gift, but you need to plan accordingly, with smaller and smaller projects the closer the holiday gets. So, with only thirteen days left until Christmas, headbands it is.

Kelley recently knit a few of these beauties and highlighted them in her weekly Technique Tuesday Facebook Live broadcast. Check it out to get some tips for making headbands fit really well!

Kelley shows you know to knit the Channel Island Bind Off. This bind off is similar to the Picot Bind Off but it's a little more subtle in appearance.

Learning to darn is an important skill that'll help you prolong the life of your knitwear. 

Here's a darning technique method to use on thinning areas of your knitwear, particularly applicable to socks. Better to catch the thin area before it becomes an actual hole!

Kelley Hobart from Alpaca Direct shows you how to knit German Short-Rows, also known as the double-stitch short-row. These are excellent for sock heels or anytime you need to use short-rows. We love them because they are nearly invisible on the finished project, and they're so easy to work.

Michelle Hunter is hosting her final knit-along, and we're so sad. But we want to keep our chins up and celebrate her wonderful KAL projects; boy have we had fun! Kelley knit up Match Play the match play poncho and the Cable Channel pillow, and she's really looking forward to Michelle's upcoming KAL, the Audition Shawl.

We are basking in the glory of our new yarn, Sasquatch by Coeur d'Alene Yarns, so I thought I'd start putting it together with some gorgeous patterns for fall.

The Sarabande Shawl free knitting pattern is a  stunning creation by Jana Markova. She put together highly contrasting yarn colors to create a real showstopper. Sasquatch was designed in multi and tonal colorways to coordinate beautifully, and they're just perfect for Sarabande!

We're having a ball introducing you to our first yarn line, Coeur d'Alene Yarns. The first yarn in the line is Sasquatch, a fingering yarn hand-dyed locally in the Pacific Northwest and exclusive to Alpaca Direct!

Sasquatch is a sumptuous blend of 80% superwash Merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon. There are two types of this yarn, a tonal and a multi-color.

Kelley is knitting the Stonecrop Pullover by Andrea Mowry, and she's using our new yarn, Sasquatch by Coeur d'Alene Yarns! There are a lot of skills to practice in this sweater, including short-rows, stranded colorwork, crochet bobbles, cables, and the tubular cast-on and bind off. Kelley shares some tips and tricks for a few of those skills!

I love the look of mosaic knitting, and I wanted to try the technique with crochet. I found a wonderful tutorial on YouTube from AnnooCrochet Designs, so I thought I'd try it. First, I needed to explore the concept of mosaic crochet.

Great news! We're a yarn store near you, regardless of where you live! 

All you need is a smartphone or computer, laptop or tablet, and you can shop for yarn, needles, knitting and crochet patterns, and more, right from the comfort of your own home at Alpaca Direct. We ship to nearly anywhere in the United States in 2 to 3 days and have a hassle free return policy. We also have a shop in Hayden, Idaho, so if you live nearby or are visiting the Coeur d'Alene area, be sure to come by and see us in person! 

There's nothing like a pair of handknit socks. You can use gorgeous sock yarn, choose your stitch pattern, and take them with you wherever you go. One thing I've learned over the years is how to customize socks to fit my feet, and I like a rounded toe. It's important for me because my feet are fairly straight across the toes, and a pointy toe just ends up flopping around empty. 

It's summertime, and the knitting is breezy. Here are 5 great patterns to cast on (and wear!) during the summer months.

Never stop knitting, regardless of the heat!