Yarn Test Kitchen Club Edition – Serial Knitters Cherry Creek Sock
Keeley Richardson
Founder and Chief Fiber Officer
Welcome to the first ever Yarn Test Kitchen Club Edition!
We’ve been yarn testing for over two years now (yes, time certainly flies), and in that time we have had the pleasure of working with some of the most delightful fibers to be found across the region. Opening up yarn testing happiness to our community felt like the next logical step for the Yarn Test Kitchen, and it has been a dream to see photos of projects from our readers and subscribers arriving in The Woolpack inbox over the past week. Huge thanks to everyone who has purchased a summer season “Wool Pack”. I’ll be sharing your projects in a special Yarn Test Kitchen gallery later this week, but in the meantime, if you are still deciding what to make with your lovely skein of Cherry Creek Sock, here are our project ideas for this dazzlingly beautiful yarn.
Our Lovely Yarn: Cherry Creek Sock Yarn from Serial Knitters Dye House in exclusive Woolpack colorways, Camellia Crush and Herb Garden. 450yds per skein, fingering weight, 80% superwash merino, 20% nylon.
Here at The Puget Sound Woolpack, we are all huge fans of Debie’s hand dyes so it was only natural that we would ask her to help us launch our new quarterly yarn testing club. Debie’s hand dyes are always a wonder to behold and a joy to knit with. Back in April I sent Debie a couple of photos for inspiration and waited eagerly for her interpretations. The first was a picture of a Camellia bush with Daffodils in the foreground in Caitlyn’s garden, the second a selection of herbs from mine focusing on the vibrant purple flowers from a Rosemary plant. As you have probably seen if you read The Woolpack or follow our socials, Debie delivered the colorful joy in heaps and created two beautiful color ways just for us. We immediately fell in love with the colors and the yarn base!
Our Seasonal Baked Treat : Peach Cake from Preppy Kitchen
This delicious cake was like a taste of summer. July = Peach Season, and here in Washington State the local supermarkets are bursting with ripe juicy fruit to delight your tastebuds. I haven’t cooked a peach cake before but having recently enjoyed a delicious peach muffin from a café I began thinking about baking with these delicious fruits at home, after all ’tis the season.
The recipe comes from “Preppy Kitchen”, a great website full of easy-to-follow foolproof recipes from New York Times best-selling cookbook author John Kanell. For a peach cake novice, this is a great easy to follow recipe. Simply mix a straightforward batter fold in diced fresh or tinned peaches and bake for 45 minutes (45 minutes of knitting/crochet time). I highly recommend giving it a try while ripe peaches are still easy to come by. Serve warm with a dollop of cream and your tastebuds will thank you!
Tester: Keeley – Yarn: Cherry Creek Sock – Colorway: Herb Garden – Pattern: Spindrift Shawl by Helen Stewart
Three Little Questions – Current Vibe:
- Knitting or crochet? Knitting
- Worsted or Fingering Weight Yarn? Worsted
- Neutrals or Bold Color? Neutrals (getting ready for fall baby!)
It’s always a delight to knit with yarns you have fallen in love with. This happens all the time in the Yarn Test Kitchen but playing a part in the creative process of Herb Garden made this skein extra special. There are so many tones and shades of purple and green that combine to make this a fascinating color way. To me, it gives off a pleasingly moody vibe and would be a great color choice for an accessory during Halloween season.
I couldn’t resist putting the yarn through its paces to see how it played out when combining a basic stocking stitch and a lacy pattern. Helen Stewart’s Spindrift Shawl was the perfect pattern choice. Relaxing knitting and purling back and forth to make an elegant crescent shape is rounded out with a simple but satisfying lace pattern and a picot bind off. As you can see from the photos there is not a color pool in sight and the stocking stitch section really showcases the beauty of Debie’s exemplary dyeing. Although in essence a sock yarn, this soft fingering weight fiber gives a luxurious drape to shawls and scarves and is perfect for a little lightweight something to throw on in our PNW climate.
Yarn Tester: Caitlyn – Yarn: Cherry Creek Sock – Color Way: Camellia Crush – Pattern: Malibu Barbie Bralette by Chelsea of Knitting Tipsy
Three Little Questions – Current Vibe:
1. Knitting or Crochet? Crochet
2. Worsted Weight or Fingering? Fingering weight
3. Neutrals or Bold Color? Bold
It’s crochet, it’s bold and it truly fits Caitlyn’s colorful vibe. She was over the moon to find this 450yd bumper skein of yarn would stretch to make what must be one of the most fun summer tanks on Ravelry. Isn’t this vibrant color way just the best match for the Barbie Bralette? Bravo Caitlyn! Pinks, oranges and yellows are interspersed with green speckles that spread consistently throughout the “granny crochet fabric”. Caitlyn used up every yard of the skein to make her top longer than in the pattern and added a complementary color from her stash for the trim and straps. The result is fabulous. Caitlyn tells us she has a Herb Garden version in the pipeline and we can’t wait to see it!
Yarn Tester: Morgan – Color Way: Herb Garden – Pattern: Mini Mock Neck Tank by Jessie Maed Designs
Three Little Questions – Current Vibe:
- Knitting or Crochet? Knitting
- Worsted or Fingering Weight Yarn? Worsted
- Neutrals or Bold Color? Neutrals, (specifically black).
Jessie Mae’s Mini Mock Neck Tank is a super popular summer wardrobe staple and Morgan’s is one of the coolest we have seen – such a great choice of project for this yarn. Hip hooray for Herb Garden! Morgan loved that although the tank is knit flat to begin with and then in the round the yarn didn’t pool. Not even once. Debie’s hand dyes are indeed proof that if a variegated skein is intentionally dyed, pooling needn’t be an issue to work around. Having seen a variety of projects that are constructed using different techniques in this edition of the Yarn Test Kitchen, we all felt confident that Serial Knitters variegated yarns are an excellent choice for both garments and accessories.
The Mini Mock Neck pattern is highly recommended by Morgan – well written and easy to follow instructions mean that if you would like to add one to your wardrobe before summer is over you’ve still got time!
Yarn Tester: Jacqui – Color Way: Camellia Crush – Pattern: Socks from “More Sensational Knitted Socks” Book by Charlene Schurch
Three Little Questions – Current Vibe:
- Knitting or Crochet? Knitting.
- Worsted or Fingering Weight Yarn? Fingering weight
- Neutrals or Bold Color: Bold
Jacqui is a huge fan of Serial Knitters Dyehouse, and has been knitting with Debie’s yarns since she launched her hand dyeing business twelve years ago. As a Cherry Creek sock yarn enthusiast Jacqui knew exactly how to showcase her skein and created the most beautiful pair socks that made us all swoon with delight. Pinks and oranges are not Jacqui’s usual go-to colors, but she loved how they combined to create a consistent variegated texture that she has come to expect from Serial Knitters yarn.
A word about the pattern: we are all currently trying to get our hands on a copy of this book, and if you love sock knitting this would be a great addition to your bookshelf. “More Sensational Knitted Socks”, is a recipe book for socks. It includes eleven basic sock designs and invites you to get creative and design your own using the extensive stitch pattern library. Jacqui chose the “cross stich block” pattern which gave a lovely texture to her socks whilst highligting all the pops of color that Camellia Crush contains.
Finally, we must give a shout out to Jacqui’s beautiful tee that she wore for our get together – it’s also made with Cherry Creek sock yarn, proof that this fabulous yarn is a great garment choice!
As always, if we have inspired you to knit/crochet any of the featured patterns, simply click on the pattern name to head to Ravelry.com. You can also find all of the Yarn Test Kitchen featured patterns on our Ravelry Projects Page – PSWoolpack.
We all enjoyed these four stunningly dyed skeins of yarn immensely and we would like to say a very big thank you to Debie for getting us up and running with the Yarn Test Kitchen Club. If we have inspired you to knit or crochet with Serial Knitters yarn, do head over to the online shop to peruse the full range.
We will be revealing our Autumn Yarn Test Kitchen Club partnership very soon, and in the meantime, we will be bringing you a Yarn Test Kitchen Review featuring Phat Girlz Fiber. Keep an eye on our socials and sign up for our email newsletter for all the up-to-date Woolpack news.
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One of my all time favorite knitting activities is a “show and share”, with friends – it’s a perfect way to seek ideas, gain inspiration and get helpful advice. This is the idea behind the yarn test kitchen – I hope our projects will have you reaching for your needles as we bring you our ideas on how to turn those neglected single skeins of yarn in to “One Skein Wonders”, and inspire you to try new yarns that are produced and sold across the Puget Sound Region.
Oh, and I’ll also be sharing monthly baking recommendations as we go. After all, who doesn’t love a slice of cake or baked good? Yum!
Happy reading!
Keeley