Juliet’s down at Socktopus all day today and has taken alot of the stock with here! I’ll be doing a stock take on the rest of the yarn/fibre.

The KnitPro items are still for sale.

Sorry about this but we’ll be back up and running tomorrow!

Rick.

Alice at Socktopus in London had invited me to do a trunkshow at her shop on Sunday June 21st!  The skinny is,  I fill my boot with mountains of yarn and fibre and bring it down to London so you all can have a lovely squoosh.  I will bring a few things that haven’t had an outing yet, like the new Woolsilk laceweight, and some favourites such as Sweet Feet in new colours.  I’ll pop in lots of fibre too, for some fibre petting.  Can’t wait to see you there for an afternoon of yarny/ fibrey goodness and lots of cupcakes

Also on the horizon is Fibrefest, in North Devon, which will take place on 22nd and 23rd August.  I hope to have one or two new yarns there as well as my current  favourites.  Lots of fibre too, of course.  Yippee!

I don’t do patterns, so I thought I’d show you some of my favourite pattern books, websites and designers who all do patterns suitable for your Artist’s Palette yarn.

Coming very soon when I can get lots of time to sit and link!

Just take a look at this!  It is Anne Hanson’s Fiddlehead Scarf beautifully knitted for me by the talented Linz in time to be displayed at Wonderwool.

It is knitted with just one skein of Glisten, and Linz went down one needle size in order to showcase the yarn rather than the lace pattern.  It is so beautiful and drapes like a dream.

Well, what a fantastic weekend.  I just have a few pictures of the stand.  I didn’t have time to get out and about until the end of Sunday, so I didn’t get to take any around the halls.

Here is a before and after -

and PING, almost finished -

If I can work out how to get emailed pictures on here, I will show you one of it in full swing!

My best bit was meeting people in real life whom I have only emailed, messaged, sent parcels to, chatted to on Ravelry and talked to on the phone.  I will only forget someone if I try and name you all, but let’s just say, you ALL made my weekend and made the very busy Saturday one of the most memorable and exciting days so far, ever!

Thankyou.  xxxx

Well, really.  There I am googling hand dyed yarn, and where am I?  Nowhere to be seen!  To put right this aberration and climb higher in the search engines, I’m going to unashamedly mention Hand Dyed Yarn lots!  There is some nice new Hand Dyed Yarn now in the shop, including Smootherino, at last.  Let me show you a picture of this lovely Hand Dyed Yarn.

The bottom one is a marl, and I have done these with lacey or cabley socks in mind.  This yarn lends itself to marling better that any of the others (it’s just amazing how differently similar yarns take dye) and I intend to do them in lots more colours.  I am just finishing the first of a pair of Cookie A’s Thelonious socks in the colour above, and I am really pleased with how it’s turning out.  The pattern calls for Louet Gem fingering, which is superwash merino like this one, so I think it is a good substitute.  I’ll put a picture up when it’s finished and I can get it on the blockers without first changing to a circular bendy needle.  About half way along the foot!

Oh, and… Hand Painted Yarn!!

xx

I’m not just taking the yarn to Wonderwool this weekend.  I think you deserve lovely things to knit my yarn with too, so I’m going to be taking all the KnitPro items I have,  leaving just a few of each in the shop.

The best bit is, I have lots more than there is in the shop at the moment.  I’ve got lots of the bits that are harder to find.  Here’s a list:

40cm cables

extra short tips in a couple of sizes to make really dinky circulars with the 40cm cables

cable connectors, to make not dinky at all circulars

2.5mm 250m long fixed circulars for magic loop

normal sized tips in 3mm and 3.25mm to complete the interchangeables set

view sizers, and last but not least…

sets of double ended crochet hooks.

I may have forgotten something, so there might be a surprise or two!  Phew.  And, never fear, for those of you not going to Wonderwool, it will all be going into the shop afterwards, in nice neat new categories.

I haven’t got any lovely colourful yarny fibrey pictures to show you, as I haven’t taken any!  But rest assured, you are in for a visual treat!  Here’s a little clue………”wall of colour”!

See you there 

I have to apologise for the rather sparse shelves at the moment, and lack of updates.  Oh yes, I have been dyeing my socks off! But it’s all for Wonderwool, you see.  The week after next,  everything I bring back will be put on the shelves, and I am planning a website overhaul too, with new goodies galore.

I am not taking every yarn.  I’m afraid Big Softy is taking a summer vacation, but will be back in time for cooler weather knitting.  There will be Buttersoft DK in 100g skeins, and some in 50g skeins for a super duper little kit I have been promising for ages.  There’s sock yarns, including my new Superwash tighter twist merino (scroll down to the last post for a pic),  Damsel cobweb lace  in many colours, Softee, Glisten and some blimmin’ gorgeous new silk yarns in 4ply and dk.  Lots of fibre too.  It’s so close now I am starting to look forward to it rather than dread it! Bring it on!

xxx

This Easter Saturday sees us at the Cotswold Craft Market in Cirencester.  Our newly renovated building is lovely, and new shops and a great cafe/deli are opening in the same building, The Corn Hall.  The farmers market should be outside in the main street too, so, being Easter and all, it should be a lovely busy day out.  Haven’t checked on the weather though…!

Here’s a random picture of yarn to prettify the post!

Smootherino, coming to the shop soon (after Wonderwool, but more about that later )

I have two rules I stick by.  One regarding colour and the other regarding sock yarn content.

Rule One:

Lace yarn should mostly be semi-solid.  Maybe I would go as far as a muted multi.  Obvious reasons - the lace pattern would get lost in a madly coloured yarn.  Then out came the sun, swelling the magnolia buds in the garden, and unfurling the daffodils.  The birds cranked up their morning corus to a veritable din, and single colour yarn suddenly seemed so last winter.

Here’s what I mean…

See!  There are more muted shades too though!  This update is all Damsel, 80% Merino 20% silk, 1200m, and is in the shop now.

Rule Two:

Sock yarn must contain something in it to give it extra durability.  Mine have nylon, bamboo and tencel to help.  That is, until I got a sample amount of this in the post:

It is gorgeous!  It’s 100% Superwash Merino, and comes in at 400m per 100g.   It is a fine-ish sock weight,  I would say its ‘fingering’,  and has a smooth yet quite tightly spun appearance.  If any of you know Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, it’s very similar.  This makes me very happy,  ’cause Shepherd’s Sock is one of my favourite sock yarns!  There’s no nothing in it for strength, other than a tighter twist, which is why it has broken Rule Two!  It would be just lovely for lace projects, and I can picture it as a blimmin gorgeous Spiralucious, and matching mits, and infact, anything by Anne Hanson in sock weight yarn.  She has some fabulous wraps and shawls.

This yarn hasn’t quite got in the  shop yet, mainly because it hasn’t got a name.  There will be a little naming competition in a couple of days, as I am soooooo rubbish at naming things (hence all the colourways having numbers, not names!)  I’m going to open it up on Ravelry too,  probably in my section of the UK Traders group.  Prize, some of  said new luscious yarn!!

Watch this space!

xx