We will be there again this Saturday, our last regular slot until the new year :-(  We have already met loads of lovely knitters, felters and embroiderers, and some of you guys have even come back for more! It’s a part of the whole craft market thing that I just wasn’t expecting to be so good, but is by far the most rewarding part.  I love meeting you guys.  You have such lovely stories to tell, and let’s face it, I could talk about knitting ’til the cows come home!  I hope to see some of you again tomorrow, and don’t forget, if you say you read this blog, then you will get 10% off you whole purchase!!

Here they are at last.  There may only be three of them, but they’re perfectly formed!  Soft as you like, because of the alpaca and merino, yet strong too, thanks to the bamboo.

They just come on three colours to start with, and there are either 5 or 6 of each, so there is enough for a garment.  I hope you like them

and here is what I have started with some I dyed earlier…….

Ysolda’s Liesl.

It’s in Sweet Feet 1013.

Aren’t these pretty?  Knitted by Chantelle in Sweet Feet, colour SF4621.  The patttern is Express Lane by Diane Mulholland from the Inside Loop, here.  I’m so proud

Photo courtesy of C Smith.

I just love handpainting fibre.  It adds another dimension to the creative process of knitting when you can design the actual yarn itself.  I usually want to keep all the rovings I dye, so I can learn how to get different yarn from the same roving.  I could just spin it as it comes, drafting as I go, but if I split it lengthways into, say, 4 pieces, then the different colour sections would be shorter ( I think! ), and then there is breaking it up into short colour sections and regrouping them to make completely new colour sequences, spinning from the fold.  And then after that there’s plying to play with.  Oh and, after all that is done, there is knitting it into something that shows off the colour changes you have achieved!  It’s just all fabulous!

I tell you something, it’s a good job I’m too busy to do much spinning, otherwise there’d be none left for you!

Here is some of the latest merino rovings I don’t want to part with.  Pretty huh?

Do you know? Can you guess?

I’ll tell you then!  It’s Super Kid Mohair fibre, drying in the sunshine. So soft and silky and wavy.  Just beautiful.  I have 5 colours to put in the shop, and they will be there tomorrow when I have weighed them.  Do pop by and take a look!

We’ll be there again on 13th September with all our goodies to squidge and squoosh.  If you mention this blog then you will get 10% off your purchase, happy people!!!

See you there!  xx

It just didn’t want to play.  I cast on for the Leisl cardigan last night and got to the end of the yoke increases and realised I was 5 stitches short and the front edges wouldn’t be symmetrical.  Rip rip.  Then I cast on again and got to half way down said yoke shaping to then drop a stitch in one of the holey bits.  Now, I can usually fix most ooops’ but this one defeated me, so…. rip rip!  The pattern is great, and the yarn lovely (well, it is mine!) but I’m using a metal circular needle, and because they’re much larger then the recommended ones for aran, the stitches seem extra slippery.  So, I’m going ot invest in some bamboo ones, and give up on being able to wear it at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Birmingham on Sunday!  No showing off for me!  Anyway, here’s a naughtily tempting pic of the yarn.  It’s alpaca/merino/bamboo, and is, of course, lovely and soft.  You can’t have it yet.  I’ve got to dye some more.  But it will be new in the shop soon.  Promise…

I really really didn’t want to, but it has had to come to it.  I cannot see in my dining room in the day as there is so much yarn in various stages from slightly damp, through soggy, to ringing wet hanging on the dryer, aka the curtain rail.  So out trundled the heater. We now can’t get through the dining room door without stooping very low as that is now where the yarn is hanging with the heater underneath, gently humidifying the house.  House will be as humidified as outside soon, probably with added peeling wallpaper!  At least we well be able to see to eat our breakfast without having to turn the light on.

As you may be able to gather, yarn is steadily being dyed, including some new gorgeous aran I’m trying out, for all you ‘thickies’ (!) out there.  I’ve done 3 skeins in my favourite-at-the-moment deep rose red semi-solid to knit Ysolda’s Leisl so you guys can see just how pretty it all is - yarn and pattern.  I hope to have some ready for The Cotswold Craft Market on Saturday 13th Sept for those lucky Cirencesterites to squoosh, then we’ll pop it in the shop.  Tempting piccies soon when/if it clears up enough to take some

Bye for now x

“Your stuff’s lovely, but it’s all very thin”   Well, thin no longer!

Buttersoft DK  is 100% Superwash Extra Fine Merino, and it is…welll butter soft!  This means yes, you can chuck in in the washing machine at 40 degrees on the wool cycle.  Need I say, perfect for kiddie stuff!  There’ll be 5 or 10 of each colour, but as it’s a double knit and therefore suitable for any DK project big or small, then the custom dye option is there for you to order as many skeins as you like.  Just email with your colour requirements, and the batch will be dyed specially.  No extra cost!

Here’s a little bit!

This hat and gloves takes 3 skeins, and here is a close up.  Lovely to knit with, and smooth stitch definition

And here it is ably modelled by DD

xxx