This episode should be subtitled,” ….but I digress!”
UPDATE: Due to space I can no longer host the audio files on the blog, please use your favourite podcatcher, or right click the podgen link to open the podcast episode in a new window: Podgen
Welcome along on episode 7 of the Knit British podcast.
You can also listen on iTunes!
- What does the Shetland knitting term rissie geng mean? Are there any knitting terms that have regional/dialect variations where you live? I’d love to hear them and we can have a regular feature
- Yarn give away: Sadly Artesano have discontinued the British range. I have 2 skeins of British Blue faced blend, in Beryl, to give away. Leave a comment on this post telling me which discontinued yarn you miss and I will announce the winner next episode.
- Highland Wool Festival: where I met Louise from Caithness Craft Podcast and Helen from Ripplescrafts. I also shopped with the Shilasdair stand, Sky Blue Pink Designs and I chatted with Louise & George from Yarn Garden!
- Cast on/Cast off – Lush cardigan by TinCanKnits in Brigantia – Maile Cardigan by Nikki Van Der Carr in Blacker Swan Falkland Merino (and why that is British to me) and Vivid Squares by TinCanKnits in WYS Aire Valley
- Yarn Review: Oosie by Skein Queen Scottish Down Cross base hand dyed by Debbie Orr. A great Great British yarn! check out Skein Queen website and sign up to shop updates.
- Keep in touch – I have changed my twitter handle to @Knit_British, Leira on Ravelry and you can comment here or say hello via the contact page!
Click on the pictures for larger image. Please remember all pictures belong to me!
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- Louise cubed at Highland Wool Fest
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- Wool on display
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- Sky Blue Pink British Breed Yarns
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- buttons!
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- Strathearn Fleece and Fibre, obvs!
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- gorgeous outfit made by Uist Wool
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- Shetland Pont
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- Shetland pony
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- He was not talkative!
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- Lush yoke detail
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- Lush in Brigantia
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- Looking Sae Pensive
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- Lush in Brigantia (my first for me)
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- Oosie by Skein Queen in Fox
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- Vivid Square in Oosie
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- Tin Can Knits Vivid Squares in WYS Aire Valley
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- Artesano British Blueface Blend. Win 2 skeins by tuning in!
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- pretty bunting at Highland Wool Festival
My entry for the “what discontinued yarn do you miss?”
Well, Louisa Harding’s Thistle in “Butter” was just dreamy. A perfect combo of dyed-in-the wool variation in a yellow colour and the texture was really like melted butter. I saw a tiny amount of it at This Is Knit in Dublin, but it had long ago sold out and was discontinued. Louisa Harding changed the proportion of the blend and it was reborn as “Akiko”, but there was no buttery colour to be found. I pounced when I found it on yarnbox.co.uk at 20% off, woot! But Nicola checked and found she didn’t have it in stock after all. 🙁 I’m still going to search for a buttery yellow yarn, but I’ll wait until Unwind Brighton or Fibre East and pick one I like in person.
Anyway, great podcast!
I’m very curious why Artesano stopped with the wool? It would be interesting to hear more details!
Isn’t Blacker’s Falkland Merino like ridiculously soft? I haven’t really felt anything like it before. I swear I hear it purr when I hold the swatch. I did a little review of it recently.
http://www.nearlythere.com/2014/05/yarn-review-blacker-swan-falklands.html
That will be one lucky baby!
IMHO I don’t think it was given a fair shot (the one which came out about 8 months ago) it’s a shame as it wasn’t even on many knitter’s radars.
Fab review! I do love that yarn!
Hi Heather
Just caught up with your post and wondered if you’ve seen Buttertubs from Wensleydale Longwool Sheepshop? I stock it in Aran weight but haven’t got it on my website yet. Too much to do! Can send a photo if it’s not on their’s yet either – it’s new. Beautiful warm buttery yellow.
My discontinued yarn sob story would be Debbie Bliss’s Rialto. Although I do keep seeing it stocked in a few places, I believe that at least one of the yarnweights – possibly the aran – is discontinued. I knitted my first teacosy with that and it so just so beautifully soft to knot with, as well as being washable. I also love the range of colours in this yarn base, just my “cup of tea”!
Ah! I miss DB alpaca silk, sooooo soft! I treasure my wristies I knit in it!
I love the colour of the Artesano skeins!
My sob story would be Merino 400 by Mayflower – which was (is???) a merino of unknown origin but it is spun differently from most lace yarns and works like a dream. The different LYS say that it is discontinued but it on the webside of the company it is still listed
and yes, I might have hoard a bit (19 skeins altogether but who is counting????)
I don’t think it is discontinued as such but my LYS stopped selling Adriafil Duo Plus Comfort it was a cooton / wool mix in great shades. I knitted my first shawl in it and was gutted when I went back to buy more in a different colour way to find they had stopped selling it. I understand that for them they had to order in such large quantities to make it financially viable due to postage that it just was not really feasible.
I’m still relatively new to knitting so love trying different yarns. Especially my purchases from Yarndale 2013. Off to Woolfest at the end of the month and can’t wait to add to my stash!
It’s not wool, but I recently knit a top with Rowan Pima Cotton that I had in my stash and while I normally don’t like knitting with cotton, I was really pleasantly surprised with this – it didn’t split and it felt really nice in the hands and I thought oooh, I should get another sweater’s worth, but alas, discontinued.
I’m knitting rissie gengs while listening to the podcast and really enjoying both!
I miss that Knitpicks discontinued Felici self-striping. I liked the feel of it and the colours were great.
Blueberry Angoras, a small farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales, sadly closed last year when the owners took well-earned retirement and moved away 🙁 I have many happy memories of holiday visits and yarn purchases over the years. Their yarn was gorgeous – so were the goats!
I haven’t really been knitting long enough to have a discontinued yarn, but perhaps my eagerness to try a news Britishers yarn can still count towards an entry? Blue is my favourite colour! Thanks Louise, love the podcast so much.
Ugh, autocorrect on my tablet: new British! LOL
I am gutted Louisa Harding thistle has been discontinued in the apricot colour way. Lovely yarn sad to see it gone from the shelves 🙁
You hit a cord with me this week when your mentioned the discontinued yarn. I bought a batch of Punta Yarns, Pure Merino when my daughter went to college in NYC for her first year. The trip turned out to be the foundation of my stash problems. The colors are a beautiful fresh yolk yellow and creamy white. There was no project in mind at the time or I would have bought more. I have not been able to find more regardless of the links on their website. My search has lead me to others who have stashed it, but they are not active on Ravelry. Dreaming of the perfect project to use for these unique yarns.
I was fond of Sandness Kashmir Alpakka – soooo soft and cuddly. Fortunately, I managed to raid my lys for the remainders at a very reasonable price.
I also liked Rowan Calmer. I know that many people are not fond of the micro fibre content, but it was very soft for babies and small children.
Not an entire yarn range, but a colour – Rowan Felted Tweed in sage (I think that’s what it was called). I knit a jumper for my sister in it which she has worn to death (huge compliment!) and she’s also somewhat changed shape, as has the jumper! She asked me to make it longer, but can’t get the colour anywhere, so might completely frog it and start again …. ? Have only just discovered your podcast by the way, and really love it – catching up on earlier episodes this week whilst lying on the beach in Italy!
Have you tried looking in people’s stash on Ravelry and seeing if they would be interested in selling you their stash? I’ve managed to get yarn to finish projects that way, even when the yarn wasn’t listed for sale/trade, no one really objects to being asked nicely if they can help a fellow knitter out when they are desperate.
I rarely knit more than once or twice with a given yarn because there are so many amazing yarn choices out there, in particular our wonderful indie dyers. I feel in most cases the yarn on offer is improving, as we get more and more breed specific yarns which gives us more choice and information about the characteristics of the yarn even before we touch it. I have to say I’m really sad that this yarn has been discontinued, as I adore knitting with Blue Faced Leicester and I never got round to buying this. Now I shall have to hover around the destashes on Rav and hope I win this giveaway!
I “miss” Ethical twist from Stylecraft. I’ve bought some in slate colours on our trip to Scotland in 2010 in a lovely shop in Nairn. I’ve made a cria with it and I knew I have to have some more so ebay to the rescue because it is discontinued. I’ve frogged the cria, because it was too big for me to wear often and it was such a shame. I’ve cast on for another cria in the same slate colour, a size smaller and I already know I will wear it a lot. I don’t know if you can call it missing, because I still have some in stash, saving for the right project, but you get the picture I guess
I don’t have a discontinued yarn issue but have been extremely distressed when told that there is no call for British yarn…
I also have missed the small independent yarn stores which have disappeared from Birmingham over the past 3-4 years although some very good ones have taken their place – just not so local.
No call? What nincompoops! Those LYS or sellers do not know their industry or audience at all!
My discontinued yarn story is the Jacob/Black Welsh Mountain yarn I spun and knit into a lovely lacy bats-wing sweater(shows you how long ago this was!). I found a half-ball in my stash the other day and it is still so lovely and soft and a beautiful glossy slate Gray colour. I can’t spin any more of it, as the fleece is long gone and its tatty bits condemned to the compost heap. When ever I go on a fibre hunt, I am looking for a similar fleece – not that the fibre stash is small, or anything like that!