WoolWork

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KnitBritish at Shetland Wool Week

Published by louise

This time next week Shetland Wool Week (26th September – 4th October) will be in full swing! You may have heard me talk on the podcast about the fact that I will be there and I will have my mic with me. My mic brandishing is two-fold:

| Wool Week Words

I will be working for wool week recording your voxpops about your experiences of the events, classes and of Shetland. Do come and tell me how you are enjoying your time at Shetland Wool Week. I will be making small audio collages of these Shetland Wool Week voxpops for the organisers and so if you’ve had a lovely time then do come and record it.
I will be everywhere during Wool Week (I also have a class or two to take) but follow me on twitter for updates. I will definitely be at the Hub, at Islesburgh and you will also find me at the Stitches from the Stacks on the Wednesday evening at my old stomping ground in the Shetland Library, amongst other places!

I can’t wait to hear about all the ways you are enjoying Shetland Wool Week – so if you see me and the mic do come on over!

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| Meaningful Knits

As well as recording for Shetland Wool Week I will be recording for the show too and I would love if you wanted to come and tell me about the meaningful knits in your life. How did you come by the item; was it made for you? Did you find it, buy it or knit it yourself? Maybe it only became meaningful in time or someone else placed meaning on it.

We all have a special woollen items in our lives and there can be a story woven in each stitch – about its construction, the wool that makes it, the pattern or the the meaning in the knitting and the wearing.

I wrote about my meaningful knit last year and how the Mezquita shawl signified the beginning of the end of one personal journey and a new path in my knitting journey.

You might not think your favourite knit or crochet items have a story to tell, but I bet you have items that are special for one reason or another. I am interested whether you have a meaningful knit anecdote or if there is a longer story to tell. If you wanted to bring that item with you then that would be spectacular too.

| Don’t forget your HAPS!

If you are coming to Shetland for wool week and you knit a hap in our #hapalong then do bring your hap with you! It will be just lovely to see you in your hap and extend the celebration of that wonderful knitalong. Hap chat and knitting is still going on in the KB ravelry group and that makes me so hap-py!

If you don’t have a hap, or a meaningful knit or a story to tell I still would love to see any KnitBritish listeners and readers, so do come and say hello! It’d be lovely to put faces and real names to the Ravatars and Twitter profile pics!

breed swatch-along: here’s one I made earlier

Published by louise

I wanted to share with you an example of how I’ve test driven some recent swatches.

This will give you an idea of how we should approach our swatches for the -along! Each step of the way I kept short notes and it is really important to note down your observances in this KAL. If like me you are heavily swayed by new stationery the swatch-along is the perfect excuse for a new notebook, but its not mandatory, any pen, paper or chosen way of note taking is fine.

You are so welcome to blog about your swatches too, when time comes. as well as posting your FO findings in the KB ravelry group. Please feel free to use this example as a template and do share your blog with the chat group on Ravelry. We will all be answering very similar questions in our reviews, but please feel free to go into more detail, as I have done here, in your blogs and also in your ravelry project notes.

If you are spinning your own yarn you will also want to add a question about the feel of the fleece or fibre and observations on how it spun too.

| Breed: Kent Romney

| Wool Category: Medium

| Brand (if applicable): Romney Marsh Wools

| Form (fleece, fibre, yarn): 100g skein

| Preparation (if known): woollen spun, DK Read More

episode 40 – Tea Collection Party

Published by louise

I always tell you to grab a drink along with your WIP for your podcast enjoyments, but today you need to get your nicest china out and grab a cake, biscuit or sweet treat of your choice because today Jess James and Clare Devine are coming over to KnitBritish for a tea party to celebrate their Tea Collection hat pattern bonanza!

The Tea Collection initially launched at the end of last year and there are currently five hats and two cowls available in the ebook. Next month there will be another six hats added to this wonderful collection to make 11 hats which is a tribute to Ginger Twist Studio’s address on London Road. To celebrate the launch of the full collection Jess and Clare are here to talk about the hats, the yarn, their tea parties – actual and virtual – Yarndale (26-27 Sept), kits, KALs and MORE.

There is tea, there is cake, there are impromptu jingles and there is a lot of fun; do join in with us!

Happy Birthday Blacker

Published by louise

Tomorrow sees the launch of Blacker’s new yarn, Cornish Tin, which is the celebratory cherry on top of their 10th Anniversary cake.

Thanks to a lovely advance preview of this yarn I was able to knit up a lovely big swatch and give it a little review. You can hear that review in episode 39 of the KnitBritish podcast. Since then I have washed and blocked the swatch and I wanted to share this wonders of this wool with you a little further.

The yarn comprises of 10 breed fibres which have been chosen for their softness and lustre and includes Alpaca, Gotland, Jacob, Shetland, Black Welsh Mountain, Mohair, and English Merino, to name but a few. Available in five colours – one natural and four bold toning shades – the yarn is going to be available in both 4ply and DK, in 100g skeins, for a very limited time only to celebrate their 10 year milestone. Read More

Breed Swatch-along: a few more details

Published by louise

I have been blown away by your enthusiasm for the upcoming Breed Swatch-along. Given that I gave you such scant details in my first post you have been very excited and eager to take part, judging by the chat in the KnitBritish ravelry group.

There have been lots of requests for more information, so let me furnish you with more details of this swatch-along! Read More

Five questions for Woolly Chic

Published by louise

Today I’ve got Helen Ingram from Woolly Chic coming around for a virtual cuppa. Grab one too and join us for five questions.

This summer Helen launched her Woolly Chic Pembrokeshire wool. A blend of Dorset, Ryeland and Texel wool; she has named this yarn after the Welsh location of the flocks on her family’s farm.

Dorset Sheep. image courtesy of Woolly Chic

Welcome to KnitBritish, Helen!

When did you start Woolly Chic and what was the driving force for you to work with British wool?

When I began designing crochet and knitting patterns in 2012, I couldn’t find any British wool in the colours I liked and that suited my designs. With so many sheep farms in the UK, I couldn’t understand why there was not more British wool available. I grew up spending every summer and visiting my aunt and uncle on their sheep farm in Wales and the thought came to me, that if I couldn’t find British wool in the shops I would try to get commercially spun some of the sheep’s fleece that had been farmed by my aunt and uncle, and now also my cousin. Read More

episode 39 – Yarny Celebration

Published by louise

UPDATE: I can no longer host the audio files here, please listen via links below

This week we have a lot of yarny love, including a review of Blacker’s Cornish Tin and a give-away of Yarn Garden Teeswater lace!

You can listen on iTunes, your favourite podcatcher or my Podgen Page

BritYarn specialises in the very best wool that Britain has to offer. This week Isla has been blogging about her #GBSocksaway KAL and you can find out more in the show.

To share and celebrate in a love of British wool, click the logo!

| My Tour of British Fleece

This has been a little pitiful but I am spinning a little a day with Fondant Fibre Toffee Pudding blend. Read More

episode 38 Back in the loop

Published by louise

It’s lovely to feel back in the podcasting loop again, properly! This is a packed show and amongst other things I have a wool shop shout out with Chopped Ginger Wool Project.

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 listen in a new tab (y’know, so you can also refer to the shownotes whilst you listen!)

BritYarn specialises in the very best wool that Britain has to offer. In addition to a herd of wondrous wool there is a veritable flock of modern patterns by indie designers like Kate Davies, Karie Westermann and Clare Devine.

To share and celebrate in a love of British wool, click the logo!

| Woolly events

It feels like the next few woolly events are the last big hoorah for the woolly event calendar. Are you going to Yarndale or planning to go to Shetland Wool Week? Maybe you are heading to the GLYC this weekend? There are no tickets left for the crawl but you can attend the amazing marketplace at the Chelsea Old Town Hall.

| In the Loop 4

This year’s conference was organised by The Knitting Reference Library and Glasgow University’s Knitting in the Round project. So enriching and real food for thought with all the papers presented under the theme of Craft to Couture – there were presentations on authenticity, sustainability, community, gender and more. So inspiring and incredibly important. Thanks to all involved in this awesome event and I look forward to In The Loop 5! Mentioning Helen Robertson and The Krus Project.

| Autumn Pattern Pick

Evremond Shawl by Aphaia, aka Kirsten Bedigan. This is a gorgeous elongated triangle shawl with colour brioche ribbing. It SO appeals to my need for autumnal warmth and garter! I think I may make a magic ball, with odds and ends of natural coloured yarn. Evremond costs £4 and comes in two sizes

Evremond Shawl. Image: KM Bedigan. Ravelry

| Tour of British Fleece a reminder of the details of this spin-along from 6-13th September. You can find the details on their website, the ravelry group and on twitter and instagram. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #TourofBritishFleece.

| Single Breed Swatch-along

I wrote this post yesterday, revealing plans for our next KAL. I have been planning for a while the idea that we could do something as a community to discover more about the wool of the British isles and also more about what is local to people outside of the UK. I think this will truly be a journey of woolly discovery! I will have more details coming soon, but you can chat over in the Ravelry group!

new itunes image

| Joeli’s Kitchen Retreat

This is happening on 27-28 February 2016 and I am delighted to be asked to attend. The retreat places are sold out but there is a waiting list and you should also sign up to this if you fancy getting a public spot on the classes. There will be classes by Kate Atherley, Karie Westermann, Julia Billings and Joeli Carpaco, the organiser herself, Not all classes/tutors will have places open to the public, but do sign up to know when they go live!

| Wool Shop Shout Out – CHOPPED GINGER

Chopped Ginger is a new online wool project, helmed by Sariann, which seeks to work closely will small flock farms and shepherds of rare and local breed sheep to create single breed and single flock yarns. The shop went live this week with Wensleydale DK from the Fa’side flock in East Lothian. There is such a depth of information on the website about the provenance and the care of the sheep and the yarn speaks volumes about where it comes from. I have a skein to review and I will do that in a future podcast, but the black Wensleydale yarn is ever so soft and slinky. It is spun beautifully to maintain the drape and lustre and it will be exquisite next to the skin.

The yarn comes in three natural colours and is 175m/100g and costs £15. Soon there will be very limited edition dyed Chopped Ginger skeins by Jess at Ginger Twist Studio! Watch out for other single breed/flock yarns coming soon, these will be Teeswater, Gotland and BFL.

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| BritYarn and The Scollayalong

It’s a new month and so there is a new yarn of the month at BritYarn and it is the Blacker Limited Edition Cornish Tin. Isla also has a prize draw this month to celebrate the 10th Birthday of Blacker this month. There are also some new yarns over at BritYarn which will appeal to any knitters looking to cast on for autumn/winter – Chilla Valley Alpaca yarns are available in aran and chunky and in pure alpaca and a blend with Shetland lambswool – how sumptuous!

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How is your Scollayalong going? Mine is woefully behind, but I did get to try on THE Scollay cardigan last week!

| Info

I will be back next week with a whole heap more. Thanks for all your comments, emails and feedback, as always.

Music: G of the Bang – Doctor Turtle on FreeMusicArchive and used with kind permission.