I wouldn’t normally go for the “Keep calm and…” trope but on this occasion it does fit in perfectly here, I’m afraid! I do hope that wherever you are and whatever your situation, you are staying safe and well. It’s such a weird time, isn’t it — being cheerful and talking about lovely new things seems a bit off, but at the same time being negative is hardly helpful either.
ECY is still going — Laura works from her bat cave at home in Cambridgeshire anyway, and obviously I work from home anyway too, I just now don’t have any physical help. I called our post office this week to ask how they feel about me continuing to send post (David drops it off on his way to work and he’s still working full time, so it’s no extra travel) — they asked me to please keep sending post over as often as I can (I did ask if it would help to bring it in on fewer days per week), as they are a small self-employed business and really need to keep afloat for as long as possible — and I am their biggest customer. So I’m still sending post at the moment — obviously if that changes I will let you know. It will take longer for me to dispatch orders though now as I’m packing them in between dyeing, processing yarn, photographing said yarn, and doing all my usual social media and stuff. Again, if anything changes I will let you know!
With all that out of the way I wanted to tell you that we have a VERY exciting update happening on Saturday at 8 a.m. UK time! Now… we wouldn’t have planned to have a huge update right in the middle of a pandemic, especially not one that involves a lot of investment in yarn, merchandise, books, and so much time… but it’s been in the offing for 12 months and we couldn’t possibly have known what would happen!
This weekend sees the launch of Cat Knits by Marna Gilligan of ‘an caitin beag’ (she of sinister cat fame!). Cat Knits is a book of 16 knit designs all featuring Marna’s signature kitties on a mixture of garments and accessories. It’s a wide-ranging book actually — it feels like there’s more than 16 items in there. Each chapter covers a different yarn weight, so there’s a 4ply section, and DK section, an Aran section, and a Chunky section, all using our yarns. Each section has a garment AND matching accessories included, and they range from nice simple textures, to stranded colourwork (like sinister cats), to intarsia.
With everything that is going on globally, plans for the launch have changed many times over the past few weeks and may still change again, but the CURRENT plan (correct as of the time of writing!!) is that Marna, Laura and I will be going live online on Instagram at 2 p.m. UK time on Saturday. We really hope that you will join us as together we talk through each of the designs, the yarns required and other items that have been produced to accompany this fantastic book. If you can’t join us don’t worry — I think the video will be available for playback (I am a bit clueless about live streaming if I’m honest), and we will turn it into a blog post too for better accessibility.
In the update we will have:
– copies of the book
– yarn packs for each of the 16 designs in the book
– Eden Cottage Cats project bags
– some of Marna’s items (tote bags, stitchmarker sets and pin badges)
– plus our own exclusive Eden Cottage Cats enamel badge (due for delivery next week so we might have a slight delay on those).
There will also be a few additional colours of Pendle Chunky that can be used in place of Silver Birch for the Chunky chapter. We also have an option for you to buy all the merchandise with one click. The “very catty merch” bundles are limited so get in quick if you want to get hold of them!
Although this update has taken a large proportion of our focus that hasn’t impacted other yarns being added to the website. Only last week we added a selection of colourways in our alpaca/silk yarns Askham 4ply and Askham Aran.