I thought you would like to know that our debut update of Bowland Lace is now LIVE on the website! Bowland Lace is our new Bluefaced Leicester wool 2ply laceweight yarn and it is so beautiful. It is quite different to Titus Lace and Askham Lace as it is woollier and has a higher WPI or wraps per inch which is a really helpful indicator of how thick the yarn is. This can also be used when determining yarn substitutions. It works up beautifully on 3.25mm and 3mm needles (that’s what I’ve tried so far!) and it works up beautifully held double with fluffy Eldwick Lace — scroll down for more on that! I’m finding that when held double it substitutes in well for a 4ply and it makes an incredibly light yet warm and cosy fabric which looks far more delicate than it actually is. We’ve really fallen in love with this yarn at ECY Shedquarters and I hope you’ll enjoy it too. ????
You can see how Bowland Lace looks wound into a cake and knitted up held double with fluffy Eldwick Lace in the image with one of my recent projects, a Nimbus Cowl. The pattern is a free Purl Soho one (it’s on their blog) and it calls for 4ply + fluffy laceweight, but I’ve used Bowland Lace (so a 2ply) instead of 4ply for the same gauge BUT a lighter fabric. It turns out this is beyond perfect for this time of year for me — I’ve already worn it loads! Honestly the fabric created by these two yarns held together is to die for. It’s hard to capture on camera but the softness is how I imagine it’d be if you held a little fluffy duckling. ????
Anyway, highly recommended – pattern and yarn!
We’ve been really busy over the past few weeks — there has even been great photography weather and so there has been a lot added to the website and flickr. Amongst those are new Laverton Shawl kits! This scarfy shawl is a lovely way to play with colours and yarns together as it uses Carlisle Fingering held double with fluffy Eldwick Lace, and then for the contrasts it uses a mini skein. You can find the Laverton pattern, yarns, and the new kits on our website. We have also added kits for the Ode to Autumn wrap by Jaya of Apoorva Designs. PLUS I have also added a new batch of Nateby 4ply Rainbow mini skein sets!
Due to its popularity I have added new batches of our new colourway Passion Flower to the website on a number of bases. I have added a large restock on Carlisle Fingering (100% Merino singles) and smaller batches on Titus 4ply (75% Merino/25% silk), Titus Fingering (75% Merino/25% silk singles), Oakworth 4ply (100% NZ Polwarth). I have also added a batch of Fuchsia on Pendle 4ply (100% Merino).
This week we have released our latest pattern, Swainby Cowl. This cowl idea stemmed from me wanting to make something squishy for around my neck using three strands of yarn together, but also not wanting to leave much (if anything) left over. I pored over stitch textures and options for ages as I knew I wanted something fairly simple which would allow the marled colours to shine, but also which wouldn’t be too boring to knit. There are already loads of (lovely) patterns in traditional fisherman’s rib so this is a different take on that. The full-sized cowl is designed to loop three times snug around the neck if you’ve got really cold weather, but it’s also really nice to wear in two loose loops. The pattern is very easily adjustable to make a two-loop or one-loop version – you would just need to make it either two thirds of the given length, or one third of the given length. The initial sample was made used Coniston Fingering in Red Grape, Red Goosefoot and Bark.
This is a great pattern for TV knitting and gives you plenty of scope for playing with different colours and yarns. I have four (!!) samples, all made in different yarns but using the same size needles and I have also made a few swatches to see how a few other yarns work together. This will all be in a blog post very soon along with some of our wonderful pattern testers projects. The samples are a blue one which was made using Askham 4ply in Driftwood and Whirlpool with Lowther Lace in Larkspur; a yellow one which was made using Brimham DK in Marigold and Eldwick Lace in Marigold; and a Snowy one which was made with Pendle Aran in Snowy Owl and Eldwick Lace in Snow Leopard.
The pattern is available on our website and on Payhip. On our website you will also find a Swainby add-on kit. Simply select the add-on kit and then add the yarn for your cowl to your basket and we will create a kit for you. You will need 300g of 4ply/fingering weight yarn OR you could use one skein each of a DK yarn and a fluffy laceweight yarn OR one skein each of aran weight yarn (for a single loop cowl) with a fluffy laceweight yarn. The possibilities are endless!
We have received our latest restock of Milburn DK in Althaea so this is available on the website as are yarn packs with this colour in it. Our next restock of Milburn yarns will not be for quite some time as we are awaiting a new batch of undyed yarn being spun for us. So any Milburn 4ply and Milburn DK colours that run out of stock from now onwards are unlikely to be restocked again before September.
We will be closed on Friday and Monday as Laura and I are both off. Orders won’t be shipped until after we get back on Tuesday.