August can be a quiet month for us retailers, though whether that applies in these days of lockdown we will have to wait and see. With that in mind, Mr. ECY and I planned to have major house renovation work done and so we are taking a much-needed week off starting on the 15th August. Orders placed after 5 p.m. on Thursday the 13th August won’t be shipped until Tuesday 25th August at the earliest. We have been given a schedule of six weeks in total for the work, since the workmen are subject to social distancing rules. I’ve also been instructed to abide by them too (of course! I’m not going to put myself at risk!), so in all honesty I’m not sure how much this work will impact the running of the business. I am planning to hide in the dye shed (with the kettle and microwave, haha) though so who knows — I might even get more done?! It takes us right to the end of September, but it does mean a lovely new staff room (my kitchen) where I can keep it clean and safe within Covid guidelines, which we hope will mean that Debbie and Claire can return to working here with me rather than from home. Laura will be holding down the fort, answering emails during the week while I’m off but there is only so much she can do remotely so please bear with her!
Anyway, to make up for this week off I have TWO updates planned beforehand. They are closer together than we would normally go for, but under the circumstances we are sure you won’t mind! The first update will be at 4 p.m. UK time on Friday 7th August and will be Coniston Fingering and Keld Fingering — our special merino singles blends (Coniston has mohair in, and Keld has linen in). If you want to get your hands on either of these yarns I would recommend setting an alarm if there’s anything you really want, as they have both been very popular in previous updates and sold out quickly. There will be more of course, but I do like to do different colours each time in order to mix things up a bit!
The Wholly Irregular ECY Shedcast is back, going through all of the colours that will be available in Friday’s update along with loads of colour combinations and suggestions for different ways of using these yarns. It is quite a long one this time (oops) so grab a cuppa and head over to the ECY YouTube channel. Alternatively, you can also find all the update colourways in the flickr update album — this is a brilliant way to do some window shopping ahead of the update!
The second update will be the following week, Tuesday 11th August at 8 a.m. UK time and will be Hayton DK and Titus Lace). Both of these yarns are merino blends: Titus Lace is Merino/silk and Hayton DK is Merino/cashmere/nylon. They’re both absolutely lush!
Why not pair a skein or two of Titus Lace with a copy of The Shawl Project Book 5 by The Crochet Project which we now have in stock on the website? If you are unsure about what yarn you need you can take a look at our blog post introducing the book. I know it hasn’t been *that* long since our last Hayton DK update but although there are still quite a few colours available, not many of them could be classed as sweater quantities. Since many of you have mentioned that you have been working on larger projects recently I wanted to give you a good new selection to choose from.
We love putting together beautiful boxes of goodies for you! 2020 has been such a strange year (bit of an understatement I know!) but preparing these boxes is a great way for us to feel some normality. The intention behind our stash boxes is to give you or the yarny in your life a wonderful surprise and this one is no different. The box contains two skeins of fingering weight yarn (in exclusive colourways dyed especially for this — it’s nothing that you wouldn’t expect from ECY but if you do really want to see beforehand we will be able show you a pic) and a pattern the yarn can be used for. You get to choose between crochet and knitting patterns. There will be a few other seasonal goodies in the box including a pouch of tea. Super Secret Summer Stash Boxes will be sent around the 27th August and are available on the website NOW. They are selling quickly, especially the knitting ones so don’t delay if you want to get your hands on one!
Hopefully by now it won’t be a surprise to you that four Milburn colours have been discontinued – Autumn Fields, Damson, Dogwood and Moss. They are making way for new shades, two of which you have already seen – Crocosmia and Compost. The other two shades have to wait until the stocks of the discontinued colours run out. I really can’t wait to show you the new shades so how about a sale on the discontinued colours? I have reduced the price of Milburn 4ply™ in Autumn Fields, Dogwood, Damson, Moss and Milburn DK™ in Damson and Moss. (Autumn Fields and Dogwood in Milburn DK™ have already sold out!) You can now find these yarns in the Reduced to Clear section as well as the Milburn 4ply™ and Milburn DK™ sections respectively. You don’t need a code to take advantage of the discounted prices, just add them to your cart and away you go!
Project bags are back in stock on the website which means kits are also back in stock. These make ideal gifts for the maker in your life as they contain a printed pattern, the yarn required to make it, a project bag and a sachet of soak. We also have add-on kits which allow you to choose yarn for the project from all available yarns on the website. Simply place the add-on kit and the yarn in your cart and we will make the kit up for you!
I also wanted to let you know about an improvement to the website and a blog post about the change. If you have struggled to search for the quantity of yarn you need for a project then this is for you. We don’t know why we didn’t think about it sooner! In short, we have added a new category to the Yarn menu on the website with options for three or more skeins, five or more skeins, six or more skeins and seven or more skeins. This should help avoid disappointment of browsing through colours that are not available in the quantity you need! The blog post about this new feature can be found in the FAQ section of the blog.