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Oops, Socktober is nearly over but the best laid plans often go awry. We had hoped to have an update of sock yarn out at the beginning of the month but as many of you know Victoria had been ill on and off for the past couple of months, culminating in being off with COVID. After recovering Victoria was able to photograph the update of Brimham 4ply so that it could go live on the website. There are 100g skeins and 20g mini skeins with lots of options of yarn packs in lots of colour combinations. Some of these have been curated for use in MKALs too. Brimham 4ply is our extrafine Merino/nylon sock yarn, which is super-soft, squishy, and strong. It honestly does tick all the boxes.

We have also added Silverdale DK to the website to coincide with the latest issue of Moorit. In this issue there is a design from Sandra Guttierez aka Nomad Stitches which uses two colours of this yarn (Loganberry and Charcoal) in a striking colourblock sweater (shown in the images, photo copyright Moorit and Amelia Claudia Photography). Issues of Moorit are available from many stockists — including Indie Untangled — as well as directly through the Moorit website. Silverdale DK is a blend of Merino, nylon and silver Stellina and it is available on our website now.

We had a stock take of all our printed patterns recently and found that we have quite a lot of older stock. As we are moving more towards digital patterns we have decided to put these on sale. We have added a new heading to the Pattern menu for Reduced Printed Patterns so that they are nice and easy to find.

Finally, there are a LOT of postal strikes coming up between now and Christmas. It’s going to cause a lot of delays for small businesses like us who don’t have contracts with other couriers. What I would say is please consider choosing “courier” as your shipping option at checkout if you’re concerned about timing — that doesn’t speed us up (we already work as fast as we can!) but it should speed up the actual delivery. And… it’s not too early to be thinking about Christmas presents now — seriously! If that’s something that’s going to stress you out it is worth starting now — not just yarn, but anything that you’re ordering online, especially from small businesses.

September has been and gone in the blink of an eye and we have been so busy! We were at the Unravel autumn yarn show at the start of September and it was so great to be back out amongst fellow yarnies. At the show we launched our newest yarn and it was added to the website after we got back. Brimham Bio Fingering is a gorgeous new yarn which blends Superwash extrafine Merino with biodegradable nylon. Biodegradable nylon fully breaks down in five years in landfill conditions but until that point will be as durable as normal nylon. You can wear it and wash it in the same way as you normally would. There is a blog post about the biodegradable nylon — and the yarn in general — in production, which should be released soon. This yarn has 430m/100g (it’s being marketed as a 3ply “light fingering” by our suppliers) and is a little finer than your standard 4ply/fingering weight but still works up really well in 4ply/fingering-weight patterns.

A group of members of The ECY Garden Facebook group have tested this yarn for us and found it to be soft as you would expect from the extrafine Merino but also that it has great stitch definition and gives good drape. A few people said they found that it doesn’t have a lot of give when knitting (possibly if tension is tight? Claire and I haven’t found it to be the case so I’m wondering if it’s a tension thing) but it does bloom when you wash it for blocking. It has been used in hats, mitts, socks, shawls and a top, as well as both knitting and crochet. The projects included lace, cabling, brioche and colourwork, all of which the yarn coped really well with. More information about these projects will be in the blog post which is coming very soon! The overall verdict: they LOVED it!

Two other yarns recently restocked on the website are Hayton 4ply and Keld Fingering. These are both very popular yarns and we are thrilled to have them both available at the same time. Keld Fingering is a blend of Merino and linen. This yarn has a really unique appeal in that the linen does not take the colour in the same way as the Merino wool. This gives the yarn a rustic marled effect which is more prominent in darker colours. The yarn is soft enough for next to skin wear and you can’t feel the linen; despite it visibly sticking out it isn’t itchy at all!! The update is very autumnal with some seasonal colourways alongside many others. Hayton 4ply is Merino, Cashmere and nylon, making this yarn soft, strong and warm. It is one of our all-time classic yarns and is perfect for garments, shawls and accessories. There is a mix of autumnal shades, variegated colourways and semi-solids. We will be adding colour combinations and yarn packs over the next few days. There are lots of other yarns in the schedule for the next few months so please do keep checking back with us!

The next update after that will be Brimham 4ply and Victoria has gone pretty Halloween-y with it (well, let’s say “October-y/spooky”). We are really keen to get these on the website as soon as possible but we have been hit by Covid so are out of action for a few days (apart from admin that can be done remotely by me, Laura). We will get orders shipped when it is safe to do so but there may be some delays. If you would like to support us while we are not able to be fully operational you can do so by purchasing digital downloads of our patterns. You can find these on our website and on Payhip.

In our constant attempt to keep the stock fresh and current we have added some more older stock to the Reduced to Clear section of the website. This now also includes older dyelots of Milburn 4ply and DK so do check out the colours available in that section for a discount. As mentioned previously we are having to increase the price of Milburn when our next batch arrives. It is in production and we hope to have it in stock in October so you might get purchases in ahead of the price increase! We have also recently moved all hand-dyed dyelots from 2021 into the Reduced to Clear category so there is plenty to choose from!

Please be aware that Royal Mail have announced several more strike dates between now and the end of December which will impact the length of time orders will take working their way through the system.

I hope that you are all well. We have been keeping busy at ECY Shedquarters to distract ourselves from the news cycle of constant doom and gloom.

Our most recent update was Hayton 4ply – our Merino, Cashmere, nylon blend. This yarn is super soft but also has strength to it making it ideal for shawls and accesories but also for garments. Alongside Titus 4ply, this is one of our bestsellers so we were really excited to have this yarn back on the website. There is still plenty to choose from and we have added new yarn packs and skein pairs to the website, all of which can be found on the Hayton 4ply page of the website.

Before that we had an update of Pendle 4ply which is our Superwash Extrafine Merino. It is soft, squishy, strong, has a good lustre to it, and it takes colours really nicely too. It’s a great all-rounder (although many of my yarns are tbh). It’s just as good in a lace shawl as a cabled garment, for example. There are loads to choose from with plenty of colour combinations; many of which are available as yarn packs.

ECY yarn enabler Claire has finished her Magic Circles wrap (pattern by Janie Crow) and it is stunning! Claire chose a whole new palette of Milburn DK for hers and it works so well that we have added kits for it to the website. This palette has been called Autumn Woodland to reflect the browns, yellow and greens which are the most prominent colours. We have yarn packs with and without the pattern and they can be found along with all other Magic Circles products on the website HERE.

A little while ago Laura and I noticed that we were out of stock of Aisling patterns by Justyna Lorkowska. This beautiful two colour shawl has been a favourite ever since its release and we still regularly sell yarn for it. With all the changes in EU/UK trade over the past couple of years, among other factors, we are no longer going to stock physical printed copies of this pattern BUT we have purchased download codes for Aisling and a couple of other patterns that can be redeemed on Justyna’s website for digital copies. The other restocked patterns are Holyrood and Maya’s Shawl. For each of these designs we have the digital download code and an add-on kit as a separate product. While we have the yarn in stock for Aisling we also have kits for this design which include the two skeins of yarn (one skein each of Titus 4ply in Campanula and Rambling Rose), a project bag and the download code which will be printed on a business card.

Holyrood uses two skeins of Harewood Fingering which is 100% BFL but with high twist construction. This yarn is out of stock but many other of our 4ply/fingering weight yarns would work just as well. For example the second sample for this pattern uses Bedale 4ply in Alpine and Steel. We have Dianthus and Steel in stock of this yarn which would give a similar finished project. Please note that if you use Bedale is in 50g skeins and so you will need two skeins of each colour. For Maya’s Shawl we have kits in stock which use Whitfell Chunky in your choice of the available colours. The add-on kit for Maya’s Shawl means you can choose any colour of Pendle Chunky for this beautiful design; you will need three skeins. You can find all of Justyna’s patterns on the ECY website here.

At the start of this post I mentioned Hayton 4ply skein pairs. These are two skeins of yarn chosen to work well together for any two colour pattern. We also have pairs of Titus 4ply with Eldwick Lace that were put together for Helda Panagary’s crocheted Herringbone Brick Shawl design. The pattern uses different coloured stripes but would work just as well with the difference in textures of the two yarns. We also have a limited number of copies of Helda’s Herringbone Brick Shawl pattern to purchase on our website and as part of an add-on kit. You can see all available sets here.

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.

Hello from ECY Shedquarters! Our Carlisle Fingering (100% Superwash Extrafine Merino) update went live on the website on Thursday. This yarn is brilliant for a great range of knitting and crochet projects – it makes beautiful shawls and accessories of course, but it also makes good garments. It’s far more hardwearing than it looks thanks to the good quality fibre and the high quality of the spinning.

Pair it with fluffy Eldwick Lace (superkid mohair/silk) for a lovely light but cosy and soft fabric; use it on its own; or how about using it in a multi-yarn project alongside other bases? It seems like it shouldn’t work but I have found that mixing singles yarns with plied yarns actually works perfectly well (Claire did it in her Shawlography shawl and it worked beautifully). Anyway, I hope you love this update, we’ve been very excited about it so it’s a real delight to finally unveil it!

My Buttermere shawl pattern has been revamped and tested with a new yarn suggestion. Yep you guessed it, it is Carlisle Fingering in Rose Bed, which is included in today’s update! The new version of the pattern is now available on our website and on Payhip. Thank you so much to our wonderful testers who provided feedback on the updates! You will need 400m of a 4ply/fingering weight yarn for this shawl. The Buttermere kit has been updated to reflect the new version of the pattern, this uses two balls of Milburn 4ply and you have the choice of all 20 shades!  We have also added an add-on kit for the Butteremere shawl. Select your skein of yarn and add the add-on kit to your basket, you will then receive the pattern as a download to your inbox and the yarn and project bag will be sent as a kit.

Earlier in the week I put a batch of Oakworth DK up on the website for you. Oakworth DK is pure Polwarth wool from New Zealand and is a really hard wearing yarn with great stitch definition. This update includes a number of batches that can be used for the Greencress shawl in the new book, Contrast – Textured Knitting by Meiju K-P. The shawl uses four skeins of Oakworth DK. The book sample uses colourway Hazel which was included in the update but sold out. Another batch is in production and will be on the website in the next week or two. We are not stocking the book but I know lots of shops are.

Happy Shopping – don’t forget we ship worldwide!