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Happy February yarn fans! We are really excited to finally be able to share Brimham Aran with you. This update has been in the works since last autumn which you will be able to see from some of the colours included. Various things got in the way of the update but we are so thrilled that you will be able to get your hands on it. As with our other Brimham yarns this is a blend of extrafine Merino with nylon and this time in an Aran weight (85% Merino/15% nylon). It has all the softness you would expect from the extrafine merino but with the added durability that comes from the nylon. As this is the first update of Brimham Aran we have mostly gone with our signature semi-solids but with a couple of variegated colourways including our newest — White Iris. You can find all Brimham Aran on the website now!

We have received our latest Milburn delivery so our out of stock colours have been restocked and the next batch has been requested. Older dyelots of some colours are reduced in price so that we can keep the stock as current as possible. This restock means many of our Milburn yarn packs are back in stock including our Milburn blanket packs which are available in both 4ply and DK weights. Blanket packs include one ball of each colour in the Milburn palette — that’s 20 balls!

Now that Royal Mail appears to be running more smoothly again for domestic shipments, we have reinstated First Class and Second Class shipping options on our website. You can still select Courier or Signed For services for extra piece of mind but cheaper options are now available again.

International shipping is sadly still a bit of a mess due to the backlog of parcels from Royal Mail strikes in December and the cyber attack in January. Here is a summary of the current situation:
– International orders placed and shipped before 23rd December should have been delivered. Contact us if they have not.
– International orders placed over the festive break are in the system and starting to be processed.
– EU orders placed since 12th January have been shipped and should be moving through the system.
– International orders (other than EU orders) shipped between 12th January and 31st January are being held by Royal Mail.
– International orders shipped after 31st January *should* be almost back to a normal service but will be slower than the service has been previously.

We still only have tracked international shipping on the website at this time but we do also have courier shipments available which will be much more reliable at this time. Thank you for your continued patience with us through this difficult period.

Hello all from a very frosty ECY Shedquarters. Our latest update is now live on the website and it is Bowland Aran! This is our Bluefaced Leicester Aran-weight yarn, so if you are a fan of British yarns this is the one for you! We have restocked with a variety of colours so you have plenty to choose from.

Despite the recent price increases, we have made the decision to keep Aran- and chunky-weight yarns cheaper to make those larger projects a bit more affordable, so we really hope that that helps. As a special extra we will also include a free print copy of Cardamom Rose by Thea Colman in with any orders of three or more skeins of any of our Aran yarns!

Since its debut, Bowland Aran has been really popular, being selected for a number of designs and chosen for many projects. You can see these in our Projects and Patterns blog post HERE. One of our favourites is the Woodbine sweater by Fiona Alice which you can find on LoveCrafts. This uses two colours of Bowland Aran with one colour of Eldwick Lace and we have a selection of yarn packs for this design on the website. We added a handful of batches of Eldwick Lace to the website for these packs so do check out the selection of these as well. The Bowland Aran restock means that we were also able to restock yarn packs for some of the Aran-weight designs in the Cat Knits book by Marna Gilligan. We have copies of the book available on the website and yarn packs for some designs. The Flippy Kitten Mittens and the Peeky Pom Pom Hat are both quick makes and an easy introduction to intarsia knitting.

Coming up very soon we will have a few batches of Bowland 4ply hitting the website to correlate with the release of the Snowdrop Sweater pattern from Zara Powter, aka LilyPurlDesign, which is available on Etsy now. Shortly after that we will also have a new Aran-weight yarn, Brimham Aran, which is extrafine Merino with nylon. This is a lovely soft yarn but with the added durability that comes from nylon. Looking further forward, January will see a bumper mini skein update which features ALL the mini skeins in our range! So although we have now passed the last recommended postage dates for arrival before Christmas there is a lot more to look forward to. If you are stuck for last minute gifts we do have digital pattern downloads and gift cards which are delivered to your inbox automatically, even when we are closed!

We will be closed from Friday 22nd December, through until Monday 9th January so orders placed over the festive period will not be sent until after we are back in the new year.

Happy Yarn Day! I have news of two more updates for you. We are really powering through them at the moment with the hope of getting plenty of beautiful yarn out into the wild by the end of this year. There is plenty more coming too. First I have news of a large Titus 4ply update coming on Friday, 18th November. There will be a few batches of variegated colourways alongside the signature ECY palette of semi-solids. Titus 4ply is one of our original yarns and is one of our most popular for good reason. It is a beautiful mix of Superwash extrafine Merino with mulberry silk meaning that it is soft, smooth and strong.

Last week Hayton DK made a reappearance on the website; it had been quite a while since the last update. We are currently calling this our teddy bear yarn as it is super soft and snuggly and the latest batch has been spun a little plumper than previously which is just making it even better. It is Merino, Cashmere and nylon meaning you get the benefits of all three fibres. This is our first DK update in absolutely ages so I’ve gone for a big range of colours to choose from, I’m hoping it’ll satisfy everyone until I can do more DK! The batches are batches of 10 x 100g skeins, hopefully allowing for sweater quantities.

Hayton DK is a great all round yarn; you can see the variety of projects it has been used for in our Projects and Patterns gallery/inspo blog post.

Two separate dyelots were added to the website. Yarn with dyelot 230922 is part of an older spin batch of Hayton DK and is not as plump as the new dyelot (labelled 251022), therefore we don’t know if your tension/gauge will be the same across both batches – please be aware of this if you are planning to combine colourways from different batches as they might not blend well. There are also a couple of batches which have unexpected pink speckles from where I had dye issues. I personally don’t think they can be excused as a feature (!) and so these speckled batches are reduced in price as a sort of ‘seconds’ situation.

Our festive boxes will be hitting the website very soon so keep your eyes peeled for news of these!

We have some long awaited yarn release news! This week we have had an update of Titus Lace, which is our ever-popular blend of Superwash extrafine Merino with mulberry silk. The majority of the update is our signature semisolids as these are so versatile for laceweight projects, but there are a few variegated shades included as well. We have a new section to our blog called Pattern Inspiration and in there you will find all our blog posts which are specifically pattern related. This includes posts about individual patterns, posts about books or collections and ideas for specific yarn types. For example, in this category you will find posts about The Shawl Project Book Five from The Crochet Project, Bowland Lace pattern suggestions, and crochet patterns for laceweight yarn. All of these would be handy if you want to try laceweight yarn but don’t know what to use it for. There are also laceweight patterns on our website including Sun and Shower by Jaya of Apoorva Designs which was part of our Four Season Collection (there are also blog posts about this ????).

We have recently seen increased popularity in our four-colour 4ply packs, with lots of people asking about them, too. It turned out to be for Casapinka’s Sharon Air MKAL using four 100g skeins of 4ply/fingering weight yarn and the initial pack put together for the MKAL is a fade of pinks mixing semisolids and variegated shades. Over the next few weeks we will be dyeing and putting together more different packs, so if you haven’t seen one you like please keep checking back. We have also been adding four-colour Milburn 4ply packs so there is plenty to choose from. These packs can obviously also be used for any other four-colour pattern using 100g per colour (Penicuik by Justyna of Lete’s Knits, is a really good option). We are adding new packs as we find them but stocks of each are limited by the available stock with the exception of the Milburn packs. There are also a few new five-colour yarn packs on the website if you are planning ahead for Joji’s Fall KAL.

After the Tempo 4ply update, we added a selection of Tempo 4ply sock sets to the website. These combine one 100g skein with one 20g mini skein of the same yarn in a contrasting colour and these are ideal for adding a pop of colour to your sock projects by using the mini skein for heels, toes or cuffs. They don’t have to be used for socks though, you could also use the sets for fingerless mitts or to add a bit of colourwork to hats or shawls.

Our Tempo 4ply update is live on the website! We have 100g skeins and BRAND NEW Tempo 4ply mini skeins plus yarn packs for some combinations. One image shows Tempo 4ply in Wren’s Egg, Chestnut, Twig and Sand. Another image shows Tempo 4ply mini skeins in Whispering Grass, Cottage Original, Bark, Dark Oak and Black Magic Rose. Other colour combination suggestions can be found in the update flickr album including pairings of full skeins and mini skeins which would be perfect for use as socks with contrasting toes, heels and cuffs. One of the images shows a skein of Tempo 4ply in Diantus and a Tempo 4ply mini skein in Black Magic Rose. Tempo 4ply is our *proper* sock yarn. It’s Superwash Merino and nylon with 400m/100g (the minis are 20g) and it’s designed to be really tough and hardwearing. I find it soft enough for next-to-skin wear too and I am actually wearing a jumper (Boxy by Joji) made in it as we speak. I made it years ago and still looks new! As well as shawls, I’ve also got lots of socks made in this yarn – they have been seriously well used and are still going strong, so I do see a lot of value in this yarn even though it’s not quite as soft as the extrafine Merino bases. It is also our cheapest hand-dyed yarn as the Merino fibres used are less fine (more coarse) than is used in our other Merino yarns. This adds to the durability of this yarn and keeps the price lower.

Other recently added yarns have been in support of pattern releases. Exhale by Rachel Illsley of Unwind Knitwear is a beautiful sweater with an intricate colourwork yoke in a contrast colour. The pattern is written in nine sizes from XS to 5XL with the largest size using five skeins of the main colour with one skein of the contrast colour. It uses Titus 4ply in Charcoal and Bark (this combination is shown in one of the images) but would be stunning in many other colour combinations. Alternatively you could also use Milburn 4ply for this design which would give a wider range of colour combinations. Milburn and Titus can also be used together if you wish to do so! I’m planning to make one using Milburn in Black Tulip for the main colour — I just haven’t decided on the contrast colour yet. The pattern is available on Rachel’s Payhip. We are offering a discount on yarn for this design that is applicable to purchases of Titus 4ply and Milburn 4ply. Use code EXHALE10ECY at checkout for a 10% discount to the price of your yarn. This code will be valid until the end of Friday 5th August (UK time) and cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount codes.

We also have a batch of Brimham 4ply in Rose Campion (shown in one of the images) on the website for Liz Corke’s latest pattern, Treabh (pronounced “tro”) socks. Meaning plough in Scottish Gaelic, this is a simple but fun sock pattern featuring garter columns running up both sides of the sock, giving beautiful texture while still being a simple and quick knit. A pre-order batch is currently being dyed but if this sells out a new pre-order can be set up.

We have also recently restocked Titus Fingering. This is the same blend of superwash extrafine merino with mulberry silk as is found in our other Titus yarns but in a fingering weight singles yarn. It strikes us as primarily a garment and shawl yarn, but it also works really well at a much tighter gauge for things like fingerless mitts, hats, and cowls. The only thing I really wouldn’t recommend it for is socks. This yarn is fairly fine as fingering weight yarns go, due to it being lustrous and singles-spun. It will substitute in place of most fingering/4ply weight yarns but please be aware that you might think it looks a bit thin compared to more traditional 4ply yarns. There is a great selection of colours available as well as yarn packs in several colour combinations. The shown combination is Titus Fingering in Tide, Echinops, Ivy and Driftwood. There has also been a small restock of Titus 4ply which is our original Merino/silk yarn so we have lots of beautiful yarns to choose from!

Happy Shopping!