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The bumper Pendle 4ply update is finally here! It went live on Monday, but don’t worry you haven’t missed out. I’ve been alluding to this update for ages — I had about 20 dye lots to play with which was really exciting for me as it meant not having to narrow down my colour choices so much. But then *everything* got in the way and it’s been sat waiting for ages for the photography to happen. On Monday the stars (or… clouds) finally aligned and I got all the photos done!

There are so many amazing colours for you to choose from, some deep and rich, some soft and pale and some variegated favourites. Pendle 4ply is an old favourite: pure Superwash Merino. It is soft and bouncy yarn which is great in shawls, accessories and garments. The only thing I wouldn’t recommend it for is socks because it is soft and fine wool, so after a few washes it’ll get a bit felted, and if you wear socks hard it would do the same. Not that it isn’t lovely on the tootsies, but it’s not the most ideal sock yarn. I have photographed lots of combinations of these yarns and you will find these in the update flickr album. Colours shown are: picture 1 – Mirkwood, Meadow Rue and Allium, picture 2 – Harbour, Cottage Snow Queen and Granite.

Also in flickr we have added combinations of Coniston Fingering with Keld Fingering to provide colourway inspiration for the latest pattern release from Jaya of Apoorva Designs. The Color Pop Shawl (picture used courtesy of Apoorva Designs) was first published in yarnpeople issue 5 but has been re-released with a new sample. Color Pop is a top-down, winged triangular shawl that uses a simple two-colour slip stitch pattern which creates coloured dots and lines that run across the length of the shawl giving it a classic texture. The shawl is a quick knit and also makes for a great start for those eager to learn slip stitch knitting. It uses one skein of Coniston Fingering as the main colour with one skein of Keld Fingering as the contrast colour. You will find the combinations on page 4 of the Two Colour Combination album. Combinations shown are Coniston Fingering in Ash with Keld Fingering in Dandelion and Coniston Fingering in Flowering Currant with Keld Fingering in Winter Garden.

???? Spring Sale ????
We had lovely weather here at ECY Shedquarters over the weekend so we thought we would do a spring sale to help clear the decks of some older batches. You can find all the reduced items in a section on the home page of the website, the prices have been reduced so you don’t need a discount code and you can still use the 100THANKS discount code for orders with a pre-tax value of over £100.

Having a clear out means more space for all the exciting yarn we have coming up over the next couple of months. Around mid-March we have a sparkly update including the introduction of Silverdale 4ply (like Rosedale 4ply but with silver stellina sparkle instead of gold!!). This is a huge update of Rosedale 4ply and Silverdale 4ply, full and mini skeins plus fade sets and rainbows! Late March we will have Keld Fingering – our super popular merino/linen singles yarn. Plus we have Hayton DK and Bowland DK almost ready for you and Bowland Aran going into the dyepots today and a lot more waiting to be dyed!!

Hello all! ECY Shedquarters has been enjoying some wonderful snow this past few weeks. It has been beautiful to look at but has given us a few issues with getting to the post office. The delays were never more than a day so there is nothing to worry about if you have placed an order.

The time has finally come for us to unveil the new addition to the Milburn palette. Please welcome Dusk!! Dusk has been an ECY classic for many years and we are sure it will be as popular on Milburn. To read more about this exciting new colourway check out our blog post about it. You will find our colour combination suggestions (the image shows Natural, Dusk and Estuary) on flickr and yarn packs including Dusk will be being added to the website over the next few weeks. Kits will gradually be updated with Dusk as an option over the next few weeks (this is quite a big job!!). If you see a kit on the website but would like to order it in Dusk before the option has been added choose another colour option and let us know in the order notes that you would like it in Dusk.

We have also been busy with producing the hand-dyed yarns you would expect from us. The snow makes it harder to get the yarn photographed so we aren’t able to give as much warning of when updates will be going live. The best way to find out when yarns go live is to sign up to our newsletter. You will find a link for this on the website. To give you an idea of what we have coming up, updates in progress include Pendle 4ply, Coniston Fingering, Lowther Lace, Rosedale 4ply and the introduction of Silverdale 4ply! Plus Bowland DK and Hayton DK so that should be plenty for you to choose from!

Our most recent update was Oakworth 4ply and before that we also snuck a few colourways of Bowland 4ply on to the website. Both of these yarns are pure Superwash wool, Oakworth 4ply being NZ Polwarth and Bowland 4ply being British Bluefaced Leicester. Oakworth 4ply is shown in colourways Hot Choc, Secret Garden and Cottage Original 2801210952. Bowland 4ply is shown in Murmuration and Larkspur. They are both really great all round yarns and I have done a great selection of colourways for you. Oakworth 4ply is a wonderfully versatile yarn. My latest pair of Daydreamer Socks used Oakworth 4ply in Bog Myrtle. You might not think of using a pure wool yarn for socks but the Polwarth wool is up to the test! This yarn is also great in shawls like Echoing Green by Jaya of Apoorva Designs which you can see in the images.

As we have Hosta and Larch included in this update we also have kits for this design back on the website. Our colours have evolved a bit over time and you can see the difference in Larch in the image. If these are not your colours there are plenty of other two colour combinations you can choose from and these can be made into a kit using the Add-on kit. If garments are more your thing, the Blossoming Sweater by Rachel Illsley of Unwind Knitwear is a beautiful design with colourwork detailing. This pattern is currently only available through Ravelry but showcases the yarn beautifully. Rachel used Driftwood and Briar Rose.

Friday will see the unveiling of our latest Milburn colourway! Yippeee! The announcement will be made in our newsletter at 1 p.m. and will be on social media shortly afterwards. You will be able to buy this new colourway on 4ply and DK from Monday 1st February at 9 a.m. UK time.

Friday also sees our Oakworth DK update go live at 1 p.m. We had hoped to have this update before the end of December but we ran out of time and haven’t really had suitable photography weather through January. Oakworth DK is pure Superwash Polwarth wool, so it’s more woolly than Merino, and I find it more hardwearing too. It’s a lovely crisp, solid yarn (it’s still smooth though) which softens with use. It makes a really nice addition to our stable as it is quite different to the merino and BFL bases. Colourways shown are Thunder, Twig. and Steel

A little bit earlier in the month we had a large mini skein update including Brimham 4ply and Nateby 4ply. Both of these yarns are Merino/nylon blends with Nateby being our original sparkly yarn also including silver lurex (picture shows Nateby colourways Hyssop, Faded Bloom, Hedgerow, Falling Leaves, Stone and Ash). There were also a few mini skeins of Rosedale 4ply (picture shows Damson, Coal and Tide) and the new Silverdale 4ply — these are also sparkly Merino/nylon blends but with Stellina – Rosedale has gold Stellina and Silverdale has silver! (see what we did there?!????). We had hoped to have a full update to introduce Silverdale 4ply but the yarn is not currently available to us so this is on hold for a little while longer.

I have a couple of bits of shipping admin to share with you. With all the drama relating to shipping delays that the last few months brought us we have added another service level. You now will see the options for Standard shipping (split into first and second class for the UK only), Courier, and now the new Airmail Tracked & Signed option (1st class Signed For in the UK only). Signed For/Tracked and Signed is a way of adding extra peace of mind to your shipping without the extra cost associated with a courier shipment. This is a new offering for us and it may lead to some teething problems but hopefully it will be a positive addition all round. Take a look at our Shipping Info page to check out all the changes.

Customers in Europe are likely to experience delays in receiving their orders as the UK and EU work through the teething problems of the new trade deal. Please do be aware that if you are in the EU and placing an order with a VAT registered company in the UK, you are almost definitely going to have to pay an import tax. This is instead of the VAT that you would previously have paid as part of the order. It is the same system as you would use if you are ordering from America, China or any other non-EU country. Delivery agents (e.g. couriers/postal services) will also add their own fees on top of the import tax to cover their administration fees — we can’t tell you how much it’ll be because we are not given any indication of it at all. Sadly this is not something that we have any control over and is the new normal. Please do take this into consideration when placing orders as it will increase the overall cost of the order and the fees will have to be paid for you to receive your order.

We have also had notification that one of our main (and most reliable!) couriers has suspended part of their European service until they are more able to cope with the increased complexity of the process. When booking courier shipments we always do our best to find an appropriate service for the price charged to our customers. As the courier market is so variable at this time we may in some cases not be able to find a service to suit. In this case we will contact you to discuss possible options, whether this would be an increased cost for the shipment or the use of an alternative service. This is reflected on our Shipping Info page.

That’s the boring bit over with! The lovely Sophie McKane (aka Unicorn Designs) gave up some of her time for an interview with us about her life and designs. She is a fabulous knitwear designer specialising in (but not by any means limited to) garments for children and fingerless mitts. You can find links to the recent patterns she has released using our yarn on the Design Collaboration page but please be aware that some of the older links may be for Ravelry. Head over to our blog to read the interview.

We’re still working differently to how we used to, due to Covid restrictions and being as careful as possible. Between that and Brexit-related delays (which I’m sure will be a recurring theme for some time to come, sorry!) my turnaround time on yarn is about the same as last year – slow! It’s fine and I for one am not unhappy about it; it’s just different. We’re increasingly seeing undyed yarn being unavailable because of Covid and Brexit shipping issues mentioned earlier, and I’m not sure when that’s all going to be cleared up, so in the meantime I’ll just be doing updates of what I can actually get! Here’s an idea of where we’re up to (yarn availability notwithstanding):

Bowland 4ply – nearly ready
Oakworth 4ply – dyed
Pendle 4ply – this is a big one and currently in the dye pots
Coniston Fingering – waiting to go in the dye pots
Lowther Lace – waiting to go in the dye pots
Titus 4ply – planned
A sparkly update including mini skeins (hopefully Rosedale and Silverdale 4ply!) – aiming for mid-March
Bedale 4ply – planned
Bowland DK – aiming for April
Titus DK – pencilled in for May

The yarn updates are coming thick and fast now so with no further ado allow me to introduce Keswick Aran! As you may be able to guess from the name this is the same tweedy Merino yarn we have had in fingering and DK weight but in aran weight. If you have tried either of the other weights you will know that it is lovely soft Superwash Merino with donegal neps in cream, brown and black throughout. I love this blend so much and dyeing it is super-fun. On lighter colourways the darker neps show through and on darker colourways the lighter neps are more prominent. It just adds another exciting dimension to the yarn and really inspires my creativity. This yarn went live on the website on Friday but we have some stock still available. Colours in the images are Woodland, Faded Bloom and Slate.

The week before we added some Askham 4ply to the website to support the release of ViTalina Craft’s Lacystorm Sweater pattern which you can find on Payhip and Ravelry. Askham 4ply is a luxurious blend of baby alpaca and silk which some will remember from our mill dyed range of the same name. Now it is only available as a hand dyed yarn and we have a really nice selection available on the website. Colours shown in the images are Cloudberry, Scorched Moors and Meadow Rue. You will also find our Festive Fun colourway available on both Pendle Chunky and Nateby 4ply, these are likely to be the last batches of this colourway for 2020 so don’t leave it too late if you want to add a skein or two to your stash.

Over on the blog you will find a post about Christmas posting dates. If you are thinking of ordering but want items to arrive before Christmas please take a look at the blog post and allow plenty of time! There is also a new Shedcast up on the Eden Cottage Yarns YouTube channel so please do check that out.

It has been a busy few weeks here at ECY Shedquarters. Renovations are coming along nicely and the end is in sight! I am so looking forward to getting back to whatever classes as normal these days!! Even though the house is in chaos I have been managing to keep preparing lovely updates of yarn for you all. Over the last few weeks we have had updates of: Rosedale 4ply – our gold sparkly sock yarn in full skeins, mini skeins and mini skein fade sets for Helda Panagary’s Transference Shawl in this months issue of Inside Crochet. Pendle Chunky – super soft Merino in a selection of colourways that work well together as well as being beautiful on their own. This selection also works really well with the older batches on the website which are on sale to clear! We also have a great selection of Keld Fingering (merino/linen singles yarn) available from that update so there are plenty of yarns to choose from for any project. You can see all the update yarns plus our suggestions for colour combinations in flickr.

Over the next few weeks we have lots more for you and more still planned for the coming months! Almost ready to be added to the website we have Carlisle Fingering – our original merino singles yarn. After that we have Pendle Aran ready for those wintery makes and Nateby 4ply – our original silver lurex sparkle yarn. Plus we will soon have news of our Seasonal Stash Boxes to share with you and we are really excited about this one!!

Somehow Socktober took us by surprise this year although I do tend to start thinking about making socks in September so maybe that is why. Anyway… I know lots of you will be thinking about socks and so we have put our Sock Yarn category onto the homepage. In that collection you will find all the yarns that we class as proper sock yarns. By this I mean the yarns that are hard-wearing enough to withstand a lot of use and that it wouldn’t hurt too much to put through the wash (although I do really recommend hand washing any handmade items to be on the safe side!). Tempo 4ply and Brimham High Twist are my current favourites for socks but there are lots of other bases in the collection so do go take a look!

At the weekend I managed to record a new episode of The Wholly Irregular ECY Shedcast and you can find it (in two parts) on the Eden Cottage Yarns YouTube channel. With not having done one for a while I had a LOT to talk about so please do check it out!

In the Shedcast you may hear me mention Whitfell Chunky being on sale. I was a bit muddled (my brain is totally full of fluff!! ????) and got it confused with Whitfell DK which is on sale to clear with only the Ebony colourway left, but it got me thinking and I decided that we could have a flash sale on Whitfell Chunky too! Whitfell Chunky is 100% baby alpaca and is super soft and snuggly. For the rest of the month of October if you add Whitfell Chunky to your cart you will automatically receive a 10% discount on those items, no code is required. You can find a link to Whitfell Chunky near the top of the home page as well as in the Yarn menu. As always you can only use one discount on any order and so you will not be able to use the 100THANKS code for any orders which include Whitfell Chunky. This offer ends at midnight on Saturday 31st October UK time.

Our Milburn stock levels are finally getting back to normal, most colours are now available on both 4ply and DK with only Milburn DK in Steel still critically low. We are expecting new stock for this colour and a few others to arrive in the next few weeks!