We’re now selling Yarn Forward Magazine in our shop and the brand new issue has just arrived at the office.

Here’s a preview of what’s in this issue: (click to enlarge)

Yarn Forward always features original patterns and is only £4.49. Pick up a copy on our website.

Essentials Cotton DK is another of the new yarns we’re stocking from Rico Design.  This cotton DK is fine and smooth, so the stitches show up clearly with a slight sheen because it is mercerised.  Rico Essentials Cotton DK is relatively low in price and the fabric is light and smooth, making this yarn ideal for affordable babies’ and children’s garments. It knits up into lovely little matinée jackets and cardis for days when wool or acrylic are too warm.

Simply Knitting Magazine asked some of their readers what they thought of this yarn.  Here are some of their comments:

“Love the colour. Has a lovely feel and sheen due to mercerization. Good stitch definition.”
“Bold colours, interesting texture, bouncy.”
“Gorgeous colours. Lovely soft feel.”
“Love the colour. Not as nice knitted as on the ball, perhaps. Good sheen though.”
“Feels soft and I like the colour but worry about it being a bit crunchy when knitted up.”
“Cotton is lush – bananas colour though!”
“Perfect for crochet – it’s tightly spun and mercerized so it’s not splitty. Love the range of colours.”
“Lovely shimmery yarn. The high cotton content comese as a bit of a surprise. Because it’s polyamide around a cotton core, the stitches are even but not completely smooth when knitted.”

Why not try it for yourself? Visit our website to see the shades we have in stock.

I thought you might like to see a photo of a jumper that a customer recently completed. I think it looks great and really suits her.

The pattern is called Maeve from the Rowan Lima Collection and uses Rowan’s Lima yarn. If you’d like to know yarn quantities, then just ask and I’ll look it up for you.  I reckon a sleeveless version would look rather nice too.

I love to see what my customers are making, so do feel free to send me a photo!

That title is a bit of a mouthful isn’t it?  But that’s what I’ve got… some new shades of Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk 4 Ply.  I think this yarn is exquisite.  It is just so soft and feels so luxurious and delicate.  I love it!

The new shades are:

Sublime’s book 635, “The second irresistibly Sublime baby 4 ply book” contains patterns for this yarn and uses some of these new shades.

Pictures of the patterns in Sublime book 635 are available on the website

Here in the UK, we’re currently in the middle of Fairtrade Fortnight: the annual nationwide campaign to promote awareness of Fairtrade and encourage people to buy products which carry the FAIRTRADE Mark in order to help farmers in developing countries.

So I thought it might be a good time to remind knitters about the fairtrade yarn we sell.  Manos Del Uruguay is the only yarn company to carry the World Fairtrade Mark and we stock their lovely Silk Blend yarn.  Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend yarn is a beautiful double knit yarn that is alight with colour and knits so well.  It is a blend of 30% Silk, 70% Extrafine Merino Wool.

The mission and the social objectives of Manos de Uruguay are of creating working opportunities for the women’s groups in order to assure the personal development and let them acces the civil society as an active member. This permits to the women to remain working in their own villages and avoid the migration of these families from the country side.  This cooperative provides much needed income to approximately 350 women working in 17 locations.

Coming Soon from Manos Del Uruguay – Laceweight yarn.

We’re very excited about this new yarn, due in the middle of April.  The Manos laceweight yarn will be 5% Cashmere, 75% Baby Alpaca, 20% Silk in a sumptuous 12 colourways both solids and space dyed.

Watch this space for more details!

I had a delivery today which included some Regia Hand Dye Effect Sock Yarn plus a brand new pattern booklet to accompany the yarn.

The Regia Hand-Dye Effect sock yarn is a soft 4 ply yarn which has been dyed using a technique which gives it a hand dyed appearance as the gorgeous saturated colours blend into each other.

The pattern booklet, Regia Journal 608, has just been published and contains 12 patterns specifically for this yarn, although you could easily substitute another 4 ply yarn if you preferred.

So if you’re still feeling the chill, why not whip up something to keep you warm and cozy.

Just ask if you want to know the yarn requirements for a particular pattern.

The new spring issue of Interweave Knits has everything you’ve been looking for to help you transition from chilly winter nights to lovely spring days.

There are 23 patterns to help you say goodbye to Winter. Refreshing lace in cardigans and t-shirt-style projects and directional knitting with a twist will make you happy to pile on the layers until winter says its last goodbyes. And simple spring-y knits next to simply-processed yarns will keep your needles busy while you perfect your Kitchener stitch techniques with step-by-step instructions from TECHknitter. Get inspired to dive into historical and global knitting with a profile on Nancy Bush and her new Estonian lace stole.

Here are just some of the patterns featured in this issue:

The full preview can be seen on Interweave Knits website and you can purchase a copy from our site here.

Knitting socks is a very popular pastime for many knitters and there are lots of way to do it – cuff-down, toe-up, with the magic loop method, two at a time…  Well in this issue of Knitting Traditions you can learn the technique of knitting socks: two at a time, one INSIDE the other! That’s right – one inside the other.

Knitting Traditions magazine is special issue from Interweave Press which contains over 40 knitting projects including socks, shawls and scarves, items for baby, a variety of hand coverings, hats, squares and edgings, and finger puppets.  The contents for Knitting Traditions were selecte from previous issues of Piecework magazine, most of which are no longer available.  (Piecework is another publication from Interweave Press).

The interesting thing about this magazine is that each project is presented with its historical context.  You can read about the tradition of knitting throughout the centuries and and techniques from around the world.  So there’s traditional turkish knitted stockings, lace knitting from New Zealand, shawls from Russia and the Faroe Islands, Swedish mittens and much, much more.

You can view the Table of Contents on the Interweave website here

Knitting Traditions is available for £9.99 on our website.

If you enjoy lace knitting then you’ll know how important it is to block the knitting so that you can open up all the eyelets and show off the pattern you’ve created.

Traditionally, you’d soak the lace in water, then pin in out on a blocking board (or I know that some people use their spare bed) to the correct size, where you leave it to dry  This method can use dozens, if not hundreds, of pins, and can be a bit tiresome if you’re doing a large piece.

An alternative method is to use blocking wires.  You thread a wire through the edge loops of the piece and use just a few pins to secure the wires to the blocking board at the right size.  It’s much quicker and easier.

Getting hold of lace blocking wires in the UK isn’t easy though, so you may be pleased to know that we are now stocking Lace Blocking Wire Kits.  Each kit contains wires, t-pins and a measuring stick, plus instructions on how to use them.  There are two kits – a standard lace blocking kit for £19.95 and a deluxe lace blocking kit which contains more wires and pins for £29.95.

This step-by-step tutorial from KnittingDaily.com explains more about how to use lace blocking wires.

Blocking a lace shawl. Photo from KnittingDaily.com

Hulu was the first yarn shop to introduce The Knit Kit to the UK and as such are pleased to announce that we are now stocking the new Knit Kit 2010 edition.

Called by some “The Swiss Army Knife of knitting tools”, the Knit Kit contains all the essential accessories needed to accompany a set of needles and yarn in any project bag including a retractable tape measure, stitch counter, thread cutter, scissors, crochet hook, stitch markers and point protectors all in one case.  It is handy and compact which makes it perfect for travellers and people who like to knit whilst on the move.

The Knit Kit 2010 edition is turquoise and has two added new features: a double-ended crochet hook, especially for sock knitters and a darning needle for finishing work.

The Knit Kit 2010 edition in turquoise blue

You can purchase the new Knit Kit on our website for just £14.95.

Original editions of the Knit Kit are still available in both white and black, at £13.95, however the white version has now been discontinued, so once it’s gone, it’s gone!