We had an exciting delivery at 8.30 this morning… a big box of the new Serena yarn from Manos Del Uruguay.  I’d seen this was available in the US sometime ago and I have been looking forward to getting it here in the UK too.

Available in 12 shades, Serena is a light and soft combination of baby alpaca and pima cotton.  The alpaca gives beautiful drape, and the cotton year-round wearability. Together, both fibers produce softly heathered colour effects. The supple fabric is perfect for simple shapes as well as the tucks and gathers of so many contemporary designs.  It knits as a DK yarn.

SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER:  For a limited time, we’re offering 10% off the regular price, bringing it down from £9.99 to £8.99 a skein

A number of British pattern designers were commissioned by the UK distributor to create a collection of exclusive patterns specifically using Serena.

The current issue of Knitscene magazine (Winter/Spring 2011) also features a pattern on the front cover, which is knitted in Serena.  I really fancy knitting this… but which colour to knit it in..?

There are also a couple of free knitting patterns for a cowl and a shawl which you can download. So there are plenty of ways to choose from, to try out this fabulous new yarn.

Yippee!  The Manos del Uruguay lace weight yarn that we’ve been waiting for finally arrived this week. The colours are superb and it feels really soft.

Manos del Uruguay Lace Weight Yarns

I thought I’d upload a picture of the shade card for the new Manos del Uruguay Lace yarn that is due out this month.  The pictures we put up at first weren’t that good for seeing what the shade actually looks like!

If you would like to pre-order one or more skeins of this yarn, then we’re offering 10% off to all customers who get in touch by Thursday 15th April.  Just tell us what shade(s) you would like and we’ll send you a discount code when the yarn arrives.

If you want to see the patterns that have been designed using this yarn, then they are all on our website, together with the yarn requirements.  Most only take one or two skeins!

To accompany the new Manos laceweight yarn, Artesano commissioned designers Sue Hanmore, Anniken Allis and Judy Forlong, to come up with some patterns of both garments and shawls.  Here’s a preview of what’s coming:

They have been designed to appeal to all knitters of different ages, budgets and abilities. I hope you agree that they are lovely and I can see them cropping up on Ravelry project pages quite frequently!

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!