This weekend saw me travelling to Bradford for The Knit Show – a trade show for yarn shop owners.  It was an opportunity for the manufacturers to tell their stockists about what’s coming this Autumn.

Chunky yarns seem to be very “in” this Autumn.  Everyone seems to be launching them and whereas the chunky patterns from last year were quite big and a little shapeless in my opinion, this year the patterns for chunky yarns are a bit more fitted, which I much prefer.

The Sublime stand was my first stop and they haven’t disappointed with their Autumn collection. There is just one new yarn this season: Chunky Merino Tweed.  It comes in 10 shades and is 80% merino wool. It has an accompanying pattern book with several designs that I quite liked.  It should be in stock in early August.

There are new shades in the baby cashmere merino silk 4 ply and DK, cashmere merino silk DK and extra fine merino DK and new books for each: all of which I’ve got coming.  Many of the new shades are very Autumny – golds, browns, greens, reds.  I really liked the overall tone for this season.  In particular there was a baby blanket, knitted in an olive green, which was simply beautiful.  I’d love to try it.  I wish I could show you a picture of it.

I spent a lot of time on the Rowan stand too.  I’m sure that many of you will love Magazine 48.  I particularly loved the Russian Doll story (cover image) and if you like, or would like to try, fair-isle, then you’ll definitely be inspired by one of the patterns.

Rowan Magazine 48

There are four new Rowan yarns:

• Drift: a 100% merino chunky, much like Big Wool; in fact the pattern book Winter Drift contains patterns that use both Drift and Big Wool.
• Silky Twist: 53% silk, 30% wool, 12% superkid mohair and 5% polyamid and it is an aran weight in 10 jewel-like colours. The pattern book contains some classic designs by Martin Storey.
• Renew: a recycled wool that is a sort of tweed.
• Rowan British Sheep Breeds Boucle: a single shade in natural cream.  A pattern book combines both this and the Renew yarn.

There are some new shades in many of the other yarns, including last year’s new ones Lima and Alpaca Cotton.  Another Martin Storey book called Homestead Classics contains patterns using these yarns.

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

Sublime Bamboo and Pearls DK is a brand new yarn from Sublime which uses the most unusual fibre I’ve ever come across in a yarn.  Bamboo and Pearls DK is made from a blend of bamboo and luxuriously rare pearl viscose. This creates hand knits with elegant drape and incredible stitch definition as well as being so soft and silky.

Sublime Bamboo and Pearls DK yarn

It’s a blend of 70% bamboo and 30% pearl fibre. The pearl fibre in this yarn is manufactured using a viscose yarn blended with pearl powder during the spinning process. The pearl powder is from natural pearls, raised in rivers or lakes.

The benefits of the yarn are its smoothness and shine, it is anti-aging, anti-ultraviolet and has excellent breathability and is extremely comfortable to wear. Amazingly it’s machine washable too!

Sublime Bamboo and Pearls DK comes in a palette of summery colours, gorgeously feminine shades and that take you from dressed up day wear to party perfect.

Pattern support is provided in The Most Chic Sublime Bamboo & Pearls DK Book 633 which contains 16 patterns by Sarah Hatton, a popular knitwear designer formerly with Rowan.