Sublime’s new yarn for Spring 2012 is Egyptian Cotton DK.  It has a beautiful sheen and is an exceptionally soft and smooth double knitting yarn which creates hand knits with incredibly clear stitch definition.

I loved how the pretty the balls looked on the shelf, so I had to take a photo to show you!  These are all 12 shades available.

The book to go with the yarn is called The Naturally Sublime Egyptian Cotton DK Book (661) and features 20 designs for babies, children and adults using Sublime Egyptian Cotton DK.

For women, there are chic little waistcoats, stripey nautical-inspired knits and the simply stunning Pointelle with an exquisite lace back. For boys there is an easy gansey style sweater and matching slouchy hat emblazoned with a skull and crossbones motif and for girls, there are trendy little cropped cardies to wear with beach dresses and Bermudas. There’s the simplest sailor gansey in the smartest deep red for men.

Finally, there is an exquisite lace christening gown, ballerina cardie and Tutu shoes for baby girls and the most adorable little sailor suits for baby boys – outstanding little vintage styles for your tiny treasures.

Have a look on our shop website for pictures of the designs in the book.

I wanted to show you a cardi that we have on display in the shop at the moment.  It’s just on loan to me but I really want to keep it.  I tried it on and the fit is really lovely and flattering and the whole garment is ever so light as it has been knit with Sublime’s Lustrous Extra Fine Merino yarn.

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The yarn is spun with silvery threads to give it a sparkle and would be wonderful for knitting any evening garment.

The pattern can be found in The Lustrous Extrafine Merino DK Book 656 which contains a number of jumpers and cardis that I wouldn’t mind knitting for myself.

Sublime are sadly discontinuing their Cotton Kapok DK yarn so we’ve put it on special offer, reducing it from £4.75 to £4.00 a ball – that’s just over 15% off – whilst stocks last.  Do get it quick whilst you can!

Sublime have some new yarns and pattern books out for this Spring.  This one is Tussah Silk DK

Tussah Silk DK has a sublimely subtle texture, an incredibly subtle sheen and a luxurious drape. This beautiful yarn is made for Sublime using the softest and most luxurious silks and has been designed to create hand knits with a natural elegance.

There’s a book to go with this yarn, The Luxurious Sublime Tussah Silk DK Hand Knit Book 650, which contains 18 designs for women. They have designed luxe little sweaters with beautiful leaf motifs, softly structured waterfall cardies and feminine, lacy shrugs and wraps – effortlessly chic and simple shapes to wear for special occasions or to add a little luxury for every day.

I fell in love with Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk 4 Ply as soon as I saw it when it was launched last year.  It feels soft and delicate and an absolute delight.  This Autumn, Sublime have created two new shades: Paddle and Button.

Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk 4 Ply Button

Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk 4 Ply Paddle

There’s a new book too: The Third Irresistibly Sublime Baby 4 Ply Book (641)

Sublime Book 641

Sublime’s new yarn for Autumn 2010 arrived yesterday.  It’s called Sublime Chunky Merino Tweed and is available in 10 colours which you can see on our shop website.

Sublime chunky merino tweed yarn

Sublime chunky merino tweed is made in Italy using the finest quality merino wool, flecked with gorgeously tweedy neps. This soft chunky yarn has a natural warmth and creates the most perfect knits for wrapping up in the great outdoors.

There is also a dedicated pattern book called The Sublime Chunky Merino Tweed hand knit book (642) which contains patterns for men, women and children for sweaters, cardies, hats and scarves.  I like these patterns:

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.