I’ve been dying to knit something with Rico Creative Galaxy Chunky ever since we started stocking it, then at Christmas I was given a copy of the book Entrelac by by Rosemary Drysdale and I saw the perfect opportunity to try out the yarn and learn a new technique at the same time.

The result is this cowl, which I absolutely adore!  I think that variegated yarns work well with the entrelac technique and the little sparkles from the sequins are a lovely touch.

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 recently finished knitting this lace scarf using Louisa Harding’s Simonetta yarn.  Simonetta is a pretty mohair yarn with a touch of glitter. The metallic yarn is twisted with the mohair causing the glitter to run intermittently throughout the length of the yarn.  The pattern is called the Cosimo scarf and is free to download as a PDF here.

The instructions give the yarn requirements to knit the scarf in either Louisa Harding’s Simonetta, Grace Hand Beaded or Nerissa.  I was tempted to do it in Grace Hand Beaded, but thought that the Simonetta would make the scarf feel more floaty and delicate and it only took 1 ball.

The lace pattern is a 16 row repeat and although I had to concentrate on counting rows at first, I found that once I got into it, the pattern became quite easy.

Why not chose your favourite shade of Simonetta and have a go yourself!

Alternatively, browse the Simonetta pattern book by Louisa Harding on our website which features no less than 14 knitting patterns for tops, scarves, shawls, a hat and even a skirt!

Just before Christmas, we started stocking some Adriafil yarns, one of which is called Knitcol.  Knitcol is a self-striping DK yarn. It’s 100% merino wool and being a standard DK yarn, you could use it for so many things, but we think it works best with simple stocking stitch items, which will allow the stripes of the yarn to stand out.

I was dying to try it out myself, so I knitted this little baby hat, using Knitcol.  The pattern is from Sirdar pattern 1242 that includes instructions for 4 different types of baby hat.  Isn’t it cute?

Just a quick post to let you know that we have 30% off Rico Loopy scarf yarn until the end of January.  (Offer applies only to current stock)

That brings the price down from £9.95 a ball, to a fantastic £6.95… and if you spend over £30 you qualify for free postage too!

Have you tried Debbie Bliss’ yarn called Angel yet?  It’s just like Rowan’s Kidsilk Haze, although a very slight difference in the percentage of fibres and there is 10m less on a ball of Angel. However with so much on one ball anyway, it doesn’t make much difference!

I knitted this shrug using a lovely shade of Angel from the pattern book Angel by Debbie Bliss.  It’s basically 2 sleeves and a ribbed band. Pretty quick to do.

My Mum also knitted this short cardigan, from the same pattern book, using Debbie Bliss Party Angel yarn.  It’s Angel yarn with a touch of sparkle! I wore this cardi a few times of the Christmas season. It was great for parties.

I found the cardi to be a good fit and I will wear it often but one thing Mum did say when she picked up around the edge for the ribbed band, she needed to pick up more stitches than the pattern said, because it was pulling in otherwise.

I thought you might like to see these fingerless gloves that I knitted for my brother this Christmas. The yarn I used was Rico Essentials Alpaca DK.

This yarn is a 50/50 mix of highland wool and alpaca and available in 6 natural coloured shades. It feels lovely and soft and of superb quality. I enjoyed knitting with it and my brother likes his gloves!

It is also available in a chunky yarn too.

If you’ve seen the new Kidsilk Haze Stripe yarn from Rowan, but don’t know what you might knit with it, then I hope that you’ll be interested to know that a new book of knitting patterns for Rowan, dedicated to the Kidsilk Haze Stripe yarn is now out.

Called simply the Kidsilk Haze Stripe Collection, it contains 6 knitting patterns including a cardigan, three sweaters, a wrap and scarf.

Available to purchase on our website for only £4.95!

Have you ever wanted to knit something with beads, but have been put off by the thought of having to thread all the beads onto the yarn before knitting?  Well Grace Hand Beaded by Louisa Harding is a yarn that already has the beads on.  Genius!!

The yarn itself is a silk and merino wool blend and when knitted, the beads appear like iridescent droplets on the surface of the fabric giving a very subtle shimmer through the finished garment.

To accompany the yarn, Louisa Harding has produced a book, called Three Graces, which contains patterns for garments and accessories using not only Grace Hand Beaded, but her Grace and Grace Hand Dyed yarns.

Knitwear designer, Anniken Allis, has also produced a crochet scarf pattern that uses 2 skeins of Grace Hand Beaded yarn and is available to buy from Anniken’s Ravelry shop.

Or if you prefer to knit, rather than crochet, you can download a free lace scarf knitting pattern called Cosimo Scarf that can either be knit in Grace Hand Beaded or two of Louisa Harding’s other yarns, Simonetta and Nerissa.

Rico Eco Tinto Chunky is an ultra soft 100% wool roving that knits up very quickly on 7mm needles. The wool is organic and dyed using environmentally friendly dyes. Despite not being plied or twisted, the yarn is very strong and knits up well when used in colourwork or textured knits.

Available in 6 lovely shades on our website for £3.99 a ball.