A reminder!!

With all these beautiful new yarns on the market, I thought I should remind you of one of our old favourites. A yarn from SandnesGarn in Norway, Smart has been around for some time. It's a 100% wool which has been specially treated so that it can be washed in the washing machine, although the dryer is not recommended. The gauge is 22 stitches to 10 cms (4 inches) and a 50 gram ball contains 100 metres. The colours are beautiful and there are tweeds and variegated and well as plain. I am presently knitting my grand-daughter a striped vest with Smart from a great children's pattern book the company puts out. What little girl wouldn't like ponies or unicorns on her sweater or poncho and what little boy wouldn't like a fire truck or helicopter? There is even a pattern with pink spotted elephants. How cool is that?

Pretty in Pink Felted Hat

Cissel has knitted a very pretty softly felted hat for the store. It is knitted in SandnesGarn Tove which is a lightweight 100% wool yarn which felts beautifully. Ideal for a cosy winter hat. The yarn usually knits to a gauge of 24 stitches to 10 cms on 3.5 mm needles. Of course, for felting you are using a larger needle. The colours are lovely - mostly brights with a few neutrals. The cost for making this great hat works out to about $10.00 with yarn left over to start another one!! How about stripes? The pattern is available in the store or you can contact us by email.
And by the way, you can use the very same pattern for a cloche style hat in Patons SWS. This will give you a firm, sturdy hat without the turn back as SWS shrinks and felts so readily.

Delta Ceramcoat Decorative Paint

As well as stocking lots of beautiful yarns and needlework supplies, we also carry the full range of Delta Ceramcoat decorative paints. These paints are acrylic and clean up very readily with soap and water. They mix easily so you can create the perfect colour. For painting on fabrics, you can mix Ceramcoat with a textile medium to produce an easy to use and colour fast fabric paint. Of course, paint is no good without the means to apply it and, of course, you will find brushes and all the accessories and finishes you need to produce your works of art.

Twilleys of Stamford

Freedom Spirit is a new self striping yarn from Twilleys of Stamford (a very well known and old established UK company). The colours are among the best we have seen. The yarn is 100% wool and knits to a gauge of 22 stitches and 28 rows on 4 mm needles. The yarn is supported by a beautiful book. I bought one myself and there isn't one pattern I wouldn't like to knit. The patterns are very stylish and the sweaters for the most part come in a cropped and longer version. Click on the pictures to have a closer look.

New Yarn from Patons

Patons has come out with a great new yarn called SWS (Soy Wool Stripes). The yarn is made of 70% wool and 30% soy and knits to a tension of 17 stitches and 21 rows on 5.5 mm needles. The balls are 80 grams and contain 100 metres. The self striping yarn lends itself very well to multidirectional knitting which is becoming more popular as new techniques are developed. The yarn felts well and is well priced. All in all a very nice yarn. Oh, did I mention, the colours are beautiful. Click on the picture for a better look.

I shall have lots of new yarns to tell you about in my next posting. We are in the process of unpacking, pricing and finding room for some gorgeous yarns - many of them new to us and a few new colours for old favourites.

Old favorite - new colours

Marks & Kattens have extended the colour range of their Iceland yarn. A blend of 55% wool and 45% human made fibres, this yarn has a lovely soft tweedy look, flecked with a contrasting colour. At 11 stitches and 16 rows and knitted on 7mm needles, it knits up very quickly. A 50 gram ball contains 60 meters. I knitted a sweater for myself last winter in the creamy-beige colour - I think it took about a week!! Now I have seen the new colours, I may have to do another one. The yarn also makes a beautiful scarf.