Spring/Summer 2010

For those of you who have been coping with snow, ice, freezing conditions and other bad weather, you will no doubt be looking forward to spring and summer. This must seem a very long way off, particularly as some people had more snow last night. If, however, like us, you haven't seen any snow or ice, in fact, we only had a heavy frost once, the coming of spring and summer seems very close.

In order to focus our thoughts, the Rowan Magazine 47 arrived yesterday. This showcases the Spring/Summer 2010 yarns and patterns and very nice they are too! As usual the magazine has three different 'stories'. My favourite is the Jamboree which features fifties style, brightly coloured cottons.




This one is called Torquay and so I had to post a photo. I also very much liked this men's cardigan:



I may well knit one of the Jamboree patterns, but sadly not this cardigan. Ian would look ridiculous in it and Joe would probably refuse point blank to wear it on the grounds of it being colourful and interesting. Does anyone else have the same problem - men who won't wear knitted garments?

Woolly Board anyone?

Does anyone know of a supplier in the UK of Woolly boards (or wooly board or jumper boards as they are also called). I would like to have one but haven't been able to find them anywhere in the UK. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, these are sweater blockers and look like this:

You either wash or damp down your knitting and then place it on this adjustable frame. Once on the frame, the jumper or cardigan can be pulled into shape and then it is left to dry. Dryer takes much less time than lying flat.
It appears they are pretty available in America and Canada but then, they do much more fairisle knitting in the round than UK knitters. If anyone knows of a source, please let me know.

Happy New Year - Just!

Happy New Year to you all - I have just about got this in before it becomes a bit embarrassing. I hope you all had a good Christmas holiday. We had a great time here. After a few worrying hours on Christmas Eve when we thought Lucy would not be able to fly from Glasgow because of the bad weather, it all went very well.

In the end I decided to give Lucy all three hats in the Alice Starmore Hat Trick. The reason is that I am a complete sucker and like to give her things. Anyway, here she is, modelling the beret:

I did mention that my sister might be the lucky recipient. Well, she ended up with a scarf made from Bracken Colourscape, which matches her golden hair rather well. Don't feel too sorry for her though, she may be getting a spectacular birthday present in March. More details of that later.
Great British Yarns is having an end of year sale. We have some lovely Rowan yarns on offer, together with a bit of handdyed stuff and undyed yarns. Hope you find something to tempt you.
This year we hope to introduce new ranges to the shop, more details will follow. I am particularly looking forward to getting the new Amy Butler Love range of fabrics which should be due in during February and the new summer yarns from Rowan which look great.