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The Norma Sweater by My Favourite Things Knitwear in Isager Tweed, Isager Silk Mohair and Isager Tvinni has zoomed straight to the top of my queue. Released recently as part of the Isager Archives Collection, this pattern has really got my knitty fingers twitching!   I'm seeing so many lovely colour combinations in the orders coming through and I just have to make one for myself! I've yet to decide whether to go with the colours as shown or go off piste. The lightweight yarns used for the Norma Sweater make this a lovely option for a spring sweater. The...

Yarn categories can cause some confusion and a question we get asked often is "what is sport weight yarn?". With a new sport weight yarn hitting our shelves, Isager Eco Melange, I thought now would be a good time to delve into that question! The short answer is it is in between a 4-ply and a DK weight yarn in thickness. We have a section for yarns we'd suggest for Sport Weight patterns if you want to go straight to that: But if you want to go a bit deeper into it, read on... Yarn weight categories are not absolute and people are...

We were joined last Friday by Sara Moore of Whole Punching who ran a Beginner's Punch Needle workshop from our lovely Chesterblade Hills studio looking out over the Somerset countryside. Sara was an absolute delight and everyone enjoyed their afternoon learning the basics of the slow and relaxing fibre craft of Needle Punching. Sara's designs focus on bringing a modern feel to this traditional craft. Course attendees were given the option of choosing one of Sara's designs or creating their own design from scratch.  Sara took everyone through the basics of using the tools and had a practice run before tracing the...

I have a new pattern in the works and I wanted to give everyone a bit of a preview as I've just finished my design sample! My starting point was wanting to come up with a design for my biggest woolly love, Cambrian Wool, in the double knit weight version. Cambrian Wool is sourced from Welsh Mule sheep (the Welsh breed crossbred with Bluefaced Leicester, a breed renowned for its soft wool) raised in the Cambrian Mountains of Wales. I've stocked the 4-ply weight of Cambrian Wool since 2018 and it's always been my favourite yarn that I stock (and it's a tough...

Last Saturday we had a visit to our Chesterblade Hills yarn shop/teaching studio (between Frome and Shepton Mallet in Somerset) from one of our lovely hand-dyed yarn stockists, Skein Queen (aka Rachel Moutrie). Rachel brought along a selection of her beautiful hand-dyed yarns and we were very excited to see so much loveliness all in one place!   The sun shone, the company was delightful, lots of lovely hand-dyed projects were worn and admired, pattern suggestions were shared, people were able to sit outside to knit and crochet, tea was drunk and cakes were eaten, the red kites and swallows in particular...