HRYC

Again.

It all started when I spied this Dagmar Sweater pattern in Ravelry's Hot Right Now list. The best use of a cable to emphasise shape i've seen, maybe ever. Too often this idea is played out and turns into this weird thing that splits the body in two, but here the cable serves as an elegant frame rather than an overwhelming design feature. I'm also smitten with the shaped hem, and the overall texture.

Zealana Kiwi in laceweight would make this something really special. Or Malabrigo Silkpaca Lace (once we get more in, hopefully it'll arrive before Christmas). 

Argh! There's that word already! The dreaded Christmas. I can't believe it's sneaking up on us so gosh darn quick. I think i'll go back into my nice cave of denial and instead give you this:

Cat's Mane by Mer Almagro.

You're welcome.

Spring feels much closer after the crazy weather we've had in the past week. A thunder and lightning storm so crazy we lost power, and then a second storm yesterday (although that one restrained itself to just wind and rain).

Our very ambient lighting thanks to stormy weather...complete with Evie Kemp zombie cat.

Today has turned out to be a beautiful Spring day. Perfect for soaking a bunch of items desperate to be blocked.

Aside from this lot, there's another two cardigans, two baby blankets and another shawl to go through the same process. I seem to be a real tutorial buzz at the moment (not that you can tell, as I haven't published any yet), so i'll do my best to whip up a couple quick 'how to block your stuff' posts. 

Blocking isn't hard, although it can be a bit annoying. And there's something to do with having to wash woollens separately to everything else that sees my hand knits languish in the laundry basket for months. Doing a whole lot in one go makes the process a bit more enjoyable and whole lot more rewarding...and then I go back to feeling guilty about it in another six months' time when the laundry basket is full of knitted things again.

Do you have any handy blocking tips that I might throw into a tutorial? I'd love to hear them! 

It isn't terribly often we have trunk shows. So here's some exciting news! We have an extra special one organised for next week. Yep, next week. 

Hannah of Red Riding Hood Yarns is celebrating her third business birthday, so we decided to nab her for a one night only special. And what goes better with yarn than a very talented pattern designer? Julia Stanfield of Just One WIP is on board too. Hooray! 

What sort of things might you expect to see, exactly?

Delightful hand-dyed yarns...

and inspiring patterns for kids and adults, including lots of samples for you to nosy at.

I'm all excited about having a different kind of knit night. One where we have special visitors and you get to hang out and browse something different and knit and eat cake and drink tea. Come along! It's sure to be loads of fun. xx Tash

The fun part of all this new stock arriving is the chance to move things around and make everything sit together nicely. I really enjoy being in the shop when things look a little different, and it usually leads to me happily snapping photos of my favourite little corners. 

I'm in love with our fibre ladder! We had more Ashford Corriedale sliver arrive this week, and i've even been organised enough to get it loaded up online. 

Fibre ladder + new shelving full of Malabrigo (although it's not quite so full after a very busy weekend!)

I couldn't help but take photos as orders were packed up over the last few days. You, my wonderful supportive customers, have truly excellent taste in yarn. If you look carefully in the pic above, you'll see the messy pile of Zealana Rimu toppling over itself on the shelf. I finally gave up on trying to get it to behave and now it's playing much more nicely sitting in a suitcase. 

Zealana are slowly introducing a new style of ball & label (the lower half of the pic) which looks gorgeous but my oh my it is a pain to get to sit on a shelf. Doesn't make it any less amazing to work with, of course!

I hope you had a wonderful, relaxing weekend. It was certainly a great time to be in the shop, sharing the love of gorgeous yarn. xx

Possibly the most exciting time is when an order of Malabrigo lands. This week was no exception - two giant sacks of gorgeous squishiness arrived on Wednesday and it was certainly a squee-worthy event. 

The arrival also dictated the need for new shelving. We have so much stock at the moment that no amount of rearranging was going to make it fit on our existing shelves. A terrible dilemma, isn't it? 'Oh dear we have so much yarn we have to buy more shelving. What a terrible terrible thing to have happen.'

Malabrigo Rios in Niebla, Sunset and Ravelry Red

More Malabrigo Rios in Azules, Bobby Blue and Playa

Now we didn't just get Rios in this order, oh no. There's stacks and stacks of Malabrigo Sock, and even more Silky Merino. Between those three I went waaaaay above my buying budget, and so there wasn't any room left for Lace or Silkpaca Lace. The good news there is we'll be doing ANOTHER order next week - hooray! If there's a colour we didn't get in this time and you're absolutely desperate to have it, just let us know. Malabrigo takes about three months to arrive and every day of that wait is absolutely worth it. 

Want more pictures? Sure! How about some dodgy ones taken at 9pm on Wednesday night?

Mmmmm Malabrigo sock....

And you'll have to make do with this pic of the Silky Merino...it's one of those yarns that takes awhile to puff back up to smooshy size once it's been pulled out of the bag. It's only really photo-worthy once it's had a week or so of breathing on the shelf. 

I'm going to spend my Friday finishing off a couple of projects and hunting out a pattern worthy of knitting up in Malabrigo. And, of course, packing up all the orders that are coming through quick and fast for this amazing yarn. We're getting low on a few colours in all ranges already...