As much as I absolutely love Winter, January is quite magical with it’s late sun, balmy evenings that go on and on, and the odd cooler night that a light shawl does the perfect job of keeping me just warm enough to enjoy being out in the evening air. I recently completed my first BooKnits shawlette – “Dragonfly Wings” with lovely Nurturing Fibres yarn and the most beautiful Miyuki beads gifted to me during last year: the perfect pattern, yarn and beads combination! I couldn’t wait to wear it & got so many compliments when I did. The addition of the beads makes this piece extra special and it’s so easy to add them with a small crochet hook!

Being Summer, I have been doing a lot of ‘beachknitting’ (be sure to look up the #tag if you’re on Instagram – there are some fun posts on there!) and although I’m yet to be joined by other knitters for company in my beach knitting forays, I LOVE knitting in public. I am proud to be a knitter…a person who crochets. A person who is compelled to create lovely things with beautiful yarn: wherever I am, any day, any season. Knitting and crochet are like a meditation, and being able to take my projects with me wherever I go is the reason I took up yarn crafts AND one of the reasons why working with yarn has become such a big part of my life.

dragonflywingsbeachknitting

…and then there’s spinning! My friend Carle’ from Nurturing Fibres encouraged me to start spinning with my first Turkish Drop Spindle & although I am yet to knit with my own handspun (I will soon – I have a Moab Shawl high in my queue!), I am really enjoying the process of learning to spin, and experiencing the tactility of working with fibre in a totally different way: But more of that in another post!

You can pop over to the ‘shop‘ page, where we recently added some rovings for spinning and some felting supplies, as well as some yarn for dyeing and acid dyes if you’re keen to create and experiment with these materials.

We have had a wonderful season of new yarns and colourways to inspire every type of project! Cotton is a very popular Summer choice, and the most exciting new arrival in the shop over the last few months has been Nurturing Fibres Eco Cotton DK.  We are proud to carry a full range of Eco Cotton colours!

ecocottonyuliVinnis

I am always so excited to see what colour combinations customers put together for their projects – One of my favorites from this week is a combination of colours in Vinni’s Nikkim – Cloud Blue, Pale Lilac, Baby Yellow, Mint, Peach and Natural…I can just imagine the most beautiful baby blanket in these colours!  If you’re looking for some blanket pattern inspiration, look no further than Yuli’s new Mahala Mandala square tutorial!

I trust you’ve all had a great holiday and that 2015 is wonderful for you so far!
Keep well & enjoy creating – wherever you are!

Gina xx