Looking towards autumn

The first ever Bristol Wool Fair is kicking off this Friday, looking like a promising celebration of all things wool. Sadly it is our last show for this year - I would have liked to have done many more but due to the late spring date that we started the company, we missed most of the deadlines for applying. But don't worry, we fully intend to participate in every show that will have us from next year! There is nothing quite like the opportunity to show off the yarns "in the flesh" and interacting with knitters, crafters and other yarn traders and I really enjoy the road-trip aspect of travelling to shows as well.

After a lovely long summer, I am now really looking forward to getting stuck in to autumn knitting and taking the opportunity to introduce a few new yarns at Bristol. We'll be bringing plenty of sweater amounts, hoping to inspire some proper winter woollies :)

First up is Ullcentrum's 3ply Swedish wool. This is a thicker version of the Ullcentrum single ply lace and 2ply fingering gradients, and comes in vibrant solid colours dyed on grey yarn for added depth. It knits up as a good DK weight and would be perfect for Christmas jumpers!

I've also been working on a new pattern in the 2ply gradient - a very simple striped shawl alternating two different colourways to really show off the yarn. I will have the pattern with me at Bristol and make it available on Ravelry soon after.

After my trip to Sweden and Denmark last month, I've also been looking in to new suppliers and am very excited to say that we finally have some Gotland Wool coming our way - fingers crossed in time for the show!

I have also been test knitting a very rugged wool from Greenland, no less. Not one for your next-to-the-skin knits, but for strong, warm, lightweight aran sweaters certainly, available in a small range of natural colours.

I also want to share a little discovery with you: Tiger Stores, a cheap and cheerful scandinavian chain that are rapidly expanding across the UK, are now selling circular needles in their hobby section. For the grand price of £2 a pair, I was very impressed with the quality and design: Bamboo needles with a reasonable join and nice looking nylon-covered wire cable.

Maybe not ones for pure silk lace weight heirlooms, but I used them for test knitting the sweater yarns and found them very nice to work with, especially as bamboo needles in John Lewis will set you back £6 at least. At the moment, they only seem to be available in 60 and 80cm and whole sizes from 3 to 6mm but hopefully, with a little feedback, they might expand the range?

So don't forget to come by and say hello if you are coming to Bristol - we will be in the Blackbeard marquee....I must dig out my eyepatch for the occasion!