Summer already??

I know, I know, I've been AWFUL at posting on the blog, and now spring has flown by again! 

We've had a few exciting moments - Wonderwool Wales was fab as always, especially from our new spot and larger stall looking out onto the cafe. Wonderwool of course has a special place in our hearts: it was there that we had our very first day of trading 2 years ago, and it is always lovely to see so many familiar faces who have supported and encouraged us from the start there, plus our knitting group always comes by and feeds us cheese scones and such. 

We were also featured on the lovely Shiny Bees podcast...in a full length interview, no less, where I prattle on about the story of our little company....and also about cake. You can find it in full here. 

The Knitter magazine also dropped by and fell in love with our Scattered Showers shawl, so much so that they featured it in their news section last month!

We've also got a whole new yarn in the shop: our very own, hand dyed range!  The base for this yarn is spun by Ullcentrum, using the strong Swedish wool that we know and love but adding 20% Silk for that extra shine and softness, and hand dyed by us here in the Welsh Valleys.

This sport weight yarn is worsted spun with some "thick-n-thin" for added texture and interest. The lustre in the yarn really shows when you start knitting with it, and gives the fabric beautiful drape, a real treat without losing the rustic character of the wool. 

And with all those news keeping us busy for the last couple of months, time has already come around to start getting ready for Woolfest next weekend. 

I am desperately hoping to finish my Climb Every Mountain layering top. I am really excited about this one as it's an unusual combination of yarns that I think will work so well to wear. I am using one strand of Indiecita Alpaca and one strand of Lithuanian Linen to give me a soft fluffy garment with structure and fantastic drape. I'm also looking forward to finishing it as it's going to be the perfect thing to wear at the semi-open venue in Cumbria in this not-quite-hot summer weather we're having. Only 15-20cm to go, should be doable ;) 

Mr Midwinter is working on the Fika shawl in Thin Pirkkalanka - the designer Karina Westermann took her samples back earlier this year (and has been greedily wearing the shawl ever since) so we needed our own version to show off. Mark thought about a few different colours but decided that the original Deep Orange was the best to go with the pattern, so there it is. Not entiiiiiiiiirely sure he will have it ready for next weekend, even with the best will in the world, but maybe for Fibre East? or Yarndale? or Christmas?

Since he's too much of a chatterbox to follow a lace pattern whilst on the stand, he will be bringing his latest (fourth!) Linus with him to work on at Woolfest. Dubbed "the Mad one", this fantastically bright version started life with a customer of ours. She picked out the colours and I must admit that we were a little hesitant if they would work. She later sent me a picture and the result was surprisingly great! I think it has something to do with opposing colours on the colour wheel or something along those lines, but it totally works and we've seen a few of these be made already :)

We will also have supplies with us for our latest Midwinter Yarns design: The Sunset Sunburst Scarf. This crochet scarf uses one pack of Linen Mini Hanks and two regular Linen hanks in a simple granny square variation, and the pattern is available to download now from Ravelry.

So there we are, getting ready and looking forward to meeting lots of you in the beautiful Lake District very soon! You will find us in stall I184 - hope to see you there!!

PS. We will have a slightly smaller stall than usual at Woolfest so will not be able to bring our full range of yarn - if there is anything in particular you are hoping to see, do send me a message beforehand to make sure we bring it ;)