'tis the season to get knitting!

It's finally here! Autumn! The crisp mornings when you can see your breath in the air. The glorious display of leaves changing colour. And most of all....temperatures cold enough to pull out all your best woollen knits or indeed, weather rough enough to justify staying indoors with a big mug of tea and a lovely new project.

And we are nothing if not ready for the beautiful season here at Midwinter Yarns. First of all: a formal introduction of our great new yarn for winter: Suomivilla. 

This beautiful aran weight yarn is made of pure wool from Finland and is lovely, lofty and squishy (yes, this is a recognised technical yarn term).  It comes in 6 natural sheep shades and it is absolutely fantastic for proper, solid winter sweaters and has wonderful stitch definition, as shown here on Heidi Kirrmaier's Catch of the Day sweater. 

This sweater was a joy to knit: unusually for a cabled pattern, it is knit seamlessly from the top down to Heidi's very systematic instructions, and although I think the pattern may have been intended for ladies, I think it works just as well for men...although I might be stealing this back off Mark soon enough.

If a whole cabled sweater seems a little daunting to you, or perhaps you are starting to think of Christmas and need some quick to knit presents, then we also have kits made up with the Suomivilla for Donna Smith's iconic Baa-ble hat. This joyful hat is a great first introduction to fair-isle knitting: the chart is very clear and instructions well written, and what better way to celebrate the sheep who give us wool than with their natural and diverse shades?

The kits are available online now. 

Next up on the agenda? YARNPORIUM!

Only 2 weeks until this brand new yarn festival right in the heart of London, and just in time to plan your special Christmas knits, be they presents for yourself or for your loved ones. We will do our very best to bring you inspiration for the season, from ready-to-knit kits to project bags to yarn for that perfect Christmas jumper.
There will be a new sweater on display for the thicker Ullcentrum 3-ply. Most of you are already familiar with the 2-ply from our Linus kits, which is a sport weight. 3-ply has, as it says on the tin, a third ply, making it a heavy DK weight, all in that same, warm, rustic Swedish wool.

We will also have our hand made Vintage Fabric Knitting bags with us. These roomy project bags are made using original vintage fabrics from the 50s, 60s and 70s and lined with a heavy weight cotton. They have a folded-under base to allow them to stand on the table while you are working, and a simple drawstring closure.

and finally: a little housekeeping

With so many new and exciting things happening this winter, we are making a little room by having a great big sale on two of our lines:
Ohut (thin) Pirkkalanka is now only £8 a hank, and the chunky Lovikka is only £5
Enjoy!