Author Archives: sylvantiger

New Year, New Yarns

Now that we’re into February, the winter dyeing break is over and it’s time to look ahead to new plans and developments for 2016.

New Yarns – Gradients and Stripes

I have two new lines in development for launch this Spring. The first is a very special gradient yarn, using Shetland yarn processed by the Natural Fibre Company in Cornwall.  I’ll share more about this yarn later in the month and it’ll be launching during the first week in March. Here’s a sneak preview of one of the colourways:

Yellow

Do sign up to the newsletter to be the first to hear all about the yarn once it launches.  The sign up form is just over there on the right hand side bar.

The second new line I’ll be introducing is the result of a happy accident, so to speak.  When I was ordering fresh undyed yarn from the wholesaler, my usual 100g skeins of BFL HT sock yarn were out of stock, but he did have the same yarn in 50g skeins.  I decided to order the 50g skeins anyway thinking they’d be perfect to dye up in a range of nice bright colours to then mix and match together for stripy projects!

So, keep an eye out, probably in April, for bright, bold combinations just begging to be knitted up into stripy socks, stripy hats, stripy gloves, stripy…you get the idea! I already have a sample pair of stripy socks on the needles in sky blue and raspberry.

It’s show time!

It’s also coming up to show time.  In May there’s Wharfe Wool Fair, previously held in Otley the fair is moving to Ilkley this year to a bigger venue with a car park just across the road and with good public transport links. We’ll have both new yarn lines on show for the first time, as well as the usual favourites.
Wharfe Wool Fair – 7 May 2016, 10am-4pm, Clarke Foley Centre, Ilkley, LS29 9DZ

Next up is Leeds Wool Festival to be held at Armley Mills Industrial Museum.  Some parts of the Museum were quite badly affected by the Boxing Day floods, but clean up is well under the way and the Museum should be open again soon.
Leeds Wool Festival – 6 June 2016, 10am-5pm, Armley Mills Industrial Museum, Leeds, LS12 2QF

And, of course, there’s Yarndale in Skipton in September. The application has been submitted and fingers are crossed until we hear back in mid-April.

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In the meantime

Until you can see us out in the wild, the Sylvan Tiger Yarn Etsy shop is stocked up with plenty of British yarn, all dyed by me, by hand, with natural dyes.

Woolly Wormhead – Painted Woolly Toppers

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Painted Woolly Toppers – Copyright Woolly Wormhead

Back in June, Woolly Wormhead published her latest collection of hat patterns.  She kindly sent out copies for review and I’ve finally got around to writing up my thoughts.  The latest book in the Woolly Toppers series features patterns designed specifically for hand-dyed and variegated yarns.   Woolly explains the two main ideas behind the book:

firstly, to create designs for those oh-so-beautiful yet tricky-to-knit-with hand-dyed skeins that we all get seduced by; and secondly to support indie dyers. Indie dyers offer such vibrancy and uniqueness and I really wanted to let their yarns take centre stage and put together a collection with their yarns at the core.

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Vortice – Copyright Woolly Wormhead

Each of the 10 designs in the book feature garter stitch elements.  It’s a stitch pattern that really seems to work well with variegated yarns and helps to showcase their multi-colours.

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Lamitra – Copyright Woolly Wormhead

Woolly’s patterns also include a range of techniques to keep things interesting; she’s isn’t called the ‘Hat Architect’ for nothing.  Any specific techniques used in the patterns are fully explained at the start of the book, with written and illustrated instructions.  I found the short row tutorial particularly helpful.

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Quoin – Copyright Woolly Wormhead

I chose the Quoin pattern to knit as a sample for my new Sethera Aran (100% British BFL) for Yarndale.  I knitted three hats over two days of holiday, of which Quoin was one. So, even though there is an interesting construction to this hat, it was still a quick knit.  It used just under half of one 100g skein.

Quoin frontThe asymmetrical garter stitch brim is knitted first, back and forth, starting with just 2 stitches and increasing every few rows until you have a long wedge shape.   Stitches along the edge of the wedge are then picked up to knit the rest of the hat in the round. You can better see the asymmetrical nature of the brim in the photo below.

Quoin backThe main body of the hat is then augmented with short rows and garter stitch rows to further shape the hat.

Quoin left sideThe pattern instructions were clear, concise and well written.  Each pattern has multiple sizes.  Painted Woolly Toppers is available as an eBook for £10, as a PDF & printed option for $25 or each pattern can be purchased individually for £3.50. For full details visit Woolly Wormhead’s website.