Winter Warmers

Need directions? They're all snowed in.

It is a beautiful morning here in sunny Scarborough. The sun is shining, the sky is clear, and it’s a great day for knitting up something snug, warm, and wonderful.

You’re wondering why it is that if the sun is shining, we would suggest knitting up something snug and warm…

Aside from being cold, the snow has set in for the winter, and it’s a perfect time to sit by the fire and make something warm for when you do have to venture outside.

Since we last posted here, we have been busy looking at new yarns, new colours in familiar favourites, and even taking on yarns from a spinner we’ve never had in before! The new spinner in the shop is something special, and we’ll come to that later.

Some of the new shades in Magnum Chunky we now have in stock.

In the Magnum Chunky from King Cole, there are quite a few new shades, some of which we have had in, and sold out of immediately because they are such good colours. So, the photo we took to show some of the new colours doesn’t include these. Most of the new colours in the Magnum Chunky have been in single shdes, but there are two new multi-shades which immediately took our fancy and we got them in immediately. They’ve been really popular too.  As you can see from the image on the right, the colours are fabulous, very rich and certainly warm. As always though, we do have to suggest that the photo doesn’t really do these yarns justice, and they really do have to be seen in person.

There are also new shades in the Moods and Moods Duet double knit yarn too. A gorgeous navy colour, and a multi-blue in the Moods Duet, not to forget the new soft grey, white, and cream colours. Moods has been a fantastic addition to the range of yarns we carry. The 30% wool content makes it good value for money, and the expanded range of colours means that this will be one versatile yarn.

The six shades we initially got in...

Our brand new and very exciting yarn is from Katia – ‘Peru’ is its name and its fibre content is a surprise to say the least, given the cost of a ball. It weighs a whole 100g, and has an excellent range of colours (just check out the photo we took of the shade card – on the right, below). It feels gorgeous, which is a bit of an understatement, because everyone we’ve handed a ball too, has made an excited ”ooooh” sound then made a bee-line for the checkout to take some away. We didn’t have any space on our chunky wall for anything new, but we chose six colours in Peru, and managed to squeeze them in.

To say we are going to increase the range of colours is a given. Why? Well, we haven’t even talked about the yarn content of the price yet.

So, here’s the vital information: Remember that one ball of Peru weighs in at a brilliant 100g, that it has a great colour range (see the shade card on the right) with a total of 29 shades so far, and here’s the most important bit… each ball has more than fifty percent natural fibre – 20% Alpaca and 40% wool. The remaining 40% is acrylic, but the yarn is just gorgeous, feels lovely, and is colourful and vibrant.

Knitted up, this feels amazing. Against bear skin we haven’t had any suggestion that it’s a scratchy or tickling feeling from it.

Now the final question; how much is it? As of right now, the 26th November 2010 it is just £4.50 each. We are so impressed with this yarn that we will definitely be increasing the shades we keep in stock.

We’ll be adding more updates about the other new yarns in the next few days. Watch this space.

See you soon.

Latest Project

The lastest project is finished… watch this space for pictures.
In honour of a particular event Nick made a special item… we will post pictures soon.

Sirdars new yarns… our opinions

Well, we’ve had the new Squiggle and Indie yarns, from Sirdar, in the shop for a little while now, and we’ve finally had the time to knit them up. We’ve knitted the Squiggle into a simple scarf-like sample, with all of the colours to see what it was like, and the Indie we’ve just experemented with but not created anything specific… actually we pulled it back out in order to hopefully knit up a garment later on.

So what did we think of these yarns?

The immediate thing to say about this yarn is that it knits quickly; that is to say, it won’t take you long to knit up a garment. We had a whole scarf knitted in the six colours (one ball of each) knitted in about two and a half hours.

The colours are fantastic. We could show you the colours on the ball, and in fact, we will – just look to the image on the

A ball of the Squiggle yarn from Sirdar

 right. The colours shown are great. We liked them when they arrived into the shop, but we liked them more when knitted up. It’s as if the balls change colours when you knit with them.  Nick had reservations about a couple of the colours when they were on the ball, but changed his mind when they were knitted up. They turned out to be his two favourite colours, but you’ll have to ask him which they are…

This is quite a dense yarn, and as a result, you might find that it will be very good at keeping the warmth in and the cold out. It’s perfect for scarfs, shawls, jumpers, and anything else that you fancy creating with a super chunky yarn. It is also made with 51% wool, so it means that it is going to be very good at keeping you warm.

We have aspirations of creating a colourful patchwork quilt with it, but that might be a while off yet, because we have so many projects on the go, and a load of other yarns to try out still.

This yarn will knit up to the Sirdar Big Softie and Denim Ultra patterns, making this a rather versatile yarn.

The second new yarn from Sirdar that we have looked at is the Indie.

We found that before we’d formulated any opinions about this yarn, our customers had plenty of their own.

When using this yarn, the needles used are a little bigger than those for the Squiggle, so this knits up VERY quickly.

The colours in this range are vibrant to say the least. Bold is another word we certainly think of when we look at this yarn.

It isn’t quite self patterning, because the colours come off the ball somewhat randomly. So unlike the Crofter which does give a more overall pattern, this one will give you bands and areas of particular colours instead.

As you can see from the pattern on the left, the bold colours are complementary, and interspersed with the odd soft shade or two, giving a real vivid and vibrant look and feel to the garment.

Again, this is one of those yarns that when on the ball is very deceptive. One of the shades is heavy on the greens, but has some fushia pink in it, which we wouldn’t have thought to put together, if we were picking the colours, but they work so well together, that we’ve found this particlar shade to be one of the most popular in the range. Colour 157 is the shade, but we don’t have a picture of this to show you just yet. We’ll do our best to have one inserted into this post soon though, so you can see what it looks like.

Again, this yarn has 51% wool and 49% acrylic in it. It isn’t spun as tightly as the Squiggle though, so it makes the yarn much fuller, and it goes a little further too. That doesn’t make this a better yarn than Squiggle, but it does make it differnt.

The eye-catching colours of this yarn have certainly meant that people notice this yarn, even though it is tucked away in a corner of the shop. We do have a sample garment in Indie displayed in the window, and lots of people have stopped to look and been drawn in to the shop because of this, which gives an idea of how eye-catching this yarn is.

This yarn is very, very soft, so if you’re looking for something that won’t be rough, and looks great, this is one to certainly give some serious consideration to.

There is so much to say about both of these yarns, that we could go on for ages. So, we are going to end here instead.

Have you got any thoughts or opinions you’d like to share with us about this yarn? If you do, leave a note on this thread, or drop us a line at the usual address.

This just in…

We’ve jut received our new yarn from Araucania, well, one of the new yarns from Araucania.

It’s called Lauca and is a wonderful mix of 80% Wool, 10% Camel, with the added sheen of 10% Silk. The colours of this

Lauca by Araucania

yarn are wonderful earthy and naturally vivid tones. Just looking at the shade card (see below) there are so many colours in each of the ‘shades’ that you have to actually look at the actual hanks to really see what’s in them (to the right).

Bobbi and I are somewhat divided in our opinions on this yarn. She loves the colours of the yarn, and the fact that it’s an aran weight, which can be used with patterns suggesting standard weight aran yarns. I on the other hand like this yarn for its blend of natural fibre. Although, I have to admit that I was initially drawn to the yarn for it’s colours, it’s the blend of fibres that really draws me. Bobbi however, says she isn’t to bothered about the blend, because it’s the colours that are more important… although I think she’s just being ‘confrontational’ for the sake of it.

Because of the blend of natural fibres in this particular yarn, it is definitely very warm. It isn’t too heavy, and has a good yardage per hank. Our thought is that this is a perfect yarn to make up those early winter jumpers, or cardigans ready for the really cold weather.

I’m already thinking of which of these fabulous colours to knit up for a display garment for me to wea… er… I mean to display in the shop. Honest.  Having said that, Bobbi does tend to knit up all of the display garments so it’s only fair that she kints for herself. On this occasion though, I’m going to be putting ‘first dibs’ on the yarn for this, and the display garment is MINE I tell ya, mine!

Lauca Shade Card, by Araucania

  Have you already used this yarn? What are your thoughts? Drop us a line and let us know. Send us pictures of your completed projects, and lets us know if we can share them with our readers. We’d love to hear from you.

See you soon at the best LYS in town.

Fair isle revisited?

That Autumn/Winter season is here again, and there are tonnes and tonnes of new yarns, patterns and accessories to choose from for your next project.

For those of you who have been keeping up with our previous blogs, we’ve been mentioning some of the new yarns that have been coming out, and are due out. But, for the moment we’re going to have a look at the new magazine from Debbie Bliss.

 The price of the magazine is just £4.50, and whilst some might balk at the idea of paying more than a couple of quid for a magazine, this one is worth a second look.

Why? Well, for a start, most of the knitting magazines out on the market cost at least £4.50 (as far as we’ve seen), and generally contain between six and a dozen patterns.

This edition of the DB magazine contains a whopping thirty-three patterns… that’s right, 33!

If you do a little mathematics that means that each pattern, if you knitted them all, cost you just 13.6 pence each. Given that individual patterns normally cost anywhere from £1.95 and upwards, that’s one heck of a saving.

There are plenty of patterns showcasing the new yarns, and some wondeful patterns they are too.

For the last few months we have noticed a steady increase of people coming in to the shop to ask about fair isle patterns, and the fair isle effect yarns from Sirdar (Crofter). Sadly, we’ve only been able to supply the Crofter yarns, and struggled to find any fair isle patterns.

Now however, Debbie’s latest magazine has some very worthwhile patterns featuring intarsia and fair isle designs. Some of these are:

Scottie Dog Bag – very unique and fashionable
Tartan Wrap – it just looks so warm and snug that we’re working on one…
Cropped Fair Isle Cardigan – Intricate but beautiful.
Beret – a phenomenon for your head, and it will keep you warm too.
V Neck Fair Isle Sweater – just like the cardigan, it’s intricate, but well worth the work. Stunning and very personal too.
Scandinavian Hoodie – We think this will be one for snuggling up in on those cold winter nights.

Amongst all of those there are patterns for hot water bottle covers, cushions, a duffel bag, a jacket, coats, a dress, mittens, and more.

What we have found with this edition, is that it’s popular, and selling out fast. Which means if you want to get your hands on a copy you’ll have to get in touch and let us know to reserve you a copy.

Autumn has arrived and winter cometh

Judging by the spectacular thunder storm that Scarborough, and the surrounding area, enjoyed last night and the myriad of freshly fallen leaves strewn around this morning, it would seem that Autumn is definitely upon us and that winter won’t be far behind.

Now that the nights are drawing in, and the colder weather is following, the time is perfect to pick up your winter needles (as opposed to your summer ones), and make something fabulously warm, snug and cosy to keep you feeling comfy all winter long.

Tea cosies for your teapot or coffee pot, are a great opening project for the season. King Cole have two cracking

King Cole Teapot patterns

patterns for tea cosies that are designed to look like farm yard animals. If you’ve ever been to one of our Knit2Gether’s (K2G) you’ll know just how good they look. We made up the pig, and the dog tea cosie, and they are very effective at keeping the tea and coffee warm, not to mention they look great. They are projects that don’t take too long, and are a perfect little project to get you back into the swing of things if you have not knitted for a while.

Another small, and rather easy, project to get into would be to knit a dog coat for your four legged best friend or even a friends dog. Some of our small four legged friends will definitely appreciate something warm and snug to keep them warm on those cold walks in the winter.

Sirdar's new Indie yarn: pattern 9319

If you’re feeling really adventurous, Sirdar have just relased Indie. A super chunky yarn that is warm, colourful, and very fashionable. We’ve had a delay in getting this yarn in – Sirdar ran out very quickly… But we’ve been promised that we’ll have it in for October. With a little luck it will be here earlier though, but we’ll have to see.

Designer Yarns have released a range of winter yarns in the Araucania, Mirasol and Noro ranges. Lousia Harding and Debbie Bliss have also released some stunning yarns for the winter. There are so many great new pattern books, and yarns, that we just can’t fit all of the images here. That does mean you’ll have to visit us, or your nearest yarn shop to see them for yourself, but it will be well worth the trip.

King Cole, Stylecraft, Wendy, James C. Brett, and Woolcraft, have also brought out great yarns for the season. All you need to do is pop in and come and see.

We have to admit that because we’ve been so very busy lately, we haven’t had the time we would have liked to blog about them all, or to add them to our website. We will be working hard over the next couple of weeks though, to try and get more details up here, and on our site to let you know what we think of these yarns, and new designs. 

Watch this space.

See you soon.

The future of Knitters’ World…

It seems that rumours of the future of Knitter’s World have been circulating recently, and that these have been instigated by one or two individuals with malicious intent.

We do not agree with these people and their actions.  We aren’t sure who has started these terrible rumours but we can assure all our customers (and readers alike) that we aren’t going anywhere, or at anytime soon. We are here to stay, and we are sharing so many good times with our customers that it would be unfair to let these rumours continue without saying something.  

It seems that stories have been circulated indicating that business isn’t doing well, and that ‘we do not expect to be in business for much longer’. These stories are false, and have nothing but ill-intent behind them, as far as we can tell.

Despite this person/people… WE FORGIVE THEM. Life is short, and we just want to have a blast whilst we are here, and holding a grudge just isn’t worth our time.

We have just completed our second year, and what a second year it has been! It’s been even busier than the first, and we have just begun to make some very exciting changes to the shop too.

There are some fabulous new yarns due in over the coming weeks. Although it is my unfortunate duty to report that over the past few weeks we’ve had some really exciting and wonderful yarns come in, and go right back out again, because they have been THAT popular… ‘sold out’ is a bit of an understatement at the moment with some yarns.

If you’re planning on visiting us, we look forward to seeing you. If you can’t make it to Scarborough to see us, why not drop us a line. Let us know what you’re getting up to, send us pictures of your latest project, or you can even give us a call and place an  order.

If you have any questions or comments about this, please get in touch with us using the usual contact details.

See you soon at Knitters’ World!

Autumn and winter are fast approaching

Well; it’s that time of year again. When we are reminded of the approaching autumn, and eventually winter.

The wind has picked up, the temperatures have dropped, and the new and fabulous yarns for the coming season have started to arrive at our shop.

From Sirdar’s Indie and Squiggle, to Stylecrafts’ Phases, King Coles’ Riot, Woolcrafts’ Lopi and many many more.

Yes, that’s right, you read it correctly. But, just in case you thought you were seeing things, we’ll spell it out more slowly… L-O-P-I. It’s come all the way from Iceland, it’s gorgeous to knit with and give stunning results.

All of the above and more are beginning to arrive at our LYS now. So, if you want to get your hands on some of these fabulous new yarns you’ll have to hot foot it to see us, or give us a call.

To give an idea of how fast some yarns come in and go out… we’re already out of stock (AGAIN!) on the Snowflake Chunky, the moment it arrived back in stock. But for those of you waiting to get some for yourself, have no fear, because we’ve already re-ordered it, and it’s on its way.

We’ve got several exciting changes coming over the next few months, and we’d be delighted to see you and show you some of the exciting yarns and patterns now coming in.

See you soon!

Knitting in the rain

It’s pouring with rain here in “Sunny” Scarborough today.

So much so, that it’s definitely not a day for being in the garden, or lazing on the beach working on that tan…

So, we recommend getting on with that project that you’ve been putting off.

Actually, it’s the perfect excuse for us to get on with the projects we’ve been talking about getting on with or starting for months. Inevitably there is always one knitting or  crochet project that gets stuffed to the back of the knitting box/bag, and forgotten about.

The best bit is that as soon as you’ve pulled that “forgotten” project out, you can guarantee that the sun will come out, and the excuse for not getting on with the gardening goes out the window.

Although, if you feel like popping in for a chat and to see what’s new, come and see us… we look forward to seeing you, and brightening up your day.

New Magazines…

We have a new service available at Knitters’ World…

You can now pick up your very own copy of Yarn Forward, or Inside Crochet magazines from us directly.

We have taken on stocks of these magazines to help meet the demand for new patterns, news about the knitting/crochet world, and much more.

If you want your copy though, you’ll have to get in quick to pick it up, because we’ve noticed that we run out of each issue rather quickly. For the last month that we have had these magazines, they have sold out rather quickly.

The new issues have JUST come in though, and we’ve still got a good stock left, although for how long we don’t know.

We are intending on keeping these as a regular feature in our shop, and you’ll be able to get your copy from us regularly in future. Which means, no more hustling and bustling at the newsagents on the high street to try and find a copy.

See you soon!