Stylecraft Visit 2017 (Part 1)

It is my absolute pleasure to be one of the Stylecraft Blogstars and to be able to work with such an iconic brand. 

My most favourite thing about the partnership is the twice-yearly get-together at the Mill, where we get to meet the team, preview new collections, try out products and learn a new skill in the workshops.

Apart from the fabulous overnight stay in a local hotel (with THE most scary morning drive to the Mill along one of the narrowest and twisty-turny hills in Yorkshire), we also have an activity organised for the Friday afternoon.

This year, it was a trip to the Hockney exhibition at Salts Mill.

What a treat - we had a wonderful tour guide, who showed us the collection and talked about Hockney's work and life.

I loved the ipad/iphone pictures above and the images below from 'The Arrival of Spring' were astonishing; the colours were bright and luminous. 

After a marvellous dinner and a jolly good night's sleep, it was off to the Mill for our meeting (including a heart-stopping encounter with a white van on that hill...).

We got to see some of the new patterns in the upcoming Autumn / Winter collections.

And obviously there was lots and lots of yarn to ooooooh and aaaaaaah over (there was much squishing and touching going on). I'll show you some of the new yarns in the second part of this blogpost very soon.


And as if that wasn't enough, we had a member of the Ring of Tatters visit us. She spoke to us about the art of tatting and gave us a demonstration, too .

Ever heard of tatting?
It's an amazing, delicate craft of making teeny, tiny knots, which can create such beauties as this:

This is my rather feeble attempt.
I don't think the Ring of Tatters will be calling me anytime soon...

And here are some of us at dinner - see how we all have a kntting or crochet project with us?

It was a wonderful weekend and I was lucky enough to come home with a rather large bag of yarn to try.

But, most importantly, as somebody whose closest friends (although amazeballs) are not the crafty sort, these meetings give me the opportunity to talk about all things yarn and blog related with my fellow blogstars and the Stylecraft team; it's like being with my tribe - with people who 'get' me.
(And I can utter the phrase 'Oooo, this DK isnt the least bit splitty' without having to explain what on earth I am talking about...)

Want to find out more about the Blogstars? Read about them all here.

Enjoy your weekend, lovely peeps,

Part two of this blog post will be out very soon.
Sarah xxx

A whole load of new yarn

Lucky me!
The postman has been a busy bee, delivering lots of new yarny goodness.

Watch the Youtube tutorial below (or click here )to see close-ups of the yarn and find the show notes with details below.

Have a great week,

Sarah x

Episode 5: The one with all the new yarn. 

Show notes

Yarn: 

Stylecraft Special Dk in Vintage Peach, Buttermilk and Mushroom - 100g / 100% Acrylic

Stylecraft Classique Cotton 4-ply 50g / 100% Cotton

Stylecraft Mystique 50g / 70% Polyester/ 30% Viscose

Stylecraft Head Over Heels Sock Yarn  in Sugarloaf and Etna 100g / 75% Superwash wool / 25% Nylon

Stylecraft Wondersoft Merry-go-round DK in Pastel Rainbow and Dark Rainbow 100g / 100% Acrylic 

Stylecraft Candy Swirl DK in Apple Sour 150g / 100% Acrylic

Bilum PukPuk yarn

Scheepjes Whirl in Slice 'O Cherry Pie 225g / 60% Cotton /40% Acrylic

Blog post with shawl started in Head Over Heels here

Ombre Shawl from Inside Crochet Issue 87

Sheep from Inside Crochet Issue 88

 

A trip to Stylecraft Yarns

Right back at the beginning of this month, I was invited back up to the Stylecraft Mill in Yorkshire with my fellow blogstars.

Hooray!!!

Here we all are, looking very happy indeed.

From left: Jane from Janie Crow, Phil from The Twisted Yarn, Me, Heather from The Patchwork Heart, Julia from Hand Knitted Things, Lucy from Attic 24, Helen from The Woolly Adventures of a Knitting Kitty, Emma from Emma Varnham, Sandra from Cherry Heart, Lucia from Lucia's Fig Tree and Kathryn from Crafternoon Treats

In fact, we are not all here - two of the gang joined us via Skype from the other side of the globe and so couldn't be in the pic.

Can you see them? They're right at the end of the table in laptop form, Skyping us from afar: Angela from Get Knotted Yarn Craft and Zelna from Zooty Owl

The trip involved an amazing visit to the Guild of Knitting and Crochet, where we were shown the most beautiful samples from the Guild's archives (a blog post for another day, methinks).

We were also shown the new ranges of Stylecraft yarns, and talked about all things knitting, crochet and blogging, too.

Check out my YouTube video for a closer look at some of the yarns:

We even had a Tunisian Crochet workshop - have you tried it before?

Here's my little attempt - it's a really intersting technique - something I'd like to try again. 

 

And beautiful blankets made by Lucia and Heather were shared and much admired.

Heather's Blanket - Pattern details here

Lucia's Blanket  - Pattern details here

The Stylecraft sheep looking very dapper

It was the most brilliant weekend - a great opportunity to chat and share ideas with like-minded souls.

I'm already looking forward to my next visit in July. 

Wishing you all a great week,

Sarah xx

Stylecraft Giveaway WINNERS!!

.

Yes, its time!

I've counted the votes and employed one of those random-number-generator-thingies to choose me some WINNERS!

Yay!

If you're a winner, then please leave a comment below (it won't be published) with full details of your postal address.

The UK winner is: Faerie - well done, lovely gal. You've won £25 in vouchers to spend in a yarn shop on squidgey balls of Stylecraft.

UK 2nd place is Ros Burrage. Well done, Ros - it's £15 for you. 

UK 3rd pace is Anna Ridley - hooray, Anna. £10 is all yours.

And not forgetting my wonderful overseas readers - a package of Stylecraft goodies will be flying across the seas to Zen in Australia!

A big THANKYOU to everyone who entered and 'hello' to any new followers!

Don't forget to subscribe via email to receive all my posts straight to your inbox. I've got lots of new patterns to launch and there'll be more giveaways, too.

Have a fab week,

Sarah xx 

Stylecraft Giveaway *NOW CLOSED*

**This Giveaway is now closed** See the winners Here

Know how to beat those January blues? - Win yourself some free stuff, of course!

  

So I thought it the perfect time to host a Stylecraft Yarns giveaway.
Hooray!

Let's cut straight to it - the winner will receive £25 to spend in a bricks and mortar, real-life yarn store on Stylecraft yarns. 2nd place will get £15 and 3rd place, £10. The vouchers cannot, alas be used online but 'tis a great way to support your local yarn store - and there's nothing like going into a shop and squidging some lovely balls of the fluffy stuff.

Now unfortunately, this is only open to UK residents, BUT I will not leave out my overseas friends, so I'll draw one non-UK winner and they'll receive a bundle of Stylecraft goodies.


Liking the sound of this?
Then all you need to do is leave me a comment below and state whether you're in the U.K. or overseas.

The winners will be drawn at random and announced on Saturday 14th January- I'll post the winner here and tell you how to get in contact.

Wishing you all loads of luck ...🤞🤞🤞🤞
Have a great week,

Sarah xx

Granny Wrap : The Stylecraft blog tour

We're nearly at the end of the Stylecraft Blog tour 2016 and I am thrilled to be marking the 1st of the month with today's post.

   

A little while back, myself and my fellow Blogstars were set a challenge from the Stylecraft team - to do something fabulously creative in knit or crochet with their flagship yarn, using Special Aran or Chunky (including new shades as chosen by their Facebook followers).

How super! I agreed, of course and chose the Special Chunky Parchment pack - aren't these colours lush?! And it really is very, very soft and squidgy*.  

 *technical yarn term

Colours from top, L to R: Pomegranate, Gold, Parchment, Spice, Saffron, Empire, Storm Blue, Sage, Pistachio, Pale Rose

But what to make....? I toyed with a few ideas, but decided on a mega-wrap. (As someone who feels the cold and has children who insist on leaving doors and windows open, I'm all about big shawls and blanket-y things at this time of year).

I wanted to make something incredibly simple that would show off the gorgeous colours and be quick and easy to make (my favourite sort of project) And so a half-Granny design seemed perfect.

It took a bit of jiggling with the colours and a fair amount of frogging to get the right combination, but I'm really pleased with the result. I decided to leave out the Pistachio and Saffron in the end, too- but I shall certainly use them for something else (hat or mittens, methinks).

 

And if you want to make a lovely, big, cosy wrappy-shawl to keep away those winter chills, then hooray!  

You'll need 8 balls of Stylecraft Special Chunky and an 8mm hook.     

Pattern (UK terms)
Ch4, join with a sl st to make a ring.
Row 1: ch3 (counts as tr here and throughout), 3tr, ch2, 4tr. Turn.

Row 2: ch3, 3tr between the first 2 stitches of previous row, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) in ch2-sp, 3tr between last 2 stitches of previous row, 1tr in top of ch3. Turn.

Row 3: ch3, 3tr between the first 2 stitches of previous row, 3tr between each 3tr cluster to ch2-sp, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) in ch2-sp, 3tr between each 3tr cluster along other side, 3tr between last 2 stitches of previous row, 1tr in top of ch3. Turn.

Rows 4-  46: repeat row 3 Fasten off, weave in ends.

Colours: Rows 1-4: Sage 5-6: Empire 7-9: Gold 10: Pale Rose 11-12: Storm Blue 13: Empire 14: Pomegranate 15: Spice 16-17: Sage 18: Parchment 19: Storm Blue 20-22: Pomegranate 23-24: Gold 25-26: Pale Rose 27: Sage 28: Empire 29: Spice 30: Pomegranate  31-32: Storm Blue 33: Sage 34: Parchment 35: Pale Rose 36: Pomegranate 37-38: Empire 39: Gold 40-41: Spice 42: Sage 43: Parchment 44: Storm Blue 45-46: Empire

Now, I like my shawls plain, but you could certainly add pom-poms or tassels with the leftovers to bling things up a bit, if you like.

I hope you enjoy making your mega-wrap. Don't forget to share your pictures - you can find me at all my favourite social media accounts.

And why not check out the other Blogstars to see what they've been making, too - Yesterday's blogger was the fabulous Phil at The Twisted Yarn and tomorrow you can see what Katherine at Crafternoon Treats has been up to.

Enjoy your week and keep warm.

Sarah xxx

Head over Heels - Stylecraft Sock Yarn

Some of you may have seen a few sneak peaks of the new Stylecraft Sock yarn, Head Over Heels via social media recently.

The Stylecraft Blogstars have been lucky enough to have had a preview of it to play with and we haven't been able to resist sharing a few snippets...

...And it's lovely stuff.

I've been very busy with loads of other projects, but I've made a start with a pattern I'm working on for a shawl- this seems the perfect stuff to try it out.

The shade I've been working with is called Eiger (they're all named after famous mountains) and it has long runs of colour. I'm really enjoying the way the colours wander in and out of each other. 

Other colour versions, like Everest below have shorter colour changes:

Ok. So here's the details:

• Stylecraft Head over Heels
• Sock yarn / 4 ply
• 75% Superwash wool, 25% Nylon
• Machine washable and tumble dryer-able
• 100g (good sized ball)
• 400m / 437y (a lot of yarn here)
• 2.25 - 3.25 size needles 
• 28 sts and 36 rows over 10 x 10cm / 4 x 4 ins

I have to say, I'm impressed with it so far: the yarn is soft and smooth to crochet with, and the colours work really well and are varied throughout the range. Superwash wool and nylon also means that this will keep you warm, but be able to be washed and tumble dried, too. It really seems perfect - great for socks (obviously) and fab for shawls and scarves, too. And retailing at around £6 - £7 per ball, is really good value for money.

So, to kick you off straight away, here's a fantastic free knitting pattern (released today!) for some gorgeous (beginner-friendly) socks by the awesome Helen from The Woolly Adventures of a Knitting Kitty:

 

AND another Blogstar, Heather from The Patchwork Heart has written all about the pattern for this beautiful crochet blanket, with a wonderful giveaway, where you could win £25 to spend on Stylecraft Yarn!

Why are you still here?

Go! Go!

Enjoy the yarn,

Sarah X

The Stylecraft Blogstars

Imagine all your favourite knit and crochet bloggers getting together for a weekend with a rather well-known yarn manufacturer and you've got a pretty awesome combination.

Let me introduce you to the Sylecraft Blogstars:

From left to right, back row:

Sandra Paul (Cherry Heart), Julia Marsh (Hand Knitted Things), Helen Kurtz (The Knitting Exploits of Josie Kitten), and me.

Front Row: Kathryn Senior (Crafternoon Treats), Heather Leal (The Patchwork Heart), Phil Saul (The Twisted Yarn), Lucy (Attic24), and Sue Pinner (Shropshire Scrapper Suz).

And not forgetting the three who couldn't be with us: Jane Crowfoot (Janie Crow), Emma Varnam (Emma Varnam) and Angela Armstrong (Get Knotted Yarncraft).

And so what did we get up to, I bet you're wondering?

Well, first I had to make my way to the Mill in Yorkshire, where we were treated to a tour by Richard Brown, owner of Stylecraft and its subsidaries.

Gorgeous views in every direction

Ever wondered how yarn is spun?

It starts off like this in huge squishy bundles:

ENORMOUS vats of yarn

And is spun through a series of the most enormous, noisy machines:

I thought these were sweets at first...

Richard, showing us how the yarn is twisted during manufacturing.

It's steamed to remove the twist, until it resembles something fine and beautiful like this:

This is one of the test rooms. I want a wall like that in my craft room.

It was so interesting to see manufacturing on such a large scale.

As if that wasn't enough, we were then invited to see the new collections of yarn. Here's one of the mood boards for the new collections. It's called 'World Marauder'. I love the colours.

And this is one of the new ranges, inspired by the colours:

It's called Batik and is wonderfully soft, with 80% Acrylic, 20% wool content. I can't wait to try it (I have lots of ideas already!). And check out Sue's blog, where she has links to lots of patterns using this yarn.

And this lovely stuff is called Yarn Stories. A beautiful, premium 100% wool, available in Merino or Merino and Alpaca and made in good old Blighty. The colours are amazing and it is sooooo squishy.

We were also told about some new exciting yarns and projects to come, but my lips are sealed. It's top-secret stuff.

You'll have to stay tuned.

So what's to come from the Blogstars?

Well, we'll be working on new projects for you, and there will be a blog tour in October, where we will reveal our patterns (in plenty of time for you to be planning those Christmas* projects). There will also be giveaways a-plenty.

*yes, I did mention the c-word. Yes, I know it's only July. Sorry about that.

The gorgeous and sparkly ' Cabaret' DK

So do pop along and check out the other bloggers. Lots of them are far more organised than me and have already blogged about their Mill visit. And they've got so many gorgeous projects to inspire you.

Enjoy your week,

Sarah X