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

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