Curious Yarns

All manner of new and shiny things!

2006-07-12T02:43:00.000+01:00

Hello - over the last few days the Spinning Kits are online, plus new sock yarns, and oodles of new stitchmarkers.

Also, a Name That Yarn competition. Winner gets a skein of the still-nameleess yarn, plus a set of stitchmarkers.

Oodles of new sock yarns, and the cutest creatures ever

2006-03-29T11:10:00.000+01:00

I've updated the site with lots and lots of new colours of sock yarn. This is one of them: Autumn Earth.

There's also a new range of Critter Kits made from our organic wool - cute and unusual creatures just waiting to be knitted up. Each kit comes with yarn, stuffing, and all the other little bits you need.

New sock colours, and some very cute stitchmarkers

2006-01-30T15:35:00.000Z

We have two new shades of sock yarn available - Gothic is a deep navy and purple creation, and Heathertop is a combination of greens, browns and purple.

There are also new stitchmarkers - pretty glass hearts, lampwork beads, and my absolute favourite - tiny glass cats.

And you can get a limited edition sock yarn -Mountain Climber. All the proceeds from this yarn will go towards sponsoring our friend Ben, who's climbing Kilimanjaro at the end of February.

Socks!

2006-01-09T10:10:00.000Z

We have new sock yarn - not our two-skeined creatures, but single skeins of 100grams. So far there are five new colourways, and a couple more in the pipeline. Plus a special limited edition one - more details about that later.

We also have a cute new bag kit, which comes with yarn, pattern, lining silk, and beads, and optional needles.

Spinning kits and other plans

2005-12-22T20:13:00.000Z

I'm working on creating spinning kits, so you can dream up your own Curious Yarns. There'll be a hand-spindle, a nifty instruction booklet, some plain fibre to get started with, and lots of pretty hand-dyed and blended fibre for when you've gotten the hang of the twist.

Also, I'm putting together spinning inspiration packs. (I need to think of a better name for these - spinspiration sounds fantastic, but looks far too odd when written down.) They'll have a whole bunch of colour-coordinated fibres - dyed wool and silk tops, and some wool/silk blended batts - and also kid mohair locks, silk nepps, beads, threads, and sparkles.

The spinning sets should be ready to go in about a month - I'm still assembling all the required bits and bobs.

Over Christmas, I'll be dyeing up lots of new sock yarns - I have lots of pretty colours planned. And I'll hopefully also have time to make a start on the naturally dyed cotton yarn. If everything goes to plan, I'll have both of those available in early January.

Silks and socks

2005-12-08T22:41:00.000Z

The new sock yarn has been named 'West' and is now for sale here, or as part of a sock kit here.

And the silk knitters gift sets are also available - they come with two skeins of silk yarn - enough for a scarf or bag - and a set of stitchmarkers, tucked inside one of our little jute project bags.

Scarf kits, and sock extravaganzas!

2005-12-05T22:11:00.000Z

We have lovely toasty warm hat and scarf kits on sale now here - the pattern's very simple indeed, and combines knit and purl (and a bit of decreasing for the hat) to make a prettily textured set.

Sock extravaganza gift sets have appeared and are here - all the sock knitting in the universe, compressed into one nifty shoulder bag.

Either of these would make excellent Christmas presents for knitters, or for people you think *should* be knitting. Plus, later this week we'll have a silk knitting gift set, with some of our lovely silk yarn and a set of stitchmarkers, packaged in the same little project bags that the sock kits use right now.

*And* there's a new sock yarn colour, It's not online yet, so this is a sneak preview. I haven't quite decided on the name yet. I think it's very sunsettish (or as near to getting sunset colours as you can ever manage without being the sky), but yarn-naming suggestions would be very welcome. It's even brighter than this photograph lets on, and half vivid pinks, oranges and yellows, and half soft blues and purples.

Wool and silk!

2005-11-22T00:03:00.000Z

Wool yarns are online! Also a shiny new colour of silk yarn, and some 4-ply silk yarns. All here .

Sneak Preview!

2005-11-18T00:14:00.000Z

I'll be photographing these properly - with decent light and whatnot - and getting them online over the weekend, but for now here's a sneak preview of the organic wool yarns;

Inky Fingers - navy fading into pale blue. Hints of grey.

Dusky - soft blues and purples and pinks

Bruised Apples - very pale green and brown

This has no name yet - it's a plummy purple fading into orange and yellow. Suggestions for naming this creation much appreciated. It's very autumn-ish, but I'm not sure it's autumn *leaves* colour.

Egg Shells - soft pale turquoise, and a deeper grey with hints of the lighter colour in. It's very bird-egg-ish.

Petals - soft rosy pinks and very pale greens.

The wool will cost £7.95 for 100g, and it comes in DK, aran, chunky and super-chunky. And each weight is from a different sheep and feels different and looks a bit different.

Plus, there's a new shade of Gleaming silk to come, and also some 4-ply silk. All very soon!

Sock kits have arrived

2005-11-09T00:15:00.000Z

(Or rather, all the parts of the sock kits have at last been assembled.) Anyhow, they're available to buy here, and when you buy a kit you can also buy extra sock yarn for £1 less than the standard price. Pictures of the kits are coming very soon. Get knitting socks!

In other news, there are six new organic wool colourways (and four weights of each colourway) all dyed up and ready for photographing, so they should make it online over the weekend. And we're plotting a quick-knit wooly winter hat and scarf kit, using the super-chunky yarn (it's from Ryeland sheep, and is soft and textured and lofty and dense all at once).

We're also putting together gift sets for knitters - with a selection of yarn, as well as stitchmarkers and other pretty things. If you have suggestions for things that should be included in the kits tell us about them.

Organic!

2005-10-27T12:51:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I spent the day on an organic farm near Swindon, at a Soil Association seminar on organic textiles and dyeing. It was fascinating and I met some lovely people. I'm going to try to get Soil Association certification for at least some of my yarns, once things are up and running properly and I have the time and space to sort it out.

Meanwhile I'm at least a little organic already. My organic wool's at home - all eighty kilos and four weights of it - and it's fantastic. Each weight is from a different breed of sheep, and you can see and feel the characteristics of the different breeds just from the wool. It's all woolen-spun, and has wonderful loft and bounce and stretch. And it smells beautifully wooly. I'm hoping to get the beginnings of it, at least, dyed up this weekend, so I'll hopefully be able to start selling it very soon.

New yarn. and a competition

2005-10-24T23:14:00.000+01:00

I've added our new sock yarn colourway to the site. It's a very purple yarn. There's also a competition to name it. Send us your suggestions, and if you come up with the best suggestion it'll become the new yarn name, and win you a skein of the yarn in the process.

I've also re-jigged the 'Berries' colourway when dyeing the latest batch - it's now 'Soft Berries', and is a paler version of its older self, because it was a little too like the new yarn, and I wanted to make a very purple yarn.

Pots of Yarn

2005-10-24T12:29:00.000+01:00

I spent a fair portion of the weekend labelling up all the yarn that's for sale, and sorting into big plastic boxes. This is what it looks like from on high. The first photo is the DK silk yarn, and the lower photo is the lovely, lovely sock yarn.

And also, a sneak preview of the new sock yarn colour, although the photograph's a bit dark. It's very, very purple. I've decided that there'll be a Name That Yarn competition; details later.

Dyeing day!

2005-10-23T20:30:00.000+01:00

Today I did some dyeing; some less exciting restocking, and some more exciting New Colour Invention; there's one new sock colour currently drying. I haven't decided what to name it yet; I was thinking about having a yarn naming competition, and awarding a skein of the new yarn to the winner.

A Curious Blog

2005-10-23T03:10:00.000+01:00

Everyone, and everything, has a blog nowadays, so I thought my yarn shop should have one too. And here it is!

I've spent this morning making up more beaded stitchmarkers - they're gorgeous - and photographing them. They'll be up on the site tomorrow, hopefully. And I've spent a good portion of the afternoon labelling the yarns and sorting them into boxes. I've finally settled on a way of attaching the label - I'm using pretty ribbons. And I'm tying the big and small sock skeins together with the same ribbon.

I've been knitting up a little evening bag in Gleaming silk. I need to finish the strap, and hunt up ribbons and buttons to complete it. Hopefully I'll make it to the haberdashery and find the right ribbons and buttons, and there'll be a little one-skein bag-kit for sale.

I've also put aside a skein of Floss in Saturn (currently my favourite colour), and I'm planning on knitting up a sideways-ish scallop-ish lace scarf. I *think* I know how it's going to work. If it does behave, the pattern will be going on the site as a free download.