Yarn In The City

We’ve been incommunicado for a while after Wovember with a shear overload of everything, so our apologies for the long break between episodes! But now we’re back, and we chat about upcoming events, our current crazy holiday knitting plans, review a new yarn and share some news about the podcast going into the beginning of 2018. Events 21st January – Waltham Abbey Wool Show, Essex, EN9 3LX 16-18th February – Unravel, Farnham Maltings, Farnham 15-17th March – Edinburgh Yarn Festival, Edinburgh   Make Happy – aka – What we’re working on Rachel is trying to knit stealth Christmas stockings for family, in addition to finishing off the Woolly Wormhead Mystery KAL hats. Allison has finished the Martinique Beach Cowl - woohoo! Both sleeves are done on Harrison's sweater, Gaston, and she is working on a pair of mittens and hat for him for Christmas.  White Christmas A yarn we’re thinking about knitting with this Christmas is Hudson Worsted, the new release from The Yarn Collective, curated by Michele Wang. This lovel

Events  1 – 30th November: WOVEMBER!!!! This year's theme is Woolness: where wool meets wellness   23 – 30th November: London Guild exhibition – The Thames and Southwark: Threads of London Life, Southwark Cathedral, 10:30am - 5:30pm daily, free entry. Also includes a free Introduction to Natural Dyeing drop in session on Sunday, 26 November from 3-5pm.  2 December: Pints, Purls and Prosecco with Nathan Taylor, from 7-10pm!  21 January: Waltham Abbey Wool Show, 10am–4pm   Make Happy – aka – What we’re working on R: Starting point done!!!!  On the yoke of her British Blue sweater and working on the two Woolly Wormhead Mystery KAL hats  Weaving in ends video from Tabetha  A: Clue 2 of Cederberg Shawl MKAL – in SGY Tough Love Sock. Jumper for Harrison for Christmas. Looking for more Sirdar Eco Wool DK in "Clay"  (soft fawn colour), needs 3-4 more 50 g balls -   A Woolly Good Time:  Alli has visited a couple of shows since the last podcast and gives us a brief rundown: Knit for Peace's The Great Knit Fest at Chel

We are full on into the autumn knitting season, and with the impending holidays bearing down on us faster than you think, we find our focus turning to accessory patterns and potential gifts. In this episode, we'll discuss upcoming events and what we're currently working on. We also have an interview with the one and only Woolly Wormhead to share with you! Sponsor note:  This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Garthenor, providing a variety of sustainable, organic British wool products in an ecologically responsible way. See Garthenor’s glorious yarns, including a kit for Isabell Kraemer's new Amory sweater, on their website at www.garthenor.com.  Events 28 – 29th October: Kendal Wool Gathering   1 – 30th November: WOVEMBER!!!! This year's theme is Woolness: where wool meets wellness, and we're hosting an Instagram Photo Challenge!   11 November: Festiwool, at a new venue   11 – 12th November: Nottingham Yarn Expo   23 – 30th November: London Guild exhibition – The Thames and Southwark: Threads of London L

We're back on schedule with this week's episode, in which we talk about Allison's trip to Shetland for part of Shetland Wool Week and dig into the patterns in two gorgeous books: Wool Journey: Shetland by Amber Corcoran, Jaime Jennings, Malia Mae Joseph and Stephen West, and Shetland by Marie Wallin.   Sponsor This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Garthenor, providing a variety of sustainable, organic British wool products in an ecologically responsible way. See Garthenor’s glorious yarns, including a kit for Isabell Kraemer's new Amory sweater, on their website at http://www.garthenor.com. Make Happy – aka – What we’re working on Rachel is still plugging away on her yellow Erika Knight jumper in British Blue 100. The change in weather means her wool mojo has returned with a vengeance, so she's also been spinning and had a bit of a slip last weekend, and is now the proud owner of a 10" Cricket loom which is destined for generating lots of handspun handwoven scarves.  Allison has finished spinning her

September has been an incredibly busy month, and on this episode we recap the fifth annual Great London Yarn Crawl, including our live interview with special guest Erika Knight.  Our sponsor: This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Garthenor, providing a variety of sustainable, organic British wool products in an ecologically responsible way. See Garthenor’s glorious yarns, including a kit for Isabell Kraemer's new Amory sweater, on their website at www.garthenor.com.  News and Events:  Drawing for prizes from last podcast:  Two skeins of Brushwork: pinkpot on Ravelry  Strander Gradient Sweater pattern: LuisaM  Congratulations to both, and thanks to everyone who posted a comment! Upcoming events: 7 – 22th October – UK Wool Week  11 – 15th October: The Knitting and Stitching Show, Ally Pally London  14 –15th October: Bakewell Wool Gathering  13 – 15th October: Loch Ness Knit Fest  14 October: West Wales Wool Show, Narbeth, Pembrokeshire  28 – 29th October: Kendal Wool Gathering  1 – 30th November: WOVEMBER

Sweater weather is finally here and we couldn't be happier! On this episode of the podcast we've got a new yarn from Blacker Yarns to tell you about, as well as TWO giveaways! Our Sponsor This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Garthenor, providing a variety of sustainable, organic British wool products in an ecologically responsible way. See Garthenor’s glorious yarns at the GLYC Mini-Yarn Market after party, or on their website at www.garthenor.com. News and Events Kirstie Allsopp's The Handmade Fair, Hampton Court Palace, London - September 15-17 Yarndale, Skipton - September 23-24 The Great British Sewing Bee Live, ExCel Centre, London - September 21-24 Shetland Wool Week, Lerwick, Shetland - September 23 to October 1 Thread, Farnham Maltings - September 30 Masham Sheep Fair, Masham - September 30 to October 1 GLYC Anniversary KAL Winners! Random chat thread participant - heckythump/Helen from Hull, winner of a skein of Destination Yarn Letter Plus in the colourway Oslo Random finisher - katt94/Kathe

On this episode we get to share with you some of the amazing makers and shops we’ve had the opportunity to visit during our travels on the other side of the pond this summer, as well as updates on GLYC, what we’re working on, and a session with the Knitting Doctor. GLYC2017 Update We have a new vendor to announce for the Mini Yarn Market: https://owlaboutyarn.com/ will be joining us with yarn and project bags and other gorgeous goodies! The DIY version of the GLYC is now underway! If you aren't able to join us on GLYC 2017, you can do a DIY version for a minimal donation - please consider adding multiple copies of the passport to your shopping cart to increase your donation to Refuge! More details here. Make Happy Rachel's Fireflies Rising is now blocked and ready for the GLYC! She's also finished the first half of her Starting Point and started the second, but also managed to finish a new shawl design using some handspun from the Tour de Fleece – there will be a knitalong starting on 6 September for the shaw

On this episode of the podcast we've got another GLYC update - and then we get into chatting about the ultimate summer project: lace. Our Sponsor This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Garthenor, providing a variety of sustainable, organic British wool products in an ecologically responsible way. See Garthenor’s glorious yarns at the GLYC Mini-Yarn Market after party, or on their website at www.garthenor.com. Great London Yarn Crawl UPDATE NEW for this year: we've added a DIY version of the yarn crawl for those of you who weren't able to get a ticket or aren't able to attend in London on September 9th. [click here for more details - need to add to GLYC section of website] Make Happy (aka What We're Working On) Rachel is finished her Fireflies Rising in Hedgehog Sock for the GLYC Anniversary KAL. She has moved on to making her own Starting Point using yarns from stash: Auracania, Artist's Palette, The Knitting Goddess, Dream in Color and Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Allison is SO close to being finished her Spri

Hello and apologies for this very belated episode of the podcast! Programming notes:  Our summer podcasting schedule is a little out the window at the moment due to international travel. We meant to have this episode up two weeks ago but were somewhat thwarted...  This episode also has some audio challenges that we weren't able to fix or re-record so we hope you'll bear with us as it's a shorter-than-usual episode. We're going to figure out an alternative for the next couple of episodes. Episode 64: Quiet We've got a shorter than usual episode this time around with another mini update on the Great London Yarn Crawl (which is NOW SOLD OUT!), some upcoming events and a discussion about taking time to be quiet and reflect this summer. Our Sponsor This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Garthenor, providing a variety of sustainable, organic British wool products in an ecologically responsible way. See Garthenor’s glorious yarns at the GLYC Mini-Yarn Market after party, or on their website at www.garthenor.com

Summer is here (more or less)! And on this episode of the podcast we’ve got an update on the Great London Yarn Crawl ticket sales, chat about what we’re working on and discuss our super summer plans! GLYC2017 Update Ticket sales got off to a splendid start on July 1st. Thank you so much to everyone for your continued enthusiasm for this event! At the time of recording this podcast there were 4 routes sold out and only 44 tickets left!  There are now 15 tickets left on 5 routes, so don't wait! We are in the midst of assigning routes to our awesome volunteers so keep your eyes out for the Route threads on Ravelry where you can meet and chat with your teammates! One more update to tell you all about – please welcome Garthenor as our new After Party Sponsor! Garthenor promotes and provides a variety of sustainable, organic, glorious British wool products in an ecologically responsible way. Their aim is to help secure the future of British organic agrictulture and the British textile industry. We’re looking forwar

On this episode of the podcast we’re a little bit overwhemed that this year marks the 5th anniversary of the Great London Yarn Crawl. With tickets going on sale on July 1st we have tons of news to share with you about the big event! Shout Outs + News + Events Huge shout out to everyone who came and joined us at The Village Haberdashery for World Wide Knit in Public Day. We had a terrific turnout and it was great to meet so many new makers! Many thanks to Annie from The Village Haberdashery for hosting with us and to SweetGeorgia Yarns for providing our door prizes! Details on the GLYC Anniversary KAL have been released. 23 - 24 June:  Woolfest gets underway next weekend in Cockermouth in Cumbria 1 July: Tickets go on sale for the GLYC on Saturday (check out the routes here) 8 - 9  July: The British Wool Show in North Yorkshire 14 - 15 July: Pomfest, celebrating 5 years of Pom Pom Quarterly magazine 15 - 16 July: Yarningham  in Birmingham 29 - 30 July: Fibre East in Bedfordshire Other event resources: Ravelry

Today we chat about what we’re working on, and share details on the upcoming GLYC knitalong, including an interview with designer Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade. WWKIP Day update! Next Saturday is World Wide Knit in Public Day, and we’d love to have everyone come join us at The Village Haberdashery on Saturday, June 10th in West Hampstead Square! We’ll be there from 11am – 2pm and all are welcome! The event is free, but please RSVP via the WWKIP website so we have an accurate headcount and can get in touch if we have to change things due to weather.  Make Happy – aka – What we’re working on Allison is keeping up with the Joji Locatelli Starting Point Mystery KAL in SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock and it is glorious! Rachel has been doing very little knitting or spinning of any kind as work has been completely insane. But the handspun socks are almost to the heels, and she's cast on for Raindrops by Tin Can Knits in Travelknitter's luscious Tanami in the Midnight Kelpies colourway from Edinburgh Yarn Festiv

In this episode we have a special interview with Eric Lutz, publisher of RIB magazine, which we recorded at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March. We've been holding on to this interview for a while, but since the second issue of RIB will be hitting shops in early June, this seems like a good time to share the audio with you. We've also got a quick update on our WWKIP day event on 10th June at the Village Haberdashery and what's making us happy these days! Make Happy – aka – What we’re working on #MeMadeMay is still underway! Rachel is still working on the handspun socks, and started spinning up some BFL for a sweater. The Kippen Cardigan has fallen by the wayside for the moment. Last episode’s sock yarn is finished and plied and washed and waiting for a moment when I can cast on! Allison finished the crocheted tie for Harrison and not a moment too soon! Everything has been all about the Joji MKAL / mystery wrap which she's knitting in the Kitsilano colourway kit put together by SweetGeorgia Yarns. She's also

This year is the tenth anniversary for lots of different institutions in our knitting world, but the one we talk about in this episode is Ravelry - the website that has changed the landscape of fibre arts and community. In addition, we’ll have quick run through upcoming events for May and June and share what’s on our needles, hooks and bobbins. News and Events 13-14th May: Wool@J13, Lower Drayton Farm, Penkridge, Staffordshire ST19 5RE 27 May: Highland Wool and Textiles Fair, Dingwall Auction Mart, Scotland From 1st June – end September: Exhibition of Dutch Ganseys, Sheringham Museum, Lifeboat Plain, Sheringham NR26 8BG 3rd June: Leeds Wool Festival 10th June – World Wide Knit In Public Day - come join us at the Village Haberdashery! 10-11th June: John Arbon Textiles Mill Open Weekend 23-24th June: Woolfest, Mitchells Lakeland Livestock Center, Cockermouth, Cumbria CA13 0QQ  Make Happy – aka – What we’re working on Rachel is onto the collar of the Kippen Cardigan (by Kat Goldin of The Crochet Project), and a

Rachel is back in the co-pilot seat after the holidays, and we talk about project monogamy (is that a thing?), upcoming yarn celebrations and get two of our knit night regulars to tell us about their creative collaborations in colour and yarn. News and Events 6 May: Yarn Shop Day! A few shops have helpfully let us know that they have some big things planned for this special day Countess Ablaze in Manchester will be having a pop-up shop featuring BritYarn, Whistlebare and The Little Grey Girl to sell their goodies! Details here. A Yarn Story in Bath will be celebrating Yarn Shop Day and their third anniversary with cake and the launch of the colours for their bespoke yarn, Walcot Yarns. There are a few other surprises in store so be sure to pop in if you're in the area! If you’re in London, Yarn Shop Day would be a perfect day to explore the East London Yarn Triangle where you can visit Knit With Attitude, Wild & Woolly (also celebrating their three year anniversary) and Fabrications.  10 June: World Wi

Rachel is away at the moment so Carmen from A Yarn Story fills in as co-pilot to Allison on this episode.  We realised after we recorded the podcast that we didn't explain very well about being at H+H, the craft trade fair that happened this past March 28-30 in Cologne, Germany. Allison was there on the SweetGeorgia Yarns stand and Carmen was helping out as German translator and answering questions about having the yarns in her shop in the UK. Now that you have that as context, this episode includes chatter about things we saw at the show, along with our usual bits of news and events and what we're working on. News and Events April 23 - Spaces are still available for the upcoming coach trip to Wonderwool from London with the London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. Click here for more details and to book your space if you'd like to join us. May 6th - Yarn Shop Day is back! This is great opportunity to show your love for your local yarn shop (LYS). It's also the three year anniversary for A Yarn Story and

On today’s podcast we’re chatting about two new books that we were asked to review at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival. We’ve got a review of Coffee with C.C. (and Dami too!) – more coffee-inspired patterns from C.C. Almon and this time with her daughter Dami as well. And we also take a peek at Knit the Rainbow, a collection of accessories designed for gradient sets by Joy McMillan. Joy of course, is also known as The Knitting Goddess and she really knows colour! News and Events   The Countess Ablaze Dye Studio is now newly reopened in their brand new space in Manchester’s northern quarter. They are now open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm and wow – the space is amazing! Congrats to the Countess and run, don’t walk to see her new space – and a new yarn too! 23 April - the London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers coach to Wonderwool on Sunday, April 23rd. Tickets are £39 and include round-trip coach and entry to the show. Get your tickets here. Saturday May 6th - Yarn Shop Day Sa

If you’ve been under a rock lately or haven’t listened to our latest episodes of the podcast, EYF of course is the Edinburgh Yarn Festival, the 2017 edition of which wrapped up this past Sunday. We were there and back in a whirlwind of 4 days and have so much to tell you about, including an interview that we were lucky to have with Aimée Gille, owner of L’Oisive The and La Bien Aimée in Paris. We’ve also got the wrap up of the Blacker PodKAL, some upcoming events to keep an eye out for, and an update on what we’ve been working on and what’s making us happy.  Blacker PodKAL wrap up It was amazing seeing so many gorgeous handknits in person in the Blacker Yarns Podcast Lounge at EYF. The Blacker stand was pretty spectacular too! We’ve come away with samples of Blacker’s latest yarn Samite that we talked about on the last episode and we’ll be working with that and reporting back on what it’s like to work with. Huge thanks to Sue and Sonja from Blacker for supporting the Podcast Lounge, and for putting up a prize

Now that the wool festival calendar has really kicked into high gear, and with Edinburgh Yarn Festival fast approaching, we thought we’d take some time today to talk about Yarn Show Strategy. We’ll also have an update on the #Blackerpodkal, where you can find us in Edinburgh, what’s making us happy at the moment, and more!  What's making us happy: The Blacker Yarns PodKAL continues and we are winding down to the last week!  How’s your project going?  Some instagram highlights from #TeamYITC:  Mariette694 has finished her cape of Tamar and Cornish Tin and it is spectacular!  And then there’s Josh (breiwerken on Instagram) has finished her gorgeous colourwork jumper in Cornish Tin!  A latecomer to the podkal is @yarnesty who has cast on a cabled hat also in Cornish Tin V2.0  #TeamYITC prize: we will post in the Ravelry thead what the prize is and who wins! Winner will be drawn on 6th March, so make sure you get your projects up and tagged with #BlackerPODKAL and #TeamYITC. Allison is working on her #BlackerPO

On this episode of the podcast we  chat about what's making us happy at the mo, including an update on our progress with the Blacker PodKAL for the Edinburgh Yarn Festival and the new #yarnlovechallenge on Instagram. We also find out what happens when you love yarn so much that it leads you to making your own. For that conversation we’ll be chatting with our friend Carmen from A Yarn Story in Bath, who’s been working with Sharon from Great British Yarns on a new joint venture, Walcot Yarns. Grab your favourite beverage and your WIP and let's go! What we’re working on (aka Make Happy): The Blacker Yarns PodKAL continues apace! Allison has her SSS well underway, and Rachel is casting on for her Inglis Mitts as we record (better late than never!) The projects shown on Ravelry and Instagram all look amazing and there are some truly speedy knitters out there! We have some special kudos too, for those of you who have come on board #teamYITC: Hdayananda is knitting with a gorgeous green Cornish Tin for her In the P