This week launches an exciting collaboration between Steph from Perran Yarns and myself. Myself and Steph met on Etsy the on-line selling site for all things handmade. She hand dyes and then sells beautiful scrumptious yarns that knit up gorgeously!

I was utterly surprised when she approached me to ask if I was prepared to knit up and re-work one of my new patterns in some of her hand dyed yarn.  Her idea was to sell the patterns at craft fairs and in brick and mortar shops alongside some of her yarns. We also discussed the possibility of selling the pattern and yarn in kit form via her Etsy shop. 

Above you can see the transformation from the Noro yarn I chose to show off the lovely flower pattern to one of Stephs yarn , a lovely Knit in Perran Yarns (50% baby alpaca, 25% linen, 25% silk) in sweet pea shade. You can buy the finished scarf here if you don't fancy the knit. 

Well the kits are ready folks! All for £20. Of course you can buy the knitting pattern and yarn on its own but there is a saving if you purchase in kit form.

Its a lovely knit for a christmas gift or just for you.

We are hoping to get together in the near future to bring you more exciting collaborations. 

See you soon from Steph and I

Just before last Christmas , the Christmas of 2014 I was inspired to have a play around at creating a Christmas Tree Fair Isle chart. I wanted something that you could build up, step by step, piece by piece. 

I finally came up with a nifty little Christmas tree chart, one with bows and a lovely bright shining star on top. 

All the pieces to make the Christmas tree in this fair isle cushion are available in the pattern available to buy here. The pattern you get includes the fair isle charts and instructions to make the cushion cover.

 The charts can be used on their own for your own christmassy sweaters etc or follow the instructions to make a small 12" square cushion cover.. 

6 Mini Tree Christmas Tree: (30 stitches across x 41 rows) finished size - 6” / 15 cm x 6” / 15cm  15 Mini Tree Christmas Tree: (50 stitches across x 61 rows) finished size - 10” / 25.5cm x 10” / 25.5cm  The 12 " cushion cover - uses the 15 mini tree christmas tree chart.

Today , one wet windy day at the end of July, getting myself prepared for the Christmas period, I again got to play.

This time I wanted to try out my fair isle charts once again. I used mega chunky wool (a mix of Rowans Big Wool and Wendy's Pampas Mega Chunky) to see what sort of effect I could create using chunky wool and large needles (10mm). I used the smaller 6 mini tree chart and was rather surprised when I finished up with this great wall hanging. So much so that I hung it in the garden , hung over our new fencing.

And as part of the Christmas in July promotions undertaken by the bigger retailers , this little pattern was chosen by LoveKnitting. I was so surprised that they chose my pattern as a Christmas In July feature. Such a lovely blog posting  celebrating Rowan's great tweed yarn that I initially knit the cushion in. Such glorious colours , all inspired and named from my neck of the woods , Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Dales. The famous designer Martin Storey that's mentioned in the posting is one of my faves too , after meeting him at a Big Cabling workshop at Rowan's HQ in Holmfirth, Yorkshire.