Spring Trends: Colours and Yarns

Hello Everyone!

Spring is on the way and that means it's time to rifle through that stash for new projects, or to embrace the opportunity for trying out some new yarns and colourways.  Personally, I love the fresh possibilities provided by a basket of pretty new yarns so that's my focus for today.  I'm proud to once again shine the spotlight on other small businesses and British produce.

First thing's first:  what are the top colours for Spring 2017?  Pantone to the rescue!

I simply adore the range of colours for this season. The stormy blues were so popular last year at NurseryKnitsUK so I'm thrilled to see that the trend is set to continue.  There's a gorgeous mix of vibrant hues and soft spring shades which makes for a fun palette.

So what styles are going to be hot this Spring?

Cathy Hilton at her Cockington Studio

The colours suggest that country cottage chic is going to be returning this year as a popular trend, with Emma Bridgewater and Kath Kidston continuing to dominate home-wares.  This is also evident in the work of artisans such as Cathy Hilton, whose studio at Cockington Court in Torquay, Devon, is an absolute haven of colour.


She prints onto wood and her designs are ahead of the trends as you can see from this shot of one of her display cabinets at her studio.  If you can pop in to see her, I'd heartily recommend it.  Her wares are stunning and she's so friendly and nice to chat to. Can't get to Devon?  No problem!  Cathy is now on Not on the Highstreet!

Follow Cathy Hilton on Facebook to see more of her work.

All about the Base

Grey seems set to stay as well, with lots of high-street and high-end stores continuing to choose that as a base colour.  It's soft, timeless, and very versatile, making it ideal for knits.

Yarnspiration

As hard as it is to admit, the colder weather seems set to stay.  While this can be a little depressing, it's a great opportunity to buy British and invest in some gorgeous chunky yarns.  One of my favourites for this season is the aptly named Big Wool from Rowan.  Rowan is a British brand, with all yarn spun here in the UK.  Big Wool is super soft as it uses Merino wool and it comes in some gorgeous colours which embrace the softer shades from the Spring trends:

Big Wool Knits:  A Collection of 8 Designs

Cables are super effective in Big Wool

Buy British and Support Small Businesses


As always, I encourage you to dream big and think of small businesses.  It's my pleasure to bring to you some of the best of British.

Truly Hooked on Etsy and FB

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Truly Hooked is a Nottingham based company that specialises in hand-dyed yarns.  The owner, Verity, has even had her yarns nominated for awards.  As well as being able to create custom colours for you, she has a scrummy selection to choose from on her Etsy store.  She's been on Etsy for six years and has five-star reviews. Some of my favourite yarns are below:

Aqua Speckles Hand Dyed Merino Yarn.  Buy here.

Mermaids Hand Dyed Merino Yarn.  Buy here.

Uni-Kitty Hand Dyed Merino Yarn.  Buy here.

Eden Cottage Yarns

Eden Cottage Yarns is a Yorkshire-based independent company, with a focus on "simple but gorgeous colours, as well as sustainability."  Victoria's designs are published on Ravelry and have been featured in some of the big knitting magazines.  She's also made appearances on the radio and her yarns are stocked by yarn shops around the country.

An excerpt from her web-page follows, explaining more about the birth of ECY.

How did it all start? Having always been creative, and interested in textiles, Victoria taught herself to knit in 2006 whilst at university in Dundee. At the time there was little yarn available in shops, and unable to find the colours she wanted she had a go at dyeing her own. Over the next few years she continued dyeing in her spare time, and also taught herself to spin, amongst other things. In November 2011, she moved to a cottage in Eden Valley in Cumbria, and Eden Cottage Yarns was born. It has since continued to grow rapidly, and Victoria now has a larger kitchen to work from, albeit in a more modern house (now in Yeadon, West Yorkshire). There is no workshop or drying room - all the yarn is dyed in the kitchen sink, and hung outside to dry. There is however a lovely view of the garden, and orchards and fields beyond, which is beautiful and inspiring. 

She has a Facebook page, and her website features a blog.  I love checking out her page as there are often gorgeous photos of the yarn she's dyeing, which are really inspiring.

Sringtime at Nursery Knits UK.

So what am I up to? Well, as well as designing a brand new toy, Flossie Bunny who will be available soon, I'm busy experimenting with this season's colours and have just completed another blanket for the Linus Project. 

Lotus Bear: The Story of the Competition Wish-Bear

Hello Everyone!

It's Thursday evening and four days ago I announced the winner of our Wish-Bear Giveaway.  I thought that I would write a blog, chronicling the creative process.

First of all, I had the pleasure of contacting Lotus Girl to give her the good news.  She was delighted to have won, and we started the process together.

Cuddles or Serenity?

Our Wish-Bears come in two different yarn-styles:  King Cole Cuddles, and Wendy Serenity Chunky. They knit bears of a similar size, but very different appearance.  Cuddles yarn is acrylic and fluffy and if you didn't know they were knitted bears, you wouldn't be able to guess.  Serenity, on the other hand, is a much smoother yarn: it's a blend with wool, alpaca (so soft!) and acrylic.  The bears are smooth and clearly knitted, but still super soft and snuggly.



Lotus Girl has chosen Cuddles yarn, so the next step is to select the colour.  As this bear is for her, rather than a baby, we looked at the full range of colours offered by King Cole.  She was instantly drawn to the bright colours of fuchsia, red, and violet, and I was excited to work with something new.  After much deliberation, she selected violet.  As this colour is out of stock at Nursery Knits UK, I have ordered it and when it arrives, stage two can begin.

3rd February 2017

It's been a long while since I started this post but technical problems with a laptop (or lack of one!) has held me up a bit.  However, lots has been happening with Lotus Bear, who now has a new name and a new home.  So, let's continue our story.

The yarn arrived within a week and I was able to start work.

This yarn is tricky to work with as it's so fluffy.  That's partly the beauty of it: you can't see the stitches.  It's also the problem!  This particular bear took a few attempts to create as I dropped the odd stitch, or thought I had!  Eventually though, Lotus Bear was ready to have its face stitched on.

The eyes, nose and mouth of the Wish-bears are hand-stitched, using black yarn.  This means there are no catchy bits for little fingers to snag on, or small components for little mouths to choke on.  It also means that each bear has their own unique personality as, being hand-made and hand-stitched, no two bears are ever the same.  Lotus Bear's mission was to bring comfort to Lotus Girl and, as her face took shape, I could see that Lotus Bear would be up for the job.  The eyes held a look of understanding and the smile was encouraging.  Now she was ready for her finishing touches.

As with all of my made-to-order bears, Lotus Girl was given a choice of fabrics for the paw-pads and a choice of ribbon colours.  She chose a beautiful lavender polk-a-dot material, which complemented the bright purple of the bear itself, and selected a vibrant ribbon to match.  While Lotus Girl was in hospital, Lotus Bear received the finishing touches and was ready for her new home.

As I was going to deliver this bear to Lotus Girl personally, Lotus Bear spent Christmas with us at Nursery Knits UK Headquarters and became the star of our Christmas profile-picture and photo-bear for our thank you card.

After Lotus Bear moved in with Lotus Girl, we received a Facebook message thanking us for creating Lotus Bear, who was now named Portley as he's the colour of port.

You see, Wish-bears have a bit of magic inside, and to whoever needs them, they can be exactly what that person needs.

xxx