Nursery Knits Updates, a Big Birthday, Exploring the Cotswolds, and New Yarns!

Well hello there dears!

I can't believe how quickly the months have zipped by - June already!  I'm well overdue a blog post so here it is.  This Summer post is all about #StylecraftYarns which will become my blanket stock for the shop this winter, and some new discoveries!  Plus, I have some exciting news about Nursery Knits UK!  I'm terrible for saying things too soon and then taking forever to make good on them but I promise I'm being realistic this time - haha!

Hopefully you're all enjoying some of the glorious weather that I've had here in beautiful Kent.  At the moment I'm sitting in my craft room, looking out of the window at the view of the Downs and feeling content.  Everything is lush and green; birds are singing; children next door but one are having a bouncing competition on their trampoline and their squeals of delight are joining the birdsong and the distant hum of lawnmowers that can only mean one thing: summer is here!

Archie-Cat has shoved himself under the cast iron fireplace grate on the floor here in an attempt to stay cool (it must be tough being so fluffy in this heat!) and generally all is well with the world.  Well, apart from the fact that DH is downstairs nursing a broken clavicle that's awaiting surgery.

So, let's get started shall we?

What's New with Nursery Knits UK?

Well, I'm thrilled to have reached almost 300 followers on Facebook.  It's lovely to have genuine likes from people who interact with the page and a few of them I'm getting to know quite well.  We've got  a regular feature:  Talented Tuesday, which allows followers to post photos of their own crafty makes and I must say, they're incredible!  We've had some FYF shawls (#findyourfade), a beautiful handmade wooden box, stunning cake decorating skills and, just for half term, some gorgeous children's art-work featuring!  It's lovely to see what everyone's up to and to see people sharing ideas.

I've also been kept busy with prizes and commissions.  While my order book has been closed for the exam season (I'm an English teacher by trade), I've still had a couple of giveaways to draw for and have been working on commissions received just before my order-book closed (my customers knew it would be a couple of months to receive their items at the time of making their commission and they've been wonderfully understanding).  Here are some pics of the latest bits and bobs!

Ripples are definitely proving popular at the moment and I've ended up on a bit of a ripple marathon!  The prize-winner's blanket was well received and I've since made two more for my Etsy store and had a commission for one from a customer! 

I hit the big 30 in April, and was whisked away by DH to the stunning Eynsham Hall on the outskirts of the Cotswolds.  As well as lots of hookery time as I relaxed in beautiful surroundings, I was also able to explore local yarn shops!  I spent a good half hour in Witney's store:

It's got everything, including some absolutely stunning fabric!  If we hadn't been rushing for a dinner reservation I may have spent a lot longer (and a lot more) in there!

But, if you ask me, the real gem of the Cotswolds (that I discovered anyway) is this one: just look at this!

Yes - THREE ROOMS of sewing and knitting goodies!  The proprietor is so lovely and welcoming and totally didn't mind my spending two hours in his shop (in two stints - DH saw me looking longingly at it again and took me back!).  It's absolute heaven with yarn in every nook and cranny, tapestries hanging from the walls and ceilings, even little nooks stuffed with pattern books and reference books.  Excuse me while I sigh happily at the memories!

Other than that, the latest officially new thing is that I've bought in some new colourways.  I did a big Stylecraft Yarn shop after a stock take revealed that I had pretty much run out of my acrylic base yarn that I work my blankets in.  Acrylic is wonderful for blankets as it blocks beautifully, hardly pills, and is machine-washable - now what mum doesn't love machine-washable?  Exactly!  So time to get onto the colours:

NEW: Stylecraft Yarns Colourways

As many of you know, I like to use acrylic yarn for blankets (as explained above) and one of my favourites is Stylecraft Special DK.  I actually use this as my standard base for blankets.  Other brands are available, such as the WI Soft and Cuddly but they're premium yarns and so are commission only.

Stylecraft is a UK based company and to be fair to them they do a huge and wonderful range of yarns, of which Special DK is only a portion, but Special DK washes so well and is so reasonably priced that it's incredibly popular with crafters and businesses alike.  I would never use something in my products that I wouldn't be proud to have myself so you can rest assured of the standards here!

Special DK comes in a whopping 85 shades, which means that customers ordering blankets have a huge range to select from.  That said, people tend to like seeing colourways as examples and so I thought I'd stock up and put a few together:

As you can see, I've had a lot of fun playing with combinations.
Row 1, image 1:  Grape, Cream, Boysenberry, Mocha
Row 1, image 2: Grape, Cypress, Shrimp, Stone
Row 1, image 3; Grape, Cypress, Mustard, Stone

Row 2, image 4: Bluebell, Clematis, Grape, Boysenberry
Row 2, image 5: Clematis, Grape, Mustard, Turquoise, Kelly Green

Row 3: image 6: Boysenberry, Grape, Stone
Row 3, image 7: Cypress, Mustard, Stone, Shrimp
Row 3, image 8: Clematis, Stone, Grape

I asked on my page and via instagram which colourway people wanted to see used and, to my genuine amazement, my lovely friends and followers have voted for number 5!

 I thought this would be the least popular because the colours are rather an odd combination but it seems that people are in the mood for colour, so let's go for it!  The final decision now is to choose whether to do a ripple, granny, daisy, c2c, or patchwork blanket.  So far its 1 patchwork, 1 ripple.  Any thoughts?


Yarnspirations

Okay, so this section is all about fun and wonderful yarn I've found over the past couple of months.  Last time I featured Truly Hooked and Eden Cottage Yarns.  This post I'm thrilled to share some other finds with you!

Martin's Lab

First up, is this gorgeous yarn my friend found for me at the Edingburgh Yarn Festival *the downside to being a teacher is that I'll never get to attend this myself, or Wimbledon*.  I fell in love with it when she sent me this photo!

It's so silky!  I bought it for a pay-it-forward I'm doing on my personal FB page.  It was a steal at just £18 and the colourway is called Caterpillar.  I sent it to my friend a couple of weeks ago (I know, very very late!) and she's thrilled.  Hopefully she'll let me post a photo of the socks she makes in the next update!

Juno Fibre Arts

Now Juno Fibre Arts is no longer trading. Victoria from Eden Cottage Yarns tells me it's hard physical work dyeing yarn and it takes a lot of time away from family (something I sympathise with) so it was her own choice to stop dyeing yarn.  So it's not that sad a story, she made the right choice for her.  Sadly for us it means that you'll have to grab this yarn when you spot it!
She was based in Devon and I picked up this skein of Alice in the wool shop at Dartington:

It's absolutely stunning and is on a luxury base: 70% baby alpaca, 20% silk, 10% cashmere,  Honestly it is the softest, most exquisite yarn I have ever felt and at just £23 I had to have it!  This one is all mine!  I wandered round the shop, holding this skein and stroking it while I browsed the other yarns on offer, much to the amusement of both the proprietor and my MiL, who was there with me!  The proprietor was a total sweetheart, and gave me a Rowan shawl pattern that this yarn would look amazing in.

Hop Stitch and Jumper

Hop Stitch and Jumper is a local haberdashery and yarn store in Maidstone. It's only been open for about 8 months but oh my the yarns it stocks are fabulous!  As well as staples such as Sirdar and Debbie Bliss, HSJ stocks yarns from indie dyers and they are so ridiculously cheap - talk about value for money!  Check out these beauties:

First is this gorgeous Rainbow yarn that just screams unicorn magic!  I bought this to cheer myself up during a tough work week and am using a feather and fan lace pattern to make myself a scarf in it.  Isn't it stunning?  It is bringing me such pleasure - seen here with homemade lemon drizzle cake and a glass of pink lemonade!  The only thing I will say is that be wary of having to undo it as it can catch on itself - much easier to pick a simple pattern that shows off the stunning colour changes

This yarn can be ordered online by getting in touch with Florentina at www.facebook.com/hopstitchandjumper and at £2.30 a ball you can't beat it for value!

Next up is this super soft, aptly named "Coast" cotton yarn, also available at Hop Stitch and Jumper.  I loved it so much that I bought 10 balls:  5 for a jumper for me and 5 for a friend for her birthday.  I actually have a project in mind for this but I think I'm going to have to design it as it doesn't exist as far as I can tell - more later in the year on that one!

Now, for the big one:  I mentioned at the start of the post that I'm terrible for saying I'm going to do things and then taking months or years to actually follow through on these ideas.  However, this is something I'm committed to.  I can't tell you exactly when this will happen, but Nursery Knits UK will be rebranding and relaunching to reflect the fact that I'm going to be diversifying.  For now, I'll leave you with a little clue.  The name is changing to Nursery Knits and Pieces.  I'm going to be working on this all over summer and realistically the changes won't happen until 2018 but oh my goodness it's going to be so much fun!  And I'll be sure to keep you updated!


I hope you've enjoyed reading this post and have found some inspiration.  I'll leave you now with some photos of recent WIPs and FOs.  Don't forget to check out the store!  My order book reopens on Friday!