Articles by thisisknit

Looking for truly Irish yarn, made from the fleece of native sheep and entirely processed in this country, using centuries-old spinning methods? We’ve got just the thing. It’s Studio Donegal Homespun, and it’s what’s used for that excellent hat.

It will knit to Aran or worsted-weight tension, and it’s made from 100% Irish fleece. It’s mule spun, so it’s made by a process which dates back to the eighteenth century and which was a major component of the industrial revolution in textile production.

In fact, you can see the very machine in action at this youtube link. The short film on wool production there is partly in Irish and partly in English, and gives a fascinating insight into how fleece gets transformed, with the spinning starting at 1.43.

Studio Donegal Homespun is a robust yarn which will work best for outer garments and accessories. The hat above is a sample from the manufacturers, but there’s plenty of patterns on Ravelry that will produce something very similar. A short search found Declan’s Hat, which would work beautifully with garter stitch substituted for the rib, and Fortnight which has the garter stitch already in there.

The other thing that we love about this yarn?

The colours! We’re used to nubbly Aran yarns in oaty undyed colours, but there’s only one word for these colours: funky! Every skein is unique, with happy contrasts and one-of-a-kind graduations.

So if you’re looking for something Irish that’s both traditional and bang up to date, this is it. It’s the perfect souvenir of a visit to Dublin, and we’ll be wearing it with pride.

Looking for a quick and unusual gift? We might have just the thing: we’ve just started stocking kits by Crafted In Ireland for making these charming earrings. There’s two styles: the double linked rings that you see above, as well as a single ring design.

The kits are the work of Crafted In Ireland. In the clever packaging, you get everything you need to make the pair – all the findings you need, including that lovely plump Swarovski pearl, ample yarn and the pattern instructions. You just need to supply a 2.5mm crochet hook and some jewellery pliers. The findings are silver plated and nickel-free, too.

If your intended recipient is a crocheter, then the kit would make a lovely present, and if not, then you get the pleasure of making them before giving them. And with a range of eight colours, there’s sure to be one that’s the perfect accessory for summer.

In our last post, we promised to show you some more of our latest Coolree Yarns delivery. We’re as good as our word, and here’s the new laceweight.

It’s new in a couple of senses: there’s beautiful colourways that we haven’t seen before, but there’s also new bases. One of the best things of working with talented hand-dyers like Coolree’s Alex McLeod is seeing how different bases take dye differently. It’s like watching alchemy.

The image above is the new merino/silk blend: 800 metres of colour-saturated beauty, enough for a large shawl or stole. The other new arrival is a alpaca/silk/cashmere mix, all 600 metres of it, a little more subdued in tone and oh! so soft to the touch.

It won’t come as as news to you that we’ve been having a Color Affection Knit-Along for the last couple of months. Over in our dedicated Ravelry thread, there’s links to seventy one (seventy one!) projects, with frankly no end in sight. There’s at least one person who’s on her fourth! We’ve even got a #CAFKAL hashtag on twitter.

So it pleases us very much indeed to tell you of the prize that’s being offered at the end of the KAL. Thanks to the generosity of Alex from Coolree (himself a CAFKALer), one of your Color Affections will win this stunning skein of yarn:

It’s a silk and baby camel blend, and the colourway is called “Emerald”. It’s simply beautiful, and it could be yours. The KAL is due to end at Worldwide Knit in Public Day in June, so there’s plenty of time to join us (or make another, or make several others). Thank you, Alex.

Finally, a very happy Easter to you all! Since it’s a Bank Holiday weekend, the shop is closed on Sunday March 31st and Monday March 1st, but we’ll be open again from 10.30am on Tuesday March 2nd.

Today brought us flurries of snow and unseasonable cold, but we didn’t mind a bit. You see, it also brought us a generous consignment of hand-dyed beauties from Coolree Yarns in County Wexford.

The image above shows just a few colourways of the 50/50 merino/silk fingering. There’s lots more in the shop, though – there’s blues and greens and yellows, in the loveliest saturated tones. It’s so hard to choose.

A single skein is ample to make a shawl like Cladonia, which has become one of our favourites, or Holden, with its simple feather and fan edging.

So if you’re passing, make sure to drop in to see these gorgeous yarns in person, and keep an eye out here for even more Coolree delights.

At some point this year, we’ll be able to put away the thick knitted hats, the mittens and the superbulky jumpers. Honest. Till then, though, stay safe and warm.

Well, semi-solid, to be precise.

We’ve often talked here of Araucania Botany Lace in these posts, and it continues to be a favourite. So you can imagine our glee when we found out that it’s now comes in semi-solid colours as well as the variegated shades we fell in love with.

There’s six semi-solid colours, and you can see them all in the picture above. They’re bang on trend for this year’s bright fashions, and they’re great value: you can get a lot of crochet or knitting out of 410 metres. Botany Lace is a beautifully plied yarn with fantastic stitch definition, and we love working with it.

And yes, they really are that bright! They make us think of summer and bright sunshine and holidays….