Happiness Is A Newly Released Yarn.... Oh And A New Project In The Offing!

Well hello there! Long time no blog! I know....it's been a while. I've not been idle though.... oh no no no! Lots of yarny goodness has flown off my hook/needles so far this year. I'll try and do a bit of a show and tell at some point. Soooo..... new yarn! And pretty darn fine yarn at that. Let me introduce you to Metropolis by Scheepjes.

Described as yarn for the urban crafter.....

And available in a mind blowing range of 80 colours!!!!  Yup you read that right.... 80! And boy are those colours delicious.... So trying to choose colours for a new project was tricky...I mean... my (not so) inner yarn addict wanted to order 1 of every colour...just to see!!! However. I am trying to reduce the amount of yarn scrunched into my teeny spare bedroom/studio....so I decided to be sensible and select a small, but utterly delightful colour palette.

Oh it arrived bundled in this gorgeous organza bag complete with Scheepjes ribbon!

*happy sighs*

I've chosen a palette very different to my usual choices. 

This is going to be a very striking and bold design.

Well in my head it looks good....!!!

This colour combo makes my heart sing 💗

Anyhoos.....a little about this gorgeous yarn. 

It's a 75% Extra Fine Merino, 25% nylon fingering weight yarn. Every 50g gives you 200m of super soft squishy yarn. It's machine washable at 40 degrees so perfect for garments, socks and accessories including shawls and hats. 

Gorgeous isn't it?!

Now I just need to figure out what to make!!!

I have some ideas...

Pop back in a couple of weeks to see the work in progress....

Til next time x

New Project and A Colour Frenzy

Hi there! No mountain hill climbing escapades to share this week....sadly Instead, I've been very firmed glued to the sofa working on a new and very colourful project!

A wee while ago Scheepjes launched some new shades of the very gorgeous River Washed yarn. I was lucky to receive a sample of each colour and, quite frankly, I was smitten!

This time, the core of the yarn is a mustard colour with deep rich coloured fluff added in the spinning process. 

You can see the core quite clearly in this photo. Check out that rich gorgeous colour!!!

It's a 78% Cotton and 22% Acrylic mix with a lovely soft feel. Which means it passes the 'next to neck' softness test! You get 130 metres per 50g and it's machine washable at 40 degrees.

I knew straight away that I just needed to make something with it!  But what??!!!!
Something that uses lots of colours and is frenzy of happy colours.... A Granny Blanket! 
Crikey it's been ages since I made a Granny Blanket! In fact it was my very first blanket...

This blanket was made with Cotton 8 and it's still going strong! It was also the very first Scheepjes yarn I used and it still remains one of my all time favourites..... along with River Washed. 
Ok a Granny Blanket it will be! Now for colours....

I've chosen a selection from the original and new released ranges.  10 colours for the squares with another for joining and the fancy pants border!
It's coming along nicely. I can't put it down....  What is it with a traditional Granny square that is soooo addictive??!!!!
I'll share my progress soon....promise! Right I'm off to make more squares...
Til next time x

My Tribe

Hi Folks! Thank you for joining me on this wonderful blog hop around the Scheepjes Bloggers! Susan from Felted Button wrote a beautiful post yesterday and I'll be honest....I'm feeling more than a little pressure to produce something half a good!!!! Normally I stick to talking about yarn and yarn related things on my blog.  This time it's a little different.  This time the yarn represents much more.  It's all about My Tribe.  Our Tribe.  The Scheepjes Bloggers. 

Just over a year ago, whilst on a Scheepjes Bloggers weekend, we were all asked to choose a set of 6 colours that would drift together well. It was to be for a new yarn range to represent the bloggers. Well! You can only imagine the frenzy of excitement that ensued! I can still remember it so well. I mean, it's not every day you get asked to choose colours that will be made into a ball of yarn named after you is it?! What I also remember so well is a an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and happiness to be involved with such a fabulous set of people. I do confess to welling up a bit and going to the loo to have a quiet blub as it was all too much....but shhhh! Don't tell anyone 😉  I think it's fair to say, as a collective, we are so much more than a group of yarn loving makers and designers. We get each other. We understand each other. We cry together when bad things happen. We support each other when the going gets tough and we laugh and celebrate when things are good. We come from all over the world and different walks of life but when we are together we are in our happy place. Safe in Our Tribe.  Obviously it also helps that the yarn is freakin' stunning 😍

The Our Tribe yarn itself is a sport weight 70% Merino Superwash/30% polyamide blend.  It comes in 100g balls which is 420 metres. It's machine washable (yay!) at 40 degrees and the recommended hook/needle size is 2.5 - 3mm.

I spent some happy time arranging the colours. I think you'll agree there is a lovely selection here!

This is the 50 Shades of 4ply colour way! I've haven't had a great deal of time to play with the yarn as yet but I've hooked up a small selection of samples to try and show you the yarn in action. Ive used a 3mm hook and found that this size gave some great results.

This plain HDC sample shows the colour transitions. 

I tried out a more solid textural pattern and was pleasantly surprised with the results! 

The texture pops more than expected and it highlights the gentle colour changes beautifully.

I also really liked the yarn in a lacy pattern.  One thing you cannot tell from the photographs is how well this yarn drapes once blocked.  It is very soft. It passed the next to neck skin test with flying colours! (yes I really do sit with yarn samples draped around my neck!!!) I have plans for this yarn! Both crochet and knit wise so do please keep checking back. Do pop over to the very talented Jellina from Jellina-Creations tomorrow for more Our Tribe love. In fact just go now! You can browse a bit before tomorrow 😉 If you haven't been flowing this journey with us so far, here are the links to the previous posts: Kirsten (Haak Maar Raak) Nerissa (Miss Neriss) Rachele (Cypress Textiles) Susan (Felted Button) Til next time x

New yarn = new project!!!

Oh don't you just love starting something new! I maybe like it a little too much....hence the pile of unfinished objects in my guest room 😉 Anyway, let's pretend they don't exist and my conscience is clear to start something new! What yarn to use? What colours to choose? What design? Ooooh! Decisions decisions! I think a blanket. Yes a blanket. I've only made three so far this year 😂😂😂 A smaller blanket this time. A little bigger than a lapghan. More like a baby blanket size. Ok now that's decided onto yarn and colours! Yarn....something with a huge colour choice. Easy to care for and snuggly soft.... No contest really..... SCHEEPJES COLOUR CRAFTER!!!! The perfect choice! Do you know it's available in over 90 colours??? Yes....more than 90!

Look at all those colours! How to choose....how to choose???!!!! This premium acrylic yarn really is very different to other acrylics that I've worked with before. For a start there's no nasty squeak to this yarn. It really doesn't feel like 100% acrylic. It's unbelievably soft and washes and wears well. 100g balls give you 300 metres of yarn so making larger projects is very affordable. 

I decided to go with a combination of greens and blues with with lovely soft grey.

A nice colour combination! Next job is to decide on a design! I'll update you on that in the coming days. Well that's if my laptop stays alive. We have laptop woes in this house at the moment. Poor thing is old and worn out (a bit like me!)
I've also got a pattern to share....I haven't forgotten. A trip to Holland and Christmas preps just got in the way! I *think* I'm on top of things now 😉
Til next time x

Coming Up For Air......

And breathe........ Geez what a mad mad busy few months! I honestly don't know where the time has gone. Ok well maybes a heap of commissions to finish, holidays, work and other stuff has filled my days. All good stuff though :-) I've just returned from a wonderful trip to Holland for our Bloggers Days Oh how I just adore these get togethers.

Here we all are enjoying a relaxing day of creativity and just generally catching up and chatting!

  From left to right: Kirsten, Jellina, Esther, Dedri, Carmen, Esther, Christa, some strange photobombing chappy, Atty, Tatsiana, Bernadette, Sarah, Nerissa, Tammy and finally me! Sadly Annelies and Susan couldn't make it this time (they were really missed!) but hopefully next time :-) Day one saw us meeting up at Scheepjes HQ for the obligatory mooch about the warehouse hyperventilating at all the gorgeousness. I mean, seriously? What's not to love about miles of scrummy yarns stacked from floor to ceiling??? Oh and then there's the ribbons, buttons and fabrics. As per usual I didn't take photos (I know! I'm crap!!!) but Sarah has some lovely photos on her blog and Nerissa wrote a blog post that made me bulb!!! So after the yarn fondling and a spot of lunch we got down to some serious business. A session on pattern writing and basic garment design given by Cara Medus.  It was really very useful and I hope to put everything I learned into practice very soon.  Then came something VERY exciting!!!!

All will be revealed very soon ;-) Trust me, it'll be worth the wait! Don't you just love/hate a secret????!!!!! Before we knew it the day had flown and we headed off to the hotel for a group dinner. Driving in Groningen is interesting to say the least! I think we nearly killed 4 students cycling erratically and got honked at by a bus. I won't tell you my response as it was rather rude!!! ;-) Dinner was delicious and copious amounts of great food and wine were consumed along with lots of chatter and laughter. Good times! The next day we all met up at the Prisenhof Grand Cafe where a private room had been booked for us to fill with creative projects, chatter and more laughter. It's hard to out into words how amazing these bloggers days are but I came away inspired and a mind bursting with new ideas :-) The day passed way too quickly and before I knew it we were saying goodbyes :-( Roll on the next ones! Next on the exciting agenda is the new Scheepjes CaL (crochet a long) Due to launch on 20th April it is in memory of the lovely Marinke (aka Wink). She was working on this project just before she tragically lost her battle with depression.  It's called Last Dance on the Beach and there are three themed kits (each available in basic and luxury format to suit all budgets). As the designs weren't finished, 12 of her blogger friends have completed the designs in her honour. I can tell it was one of the most emotional projects I have ever worked on!!!

Dance in the Rain

Dance in the Sea

Dance Under the Stars

And a full photo of Dance Under the Stars so you can see all of the beautiful colours!

You can find out where the kits are available to buy here!

But be quick! Rumour has it they're selling like hot cakes!!!

I'll making my blanket along side the CaL and will post weekly updates here.

Hope you will join us!

Til next time x

Scheepjeswol Bloggers Weekend 2015

What do you get when you cram 11 yarn addicted bloggers into Scheepjeswol HQ? You get, quite simply, 2 days of fun filled, laughter infused good times!

Last Friday we were invited to visit HQ and meet up. I'd better add now that the reason I haven't blogged about my weekend before now is that I've just returned home. I had a little break from the hustle and bustle ;-) So back to the weekend! Friday morning we all (well most of us) tip toed nervously into the meeting room. I guess it was a little like that first day at school feeling. Nervous but excited about meeting folks whose blogs you've followed for ages (I'm an avid blog stalker by the way!) Within 2 minutes the room was buzzing with laughter and chatter....phew! 
After introductions we did a tour of the warehouse. Now I'm lucky enough to have visited a couple of times before but you could really tell from the oohs, aahs and squeals those that had not!!! The button aisles are always a huge hit ;-) What is it about crafters that we get so excited over buttons, yarn and stationary????? If you want a little peek of the warehouse go visit the blogs linked below ;-)

After the tour we had lunch in the glorious sunshine! Man! It was hot!!! Although I made the most of the glorious weather as usual.

Our afternoon was spent talking blog stuff and stroking new yarns. I know! Tough huh????

We spent the evening at a lovely restaurant in Assen which had a slightly unusual take on flavour combinations ;-) Very delicious...I never thought I'd ever say that about Pheasant, pea puree and popcorn!!!! Much laughter and chatter later (oh and a little wine ;-)) we finally got home at midnight. And Sleep!!!

On saturday morning we all met up at this gorgeous lakeside venue for a relaxing morning. I had my current WIP but in all honesty little was done! I was way more interested in chatting and seeing what everyone else was making haha!

We were served delicious food....how gorgeous are these?

And even Mr Scheepjes himself got in on the action....he made his very first granny square with a little help from the lovely Dedri!

Before we knew it was time to say our goodbyes and head off home....the time just flew!

We had a ball and thank you so much to Mr Scheepjes, Job, and the Scheepjes team for making our visit so good!

If you want to read more about our Bloggers days (or just a little blog mooch) just follow the links below:

Annelies

Nerissa 

Esther

Kirsten

Jellina

Carmen

Atty

Sarah

Dedri

Heike

Sadly, Marinke and Tammy couldn't make this get together....(you were missed!) but hopefully next time!
So once the Bloggers days were over it was time to kick back and relax a little....no relax a lot! Typically, the weather took a down turn but that didn't stop us chilling out one little bit. We drank gin....

Cycled....

Plenty of hooky time!

And even a little spinning :-)

As usual the time just flew and before I knew it I was heading to the airport and back to reality. 

*sighs*

On the plus side I have some lovely memories and also a few goodies that I'll tell you about soon. 

Til next time x

Introducing Soft Fun Denim!

Oooh I do love a new yarn! Especially when it's as gorgeous as this :-) I've been lucky enough to get my hands on some of the brand new Soft Fun Denim by Scheepjeswol. Oh these people really do know how to produce a fabulous yarn! It has the same properties as regular Soft Fun, but in eleven gorgeous new shades that are ever so slightly variegated giving a lovely hand dyed effect. It's a 60% cotton 40% acrylic mix. 50g gives you 140m of delicious yarn and the recommended hook size is 3.5 - 4mm. It is SO SOFT!!!!!

I'm completely smitten and in love with this yarn. I chose 4 bright and cheerful colours for my project  (left to right - 500, 506, 505 and 503) and also added in some plain white (2412) .

Oh, and I should mention that the yarn band has changed too. No big deal I hear you say! Well it is for me! Previously, Soft Fun was packaged in doughnut shaped balls, and the yarn label went right through the centre. Well try as I might, I just couldn't get the dratted label off without ripping it. Now that's no longer a problem :-)

So what to make? A little project....something quick but bright and cheerful! Check back again for a progress update. Til then! PS I forgot to mention that Deramores is stocking this yarn here!