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Scrumptious made the front cover of Vogue Knitting Winter 2013, how absolutely awesome is that????
Its
Scrumptious chunky in Cherry, the whole project is a secret until Jan
1st then I can post a picture of the whole thing, and its STUNNING!
Thanks to Vogue and Lantern Moon for making this happen :D
Scrumptious made the front cover of Vogue Knitting Winter 2013, how absolutely awesome is that????
Its Scrumptious chunky in Cherry, the whole project is a secret until Jan 1st then I can post a picture of the whole thing, and its STUNNING!
Thanks to Vogue and Lantern Moon for making this happen :D
I made this last night at a wreath workshop, I think whats wonderful is I am going to make them for all seasons, they don't just need to be for christmas, and they are such fun to make, especially if you are just using whats around you, you don't need fancy things :)
Hi Guys!
This Christmas, Fyberspates is very proud to be working with Fund for
Action Through Education (FATE) to help underprivileged children in
Kenya. FATE is a UK registered charity that provides these children the
opportunity to get a good quality education. Their vision is that this
will enable the children to get good jobs, support themselves and their
families and become leaders in their communities. We are therefore
delighted to be able to support them by donating £0.05p for every ‘like’
we get on Facebook on our Fyberspates Page, and our Scrumptious Page
between now and Jan the 12th.
On the Fyberspates page we already have 550, so its the ‘Likes’ in
addition to this. So for example if I get 1550 kilos on that page by the
12th, then I will donate £50 for the new 1000 ‘likes’ and so on.
On the Scrumptious pages I have 75 Likes and so we start from here.
The upper limit is 10,000 likes in total across the Fyberspates and Scrumptious Yarn pages (which will make a donation of £500 to FATE)
You can find out more about the fantastic work that FATE does by visiting their website: www.fateuk.org
If you are not on Facebook or just don’t like it, please don’t worry,
there will be other opportunities to do other things later on in the
year :)
The reason I chose this Charity is because a Friend of mine help set it up, and so I know it does really good work :)
Hi Guys!
This Christmas, Fyberspates is very proud to be working with Fund for
Action Through Education (FATE) to help underprivileged children in
Kenya. FATE is a UK registered charity that provides these children the
opportunity to get a good quality education. Their vision is that this
will enable the children to get good jobs, support themselves and their
families and become leaders in their communities. We are therefore
delighted to be able to support them by donating £0.05p for every ‘like’
we get on Facebook on our Fyberspates Page, and our Scrumptious Page
between now and Jan the 12th.
On the Fyberspates page we already have 550, so its the ‘Likes’ in
addition to this. So for example if I get 1550 kilos on that page by the
12th, then I will donate £50 for the new 1000 ‘likes’ and so on.
On the Scrumptious pages I have 75 Likes and so we start from here.
The upper limit is 10,000 likes in total across the Fyberspates and Scrumptious Yarn pages (which will make a donation of £500 to FATE)
You can find out more about the fantastic work that FATE does by visiting their website: www.fateuk.org
If you are not on Facebook or just don’t like it, please don’t worry,
there will be other opportunities to do other things later on in the
year :)
The reason I chose this Charity is because a Friend of mine help set it up, and so I know it does really good work :)
When I went to TNNA in January, I didn't realise I was going to meet such lovely people and get involved with all sorts of turkey shenanigans this autumn! I've been working with Jimmy Beans for a short time and having such a blast with them! When they asked me to take part in their 'Fit for a Feast' holiday celebration suprise, I couldn't wait to get involved. I had to dream up a colour for soemthing special inspired by holiday feasts.
Some of you know me quite well, so it will be no surprise that my colour had to be inspired by some sort of holiday drink! I chose Mulled Wine. For those of you who already partake in a warmed glass at Christmas or on a cold December evening, you will have a good idea of what's to come for the colour. The rest of you that have never had it, you will just have to wait and see! It's pretty though. :D My favourite recipe for Mulled wine is one of my Mum's, and it just reminds me of the holidays. I am due to cook a Thanksgiving dinner this year for 2 of my lovely friends, and I can assure you there will be Mulled Wine to acompany it.
Find out more about Fit for a feast on the 16th of NOV when all will be revealed on the Jimmy Beans Blog!
Jeni
I haven't really had time to blog much recently, and I prefer twitter because its so interactive, BUT, I have so many pics and things to show, I need to get back in the habit... now for something fun:
Just look at this teeny tiny crochet, its so CUTE!
The Fyberspates stand will be at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace again this year. We are on stand B31 and the show is open from tomorrow (Thursday 11th October) until Sunday (14th October).
Come and visit us and pick up lots of treats! We will have the full Scrumptious range as well as lots of delicious hand-dyed yarn.
See you there!
Jeni x
Our friends Jen Arnall-Culliford and Kyoko Nakayoshi have just brought out a lovely eBook called Cloudy Apples. It contains 9 accessory patterns, of which 6 are already released. This week's patterns include this amazing cowl knitted in Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran.
© Jesse Wild
The cowl comes in 3 sizes, S, M and L. Jen is modelling the large size above - it uses 3 skeins and wraps round the neck 3 times, very comfortably. The medium uses 2 skeins and would wrap twice, and the small just takes 1 skein of aran and sits nicely round the neck.
The eBook costs £9.00 for all 9 patterns (the last 3 will be released on the 16th October), but at the moment is available for the special price of £7.00 (until midnight GMT on 15th October 2012). To purchase the eBook click here: 
The patterns are also available individually for £3.50. To purchase the single Knotted Kernel cowl pattern click here:
... and one of our favourite designers.
This month saw the release of the Vogue Knitting Fall 2012 Issue which also happens to be an anniversary issue. It makes us feel extra special therefore that these lovely mittens are featured in Scrumptious yarn, designed by Lily Kate France. The Cabled Mittens are written for sizes Small, Medium, Large, X-Large, 1X,and 2X and we just love the gorgeous cables on them.
Well it's time to fill you all in on how much fun was had at the recent Blue Faced Open Weekend hosted by Mr Wool himself, Andy. It quickly became known as 'Andy Fest' as all the indies he's supported over the years joined in to exhibit their wares and enjoy a weekend away on the farm. Marvellous.
Well of course, being on a farm it was all very rustic and scenic but most importantly it was tons of fun. Lots of people attended and Jeni and Jen enjoyed the many, many cakes on offer as well as a rather delicious hog roast. It's only fair to point out here that any cake photos taken appear to be from Jen who clearly was torn between marvellous baked goods and yarn.
Fyberspates hosted a stall next to Dee from Posh Yarns which was great for a chin wag and a catch up as they don't get to be in the same place at the same time very often. Of course there was all the usual crowd of lovelies there and lots of giggles to be had and despite a dreadful forecast for the weather it all turned out rather sunny and lovely.
A huge thank you to everyone that came and said hi, spent money and helped the weekend go with a bang. A special well done needs to go to everyone who bought tickets and donated because a whooping £1025 was raised for Walton Neuro Care Hospital!
Before we dazzle you with details of galavants to the Blue Faced weekend and Peru, there's more designs that need sharing because we are loving them! A month or two ago we talked about the stunning Mallorn sweater, knit by Ann Kingstone in her collection 'A Time to Knit'. Well, there's another goody lurking in there that is absolutely lush.
Those of you who tuned in to 'channel Fyberspates' will have seen how much fun I had travelling to the mill to develop hand dyed yarns for whole sale. Fyberspates gets daily
enquiries asking if people can buy hand dyed wholesale and as we don’t
have the facilities or margins to work in a large capacity, we wanted to
figure out a way to do it. So Jeni, ever the jetsetter, travelled to Peru to teach them how she dyed so that they will replicate our exclusive colours on a large
scale.
So as a little taste of more exciting develpoments to follow with a taster of what the colours should be. Stay tuned for more Peru news, more yarn news and keep your peepers peeled for a feature in a rather prestigious magazine about this exciting new chapter for Fyberspates!
Finally in our series of single patterns exclusively designed for Fyberspates is 'Gray' by Susan Crawford. This is one of three patterns released this month that are available for direct download via the website and is just perfect for getting ahead for colder weather to come.
Gray is a wonderful cardigan to snuggle into on long walks, knitted in Scrumptious Chunky silk and merino luxury yarn. This is a very cleverly constructed garment to ensure the shape is maintained with the lace work for a flattery fit. Instructions in the pattern are written as well as charted and includes detailed schematics to help guide your knitting and fit choices.
The Gray cardigan is available in a range of sizes from 32 - 50 inch bust and features negative ease to achieve that slouchy effect. The Scrumptious Chunky weight yarn is featured here in the 'Slate' colourway to give a classic feel and we just know there's going to be some great use of colour from different knitters as this is such a versatile knit.
You may recognise our model here as we've featured Susan's daughter, Charlie for both this pattern and 'Cocktail Cherry'; she's so versatile! Susan is a great photographer so it's a real pleasure to feature both her designing and photography talents.
To purchase your pattern copy direct for download, please visit the Fyberspates website where you can also make your yarn selection as well as download a PDF directly.
Next in our series of single patterns exclusively designed for Fyberspates is 'Winding Path' by Anniken Allis. This is one of three patterns released this month that are available for direct download via the website and is perfect for stretching out the last few days of summer.
This elegant, generously-sized shawl is knitted in Scrumptious 4ply silk and merino luxury yarn. It is knit from side to side so grows to the tip before decreasing again to make the large triangle shape. The pattern instructions include written as well as charted lace instructions and the lace repeat is simple enough for new lace knitters, eager to sink their teeth into a substantial knit.
You may recognise the ever so talented Lily France as our model here. Lily agreed to model the shawl for the pattern and her Mum, Amanda did fantastic work on the photography. It's always a pleasure to welcome familar faces into the Fyberspates team: Anni, Lily and Amanda are all regular Fyberspates contributors.
To purchase your pattern copy direct for download, please visit the Fyberspates website where you can also make your yarn selection as well as download a PDF directly.
We've been so busy celebrating so much good news and so many fab designers that we haven't yet revealed all the details of our three newest single patterns, released exclusively for Fyberspates. The patterns are available for direct download the website but we couldn't wait any longer to share the details so you can plan your knits.
The first pattern we're featuring is 'Cocktail Cherry', created by Jen Arnall-Culliford. Cocktail Cherry is a beaded short cardigan, perfect for eveningwear,knitted in Scrumptious Aran silk and merino yarn. Available in a size range from 27.5 - 55 inches and with written instructions as well as schematics, this knit would a suitable knit for an adventurous beginner or intermediate knitter.
The cardigan is designed to hang open, or simply fasten at the top. The garment is knit in peices with clear instructions included in the pattern for making up. The yarn required is Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran (45% silk, 55% merino; 100g skeins) and is shown here in the colourway 'Cherry'.
To purchase your pattern copy direct for download, please visit the Fyberspates website where you can also make your yarn selection as well as download a PDF directly.
Last June we had great fun visiting Purlescence with our trunk show where we shared samples, yarn, patterns and giggles. You can read about it here if you missed it.
We're heading back there again this weekend so please come and join us if you can for more chances to see the Fyberspates range and try on some knitwear. There will be plenty of retail therapy, plus tea and home-made cakes…and even the possibility of some Pimms…..
Please check out the full details here to join us at the Purlescence shop in Wantage on the 18th August 2012, 10am- 4pm. Hopefully see you there!
Excitement is already building for what has already been fondly dubbed 'Andy Fest', the event to be hosted by Mr Bluefaced aka Mr Wool. I know Jeni is super excited about this and I'm seeing lots of Twitter buzz so if you've not planned to come down yet, get organising because things are going to be lots of fun over the bank holiday.
There will be a Bluefaced open weekend on the 25th and 26th of Aug 2012 – 10am to 4pm. Not only will Mr Wool be sharing his full range of products but there will also be stall holders featuring Baby Longlegs, Easy Knits, Fyberspates, Laughing Hens, The Knitting Goddess, The Natural Dye Studio, Nicsknots and Posh Yarn. This is a great opportunity to see lots of different vendors products, have fun and support a local charity. The £1 entrance fee will be donated in full to Walton Neuro Care Hospital, who provide excellent specialist help.
The event will take place at Meadow Lea Farm , Station Lane , Mickle Trafford Chester CH2 4EH and you can purchase your ticket already here. We hope to see you there!
Many of you might know that Jeni is currently visiting the mill in Peru that produces Scrumptious yarns and is having a wonderful time. Yes, Jeni is truly a jet setting hand dye genius this year and this time she is videoblogging her experiences as she goes. There's just a short introduction of Jeni's arrival in Peru at the moment but we've been promised lots more as Jeni's up to lots of interesting things while over there.
We'll share more news about the trip when Jeni gets back I'm sure but in the meantime, you can find the videoblog over on the Fyberspates Youtube page by clicking this link.
We've really enjoyed featuring lots of new designs and the designers that created beautiful pieces using Fyberspates and Scrumptious yarns. A while ago we featured 'Song of the Sea', a beautiful design created by Louise. Louise has also created Midnight Ocean, using Sheila's Sparkle Sock, so we thought it would be lovely to ask her some interview questions to share a little more about this great designer.
What is your inspiration when creating knitwear?
Most often I’m drawn to beautiful yarns - I have a big jar on my desk so I can see my favourite skeins. I love to test yarns to see how they behave, trying to find a way to show them off best. I do a lot of messing around with stitch patterns, which has given me a reputation for being an inveterate swatcher!
My studio is crammed with inspiration - I have piles of yarn, sketchbooks, photos and design books that I dive into. I love lots of other design disciplines, so I have books on jewellery, gardens, art, fashion, furniture, wrought iron...the list is long. The V&A is the most inspiring place for creativity in general. It’s completely overwhelming but I could just move in there.
I also get lots of ideas out walking absolutely anywhere. If I’ve got a good camera with me, I drive my husband mad taking photos. I always buy books about beautiful places I have visited, so I can remind myself later.
What particularly inspired these two designs?
I was tinkering with lots of variations inspired by a stitch pattern I like. I scribbled many charts and swatched in everything from stiff cotton glace to mohair, fine silk blends to worsted wool mixes. Then a swatch in Scrumptious started looking like waves to me. So I looked at some of my beach pictures to help develop the idea in that direction.
The version I liked best was worked in every row, rather than having a “rest” purl row. It was also much easier to see what was going on if it was worked on the right side only, so knitters would have fewer mistakes. I abandoned scarf and shawl ideas to develop the cowl and capelet shapes. Worked in the round they would result in an easy-to-knit design that would look great - my requirements for a good pattern.
What is it that draws you to Fyberspates yarns?
I love the colours and luxuriousness of Fyberspates yarns so I took some swatches to the stand at the Unravel show in my search for yarns. I was looking for a gorgeous sea-blue for Song of the Sea, and I found it in the interesting dyeing of Rural Charm - it has more life than a flat solid colour and I thought that would help the design have more movement and character, like waves.
For Midnight Ocean, I wanted a 150g skein for the yardage needed and the sparkle sock was perfect. The colours and twinkling stellina reminded me of light catching the waves at night. I went back with the yarn to a favourite photograph to finish the design. I knew the sparkle would make the capelet more suitable for special occasions, but was still subtle and elegant. I can be a bit impatient to see things finished and I didn’t fancy the time it would take to bead the piece, so I knew the yarn would add the glamour element for me. Perfect.
Can you share any quick tips for successful knits?
Use the best quality yarn you can afford - to borrow from computing, garbage in means garbage out! It’s not much fun knitting yarn that squeaks, and you want hours of knitting pleasure not purgatory.
The right colour makes or breaks a design, and ultimately determines if a handknit is actually worn or not. Choose yarns in shades you, or your recipient, regularly wear.
When you’ve finished, wet blocking is only for lace or very open structures. Otherwise, just steam finished pieces. I rarely actually press handknits because it makes the textures and colours go flat. I want to enjoy the sculptural handknitting and beautiful yarns at their best.
A huge thank you to Louise for taking the time to talk to us and answer these questions. To knit your own versions of the patterns, please see Louise's pattern page on Ravelry to directly download a PDF. To choose your yarn, please visit the Fyberspates shop.
The design lovefest continues with another fab design in Fyberspates yarn from Avril Lang. We have finally got some sunshine here in the UK and the cool blue of this sample reminds us of blue skies and the need for cute coverups in the evenings.
Sansa's Summer is a reference to the popular Game of Thrones series. This pattern is for Sansa Stark and is particularly inspired by her character in the first book. She is a child who wishes she were a woman and loves pretty things, gallant knights and beautiful ladies. We think Avril captured that character perfectly with the delicate details balanced with the practical vest.
This vest is simple and quick to make, but gives a great end result. This pattern is knit from the top down in one piece and is available in sizes 31 inch bust- 55 inch bust. The vest is not meant to close fully, but rather has a little gap between the fronts when worn. If you wish your vest to close fully, consider making the next size up.
Sansa's Summer is available for download on Ravelry as a single pattern and calls for Scrumptious DK Worsted. To match the gorgeous colour of the sample in the 45% Silk and 55% Merino blend, we would suggest the Teal colourway which looks great for Summer and Spring. For more colour options, please check out the Fyberspates shop here or your local yarn shop.
Jeni is lucky enough to be taking part in a wonderful craft tour this September and as there's still a couple of places left, so we thought we should share the details!
The Knitting Tour is an organised holiday of sun, food and crafting. You get 7 nights in a deluxe villa with fees and drivers for the fabulous cultural tours all taken care of. The villa is located in historic Mormoiron, at the base of Mount Ventoux and there is a strong emphasis on time to knit, natter, eat and drink!
Jeni is providing a dye workshop as part of this fabulous holiday so if you're interested, hop over to the website to book your place on the 29th September- 6th October 2012. See you there!
We warned you that there was going to be quite a bit of design action going on here on the blog and this post is no exception. We were blown away by the intensity of colour in this recent design by Heike Gittens so we asked her to tell us a little about her design and why she chose Scrumptious yarns. Here's what she had to say:
The inspiration for this shawl came from large and lush forests leading to long golden
beaches that can be found on the largest of the German Baltic Sea Islands, Rügen. This led to the name of the pattern, Rügen Shawl.
I love designing shawls where the main body is a different colour to the edging and I
particularly love this exaggerated winged shape. The main body of this shawl is knitted first, increasing until a specific number of stitches is reached, before the edge is added. I like to make my designs available to knitters of all abilities and want anyone to feel confident to try knitting projects that involve lace.
Fyberspates Scrumptous 4 Ply with its wonderful drape and slight sheen is, in my view, the perfect yarn for every knitter to enjoy knitting shawls, no matter how new they might be to this technique. I used one skein of Scrumptious 4ply Sport in the colours Teal and Gold to work this shawl up on 4mm needles and when finished, the shawl should measure 130cm (51.5in) wide – 62cm (23.5in) deep (after blocking).
Heike's shawl is available on Ravelry or from her website here. To start picking your favourite colour combination to make this shawl, please visit the Scrumptious 4 ply Sport section on the shop here.
As many of you avid Scrumptious and Fyberspates fans know, we've been expanding rapidly and have now added Italy to our empire. Fili & Colori is a new stockist of the Scrumptious Yarn Range in Italy and we're so pleased to have them as part of the extensive list of stockists.
So whether you're holidaying abroad and fancy a quick yarn shop (who doesn't) or are local to this wonderful store, do check out some Scrumptious and their wonderful range of knit products. Products are available at their online store here.
It's starting to feel a little like a 'Strictly Come Dancing' moment where the out of breath dancer and celebrity get to Bruce and are told 'you're my favourites' because we have so many of our favourite designers using our yarns at the moment! Get ready for a run of posts about some fab new designs that we've spotted. Seriously, we can't get enough!
As you know, Jeni got to hang out with some pretty cool British designers in TNNA and one of them was the ever so talented Ann Kingstone. Ann recently published a collection called 'A Time To Knit' and in it we spied a stunning pullover that made us go a little weak at the knees quite frankly. The pattern is called 'Mallorn' and calls for both Scrumptious Sport and Scrumptious Lace to work the incredible lace yoke.
This uniquely constructed yoke consists of an overlace and contrast underlayer that are knitted separately on picked up stitches from the same circle of icord. The two layers are joined at the bottom of the yoke with a three needle icord bind-off. The remainder of the body and sleeves are knitted on picked up stitches from the icord bind-off. Short rows drop the front neck for a flattering fit on curvier ladies.
Mallorn is available as either a single pattern or as part of the A Time To Knit collection and can be purchased directly on Ravelry. The pattern is available in a range of 14 sizes from 32" - 58" at the full bust measurement.
The colourway used for the main body is 'Gold' and calls for Scrumptious 4ply Sport. The contrast was created in the 'Cherry' colourway before using Scrumptious Lace to create the delicate golden lace overlay. We can see lots of stunning contrast colours such as Gold and Teal or for something more subtle, a delicate Rose and Slate combination would be jaw dropping.
Thanks for giving us hours of conjuring up colour combinations Ann!
This year I had the opportunity to attend TNNA in the USA. TNNA is The National Needlearts Association. It's one of the biggest yarn and needlecraft trade shows in the USA, and is where companies show off their wares to shops and yarn stores. Why was I there? Well, because Lantern Moon (LM) are my distributor in the USA, I went to help them sell Scrumptious, and to take lots of orders for the Autumn-Winter season.
Phew, ok thats the "science bit" over with! Now for the fun description!
So obviously I was there to work... and I did! I helped LM set up their stand and sell, and we had LOTS of business dinners.... those guys are so well connected! I got to go to dinner with Craftsy, attend the Vogue Knitting party, we had dinner with Interweave (which was a complete pleasure), lunch with Annie and her beautiful daughter, Annie always makes me chuckle so much! Really it was awesome, I had to keep pinching myself.
This time I made myself go and talk to people. It can be quite scary to go and chat to people - I always assume no one knows who I am - but apparently people know Fyberspates and Scrumptious! That made me so chuffed! Round the corner from our booth was Bonne Marie Burns. I have followed her designs for years and years, so I felt a bit star struck to meet her, and she was LOVELY. You can see her website here: Chic Knits.
OK, lets have some pictures, huh?
So the LM stand looked wonderful, Sharon and the girls made wonderful bird cages as displays, with felted nests inside, they were awesome:
The LM stand was split over 2 sides of the walkway this was the yarn/scrumptious....
They have had some really sweet patterns commissioned for Scrumptious like this pretty cape with pearls in:
I was so excited to see the British designers really had a good presence this year, someone commented that the British were taking over! :D
Here is Woolly Wormhead on her stand.. her hats looked brilliant.
Then there was Ann Kingstone, she had a couple of designs in Scrumptious .. and a sweater with a very interesting construction:
Ruth (Rock + Purl) also came on the trip with Woolly and Anne , sadly I don't have any photo's of her, but we got a little more time together, and she is ALOT of fun, certainly full of life that girl! Also super excited because she is designing for the next collection :)
Here are Woolly and Anne on Grace's stand. Grace's designs I especially liked. Her use of colour and texture with hand-dyed yarns was excellent. I urge you to check them out here:
Then there was Steph... you might know her Hexipuffs, bu all her designs are so CUTE!
I mean damn.... this is really not so much my thing but now I have seen it, I want to make it so much!
It's the first time I have met Stephanie, and she is as cute as in her videos and such a sweetie :)
And then of course there was this sweetiepie.....
At one point during set-up I felt rather anxious for her, as she was nailing and banging bits of wood together to make her window frames... Yes, you read that right, she made her own window frames for the shop, it looked BRILLIANT, I love the effort she puts into her stands.
And there were baby garments... I don't have photos of those, but boy are they cute!
Here is Ishbel knitted in Scrumptious Lace treacle toffee... :)
Someone brought the most amazing shawl to the stand to show me, and I think we will showcase this in a separate post, as it's stunning, but the only photo I have is Joel being silly in it lol!
I did have a little chance to do a little shopping, on the day after the show, before the flight home. I went for brunch with the girls and ate the most amazing black bean cakes with poached eggs and Jalepeno hollandaise... honest I have to write it here so I don't forget it ever!
Sharon (Lantern Moon) on the left next to Ysolda, and Sarah opposite, and Ravelry's Mary Heather.
Then we went shopping and then we ate ice cream... but it wasn't any ordinary ice cream. This ice cream rocks above all ice cream. It's called Jeni's Ice Cream - you get to try as many flavours as you want... I got the cook book! This is me trying very hard not to laugh, I hate photos...
And finally Sharon and I... I felt sad I had to leave. I never feel like Sharon and I get enough time together. In fact I feel like all the Lantern Moonies are family... Steve, Cathy, Annette and Joel. They are all lovely.
