…and the knitting is easy!

As promised I’ve been plodding away on the body of my Ola Yoke and my Rainbow Socks. It doesn’t make for very interesting blog posts I’m afraid! I’ve passed the halfway point on Ola’s body, and I’m so excited to reach the beautiful colourwork of the yoke. There’s still quite a bit of stocking stitch to work through before I reach that point though! My Rainbow Socks have all of the end of term concerts, services and productions knitted into them. I’m nearly at the toe of the first sock, which is quite good going seeing as I keep them in my handbag and only work on them when I’m out and about. I will always associate them with this heatwave. I’m pretty sure that’s going to make them extra cosy when they are done.

In between the stocking stitch, I felt the need to crank out something fun, so I turned to my copy of the Mason-Dixon Field Guide No. 7 Ease. Ease is indeed exactly what was called for, so I picked up a skein of Studio Linen from my local yarn shop, Marmalade Yarns, and whipped up a couple of Bodhi Leaf Washcloths by Julia Farwell-Clay for an end of term teacher gift. They were the perfect refreshing palette-cleanser! I might even have yarn and needles in my bag for another one or two, or maybe more!

Behind the scenes I have also been hard at work on the swatches and designs for our autumn Something New to Learn book, but that has to stay under wraps for now. It has been so unusually hot and dry here for the last few months that even I, a die-hard-knits-with-wool-all-year-round-knitter, have been struggling a bit with missing knitting mojo.

I have a couple of house-keeping notices:
We are now on school holidays here in Somerset and as a result, Jim and I are working short hours, so that we can spend time with the kids. We won’t be blogging as often (although I've got an exciting announcement post for Saturday, so eyes peeled for that!), and although we will do our best to keep up to date with posts in our Ravelry group, we may be slower than normal to reply. Our online shop will remain open throughout the summer, thanks to a friend who will ship parcels when we are away (thanks Sheila!). Completely normal service will resume in September.

Secondly, we are now taking wholesale orders for Something New to Learn About Lace. Unlike our first two books, which are distributed by Chester Wool, Something New to Learn About Lace is available directly from us. If your local yarn shop would like to place an order, they can reach us through our Contact page here on the website.

And finally, we have a couple of new products in the online shop. I couldn't resist the new Rainbow Knit Blockers from KnitPro. They are a fun multi-coloured version of the familiar Knit Blockers (pin combs)! We have also added some new needle sizes to our range of KnitPro Symfonie knitting needles, as well as handy pen loops that you can stick into a notebook or planner.

I hope you are enjoying some easy summer knitting!
Jen x