Having a relaxing time down in Yorkshire, drinking tea and knitting. Not only drinking 'Yorkshire' tea but knitting with yarn spun in Yorkshire too. The people at Yarn Stories have sent me some samples to try out from their mill in Huddersfield. This small town was once at the centre of the Yorkshire woollen industry before the decline in the mid 20th century. However, there's a strong continuing tradition in the town for textiles and a resurgence of woollen products. Here's what Yarn Stories say,
"In a Yorkshire mill, steeped in history and tradition, a new brand
has been created. Yarn Stories takes a unique approach to spinning,
creating the highest quality yarns from superior fibres.
Our yarns have been shared with talented designers drawn from all
over the world in a truly collaborative relationship. In turn, the
designers have created collections of patterns unlike any other –
designs that promote fashionable hand knit and crochet to a discerning
audience."
Yarn Stories is currently offering a free shade card and free digital pattern until 1st July 2015. The shade cards have samples of 4ply, DK & Aran weights, in merino and fine merino with baby alpaca. Patterns feature international designers including, Carol Feller and Tanis Gray .
My yarn samples in 'Duck Egg' and 'Burnt Sienna' are fine merino 4ply. I've been working with a lot of Shetland and Blue Faced Leicester yarn recently which is very soft. But this merino is really fine and soft, it's also in a good range of colours.
I chose to knit a pair of fingerless gloves with a simple Fair Isle motif called Junko by Katya Frankel. The pattern can also be found on Ravelry. I knit these without printing out the instructions, just using the digital PDF version on my tablet. The pattern is very well written, nicely presented and easy to follow, also there are instructions for a matching hat.
The finished gloves are a perfect fit and feel very comfortable. They'll be travelling back north with me, I'll probably need them, it'll be summer up in Scotland!
