Finally, on Saturday, the sun made an appearance! After what felt like weeks of grey, overhanging cloud (and was, in fact, weeks of grey, overhanging cloud) we actually saw blue sky and a big, shiny, warm orb in the sky. Had spring finally arrived? Sadly - no. Since then we've been back to grey, drizzle and sea mist; but it gave us hope that maybe, just maybe warm weather is on its way. (And then I listened to the long range forecast which was, basically, that this week's weather is going to take two steps forward and one step back so no little summer tops just yet. Which is a pity as that's exactly what we've been knitting.)
As with all fashion retailers, wool shops have to think (and work) in advance and our suppliers are working even further in advance than us - with one rep telling me this week that he's off to a meeting next week to see the new autumn/winter range for 2013-14 - yikes, now that's really scary, given that we're not really out of last winter yet.
So - for some weeks now we've been knitting up summer knits in the strong hope that this is going to be a really lovely hot summer (well, come on, it's got to happen some time!).
King Cole's Bamboo Cotton yarn is one of our biggest sellers all year round and this spring they've brought out a range of new colours and new patterns. We particularly like this one:
but felt that a really bright, zingy version might be fun. So
Given that there is a huge range of colours in Bamboo Cotton, the various colour combinations are endless.
Next up is a little summer top in Rico's new Summer Print Yarn:
I thought this pattern was/is lovely:
but it has a but it has a pattern panel on the front with holes and blackberries - which you can see better in the picture of the plain, capped sleeve version of this top:
That pattern is fine and dandy but, as can be seen from the models, you really do need to wear a light t-shirt underneath which, in a summer top, I think is a bit daft. So, I missed out the pattern and knitted this:
Again, lovely top, shame about the pale, pastey, post winter arms!
The sharp-eyed amongst you might also be thinking, "hang on a minute - that bright top is knitted in a plain colour and all the balls on your site are multi-colours". Well, congratulations to all of you who made this observation. Yes, there are plain colours in the Summer yarn but we are still awaiting delivery (as are, so far as I am aware, all Rico stockists). Supply can be a problem for our suppliers and it then becomes a problem for us - a bigger problem when the companies take out full page colour adverts in knitting magazines (which, of course, they've booked months in advance) and then there's a delay in the yarn's arrival and customers are phoning asking about the lovely yarns they've seen advertised which are no-where to be found in the UK. We await our plain colours with eager anticipcation .......................
Finally, we (Tracey again) also rattled up another Debbie Bliss Angel Cowl (100 sts, 5mm circular needle, knit) - this time without the twist. Lovely summer colour and perfect for thus who hate having a cold neck in a breeze:
Look - blue sky!
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