Well, it’s that time of year again when we have to make space for the new Winter yarns. We have 25% off a great range of yarns and some fabrics are down to just £7 per metre. The best buy has to be Amy Butler’s Belle Organic dk and aran. It is a true bargain!

The new Rowan yarns arrived today which was very exciting. We are not quite up to speed with them on the website but they are available so if you know what you want, just give us a ring.

It seems far too hot to be thinking about winter knits but our customers are already knitting accessories ready for the cold and are also thinking about Christmas knitting! I know!

I have bagged some Debbie Bliss Riva to knit the polo neck tunic dress in the Riva book. I plan to start tonight. I also took 2 balls of new Rowan Alpaca chunky home with me today to knit the moss stitch mittens out of Winter Warmers. I am also thinking about starting the Felted Tweed fairisle stripey scarf from magazine 48 which I had planned to knit before the winter. I thought I could do a stripe a day and would have it done by the time it’s cold but I haven’t started it yet… there’s still time

Did you see us at the Malvern Quilt Show last weekend? If you did, you’ll have seen the beaded shawl (a pic of it is in my last blog post) in the flesh and going by the amount of yarn we sold, you might be knitting it yourself! Fans of the shawl will be thrilled to hear that we have managed to secure 2 shades of the Noro Sekku laceweight yarn. These are the only 2 shades available until July/August so get it while you can! We will still be sending out a free copy of the pattern with every ball of Sekku while stocks lasts.

We have a new Twitter feed on the bottom of this page. Start following us to be the first to know when new stock is in, what is hot and special offers which will only be publicised via our tweets!

The hottest seller in the shop this week is Noro Sekku, a self-striping laceweight which Pat used to knit this beautiful mini shawl. So you internet shoppers don’t miss out we will send a free copy of our pattern for the shawl out with every purchase of Noro Sekku until the end of April. It is the perfect knit for spring and you can add beads, or not, to the cast off edge for a bit of extra knitting excitement.

Our almanac knitting is going pretty well. We have all started the March project even though some of us still don’t have January nailed… I am looking forward to knitting the blanket in April as it will double as baby knitting for my sister-in-law, as February’s did.

So maybe not quite into summer yarn knitting yet but there are some lovely ones around. The Sirdar Simply Recycled is a really good buy and their Summer Stripes has been really popular too.

Happy new year! I am taking part in a year long knitting challenge which was the brainchild of Ruth, our newest member of staff. We are knitting along with Elizabeth Zimmerman’s ‘Knitters Almanac’! January is an aran sweater which you could knit according to the book or as EZ encourages you to do, make up your own. I’m knitting a sweater dress for my 7 year old daughter in Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe and for the first time in my life did a swatch to find out my guage and so far it is going well.

You can still join in, it’s not too late. The group is on Ravelry here. It’s really cool and we think the biggest challenge is knitting the items with a modern twist. They don’t have to be copies of what’s in the book. Keep checking in here for how everyone in  the shop is doing with their almanac knitting!

For those of you visiting following our advert in Simply Knitting for the local Jacobs yarn, you can find it the other section in the yarn category.

I recently used this yarn to knit Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Adult Surprise Jacket and added in the odd couple of rows of Noro Silk Garden here and there. I LOVED knitting it and it didn’t take as long as you might think.

I am knitting with the new Rowan Renew at the moment. The pattern is Wild Saffron and it’s a longish jumper with knitted-in short sleeves and looks like a smocked effect on the top half. It will be perfect for layering in the winter. I’ve just finished the back, here is a pic of the lovely smocking…

We are lucky enough to be selling the new Stitch Nation yarn from Debbie Stoller of Stitch ‘n’ Bitch fame! It is being photographed as we speak and will be online from the weekend. It is gorgeous. Look out here soon!

It’s now officially the summer holidays and in the holiday spirit we are running a little contest. In fact, the winner will be randomly chosen so it’s not really a contest.

Pat and I recently went to Florida on a big family holiday and needless to say we took our knitting.

I didn’t actually take knitting to Disneyland, just the bag. I’m not that bad!

Email us a picture of you knitting on holiday and we will enter you into our draw to win some yummy yarn. It will be drawn on 31st August. Email to shop at theknittingparlour.co.uk  with holiday knitting as the subject. We will put the best pics on the blog. Good luck!