A little gift for Mother’s Day

Don’t forget its Mother’s Day here in the UK on the 6^th March – and we would like to say a big thank you to all the lovely mums out there for all that you do!   So send your mum our special gift this year – a 15% off voucher on all orders from NOW to the 20^th March.

All you need to do is email info@stashfineyarns.com with “Mothers Day” in the subject line before 5pm (GMT) on Thursday, 3^rd March and we will email you a voucher with the discount code.*

* one voucher per household,  p&p charges still apply

Black Friday discounts from Stash Fine Yarns

A warm hello from the new team at Stash Fine Yarns. It is with a heavy heart that we have to announce the closure of the bricks and mortar shop in Chester, UK. However, you can still find us at http://www.stashfineyarns.com – where we will continue to stock an amazing choice of the yarns and accessories. Look out for news in early 2016 of our new shop. To kick off Black Friday – we are offering a further 20% discount across the whole range on our website, this includes already discounted items! – including Debbie Bliss, Louisa Harding and Noro. (offer valid on current stock only and subject to availability). Available from Wednesday, 25th November until Wednesday 2nd December 2015, please enter the code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout.

 

Relocation of the business

Due to circumstances we have had to close the Chester Showroom.

The website is still fully functional and will be updated very soon.

We will be sending out a e-newsletter soon with full details of the new location, along with new stock lines.

Thanks you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

Website: www.celticove.com

Saturday opening hours are changing!

From September we will be opening on the first and third Saturdays of the month only.

So we will be open from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 5th September and Saturday 19th September.

When there is a fifth Saturday we will be open then too.

Happy Knitting!

What are we knitting? Part 4

Next to tell us about her project is Donna, who is knitting with some yarn that she dyed herself!  Over to you, Donna:

I’m knitting a cardigan using Sirdar pattern 7187 from the Sirdar Wool Rich Aran book.  I’ve decided to substitute the original yarn for some Debbie Bliss Rialto DK which I’ve dyed myself using madder root (a natural dye) which has given it a semi-solid orangey red colour.  I’m knitting it using my 5mm Knit Pro Symfonie interchangeable circular needles.

We had a sample garment of this pattern in the shop, which I would sometimes borrow when working in the shop in the cooler months and I fell in love with it and thought it would be the perfect match for the yarn I’d dyed myself.

I’m only a short way into the pattern.  I’ve knitted two pattern repeats on the back so far and I’m enjoying it very much.

The recommended yarn (Sirdar Wool Rich Aran) is quite thin compared to some Aran weight yarns, so I felt that Rialto DK would work quite well as it is quite a plump and bouncy DK yarn (see how they compare in the picture above).

The pattern has a variety of stitches which would keep an intermediate knitter interested, however you do have to pay attention to keep your place in the pattern, so it’s not a project to take to knit group!  Despite the complexity of the pattern, I’m finding that it’s growing quite quickly because of the 5mm needles.

I’m really looking forward to wearing the cardigan and think that the autumnal colours will really fit the coming seasons!

Thank you Donna!  It’s looking great!

Happy Knitting!

What are we knitting? Part 3

Next in our series of posts on what we’ve been knitting is Lottie, who’s knitting a shawl in Louisa Harding Amitola.  Tell us about your project Lottie….

I’m knitting with Louisa Harding Amitola shade #120/Winter Rose, using Stephen West’s Dotted Rays shawl pattern (available to download on Ravelry) on my favourite Addi Premium circular needles (the shawl isn’t knitted in the round, but as the rows get longer you need a circular needle to accommodate all the stitches comfortably, so I’m using a 100cm long needle).  I like to try out new constructions and techniques because for me part of the fun of knitting is that there is always something new to learn!

The pattern is is really interesting construction with short rows creating wedges of garter stitch between the rows of eyelets, so I chose to knit it in Amitola as I thought a self striping yarn would create some really interesting effects and highlight the unusual construction.

Although the pattern calls for 4ply weight yarn, Amitola is quite thin for a DK weight yarn so although garter stitch would usually create a fairly dense fabric with DK weight yarn on 4mm needles, in this yarn it makes a lovely lightweight fabric which drapes nicely, perfect for a shawl.  With shawls, as long as you have plenty of yarn and are happy for your shawl to come out a bit bigger or smaller you can experiment with different yarn weights!  This pattern is perfect candidate for this as it is written so that you can cast off after any of the short row sections to make a larger or smaller shawl.

I’ve only made one alteration  to the pattern, I have a little less yarn than recommended so I’ve decided to work all but one short row wedge for the small size, so that I don’t run out of yarn.

I’ve actually just cast off the shawl, so I’ve only got to block it now as I’ve already sewn in all the ends!  I’m pretty excited to wear it when the weather cools off again!

The thing I’ve enjoyed most about this project is the way the shifting colours of the yarn have worked with the short rows in the pattern.  I really love working with self striping yarns, I always want to knit just one more row to see which colour is coming next!  As the whole shawl is worked in garter stitch it leaves you to concentrate on the short row shaping, which is a surprisingly simple technique, so it’s actually quite relaxing to knit. A really fun project!

Great colours aren’t they?  Thanks of telling us about your project Lottie!

Happy Knitting! 🙂

What are we knitting? Part 2

Continuing our series of posts about what we’ve been knitting, this time it’s Les’ turn to share her project!  

So Les, what have you been knitting?  

I’m knitting a jumper with cabled sleeves for my Mum from the Sirdar Giselle pattern 9892 using Louisa Harding Mila.  I decided to substitute Louisa Harding Mila because it was more to my Mum’s taste than the Giselle yarn.  She prefers a solid coloured yarn to a self striping yarn like Giselle, but Mila still has a bit of sparkle to keep it interesting!

Even though Mila is an Aran weight yarn, because it has a chainette construction it knits up into a nice, soft, lightweight fabric and goes quite a long way.  It gives brilliant stitch definition over the cable pattern too, I think that being a solid colour it shows the pattern better than the recommended yarn.

It’s such a shame that Louisa Harding Mila is discontinued, (we do still have quite a good selection of it in our sale section, but when it’s gone, it’s gone) as it knits up really nicely for a variety of uses.  Last year I made some fab Christmas decorations in the red (#11/Cracker) and white (#01/White) shades!

I changed the pattern a bit, I’m knitting the body in the round to the armholes as I thought it would be neater without a seam.  I’ve had to make the sleeves shorter to fit my Mum, so because I’m knitting fewer rows I’ve worked increases every 8th row instead of every 10th row so I can fit them all in.

The yarn is nice to work with and it grows quite quickly so it’s quite relaxing to work on.  I’m enjoying the cabling most of all because it sits so nicely.  I’ve just got one more sleeve to do and once I’ve sewn them in that’s it!

Thanks for telling us about your project Les, it’s looking great!

Happy Knitting! 🙂

 

What are we knitting?

We love to see what you have been knitting, it’s always really exciting when a customer brings in a lovely project in progress or a beautiful finished object to show us.  So we thought it would be fun to share what we have been making with you!

First to share her project with us is Anne, who’s knitting a cardigan in Fyberspates Cumulus.  Over to you Anne…..

Fyberspates Cumulus is so light and airy that it really does remind me of clouds!  I was keen to knit a cardigan in it ever since I first had a ball to squish.

Finally I came across a pattern which I could use… ‘Wave’ from Kim Hargreaves’ Echoes book.  I know it’s not a pattern for Cumulus, but it’s working out superbly.

‘Wave’ is designed to be knitted using Rowan Kidsilk Haze doubled, which is near enough the same weight as a single strand of Cumulus and for this slouchy cardigan it is ideal!  So I am one happy knitter.

I’m making a few modifications to the pattern.  I’ve knitted the body in one piece as it gets rid of the seams; as the knitted fabric is be so light I didn’t want them showing.

The pattern uses a 4.5mm for the knit row and 8mm for the purl row to create the striped effect so I’m using Knit Pro Symfonie interchangeable needles with one point of each size on a single cable so I’ve just got one long circular needle!

I used at three needle cast off on the shoulders so there was no sewing up.  I know some folk have trouble with finishing garments….

At the moment I have picked up the stitches for the front band and am trying to decide how wide to do it.  In the pattern there are only 10 rows, but I think I will make it wider so that I can wrap it round me.

Then it will be time to knit the sleeves!  I’m planning to pick up stitches round the armholes and knit down with short rows to create shaping for the sleeve caps instead of knitting the sleeves separately from the bottom up and seaming them.  I’ve never used this technique before so I’ll be looking for guidance from this informative blog post on DayanaKnits.

When it’s finished I’ll let you know!

Happy Knitting! 🙂

Yarn Shop Day Tomorrow!

We’re all very excited because tomorrow (Saturday 2nd May) is Yarn Shop Day!

There are lots of special things planned for the day at Stash Fine Yarns.  We’ve got Jeni from Fyberspates visiting to launch her lovely new shades of Vivacious and Gleem Lace and we’ll have luxury undyed yarns from Chester Wool Company too.

We’ve also got a raffle with fabulous prizes, lovely goodie bags for the first 15 customers who spend over £35 an ex display garment sale and cake!

We’d love to see you so do pop in and say hello 🙂

Happy Knitting!

20% off Rowan Yarns!

We like to give our customers a little treat every now and then and this weekend we thought we’d give you 20% off all full price Rowan yarns until Tuesday 31st March!

Just enter the code ROW2015 at the checkout to receive your discount.

So why not treat yourself to a new knitting project for spring?  There a plenty of gorgeous things to choose from in the new Spring/Summer ranges, such as this pretty tunic from Rowan’s Summerlite 4ply book.

Or why not try a bit of crochet?  The Rowan Crochet Along has started this week and the patterns are free to download on the Rowan website (click the picture above to download the first set of patterns).  The project uses Rowan Summerlite 4ply and there are three colour schemes to choose from, which you can read more about in our blog post here.

If you fancy a cardi for summer, we love this design by Sarah Hatton from the Rowan Cotton Lustre book. We have this sample in our shop and it’s proved very popular thanks to it’s gorgeous drape and flattering lines. Cotton Lustre is a tape yarn which knits up into a beautifully smooth fabric with a wonderful drape and subtle sheen. It has lovely stitch definition too!

Our last (but not least) favourite pick is this top from the Rowan Tetra Cotton book.  Knitted sideways, it has an interesting texture thanks to the columns of slipped stitches running horizontally across the garment.  A DK weight cotton yarn with a surprisingly lightweight construction, Tetra Cotton is a lovely yarn for summer, knitting up relatively quickly, but producing garments without too much bulk.

So go on, treat yourself!  Don’t forget to use the code ROW2015 at the checkout to receive your discount.

Happy Knitting!