Poncho fit for a princess!

I haven’t been able to knit much over the last couple of weeks as I have been away at my daughter’s. Before I went, though, I managed to finish a poncho for my two granddaughters, or ‘Princess Cape’ as the four year-old calls it.

I loved making the poncho. It was custom designed for both girls, and they had their own input. It shouldn’t be too close fitting around the neck, as neither girl likes that; it must have stripes; it shouldn’t use ‘scratchy’ yarn; and it should be quite long. Robyn, the younger girl, wanted it to reach the floor, but I managed to talk her out of that.  Armed with these instructions, and considerations, I did my best. I used an Aran or worsted weight yarn for the main color, and Noro Silk Garden self-striping yarn for the contrast garter stitch stripes, collar, and border. Suitable yarns for the main would be Debbie Bliss BFL Aran; Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran; Rowan Wool Worsted: Sublime Aran; Juniper Moon Aran.

I decided to work the poncho from the top down. I enjoy working in this manner, and it’s easy to try the garment on while in progress ( or it would be, if the intended recipients didn’t live 250 miles away. ) I started with the collar, in Noro Silk Garden, and in garter stitch, and then joined the work into the round when the collar was long enough. The body of the poncho was then worked as if I was knitting a raglan sweater, working eight increases on every alternate round. When the ‘sleeve’ section was long enough, I ceased increasing in these sections, and just continued with four increases in the Body sections every alternate round. I then continued in this manner until the poncho was the desired length, minus the border. I decided to work some short rows on the Back and Front borders to give some extra detail, but it could equally well be worked as simple garter stitch. I used a stretchy cast-off, in this case, the Russian Cast-Off, to create a nice edge.

Yarn requirements
Child (10year old) size:
4 x 50g balls Noro Hanabatake

250g Aran weight yarn, so effectively 3 x 100g balls/skeins

Adult size:
5 x 50g Noro Hanabatake

300g Aran yarn

Tension: 18sts and 25 rows to 10cm/4ins. 

Pattern will be available soon.

 

As ever, knit on!
Lesley

New in: Noro Kureopatora

January is always an exciting time of year at Stash Fine Yarns as we get to beat the January blues with exciting deliveries of lovely new yarns!

One of our first new arrivals of the year is the gorgeous Noro Kureopatora:

An 100% wool yarn with a generous 270 metres per 100g ball, Kureopatora can be knitted on a 4 – 4.5mm needle to a light aran weight tension and has all beautiful colour variations that you expect from Noro Yarns.

There is also a lovely book with designs for both men and women, Noro Romance by Jenny Watson to accompany the yarn.

We love this cabled jumper in Kureopatora in cheerful and zingy shade #1019.  The cowl is knitted separately and there are a number of options in the pattern that allow you to knit either a larger cowl to cover your shoulders or just the jumper (which has a round neck), so you can make a sweater to suit you!

Or how about this classic raglan sweater for the man in your life? The pattern also includes a matching hat, if you’d prefer a smaller project.

We hope you like this stunning new yarn as much as we do!  Why not treat yourself with a splash of colour to beat the January blues?

Happy Knitting!

New Issue of Noro Magazine now in stock!

The new issue of Noro Magazine has arrived this week and Noro fans are certainly in for a treat!

This issue is full of inspiring projects for Noro yarns and here are some of our favourites:

This stunning lace shrug is worked in a combination of Noro Silk Garden and Debbie Bliss Angel.  What a great use of two different yarns!

If crochet is more your style, why not try this pretty scarf made of floral motifs in Noro Taiyo 4ply.  The self striping yarn allows you to make this scarf using just two balls of the same shade, a really clever use of the yarn.

Finally if you love sock knitting, why not try knitting socks in Noro yarn?  These colourful socks feature mock cables to give textural interest without any excess bulk and can be made with 2 – 3 balls of Noro Silk Garden 4ply.

Want to see all the projects featured in the magazine?  Check them out on our website here.

Happy knitting!

Amazing new bargains in Debbie Bliss and Noro!

This week we have some amazing new sale stock to tempt you with.

Gorgeous yarns at great prices, what could be better?

So, what are these lovely bargains?  Well we’ve got something for everyone:

First we’ve got Noro Mossa, a stunning yarn in Noro’s trademark shaded colour effects, made with wool and silk.  Was £9.95, now £6.95 per 50g skein, and we’ve got nine glorious colours for you to choose from!

Next, is Debbie Bliss Angel Prints, a lovely yarn perfect for luxurious projects (a couple of balls would make a lovely cowl or scarf).  A self striping version of Debbie’s popular Angel yarn, this is made from the softest kid mohair and silk.  

With twelve different shades to choose from, from bright and bold to subtle and sophisticated there is bound to be the perfect colour for your next project.  Was £8.95, now £6.25 per 25g ball.

Noro Kirara is a DK weight yarn made with wool, silk, cotton and angora, once again with the long colour repeats you would expect from Noro yarns. Was £8.95, now £6.25 per 50g skein and we’ve got seven colours for you to choose from.

There’s also a brilliant deal to be had on Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran (100% Super wash Merino Wool) a lovely bouncy yarn with wonderful stitch definition.  Was £5.50, now £3.85 per 50g ball, and there are over 20 colours to choose from!

Happy Knitting!

Amazing 2 day sale offers end soon!

Don’t miss out on these great offers, valid until Friday (17th January) only!

First we have an amazing Noro offer for you:

Whether you want to treat yourself to Kureyon or Silk Garden, Cyochin or Obi, Kirara or Shiro, you can get a fabulous 25% off all full price Noro yarns until Friday 17th January!  Just enter the code NORO25 at the checkout to receive your discount.

We also have a brilliant offer on beautiful Sublime Yarns, perfect for knits for you or your little ones!

You can get 20% off all full price Sublime Yarns until Friday 17th January, from soft Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK (perfect for special baby knits) to the rich colours of Luxurious Aran Tweed or the subtle sheen of Lustrous Extra Fine Merino DK!  Just enter the code SUBLIME20 at the checkout.

Happy Knitting!

Santa’s Special 20% off sale!

We wanted to give our lovely customers an early Christmas present, so here it is!

Spend £20 (excluding VAT) and get 20% off your entire order!

We’ve also got some exciting new stock in our sale section:

Araucania Budi is a snuggly chunky weight yarn perfect for keeping you cosy in the winter months:

… but be quick, our stocks of this yarn are very limited and once it’s gone, it’s gone!

We’ve also got a great offer on Noro Kama:

This is a really gorgeously soft chunky weight yarn, with slightly more subtle colour changes than some of the other yarns in the Noro range, and would make really lovely accessories (just imagine a couple of balls of this knitted up into a cowl… mmm…..) and there’s 30% off while stocks last, but again, don’t wait too long, because once they’re gone, they’re gone!

Happy Knitting!

Noro Magazine A/W 2013 now in stock!

A very exciting new magazine has arrived with us this week, the latest issue of Noro Magazine (Issue 3, Autumn/Winter 2013).

As usual it’s full to bursting with amazing designs for knitting and crochet, from accessories such as these mittens in Noro Kirara (the pattern takes just 2 skeins):

To stunning garments like this coat in Noro Kama and Louisa Harding Luzia:

…. and even homewares like this gorgeous blanket in Noro Kureyon and Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran:

If you’ve got a thirst for colour, this magazine will definitely satisfy it!

Happy Knitting!

Tempting new season books and magazines!

It’s been a busy few weeks here at Stash Fine Yarns with lots of new season books and yarns arriving over the past couple of weeks!

Just in, we have the brand new Debbie Bliss Magazine for Autumn/Winter 2013 (Issue 11) which is packed full of stunning, must knit designs.

There are elegant designs like the peplum jacket on the cover, as well as some striking fairisle designs, fun knits for kids and some cute designs for the festive season, including an adorable reindeer onesie and matching booties for babies!

Next up and also brand new this week is Rowan Studio Issue 32:

Taking inspiration for the eternally popular monochrome look, this booklet features garments for knitter of all skill levels, with bold, striking patterning and clean simple shapes.

From simple but stylish stripes on the cover, to the current trend for colour blocking:

and clever slip stitch patterning (this one is my favourite!):

We’ve also got two fabulous new sock books, firstly the much anticipated Rachel Coopey book ‘A Knitted Sock Society’, with 10 designs for the gorgeous Rowan Fine Art Sock Yarn, featuring Rachel’s trademark intricate and interesting sock designs with lots of knitterly details.  (One of these lovely books has already made it’s way home with me!)

For those of you who want something a little bit out of the ordinary, we have the extraordinary designs in the new Regia Journal Crazy Socks!

With all the unusual socks you could imagine, this book is full of socks to really test your skills!

And last but not least we have this fabulous new Noro book, ‘What can I Knit Tonight?‘ by Jo Allport, featuring designs that can be knitted in an evening, a day or a weekend!

Happy knitting!

New this week!

It’s been another busy week here at Stash, with more new yarns and patterns arriving for the coming Autumn/Winter 2013/2014 Season.

So, what’s new?

As it has been a bit of a baby themed week following the arrival of Prince George, I thought I’d start with the latest book of adorable patterns for the miniature people in your life, the new Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino Book 5:

Why not make one of these sweet patterns for your little Prince or Princess?

All the patterns use either Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino or Debbie Bliss Eco Baby (which are interchangeable) and with all the different colours available you can really make these designs your own.  There are patterns for babies and children up to five years so you can come back to these great designs for years to come.

Here are some of our favourites:

There’s this lovely rosebud patterned cardi and matching bear:

…….. a cute little two colour raglan sweater:

…… a very pretty trellis stitch jacket:

…… a practical top for boys:

… and a fairisle band top for girls:

There are plenty more fabulous designs in this book, more than we’ve got room for here, but you can browse pictures of all fifteen of them on our website here.

We’ve just taken delivery of two lovely new yarns from Mirasol, both of which reference the recent trend for ombre style knits.

Paqu Pura is a beautifully soft sportweight (between a double knit and a 4ply) 100% Alpaca yarn with long, sophisticated colour changes and with 300m/per 100g skein it goes a long way!

We’ve got some lovely single patterns in this yarn by Claudia Wersing:

From stylish sweaters:

To cosy accessories:

As well as a textured slipover for men:

The second new Mirasol yarn this season is Sami:

Sami is a DK weight 100% Wool yarn made from two plies of shaded yarn spun together to create a slightly marled shaded effect.

There are some lovely single patterns in this yarn too that really make the most of the eye-catching shading in the yarn.

From this snuggly collared tunic:

To this intriguing cardigan:

…. and this mitred cardigan that makes the stripes in the yarn change direction:

We’ve also just taken delivery of some great new knitting bags and needle holders!

With their cute button print these are sure to brighten your day!

We’ve got Button Boutique Yarn Bags (no more balls of yarn rolling all over the floor!):

Button Boutique Needle Holders to keep all your needles in their rightful place:

….and Button Boutique Knitting Bags in various sizes to suit each and every work-in-progress (if you’re anything like me you’ll have quite a few):

Last but not least there are some amazing bargains to be had in our clearance sale – you can save up to a third on discontinued yarns and colours!

There’s lots to choose from, and new additions this week include:

Beautifully soft Debbie Bliss Paloma in 4 gorgeous shades…..

Some lovely shades in Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran (this is just a small selection, there are more colours on the website):

For fans of Noro yarns, we’ve got two shades of Kureyon, #220 (on the left) and #264 (on the right):

… and three shades of Noro Silk Garden (from left to right: shades #299, #304, #314):

We’ve also got some lovely Mirasol yarns in the sale, four shades of Ushya (a super chunky 100% wool):

…. and one shade in Mirasol Hasa, gorgeously soft light chunky:

Last but not least, bringing us back to the Royal Baby theme, we’ve got some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in the sale too in selected colours (just a selection shown here, but lots more on our website), but hurry these are going fast!

We’ve also added our remaining stock of some discontinued colours in Rowan yarns to the sale – take a look at them here – but stocks are very limited so don’t wait too long!

Happy Knitting!

Noro Magazine

We’ve just had another delivery of the brand new Noro Magazine Spring/Summer 2013!  The last batch of these sold out almost instantly, so be quick!

It’s a lovely magazine full of patterns designed to make the most of the unique colour transitions of Noro yarns through different stitch patterns and constructions.  There are knits for all skill levels in here so I thought I’d give you a run down of some of our favourites.

This lovely cowl by Grace Akhrem is knitted with just one ball each of Noro Silk Garden Lite and Debbie Bliss Bella in toning colours and would be a great introduction to knitting with Noro yarns.  It’s knitted on the bias to create diagonal stripes.  Simple but really effective!

Another fun accessory pattern is this triangular textured shawl by Debbie O’Neill knitted in two balls of Noro Taiyo Sock Yarn.  The texture patterns are simple to work, but break up the stripes in the yarn just enough to add extra interest.  I love these sort of shawls, they’re the perfect year round accessory!  Wear it over your shoulders to keep the chill off on a summer evening, or wear it as a scarf with the point at the front in the winter.  Just the sort of relaxing project to take on holiday!

For the more ambitious amongst you there are some awe-inspiring projects like this stunning lace maxi dress by Galina Carroll, knitted in Noro Silk Garden Lite….

……and this clever top in Noro Silk Garden Lite by Wilma Peers which uses short rows to create wedges of colour and a little asymmetric collar.

Our final pick is this chic mesh banded sweater by Annabelle Speer knitted in Noro Silk Garden and Debbie Bliss Bella, perfect for adding a splash of colour to your outfit even in the typically inclement British Summer weather!

You can find all our knitting magazines, including Noro Magazine Spring/Summer 2013 here: http://www.celticove.com/acatalog/Knitting-Magazines-.html

Happy Knitting!