You might have seen our 'All About' crochet classes taught by our lovely crochet teacher Gaelle but you would prefer to knit.  Here is the answer -- our 'All About' knitting edition.  We will be offering three Beginner and three Improver classes which can be taken individually or as a course.

The beginner classes are:
Class One:  All About:  the Knit Stitch
This class assumes no knowledge of knitting and takes you through the foundation block for all knitting -- the Knit (or plain) stitch.  We don't teach casting on in this session as it is easier to learn how to knit and then how to cast on.  We supply 4mm needles and DK yarn so all you have to do is book and arrive!
Class Two:  All About:  the Purl Stitch
Having mastered the knit stitch, the next step is purl.  Variations of knit and purl can now be made to make all kinds of textured knits. This class concentrates on mastering the purl.
Class Three:  All About:  Starting and Finishing
You can't make anything unless you can cast on, cast off and sew up so this is the class to learn how.

The Improver classes will start in the New Year and cover shaping , reading a pattern and knitting in the round.

The All About Classes start in November and places are limited to just five per class so book now to make sure you can join us 

1 November 2018 6.30 till 8.30 pm             All About:  the Knit Stitch
8 November 2018 6.30 till 8.30 pm             All About:  the Purl Stitch
15 November 2018 6.20 till 8.30 pm           All About:  Starting and Finishing
Classes cost £25.000 each (including yarn and needles for the first session only).

Classes can be taken on their own or as a series with a discount if all three beginner sessions are booked at once and paid in full.  

You may have already seen the national Keep Yarn on our Streets campaign which launched yesterday and is a great way for yarnies to support Local Yarn Shops. www.keepyarnonourstreets.co.uk/ 

​We wanted to reward our customers too for supporting us so we are launching the Fibonacci Fibre Cub.

First of all -- Why 'Fibonacci'? Ammonite shells are a naturally occurring example of the Fibonacci sequence.   It is also interesting to see that when designing garments the Fibonacci sequence when used for the number of rows in a stripe pattern, for example, is very pleasing to the eye.  Our name and logo is an ammonite so the Fibonacci Fibre Club is a natural step forward for us. 

Our club costs £20.00 to join and membership includes:

• An exclusive club project bag which is your VIP pass to:
• 10% discount on all purchases* until end of Dec 2019
• Club events the first of which is a craft taster afternoon on Saturday 12th January from 2 pm
• An exclusive offer at Wonderwool 2019

You will also receive: 

• Regular e-mail newsletter with advance notice of events
• One ball of sock yarn

* Bag must be shown to receive benefits, discount does not include sale items

Well the mornings are definitely getting crisper so, if you haven't already, it is definitely time to ditch the sandals and welcome socks back into your life!

Lots of knitters are a bit worried about making socks but there really is nothing to be scared of as you can find out at this Saturday's September Socks Workshop. 

​We are going to run two workshops in one day this time.  The main workshop will be all day (from 10 till 3 pm) and will show how to make traditional top-down socks using double-pointed needles.  You will make a mini-sock at the workshop (perfect for the Christmas tree) and take away the yarn to make your own full-size socks in your own time.  We'll supply everything you need and lunch too!
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The second workshop is half day (12 till 3pm including lunch) and delves further into sock-making techniques, this time making the socks from the toe up and throwing a little extra by making them both at the same time on one circular needle.

You can reserve your place with a deposit or pay in full on our website or in the shop.

We are hosting a Crafternoon in aid of the charity Mind here at Ammonite Yarns on 22 September from 2 till 5 pm.

Activities on offer include knitting, crochet, wet felting, dorset buttons, peg looming, giant knit and crochet and you can have a go to see if you are our quickest crocheter or nippiest knitter.

Come along on Saturday and join the fun.  There will be refreshments available and we just request a donation to Mind.

The kids are very definitely back to school now so our minds can turn to new yarns for our uninterrupted knitting or crochet.

We've had in some new arans and double-knits and will be seeing more chunky yarns come in over the next few weeks too.  

West Yorkshire Spinners' Croft Colours launched in August.  This yarn is the sibling of Croft Tweed -- it is a shetland aran and is absolutely beautiful.   Pattern support comes in book form and has some lovely designs for men, women and children.

Top of the list of Stylecraft's is their intriguing new Colour Pool yarn.  This is designed for crochet but does work in a similar way for knitting too.   Colour pooling is quite a difficult technique of persuading the colours in a random dye yarn to create 'un-random' patterns.  It is usually done by short rows or very complex pattern writing but now those clever clogs at Stylecraft have created a yarn which will pool in an Argyll effect thus taking the headache of working out the maths ourselves.   Crocheted items have a very definite Argyll pattern while knitted items are more pixellated while still keeping the Argyll effect.

Stylecraft have also released a couple of newbies in their Life range.  The first is a self-patterning Aran called Life Heritage and they've also launched Life Changes which is similar to Vintage but in brighter colours. 

There will be more new yarns in over the next few weeks as knitting season takes hold again so keep an eye out for more.  To find out more about these yarns just click on the picture.

I'm sure everybody has seen and heard the doom and gloom forecasts on TV and the radio about the death of the High Street.  Retail trade is definitely in the doldrums at the moment and with big names seemingly dropping like flies some of the littler names have decided to be proactive.  

Bricks and mortar yarn shops in the UK are mostly independent and generally quite small businesses.  We've decided that rather than complain about online competition and big box shops selling cheaper than we can, we will concentrate on what makes us what we are. Local Yarns Shops (LYSs) offer amazing support for knitters and crocheters.  We know the ranges that we sell and we understand how to knit and crochet.  We give support for customers who need help with their projects -- whether on how to choose a new one or complete another one.  You can buy your yarn and patterns from us and if you have problems and they are  not up to scratch, we will go back to the suppliers and tell them so. Where possible will order yarn for you if it is out of stock or if we haven't got enough for a particular pattern and if a yarn is discontinued we can find out from other LYSs if they can supply it for you.  We host craft and chatter groups as well as formal (and informal) classes and supply endless cups of tea and coffee to keep you all going!  In short, we offer a personalised, cheerful and friendly service. 

As if all of this isn't enough to encourage you all to visit us, 42 yarn shops across the UK have signed up to the Keep Yarn on Our Streets campaign.  The first event is a treasure hunt.   During October 2018, each participating shop will have 50 enamel pin badges of our “Keep Yarn On Our Streets” logo in their shops.  The badges are £4 each or free with a spend of over £40 and there will be a prize for the first  three people to collect 10 different pin badges during October 2018.  We want all you yarn lovers out there to hunt out participating shops, and potentially find new favourites.  

I'll post a link to a map of the shops joining in with this later in the month and you can follow the fun on instagram keepyarnonourstreets.
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 18 August and 13 October 2018
10 am till 1 pm in shop 
Cost £3 including refreshments

​Do you have a pile of knitted and crocheted piece just waiting to be sewn up? You are not alone!

Most of us prefer the knitting and crocheting to the sewing up. Like many boring tasks, it can be more fun to do in a group. Or maybe you need a little help with your technique.

Bring your UFOs (unfinished objects) along to one of our sessions for expert advice, motivation, tea and cake and a (small) prize for every completed item! 

Two weeks ago, during the hottest heat wave to hit the UK in four decades, I decided to spend a few days in the Capital so I booked a couple of shows (42nd Street and Twelfth Night) and got on the Megabus for London.

Thursday was quite hot (35°C) but I thought a trip to the British Museum would keep me cool (how wrong could I be).  I used to work in London, within ten minutes of the British Museum, but I’m ashamed to say this was my first visit.  I arrived bright and early, ten minutes after opening time, and there was a queue!  Once in, the place was a sauna!  There is a beautiful central atrium with a glass roof which perhaps explains how a building with so much stone and marble could be so hot. 

The search was on for all things ammonite – I found some in the Enlightenment Gallery which is set out much as the early museum curators would have viewed it.  The ammonites are actually nautilus shells which are still found today and are what we think ammonites would have looked like.  These specimens were about as big as my forearm and look almost two-dimensional because of the perfection of their shells.  The spiral shape of the nautilus/ammonite is one seen in design a lot, probably because it is so pleasing, and I found a vase in the Mycenaean gallery with a similar spiral pattern.  It’s amazing to think that the little jar is 3,500 years old! 
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After a quick look around the Egyptian rooms trying to view the Rosetta Stone through the shoulders of every single tourist in London, I went for a wander around as many galleries as I could in search of anything to do with textiles or more ammonites.   To be honest, the BM isn’t the best museum to go to in search of textile history – it really is a HIStory museum (to use a somewhat hackneyed term) but in amongst the Greek and Roman artefacts there were some little gems.   A few excuses in advance here for the photos – it was very hot, my phone screen wouldn’t light up properly and lots of sticky kids had put their hands on the display cabinets – I couldn’t see the photos properly till I downloaded them so they are not as clear as I would have liked!

Spinning and weaving isn’t as exciting as war and mummies so there aren’t that many artefacts which relate to what women would have been spending a lot of their time doing (the V&A is the museum to visit for textile history) but I did ferret out some spindles and loom weights in the Roman and Greek galleries, more loom weights from ancient Troy  and an Athenian vase showing a woman spinning .  What’s really amazing is how little drop-spindles have changed over the centuries.  Much like the wheel – if the design is right, don’t change it!

​This visit was just a brief reconnaissance and I’ll have to go back to find out more.  There is just so much to see and it would be really interesting to find out just how our ancestors lived.  I doubt that the weavers and spinners in ancient times had the spare time that we have to be able to enjoy our yarny hobbies and they wouldn’t have understood what a stash is, but I’d like to think that it wasn’t all just hard work for them.

It's that time of year that yarn shop owners hate because all things yarny take a back seat to all things gardeny and beachy.  The weather is baking and there's nothing worse when the thermometer starts to climb than having a hot and heavy project in your lap.   If this is how you are feeling, then just re-think your wips (WIP = work in progress).  I've just cast on a lovely jumper but instead of making it in 4-ply wool (think hot and heavy) I'm making it in 2-ply silk (think cool and floaty).   I was stashbusting and have a lot of the aforementioned silk in my collection so, inspired by another knitter on Ravelry, I am transforming it into a jumper.  It's knitted from the top down, in the round (so no seams) and will be perfect for the end of Summer when it's too warm for a  wool jumper but too cool for a cotton t-shirt.  The perfect Summer project!

Handknits are pretty fashionable at the moment both for homewares and clothes, so if you've ever thought you'd like to have a go at making your own, this is the course for you.

Our next course begins on Tuesday 3 July, 6.30 till 8.30 pm and will  run over three sessions in which we will take you from the absolute basics to being able to make an item following a pattern.

Courses cost £35.00 and include materials for the class and refreshments.

Even better -- it's nice and cool in the shop!