Cool weather is Crafting Weather so although it is only August and I’m decidedly chilly there is always an upside!  I tend to think I can knit faster than I actually can so Mrs Weasley's needles would help me to try out all of our lovely new yarns.

Last year was difficult for our customers as Covid restrictions stopped them visiting they missed out on the wonderfully tactile experience of visiting a yarnshop.  Now, with this year's Autumn collections joining older favourites there is a host of loveliness to come in and squish.

As always, West Yorkshire Spinners have come up trumps for Autumn with the new BFL DK range (I’m not sure we can bring ourselves to hand it over to customers) and the Christmas sock yarn has just launched too.  We just love WYS.

King Cole have launched Rosarium, a fantastic 100% merino mega chunky and Homespun which is a DK mixed fibre with wool and alpaca.  The colour palette for Rosarium is similar to the Timeless range with soft, dusty colours while Homespun is more Autumnal with neps in the yarn to give more texture.

Stylecraft have added Recreate to their range which is a fully recycled mixed fibre yarn.   With 350g on 100g ball it goes a long way and feels lovely.  The colours are fabulous for Autumn and Winter but with pale blue, pink and cream in there to bridge the seasons.  Also coming from Stylecraft will be Highland Heathers in Aran and Wondersoft Baby DK has been relaunched with a much softer ‘cashmere’ feel to it.

Finally, in this helter skelter of a round-up, we must mention the new name in the shop, Urth Yarns.  These are hand-dyed yarns from Turkey and the company plants a tree for every skein planted.  The yarns are wonderfully vibrant and perfect small and large projects alike.

Drop in to the shop or check our web page to have a look at the new additions. 

As yarn shop owners, we don't let the change of the the seasons put us off but for our customers, the lure of warm weather seems to be  stronger than the lure of new yarn.  We've come up with a few reasons why this might be and some reasons why it shouldn't stop us from crafting.
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• Sticky weather isn't conducive to yarn hobbies.  True, hot, sticky hands don't enjoy knitting and crochet as much and large projects just make the maker even hotter but there are loads of lovely cotton and bamboo yarns to choose from.  It's definitely not the time to make a blanket but there are lots of smaller projects too, although a small voice does argue that it is just the right time to start on winter jumpers so they will be ready in time!
• Crafters transfer their creativity to the garden.  We can't argue with this, just suggest that spending the evening sitting in the garden working on our latest project is our idea of bliss!
• We are near the coast so the seaside is definitely more fun than staying at home,   This is undeniable but there's nothing to stop us knitting and crocheting on the beach, in fact, Ruth's Caribbean shawl was created on a beach on Grenada!
• Where we live, it is a good idea to make the most of the sun before the reliable Welsh mizzle returns!  Very true, but Summer is the time that we have our yarn sales so it is an ideal time to buy for your Autumn projects and if you want to sit in the sun then we have our lovely new benches at the front of the shop -- ideal to catch the rays!
• Finally, 'it's too hot to knit' -- well it is very cool in our shop so if you feel overheated, it's the ideal environment

So, if you've hit the Summer doldrums, come along for a visit and we'll help you choose your next project.
www.ammoniteyarns.co.uk

​Stylecraft have, for the first time since we started stocking them, had to pass on price increases from their suppliers to us retailers.  We are going to hold our price at £2.25 until end of July and then on 1 August Special DK will go up to £2.40/100g.  Don’t forget that we stock all 100 colours in the range so if you want to stock up then now is the time.

We posted a few weeks ago about how we were going to be adding benches to our frontage.  Well, they are here and we've started the planting and we really rather like them and hope that you will too.
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Those of you  who live locally might have noticed that many of the shops are sprucing up their frontages so that social distancing is made easier should you  have to queue outside before entering.  Well, not it is our turn!
Pictured here is our frontage -- photo taken a few weeks ago.  It's not very exciting, although the window displays are usually quite colourful and eye-catching.  Next week we take delivery of benches and planters which will soon be full of lovely plants and herbs so visiting the shop will be even more of a sensory delight.
​This post is just a teaser -- pop back here next week to see work in progress!

This weekend is a red letter one for yarnies as it is Wonderwool Wales.  The festival  will be online once more but don’t think that will deter the exhibitors from creating a fantastic show experience for our customers.  

Our stand at Wonderwool  is usually a collaboration between ourselves and Michelle at  Woolly Wumpkins and we met up this week for a photo call ready for the show.

 The weekend is always really busy for us and quite a social event too.  Michelle’s family are always there helping customers with Woolly Wumpkins yarn,  Jenny’s husband and kids assist with transport and  set up along with Ruth’s parents and our crochet teacher, Gaelle.  Ruth’s Mum, Marilyn and Gaelle stay for the show and work their socks off on the stand.   All in all it creates a lovely atmosphere and our customers can always find a helping hand when choosing their purchases

This year, like last, will be online but we, like all the other exhibitors at Wonderwool, will be working really hard on social media to create a fantastic virtual show for everyone to attend.  You can find the show on facebook and instagram from 23 to 25 April on the Wonderwool social media pages .  Beginning on Friday, there will be taster videos from exhibitors and then on Saturday and Sunday exhibitors will be posting products (and links for purchases).  There will also be workshops running throughout. 
You can find virtual wonderwool on facebook and on instagram .  There is also a list of exhibitors and links on the Wonderwool  website .

Some of you will remember that the last time we took Ammonite Yarns to Wonderwool, we showcased the Stylecraft Honeycomb Crochet Blanket in Bellissima DK.  Everybody loved the blanket so we decided to offer it again this year both in the shop and at Virtual Wonderwool.   We are ringing the changes a bit though as Jenny is re-making the blanket in West Yorkshire Spinners ColouLab.  The pack will be on the website next week when we have finalised exactly how many balls it takes but here’s a little teaser to show you how it will look!

It looks as though we will be able to re-open on 12 April (just in time for Jenny's birthday!) so we are getting the shop ready to welcome our customers back into the fold. 

We've spent lockdown sending out loads of online orders and we've had time to revise some of our ranges and order in new yarns in over the year so, like many of  our lockdown waistlines, the shop is now bursting at the seams with new loveliness.

Some of the yarns you won't have seen in the flesh yet are:

From West Yorkshire Spinners we have more colours in ColourLab, Croft DK and Croft Wild Shetland together with new Winwick Mum sock colours.  There are lovely new pattern books to go with the yarns and a crochet along to go with ColourLab.

King Cole have launched their Summer 4-ply which is a bamboo/cotton mix ideal for socks as well as garments and accessories.  We've also added to our King Cole range with Giza 4-ply, a lovely mercerised cotton and we have old favourites like Timeless, Subtle Drifterin DK and Forest Aran.  

Lastly in this quick round-up Stylecraft has Naturals Organic DK cotton which has a fantastic range of colours. This adds to the Naturals range which was launched last year with Naturals Bamboo Cotton.  We also have the new range of You and Me DK and new colours of Bambino have just arrived.

​All in all, the shop is a box of delights and we can't wait to see our customers in person and show off all of our new yarns.

One of our other favourite British manufacturers, Stylecraft is cheering on crafters and LYSs with make-alongs which you can join on their social media pages.  We'll share more about the different projects as Stylecraft posts the projects and we have much of the yarn in stock.

In particular, we love the Granny Celebration Blanket designed by Helen Boreham which is made from Stylecraft Bellissima and Bambino and is available as a pack  here. 
​The yarn pack and pattern is £49.00 and contains 16 balls of yarn together with the pattern. 

One of our favourite subjects is British wool and one of the manufacturers in the who really wholeheartedly supports it is West Yorkshire Spinners.  All of their wool is British sourced and one of their clear leaders in popularity is Signature Sock yarn.  If you haven't already found it Winwick Mum is a facebook page run by Christine Perry, the eponymous Winwick Mum.   Christine has collaborated with WYS before and has just released her second book, Seasons, with them together with her second collection of sock yarn.  The colours reflect the colours of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter (hence the name of the book).  The stitch designs on the socks cleverly represent the seasons with cables of shoots snaking  up the sides of the Spring design and lacy icicles cascading down the front of the Winter.  I'll leave you to explore Summer and Autumn!  The yarn is £7.50/ball and the book £9.50 and are all available here on our website.