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!
​
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.