Anyone who has known me a while or been a long-time listener of the podcast will know that I view knitting as a gateway drug. I was only going to knit a baby blanket, which quickly became wrestling with DPNs to make a whole Christmas full of hats, which leapt to a shocking sock addiction, which in turn lead to revisiting crochet, which then meandered into learning to spin, which became dyeing that perfect shade, which then developed into weaving on a rigid heddle loom, which in turn lead to multi-shaft weaving, a college course and total change in direction career-wise. The irony is that as much as I love it, I’ve knit very little so far this year. All my time has been spent weaving for college or crocheting samples. But I am delighted to be able to show you the fruits of those crochet labours now. My trip to Fluph saw the hard launch of the first in a series of crochet kits that have come about as a collaboration between Valerie Bracegirdle of Agrarian Artisan Designs and myself.

The first was Autumn Beaches, in Mobberley DK, offered in both a single colourway and a two-colour option.

It works up very quickly; in fact I worked up the purple and green sample within five evenings, dipping in and out of other jobs at the same time.

Second up is the glorious Swirling Seas.

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The kit is currently available in shades of green, but I am working on a blue option too. (I actually didn’t work this sample up, but I am loving my blue one so far!). This is using Knutsford, a new base yarn comprising 80% Organically farmed Falkland merino and 20% silk.The green sample has been blocked hard and consequently is gloriously lacy and has the most fabulous drape.

Finally we have Sigrun’s Scarf.

This is worked up in 15 colours of Stanley Sock. Stanley is a well loved favourite here, 100% Organically farmed Falkland merino, but is a finer yarn than Stanley Sport (formally Stanley 4ply) at 400m per 00g (as opposed to Sport at 333m per 100g). Even at the finer weight, Stanley has a lovely plump squooshiness to it and it absorbs the colour so well!

All three kits are available now in the Kit section of the shop, so please go over and have a look.