Knit Today Magazine To Close

Image courtesy of Immediate Media

Publisher Immediate Media has announced that this month's issue of Knit Today magazine, number 125, will be its last.

In 2014 Immediate Media bought the craft titles Mollie Makes, The Knitter and Simply Knitting from Future Pubishing, adding them to its own stable of titles including Knit Today. Last year the company repositioned its knitting titles marketing Knit Today as an entry-level title for knitting beginners who want modern patterns; Simply Knitting, known for its Alan Dart toys, as a beginner/intermediate mixture of modern and more traditional patterns; and The Knitter for more experienced knitters who want in-depth features as well as challenging knitting projects.

When announcing the closure of Knit Today the publisher said: "We're sorry to let you know that this is the last issue of Knit Today that we will publish. Although the magazine was much appreciated by its readers, its sales could not be sustained at the levels needed to continue. We would like to thank you for your support, and we're sorry for any disappointment.

In simpler terms the magazine wasn't selling enough copies to be financially viable.

The closure will come as a blow to UK readers who will now have less choice - the other major monthly knitting magazines in the country are Knit Now, published by Practical Publishing, and Aceville Publication's Let's Knit (not counting the women's magazines craft spin offs and knitting for babies titles that sometimes appear on the newsagents' shelves). The closure will also be a blow to British designers who sell their patterns to magazines.

The last issue contains a feature on British sustainable yarns. Hopefully I will pick up a copy this weekend and review it.

Yarn Shop Day 30th April - Online Retail Fight Back

It's that time of the year again to love your local yarn shop. The annual event sponsored by Let's Knit magazine encourages knitters and crocheters to support bricks and mortar shops in their area, rather than going online and buying from the big guys. In a rather underhand marketing move, going against the spirit of the day, the online-only retailers are fighting back: Loveknitting.com is offering 15% off everything this weekend, whilst Deramores has a whopping 25% off all yarn.

Local retailers, with the rates they have to pay on their shops, can't match that kind of discount but what they do offer in spades is help from friendly assistants and the chance to squish as much yarn as you want to before you buy. Not everyone has access to the internet or wants to buy online and local yarn shops are an invaluable resource on our high streets. What a shame the big online retailers are trying to put a spanner in the Yarn Shop Day's works - surely it's in all yarn retailers' benefit to raise awareness about the craft?

If you do want to buy online then many yarn shops offer online retailing as a side offer. My favourites are Leeds' baaramewe and shop turned website Mrs Moon, which stock their own yarns alongside a well-edited collection of yarns and patterns.

Events

Lot's of events are planned on Saturday to tempt you into your local yarn store. There's a full list on the Let's Knit website. Highlights include:

• A party at Knit Nottingham's store
• Brityarn pop up trunk show at Countess Ablaze's studio in Manchester
• Cake at The Yarn Cake in Glasgow
• Live yarn bombing and giveaways at Whitknits in Whitstable.

If your local yarn store leaves a bit to be desired why not pop in for a chat and mention the British yarns you'd like to see stocked?

Daughter Of A Shepherd Yarn Goes On Sale April 13th

Image courtesy of Rachel Atkinson

If you didn't make it to Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March then you won't have had the chance to buy a skein or two of Rachel Atkinson's special edition Daughter of a Shepherd yarn. It sold like hot cakes but Atkinson wanted to make sure that the wider knitting community can get their hands on some as well. As a result at 8pm on Wednesday 13th April some skeins and Daughter of a Shepherd cotton tote bags will go on sale at her online shop.

Atkinson really is the daughter of a shepherd, her father is John Atkinson, and her love of sheep and yarn stems from her childhood experiences on the farm.  Her yarn is 100% pure Hebridean DK weight spun from the fleece from her father's flock.

Says Atkinson of the wool: "the overall colour is a complex dark pitch brown which becomes silvery grey or tan in different lights. A soft and lustrous handle produces a fabric with bounce and structure when knitted. The yarn captures the scent of the fields, flock and new lambs in straw-filled barns."

Each skein costs £18 and, to ensure as many people as possible have a chance to buy it, purchases are limited at two skeins per customer. The cotton tote bags cost £4.

It's great to see a truly British yarn on the market that can be traced back to the flock the fleece came from.

Free Hat Pattern To Celebrate Shetland Wool Week 2016

How to beat last year's Shetland Wool Week Baa-ble free hat pattern by Donna Smith, which proved so popular that nearly 5000 Ravelry users have stashed it in their project folder?

This year's Shetland Wool Week patron, Ella Gordon, has risen to the challenge by designing a topper with colourful stitch appeal. Called 'Crofthoose Hat', Gordon has suggested four colourways for her take on the traditional Shetland building.

Image courtesy of Shetland Wool Week

Download the free pattern on the Shetland Wool Week website.

On her blog, textile maker Gordon has posted pictures of her wearing the hat in a fifth colour way with a plain crown.

Image courtesy of Ella Gordon.

Shetland Wool Week takes place this year from 24 September to 2nd October. Plenty of time then to knit your own version of Crofthoose'.

Review of Wool Tribe 2016 + Kate Davies' EYF Offer

Cover image courtesy of EYF

For those who can't make to Edinburgh on 18th and 19th March for the Yarn Festival the 2016 festival companion, Wool Tribe, offers an insight into the city's woolly delights without the need to amass air miles. In fact the £8 book has proved so popular for pre-orders that at the time of writing this post it has sold out online. Note to EYF - please publish some more!

If you weren't one of the lucky ones who ordered a copy to post or pick up at the festival then here's what you missed out on.

A stand out for me is the feature on craft, coffee and cake in Edinburgh, with maps accompanying recommendations of places to visit whilst you are in the city. I'll certainly take this with me next time I'm up in Scotland's capital - hopfully it won't be too far in the future.

The other features are a look at Scotland's 'wool trail' of woolly things to do; a guide to the native sheep breeds in the country; and an article from Louise Scollay of KnitBritish about the appeal of knitting podcasts.

Looking through the advertisers and lists of vendors in the book I discovered some retailers appearing at EYF that I hadn't heard of before. At the back of Wool Tribe is a guide to the marketplace, where the selling of all things woolly will be going on, along with a list of the companies exhibiting. Most have websites. Although browsing online isn't the same as looking at and touching yarn in person, it is a good way to discover different brands and products new to the market.

Of course what most people bought the book for were the six original patterns.

These are:

Inglis Mitts by Ysolda Teague

Image courtesy of EYF

Stevenson cowl by Gudrun Johnston

Image courtesy of EYF

Burnet hat by Karie Westermann

Image courtesy of EYF

Dunedin shawl by Lucy Hague

Image courtesy of EYF

Spark hat by Jo Kelly

Image courtesy of EYF

A Wee Neckerchief by Jo Kelly and Mica Koehimos

Image courtesy of EYF

Whilst all the patterns are are well-written and beautifully photographed, Westermann's Burnet hat pips the others to the post to become my favourite. It's quirky, looks fun to knit and, very importantly, warm to wear.

The date is in for next year's Edinburgh Yarn Festival - pop March 10th & 11th in your diary and don't forget to order next year's Wool Tribe early before it sells out.

Kate Davies EYF offer

Davies released in her most recent email newsletter a very special offer for customers who can't make it to EYF. All items bought from her online shop this weekend will be postage free with the order code EYF2016. Yes, that includes worldwide postage too!

Funyin image courtesy of Kate Davies

Davies recently launched two pattern and yarn packs for the festival: Funyin, a hat inspired by a design inspired by an onion (three degrees of separation); and Miss Rachel's Yoke & Gauntlets, decorated with a delightful fair isle pattern.

Miss Rachel's Yoke image courtesy of Kate Davies

Rather than buy a yarn and pattern kit I'm going to buy the Miss Rachel's Yoke pattern from Davies' Ravelry store and purchase the yarn separately from Davies, taking advantage of the free postage offer. I have some yarn left over from her seven skeins club and hope to use that in the sweater, cutting down the amount of yarn I need to purchase.

Have a very happy knitting weekend!

All Eyes On Scotland For Edinburgh Yarn Festival

Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th March sees Scotland's capital host the popular Edinburgh Yarn Festival at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange for the third time. Each year EYF grows in size and popularity and in 2016 there's a heck of a lot going on to pack into just two days.

Image courtesy of Edinburgh Yarn Festival

On-the-door ticket prices are £12 for one day or £18 for a weekend pass. Most classes have sold out, but the EYF website has a page listing the few that have places left. At the time of writing this post there are still tickets available to hear Susan Crawford's talk about her forthcoming Vintage Shetland Project book. Classes cost extra above the main admission ticket price.

If you don't get a chance to take a class there's still lots to see and do. For a quick rest head to the Blacker Yarn's Podcast Lounge hosted by Louise Scollay of KnitBritish. The Market Place is where retailers large and indie will by vying to tempt you to buy. With names such as Little Grey Sheep, Kate Davies Designs, Baa Ram Ewe, Old Maiden Aunt and Jamieson's of Shetland exhibiting, it won't be too difficult to spend your money. Plus Rachel Atkinson is launching her own yarn, Daughter of a Shepherd, exclusively at EYF.

Take cash with you because not every vendor will have credit card facilities available and the fees the companies charge eat into their profits. Read more top tips on Karie Westermann's blog post guide to surviving EYF.

Scotland has a firm place on the woolly map this year. Shetland Wool Week has announced that this year's patron is to be Ella Gordon, Shetland born, bred and designer-trained. Gordon was elected unanimously by the festival's committee.

Ella Gordon photo courtesy of Jeni Read

At EYF Gordon will reveal the hat pattern she has designed for this year's Shetland Wool Week. With Donna Smith's 2015's Baa-ble hat pattern having proved a big hit, Gordon has a lot to live up to!

Meanwhile over in Inverness plans for the inaugural Loch Ness Knit Festival, due to take place between 29th September and 2nd October, are gathering pace. I love the idea of taking a boat trip looking for Nessie between classes and yarn shopping.

Sadly, living in the English midlands, all three festivals are too far for me to go for a day trip. Maybe next year I can plan a Scottish holiday around them.

Knit An Eddie The Eagle Jumper

Eddie the Eagle image courtesy of The Daily Mail

Can you remember as far back as 1988? In the Calgary Winter Olympics Eddie 'The Eagle' became an international star by coming last at ski jumping. We Brits like a loveable loser and Eddie was the epitome of the genre - he still kept his smile when he was at the bottom of the pile and was the UK's first ever Olympic ski jumping entrant.

Now Eddie's story has been made into a film. Taron Egerton (no, I haven't heard of him either, but he's set for A list stardom) plays adult Eddie whilst Hollywood stalwart Hugh Jackman is his coach.

Here comes the knitting connection ...

Image courtesy of the Eddie the Eagle film

Eddie's mum wore a hand-knitted jumper with 'I'm Eddie's mum' emblazoned on it when she went to support her son. The Yarn Loop website reports that, to tie in with the film's release, Yarn Stories has produced a free Eddie the Eagle hat pattern to download. The crew went one better, according to Rowan's March e-newsletter, having had 'I'm Eddie's' jumpers designed for them by US knitting retailer Laura Zander using Rowan's Pure Wool Worsted.

My favourite is Egerton's 'I play Eddie' jumper (centre below).

Image courtesy of Rowan

I doubt I'll be knitting my own Eddie the Eagle hat or jumper anytime soon but the story put a big smile on my face and brought back memories from my childhood.

Go, Eddie, go!