Too hot – part two

It’s cooled down somewhat this week and we are around 26°C (78.8°F) which is still pretty warm for usual UK summer temperatures.  I had to catch myself when the dog and I went out the other morning and I found myself wondering if I needed to take a jumper because it was “only” 19°C (66°F).  It turned out that I absolutely did not need a jumper and it was a beautiful sunny walk at just the right temperature.

I left you at the last post when I was about to go and get myself a glass of Pimm’s and enjoy the afternoon from under the shade of the garden umbrella and I did just that.

It went down very well, I can tell you – cheers!  🥂

I’ve had lots of compliments on the sock yarn I’m using for this latest Emergency Sock (one that you take about with you just in case, not one that needs to be knitted for an immediate sock-wearing event) and I’m not surprised – it’s turning out beautifully and I’m really enjoying knitting with it.  It’s a one-off hand-dyed colourway from Truly Hooked called Thanks NHS which I bought in 2020 during the Covid lockdown, but Verity dyes lots of lovely yarns and although you probably won’t find this one again, she will have plenty of others to choose from on her website if you want to look.

I’ve got some more yarn to show you today.  I met up with Sarah from Narrative Yarns last week.  She lives in in New Zealand, she’s travelling in the UK with her Mum and happened to be in Chester which isn’t too far from me.  Sarah went from learning to knit socks with the Sockalong tutorials to dyeing her own self-striping yarn to teaching sock knitting at a local yarn shop using the Basic 4ply Socks pattern, and we’ve been chatting for quite some time online now, so it was lovely to meet her and her Mum in person.  I love to find out more about where other people live and how similar we all are despite living on opposite sides of the world.  They had left New Zealand winter for UK heatwave summer and that blows my mind!

Sarah said she was going to bring me some of her yarn and I was very excited as I love stripy yarns – but I didn’t expect her to bring quite so much!  Oh my goodness, what a generous treat this is and I feel very spoilt!

There are two full skeins of sock yarn – the top one with the green is called Quandary and bottom one with the purple is called Nebula.

Interestingly, Sarah says that there is only one colour difference between the two skeins and that’s the purple in one and the green in the other – which means that both skeins will go beautifully with the mini skeins she’s brought me so that I can contrast my cuffs, heels and toes to my heart’s delight.

Self-striping yarns are quite the challenge to dye so that you get the stripes the same size and without the colours bleeding into each other.  Even big yarn manufacturers find that sometimes there are colour splashes during the dyeing process; it’s just one of those things and often can’t be helped, but hand-dyeing stripes is a skill that not everyone can or wants to master.  Sarah is very matter-of-fact about it and says that she likes the numbers involved in the dyeing process, but I know that she’s down-playing her dyeing talent!  I think it appeals to her organised brain but more than that, like me I think she just likes stripes 🙂

Sarah also brought me some of her stitch markers so there is no excuse for me to never be able to find a marker again!  She brought me three sets, each with their own theme.  This set is inspired by the Tūī (Tui) bird and I’ll be honest, I have never heard of a Tūī bird much less seen one!

“It looks like this,” said Sarah’s Mum, finding a video on her phone.  “And it doesn’t sound like you’d expect.”  No, it really doesn’t!  Have listen to this if you’ve never seen or heard this bird before: Tui bird call

The next set are inspired by the garden …

and the last set have a monstera leaf which I am delighted about as I have rescued not so small daughter’s monstera (Swiss cheese plant) from her bedroom and revived it to the point where it’s producing new leaves and she was talking about taking it to university with her.  Absolutely not!  I saved it, it’s mine now! 🙂

Sarah also brought me one of her DPN cases which I definitely need as my DPNs are all over the place.  The idea with these is that you use them when your sock is on the needles so that your stitches don’t slide off between knitting sessions, but I think I’ll be using it just to make sure my DPNs are all in one place instead of between the sofa cushions, under the sofa, in the car … 🙂

And as if that wasn’t enough, Sarah also brought me two skeins of yarn from Wild Earth Yarns, a New Zealand yarn manufacturer which produces a wide range of yarns in different fibres.  Sarah uses Wild Earth yarn bases for her hand-dyed yarns so I get to try that out, and she also brought me a skein of no-nylon yarn (on the left) as it’s no secret that I love a no-nylon yarn, and some possum yarn.

I love that Sarah has been able to source a New Zealand yarn for her base.  It’s important that we support our “home grown” industries when we can – in the case of yarn, it’s not always the cheapest or sometimes the easiest to find in local yarn shops, but it pays for food on the table and roofs over the heads of the people who produce it and that beats cheapest for me any day.

Isn’t that gorgeous?  I’m telling you – there’s a seriously spoilt Mum here in Winwick!

Lincoln is a blend of 80% Merino and 20% Lincoln fleece, and the Possum is 20% possum with 80% Merino wool.  Possums are originally from Australia but found their way over to New Zealand where they are not particularly welcome as they attack local wildlife and destroy habitats, and so their numbers are controlled.  Of course there’s always an ethical debate about this and every country has plants and animals that were introduced somewhere along the line which aren’t native to that country (rats on ships, anybody, or the Victorians who couldn’t resist a collectable plant?), but it’s always a personal choice whether to buy or use yarn or clothing made from possum fur.

You can find Narrative Yarns on Facebook and Instagram, and Sarah also exhibits at yarn festivals and sells her yarn and markers through a local yarn shop.

Thank you so much, Sarah!  It was brilliant to meet you at last, and I hope you and your Mum enjoy the rest of your trip!

Back in Winwick, I’ve been watching the temperature carefully over the last week or so to time it right for getting the dog out to stretch his legs.  The weather over the last couple of weeks has turned the wheat in his favourite field from this …

to this …

and I’m sure it won’t be long before we head to that field and find it bare as the combine harvester will have been through to cut all the wheat down.

There’s lots of chamomile growing along the footpath and it’s lovely to see the cheery yellow faces of the daisy-like flowers …

Finally for today, I have got some super-exciting news that I am thrilled to share with you.  Drum roll please … Winwick Mum patterns are now available at Wool Warehouse!  Hooray!

Wool Warehouse have been a massive supporter of Winwick Mum ever since I first published Super Socks back in 2015 and I’ve always been very grateful for that.  They’re a family-owned business passionate about yarn and crafts and they’re lovely people to deal with as well.  I don’t know why it’s taken me quite so long to approach them about selling my patterns but it feels like absolutely the right thing now for Winwick Mum patterns to be available through them – and of course it makes perfect sense if you’re shopping for yarn, irrespective of where you live in the world, as you can buy yarn and patterns together and Wool Warehouse are able to deal with all the tax requirements that I can’t through the blog.  It’s also good news for those who don’t want to buy through Ravelry, although my patterns will remain available there and also on Payhip.

You can find all my Winwick Mum patterns plus books and other patterns designed for West Yorkshire Spinners on the Wool Warehouse website here: Winwick Mum at Wool Warehouse

Right, that’s it from me for today.  No Pimm’s for me just yet as it’s a bit early, but there’s definitely going to be sock knitting under the garden umbrella this afternoon.  I’ve changed colour for my new design (due out in September, you’ve not missed anything!) so that the pattern will be easier to photograph (I’ll be keeping the Yarn Unique socks for myself!), and I’m liking how it’s knitting up!

Have a lovely day, whatever you’re up to, and I’ll see you again soon! xx