Sock blockers with Elgin socks!

Image used with permission of Clare Devine.

Hello and welcome to Episode 24 of the podcast. This week we will be mostly learning a lot about how to choose yarn for socks with Clare Devine.

Listen here

Introduction

Thanks to Frkstrik for alerting me to the amazing resource for everything knitted and crocheted toilet cover related. Check out this bad boy on Amazon.

The Halloween vultures did not quite descend upon Shiny Heights and now I am left with an awful lot of Swizzels sweets. It should not surprise me that there were no Blackjack sweets in there as they are, in fact, made by Barratt.

I wonder out loud if Hoxton will return with the panto this year. She has been quiet on the podcast front as she has been expecting a baby! You can find her back episodes for the pantos here.

The Golden Skein

Image Details: Harvest Autumn by Tranuf, via Flickr.

The latest quarter of The Golden Skein featured Sylvan Tiger Yarns of Yorkshire, Hartlam Yarns of South Africa and Kettle Yarn Co of London.

There are still one or two skeins available on The Golden Skein website for the Autumn quarter.

‘Celebration’ on sale now

Image Details: ‘Celebration’ by Linyihan, via Flickr.

The final quarter for 2014 is on sale now. Spots are still available but are limited, so be quick if you want to join in!

Review: Blacker Yarns West Country Tweed

Blacker says:

This limited edition Westcountry Tweed yarn is made from a blend of lustrous Teeswater Crossbred wool from the Mendip Hills and matt Black Welsh Mountain wool from Devon.

When blended together these two fibres create a soft grey shade. The fibre is then dyed in the wool and blended with nepps – miniature balls of felt – before spinning. The resulting yarn is an elegantly heathered woollen spun DK with a beautiful provenance: both the fibre and the spinning which create the yarn come from within 100 miles of each other.

Westcountry Tweed beautifully reflects our tradition of linking our yarns with the landscape. The four shades have been selected to match the moors, cliffs, and seas of South West England. We like to think of the colourful nepps as tiny wild flowers, accenting each colour’s subtle shades.

Like all Blacker Yarns, the fibre used in Westcountry Tweed comes from fleeces of animals reared in Britain according to the strictest of welfare standards.

I say:

It’s a great yarn. Well priced, and the little subtle neps add a bit of fun and interest. It softens and blow when washed and should make for a hardwearing yarn. It is being knit into a hat for Milly to test run for longevity and I will report back on how this goes at a later stage on the blog.

The yarn will be released for sale on 14th November at the Blacker Yarns website. Go here for lots of breed yarns and information.

Wrap Up

That’s all for this week. If you enjoyed the podcast, please consider leaving me an iTunes review to help other people join in the fun. You can contact me win email at shinybeesinfo@gmail.com, or I am Shinybees on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. Enjoy!