News

This year’s Great London Yarn Crawl (GLYC) takes place from 1st to 8th September 2019

This year’s edition of the Great London Yarn Crawl will be a little different. The week-long event will allow participants to choose their own routes and shop combinations and to spread their visits over multiple days, extending the yarn-y celebration! The fantastic shops involved in this year’s GLYC have come up with some special offers and events for September. Participants must present their GLYC passports to take advantage of any shop offers!

Ticket sales will end at 11.59 pm on Sunday, 25th August. For more details and tickets, visit https://www.yarninthecity.com/tickets-2019

Refuge says: “Part of our goal in putting on The Great London Yarn Crawl in the autumn is to give back to the community. There are a couple of ways we see that happening. The first is by bringing together knitters, crocheters, spinners and weavers and giving them an opportunity to explore new shops and make new friends. The second is by donating to a local charity, specifically one devoted to helping women and children. As both of us are women with children, supporting organisations that help those in need is an important thing for us. After researching the various London-based women-focused charities around, we decided that a portion of the proceeds from The Great London Yarn Crawl event will be donated to Refuge.

In their own words: “Refuge opened the world’s first safe house for women and children escaping domestic violence, in West London, in 1971. Since then we have grown to become the country’s largest single provider of specialist domestic violence services. On any given day our national network of services support over 2,000 women and children. Our life-saving and life-changing services empower women to rebuild their lives, and support children to overcome their traumatic experiences. Refuge is facing unprecedented financial pressure – which is why we need support more than ever before. Thank you to all at Yarn in the City: The Great London Yarn Crawl for your continued support. For more information visit www.refuge.org.uk.”

Our cover design is a cross-over top in King Cole Opium, with a similar short-sleeved top in a large size range. We’ve a selection of twelve designs including two versatile Phyllis Moran patterns for Passap machines and we include details for converting mid gauge and chunky patterns for standard gauge machine​s​. Denim makes the perfect season stretcher and will instantly update your favourite knit says Sally-Ann Carroll and Bill King shows us how the slip stitch setting has lots of potential for creativity. Fay Butcher is our new Passap contributor and this month she passes on another trick to help all knitters and Karin Rogalski creates a fabulous lounge lizard, as the finale in her mini-series showing us how to knit toy scarves. Claire Newberry shows us how to design a motif and put it into a repeat in DesignaKnit and we’ve Part 2 of our series on Colour Changers, looking at attachments that may never have come out of their box. We always ​include news, books and fashion plus great reader savings on new craft books from Search Press.

It’s competition time and we’ve some exciting news to share with you all.

From the 31st July to the 2nd September King Cole is running a competition using its Raffia yarn. There’s a prize each for the UK, the USA and ROW worth £50 – three prize packs in total.

The competition is being run through Facebook and Instagram with entries being submitted via these platforms. However if you know of anyone who would like to enter who doesn’t have access to these platforms please send all entries to roland.parker@kingcole.com. 

It’s an excellent opportunity to see what the knitting community can produce with this quirky yarn and how countries differ in their submissions. King Cole can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Our cover design is a pretty cropped cardigan in King Cole Giza Cotton 4-ply. There’s a similar sweater design, both are easy to knit and for a large size range. We’ve a selection of ten designs and we include details for converting our patterns for knitting on standard gauge machine​s​. If your summer knitted wardrobe needs a new zest for life, a cool citrus hue will instantly add a fresh new flavour says Sally-Ann Carroll and Bill King reminds us that tape yarns make a little effort go a long way. Fay Butcher shares an easy pattern for E6000 and Duo machines and we refurbish an old chair in a splendid Artika tartan. You’ll also want to catch up with Linda Jackson and rediscover your love of Artika Designs with our great reader offer. Claire Newberry shows us how to design a motif in DesignaKnit and then put it into a repeat and we always ​include news, books and fashion plus great reader savings on new craft books from Search Press.

Taunton Machine Knitting Club is holding a Knit-a-Long Workshop with Anne Lavene on Tuesday 20th August from 2.00 pm. There will be a shared meal where everyone brings something and an evening demo by Anne, finishing at around 9.00 pm. The cost is £20 for the day or £8 for the evening and five spaces are available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. For further details of what to bring and so on, contact Mary on 01823 442453.

Nina Miklin has a new design (M216) with a scallop trim featured in her new Book No. 4. Knitted in stocking stitch with plating gives a beautiful mottled effect. The fabric is compact, but very light. Most machines have a plating feeder and here’s a great opportunity to use it. The pattern is in four sizes from small to extra-large and suitable for standard gauge single bed machines at £5.40 for a printed version and £4.50 as a PDF email attachment. Book No. 4, with 39 colour pages, is £14.50 for a PDF download. Email Nina for more details or to order.

Special reader offer For a short while, the PDF pattern and yarn is available as a kit (£42) for MKM readers, to include 250g of Roma Extra Fine Merino Wool wound double in each of two colours, Shade 08 Black, Shade 17 Soft White plus 40g in contrast for the scallop trim. (The full shade range is on her website.) For lots more details or to order, write to Nina at PO Box 71930, London NW2 9QZ.

Tel 020-8455 1996

Email nina.miklin@virgin.net

Website www.exclusiveyarns.co.uk