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The new Cypra interchangeable needles: What are they Lykke?

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I am a bit of a magpie. Aren’t we all really?! I like shiny things, so when I saw the new Lykke Cypra interchangeable needles I got very excited. Look at them… Lykke Cypra interchangeable needle set in brown case Aren’t they beautiful?! They are made of pure copper and each needle glows with a warm light that I found irresistible.  When I was little, I learnt to knit on metal needles, which I always found super slippy. I used to knit each stitch so tightly so that I didn’t drop it by accidentally slipping it off the end of the needle. As you can imagine, this made knitting quite stressful and full of tension: in hands, shoulders and stitches! I tried plastic ones, but didn’t like the feel of them and quickly fell out of love with the craft. When I returned to it, in my mid-twenties, I discovered wooden and bamboo needles. They are beautifully grippy on the yarn, and I found that I didn’t have to knit each stitch so tightly to stop it falling off. I also found that if I needed to sm...
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Designer profile: Victoria Marchant Knits

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VICTORIA MARCHANT KNITS Victoria is a knitwear designer who is based in Surrey in the UK. We started chatting on Twitter, and bonded over a shared love of chemistry and spreadsheets (as well as knitting and yarn, obviously!). This designer profile will give you a feel for her designs, what she is about, and contains some affiliate links to my favourite patterns of hers. PATTERNS  Perforate mitts and cowl Victoria released her first pattern, Perforate, in June 2020. Her Perforate designs are a pair of mitts and a cowl, and as the name suggests, they both have rows of lacework holes that look like perforation running through their fabrics. She continued designing and releasing accessory patterns but has recently been working on bringing her first garment pattern, a top called Roseability, to the knitting community. I am extremely excited about this pattern! Not only is it beautiful, with a delicate stitch pattern on the front and the lace blending smoothly into the ribbing at the wai...
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As Yet Yarns: a biography

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AS YET ORIGINS It has taken a while for As Yet Yarns to become what it is today. It started out a little differently … The name came from my desire to have a couple of different product lines. Originally it was going to be knitting patterns (As Yet Unmade) and hand knit items (As Yet Unworn), as well as upcycled accessories and craft tools (As Yet Unloved).  This was way back in 2012/2013. Unfortunately it didn’t take off, not least because I can’t knit fast enough! In the end I decided I wanted to keep my knitting for pleasure rather than for business. But the name stuck… This is a golf mitt that I adapted to add the leaf pattern on the back. There isn’t actually a palm to this. Just a cuff over the wrist and the panel over the back of the hand. A couple of loops hold it in place, THE START OF DYEING In 2018 I had my first child. During my maternity leave  I spent a lot of time sat on my bum breastfeeding. Whilst doing so, I started watching ChemKnits on YouTube to keep my mi...
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To brioche or not to brioche: brioching is a verb, right?!

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  I’ll admit that I was late to the Shawlography party. I saw all the posts and the hype and thought I wasn’t going to bother. I was trying to get the right yarn to correct my Find your Fade shawl (which I’ll save for another post). At the very last minute, I got swept up in it all. I saw everyone’s beautiful yarn combinations and started putting together my own options. I figured I had enough skeins that I could do it from stash. I ALMOST did as well!  I had bought a whole bunch of beautiful skeins from Countess Ablaze in her closing down sale. I also had two skeins that I had bought from her shop in person years ago. But they were all gloriously dark and moody. I needed something a bit lighter to provide the contrast, so I added in a skein of Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply and created the perfect, sumptuous colour palette. I was ready, and super excited! I managed to start knitting at the end of the first week, so clues 1 and 2 had been posted. I love this way of knitting - so m...
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