Quince & Co's Finch, from left to right : Kumlien's Gull 152, Kittywake 151, Iceland, 153, Carrie's yellow, 125, Honey 123, Goldfinch124

We have all the Quince & co. yarns now that 4-ply Finch has arrived in the shop. We already carried their 4-ply Tern, but it has 25% silk and we fancied a bit of the plain stuff as well. Sometimes, what you want is a good basic wool yarn to show off your fancy stitch patterns. This is a versatile yarn that can do traditional or contemporary projects.

It’s freezing in London at the moment. We’re all wearing fingerless gloves around the shop. My favourite pattern has to be Cedar Shake from Juju’s Loops. Well they would be, wouldn’t they. But see, the thing is, they’re fitted well enough that they don’t get in the way when working. You could easily make them longer in the arm for extra warmth. They’d be perfect in Finch.

I would love to see the yellows and greys, from the shot at the top of the post, worked up into a nontraditional version of a Hap shawl like the Shetland Trader’s Hansel Wrap.

We love the Fibre Company’s Mountain Ash Shawl. It looks great in their luxurious yarns but it also works up well in pure wools. Susan has one in Semilla dk. Super snugly!

Some other great patterns for Finch are Churchmouse’s  Stay-On Baby Booties and Stephen West’s  Blue Whale for a man who doesn’t want too much going on in his wool kerchief.

Stay warm knitters! ~ Juju at Loop

The truck arrived from Spain with boxes of Juju’s Loops today. If you pre-ordered, your copy will go in the post tomorrow morning. Here are some preview pictures.

Oak Knot Hat in Juno Pearl

Detail of Swoon in madelinetosh Prairie

Praire Shawl in Dye for Yarn

Elk in the Woods, cuff and collar in madelinetosh Pashmina

We really hope you all like it.

I will be hosting knit alongs for some of the patterns in the new year and posting behind the scenes pictures.

~Juju at Loop

With beautiful historical and contemporary photos

Embroidery, with details and charts

Crochet garments, laces, and trims

And much, much more!

If I could only have one textile book, this would be it. My desert island book! I admit it is not cheap and weighing over 2kg, it will be heavy to order through the mail, but it is worth every penny. If you are looking for a last minute gift for a fibrephile who has everything, this is it. They won’t have it already because we are the first store in the world to have an English copy. Unless, of course, the fibrephile is me. Susan gave me my copy yesterday as a Christmas present. Yippee!

Designs and Patterns From Muhu Island

On other news…

We are expecting our book into the shop any minute now. I will post more about that tomorrow.

We have another exciting book launch for you on Saturday, the 15th of October.  From 2.30 – 4.30pm we will be celebrating the launch of Alice Yu’s first book. You all know Alice as Socktopus, knitwear designer and organizer of Knitnation. We are delighted that she will be with us to sign copies of her book, answer questions and munch on cookies.We will be giving a 10% discount off her book on the 15th.

Please join us! ~ Juju at Loop

Ysolda is wearing Orchid Theif

We’ve  got some great classes and workshops coming up this Autumn. As well as our usual assortment of beginners, learners and advanced classes we have added specialist workshops focused on particular techniques and held by well know knitters.

This weekend Ysolda Teague is teaching two sweater fitting workshops , September 17th and 18th. There are still a few places left on each day!

Ysolda will be signing books all weekend and we are giving 10% off on any yarn bought to make one of her projects.

We are also hosting the launch and book signing for Best in Show: Cats  this Saturday. Join us and get 10% off the book all day Saturday.

The best selling authors of Best in Show: Dogs, Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne, have done it again with a book that shows you how to knit your own cat.

Join us on Saturday September 17th, from 2-4pm for the book launch of Best in Show: Cats. If you came to our book launch for Jane Brocket’s book, you’ll know we have a good time ~ lots of tea, lemonade, cakes, cookies and chatter.  The author will be on hand for signing  and there will be a 10% discount on the book for the whole day.

Loop feature in Knitscene Fall 2011

Fall magazines are coming in fast, with lots of great ideas for autumn knits. Get your copies of Interweave Knits and Knitscene while they last. We’re delighted to be featured in the fall 2011 issue of Knitscene.

We are the only place in the UK where you can get the amazing new American magazine, Anthology. It’s not a knitting magazine but it is very stylish and interesting so we couldn’t resist carrying it.

Chianti Shawl in 1.2 skeins of Viola merino in Seastorm

The exciting news  of the week is Knit Nation.   We have lots to get ready so we  will be closing at 6pm on Thursday and there will be no knit night this week.  On Friday the 15th, the shop will close early at 4:30, so that we can set up our stand. We will however, be opening the shop on Saturday and Sunday as usual.

We will carry Wollmeise on our stand this year as well as many other special treats that we have been waiting to launch at Knit Nation.

Above, is the shop sample of the Chianti Shawl knit in our beautiful new yarn, Viola. The sample was knit by Liz who highly recommends the pattern. I can’t link to the Viola yarn in our web shop yet, because it isn’t up. But, if you can’t make it to Knit Nation, look out for it in our shop in the next few weeks.

We will be previewing our new Fibre Company Yarns and patterns, new colours of Madelinetosh and DyeforYarn, Chaigoo needles, Never Not Knitting patterns, KA Haberdashery, Washi tape to help you with your pattern reading, loads of obscure and Japanese knitting books, as well as cool notebooks from Japan and Paris.

Please come by and say “hi” at KnitNation. ~ Juju at Loop

Another pattern by the Shetland Trader (not in the book) is the Simmer Dim shawl. Our shop sample above is made in Juno Alice Sock in sage.

Susan and I are in Ohio at the big yarn trade fair, TNNA. We have ordered some very exciting stuff for the shop! We will be previewing some of our finds at Knit Nation in July. Expect lace weight cashmere and ChiaoGoo red-cable lace needles amongst other exciting finds. I’ll tell you more soon…

~ Loopy Juju in Ohio