We’ve got lots of Very Important Knitting People (VIKP, don’t you know?) visiting us soon. Of course, everyone who knits is important, (this goes without saying, no?) but we have some special knitting visitors coming from far and wide!

Those of you still in London in August can ignore that silly circus in Stratford; we’ve got Stephen West coming to Islington! Join us on Saturday the 11th from 2-4pm. Stephen will be unveiling his latest Mystery KAL (knit-along shawl pattern), signing books, previewing WestKnits Four and chatting!

Stephen West

This mystery Kal has almost 1500 people knitting it right now! Stephen says it is his favourite design. The big reveal will be very exciting so please join us in the shop that day and bring along your shawl.Follow the thread…

Bottom: Artisan Linen Lace "ikat", Top left to right; Sample in Artisan Linen Lace "Coralie", Pakucho "Green Avocado", Sparrow in "Nannyberry" and "Butternut"

After a long wait, we finally have some lovely spring weather. It seemed cruel to mention linen a week ago, when all we’d had was rain, rain, rain. But now I can say, “Look ladies, lovely linen!” (Who can resist a bit of alliteration, eh?)

Quince & co’s Sparrow has arrived in colours. Well, it came in last week, but it seems to have gone out again, very quickly. We will be getting another shipment very soon. Let us know if you want a call when it comes back in.

The Swatch above is in Artisan Linen Lace, which is finer than Sparrow but would make a very beautiful summer lace. I’m thinking it would be perfect for the Rock Island Shawl.

Jared Flood's Rock Island Shawl

I’d also love to see the Wick Lane Shawl from Pom Pom in Linen Lace.

Wick Lane Shawl from Pom Pom

Linen is perfect for working up some of the beautiful items in our Japanese books. They favour natural colours of cottons and linens. This beautiful book of Irish Crochet Lace is written in Japanese but the very clear charts and layout make it easy to follow for English speakers.

There is the prettiest flower bag in there, that I would love to make. It would also be lovely just to crochet some of the motifs, like the leaves at the bottom of the cover, and applique them to summer dresses or t-shirts. I’ll try and write a simple pattern for something like that for next week.

We have lots more summer yarns in store so enjoy while it lasts.

~ Juju at Loop

Wikipedia: Japanese books were traditionally made of washi, or Japanese paper. →

We are thrilled to announce that two of our own lovely loopers, Meghan Fernandes and Lydia Gluck, have started a quarterly magazine, Pom Pom. The first issue has arrived in the shop and contains five lovely knitting patterns. Well done gals!

Loop is launching its own range of patterns. (Okay, there ‘s only one in the “range” so far, but we are working on more).

Our first, is this lovely baby cardi, Mignon, that uses just one skein of yarn. We have knit this sample in Uncommon Thread, which is a beautiful hand-dyed Bluefaced Leicester. This colourway is called Into Dust. Really Dreamy!

But the fun doesn’t stop there… I have to show you this funky and slightly butcher version in Uncommon Thread Brassica. I’m a big fan of this vivid modern mustard colour.

And just look at how adorable the mouse button is!

We sell the mouse buttons in the shop but they don’t appear to be on our website yet. (We may have sold out of them already, but we will get them back in). We have baby chick buttons that are just as adorable.

Thanks to Fiona and Gillian for test kniting the pattern.

Yummy Broklyn Tweed colours

This week, it’s all about the boys at Loop.

Jared Flood‘s amazing Loft and Shelter yarns finally arrived in stock. People have been phoning us for months, asking when we would get them in. We are the first store in Europe to carry them.

Really beautiful yarn, great pattern support, and reasonably priced. We are delighted to have it. I won’t be surprised if some of the more popular colours are gone by the end of the week. We will have the full range of colours, although Shelter still has some colours to come in.

Swatches with Brookly Tweed yarns

On Saturday, we’re lucky to have knitting legends, Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably, joining us to sign their new book, Knitting With The Colour Guys. They will be with us from 2-4. Join us for cupcakes, chatter and lemonade and receive a 10% discount on the book.

Just after my last post, Paulina came into the shop with this fabulous Cameo shawl made in Finch.

Paulina has been a regular customer for years, and we were delighted when she started designing and publishing her own patterns. We asked her to use Finch for her most recent design, and this asymmetrical striped shawl is what she came up with.

We found there were lots of ways of styling it and playing with the stripes. We loved it with Lydia’s grey Kidsilk cardi. (She used the yarn doubled to knit this simple cropped cardi.)

Paulina is having the design printed up now and it should be in the shop shortly. We’ll keep you posted.

~Juju at Loop

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

It’s Here!

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

Susan and I made a special trip to pick up 10 copies of this extraordinary book yesterday. It has over 380 pages of the most amazing textiles, from Muhu Island, Estonia. It includes beautiful examples of knitting, with charts and techniques

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