You may recall us swooning with excitement earlier this year over one of our new yarns, Squoosh. Whether you’ve been savouring the colours online or experienced the softness in the shop, we now have the perfect pattern to compliment. A collaboration between Loop’s owner Susan Cropper and designer Paulina Popiolek, with photography by Kristin Perers, we are thrilled to introduce ‘Josephine’.

You may have seen this beautiful crochet blanket around our London shop, or when it was quietly released on Ravelry a few months ago. Like most handmade things, this pattern has a long and lovely history, and we thought it was about time we shared it with you. 

With just four more sleeps until Christmas, you might think your gift-knitting ship has sailed. But with the help of the newly arrived Malabrigo Mecha, we did a little experiment and discovered that this Chunky Seeded Cowl can save the day! Knit in just three evenings, you can have a super-cosy cowl and great gift by Christmas morning.

We’re doing our best not to turn the heaters on in the shop this week, in spite of it getting very cold – what is knitwear for, after all? We’ve had delivery of some lovely things which have reminded us just how well us knitters do “warm”. We can’t think of a better way to keep toasty than with the magic of cables – those deceptively simple twists that create a  wind-proof, double-thickness fabric. If they’re good enough for seafaring Irishmen, they’re good enough for us.

We journeyed north last week, introducing you to the best Scandinavia has to offer at Loop. Today we’re staying north, but a little closer to home – Scotland! Loop is full of beautiful yarn, patterns and gifts from this textile history-rich land and we’re so pleased to be sharing them with you in their best autumn colours.

Last night at Loop we had the pleasure of welcoming Eline Oftedal, talented author of Knit Nordic, for a little show and tell. Accompanying her was a cameraman from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation! We sure gave him a lot to take in as it was one of our busiest knit nights in a long time! We were so inspired by Eline, and the wonders of Scandinavian knitting in general, that we decided to devote today’s blog post to the quite large library of Scandinavian knitting resources at Loop, and some of our favourite Scandi yarns!

We may have mentioned Kristen Kapur of Through the Loops one or two (or three!) times on this blog. And you may have heard us go on a little bit about the gorgeousness of The Uncommon Thread yarns. (Here, here, here and here.) So we like them both a little bit. Okay, maybe a lot! And when Sophie knit up a sample for the shop of a Kristen Kapur pattern, using The Uncommon Thread Tough Sock, a little magic happened. This is the Rivington Cowl. Knit up in Tough Sock, in Peat and Confetti*, it’s subtle, springy and just right for …

A Match Made in Yarn Heaven: The Rivington Cowl & Uncommon Thread Tough Sock Read more →

Gift knitting time is upon us (for those of us organised enough to be thinking ahead!), and there may be a man or two in your life who’s been hinting that he’d like a hand-knitted scarf or sweater. Or, hey, you may even be a man who knits! We know it can sometimes seem like there are more great new women’s patterns everyday, while men only get thrown a measly few patterns a year. This week we’re here to tell you there are some fabulous knitting patterns out there for men if you know where to look, as well as …

Knits for Men Read more →

We’re spoilt for choice when it comes to babies these days at Loop – there are so many adorable patterns and other bits and bobs perfect for the wee ones in our lives! From sweet cardis to dapper pullovers, precious toys to darling buttons, there’s so much to indulge both new parents and little people alike. Take for instance our very own Mignon pattern, pictured above. Knit in less than 100 g of DK weight yarn it’s the perfect pattern for a special hand-dyed (and machine washable!) skein like The Uncommon Thread BFL Sport/DK or a lovely Cashmere Merino Silk …

Knits & Gifts for Little Ones Read more →

We had some cooler weather this week in London and felt the first tingles of autumn creeping in. Or was it just wishful thinking? The warmer yarns are starting to arrive at the shop and it got us thinking about some of the great patterns, some new, some not so new, we’d love to knit this autumn. Of course we couldn’t do a roundup like this without first mentioning the king of “sweater weather”, Brooklyn Tweed. Above is the Stranger Cardigan, made in Shelter. Doesn’t it look cosy? It’s lovely in grey – so versatile – but we can’t get …

Autumn Inspiration at Loop! Read more →