New & Gorgeous – Shalimar Breathless at Loop!

We are coming to you live from the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in London! We’ve set up our stand, and are two days in to this amazing show. It’s been lovely to see Loop customers – both our regulars (you know who you are!) and those of you who have travelled from afar (including California!) for the show. We’re also so excited to be introducing the newest addition to the Loop family, Shalimar Yarns Breathless!

Breathless is a delectable blend of merino, cashmere and silk. It’s wonderfully soft with a hint of sheen from the silk. After we displayed it in our stand at Ally Pally (as it’s locally known) us Loop staff wondered to ourselves if we should buy our favourite colours before the crowds came and snatched it all up! Choosing a favourite colour among all the beautiful choices proved to much for some of us though, so rest assured there’s still plenty left :)

Kristi of Shalimar was lovely enough to open up to us about her yarn company, Shalimar, and her inspirations. She told us she got into hand-dyeing yarn through owning a yarn shop in the US. A horse lover, she says, “You can’t ride two ponies in one race” so she closed up shop to focus solely on Shalimar. We’re so lucky she did! One of our favourite things about Breathless is the subtle depth of the colours. Kristi calls her semi-solid colour range “Stonewash”. She explains, “Just like the color on a pair of well worn jeans begins to blend to a lighter tone, I was looking for a subtle shift in color in my yarns. This allows the yarn to reflect the light, give more depth and interest to the fabric and still show stitch patterns and design elements to their fullest. Now I design a color palette that not only works well as a whole, but appeals to a broad range of knitters/crocheters. I often hear from customers who recognize my colors as ‘Shalimar.'”

Speaking of the name Shalimar, we asked Kristi about how she named her yarn range. She told us Shalimar is also the name of her rescue horse, an Arabian mare. Kristi is passionate about horse welfare and charities and told us that there is a real plight for horses at the moment because of the price of hay and their long life spans. We think it’s great Kristi has used the name of her yarn company as a kind of way of raising awareness about horse welfare.

This corner of our stand at Ally Pally shows off our two new yarns – Breathless and Freia – perfectly. So much colour! We had a lovely sample of Frost in Bloom (downloadable on Ravelry) knit up in Breathless in the colourway Glacier – lovely Sophie is showing off just how soft this yarn is against your neck!

We also displayed this precious baby sweater in Breathless. It’s the Little Oak cardigan by Alana Dakos – lovely in Tawny and finished off with an adorable Acorn & Will brooch (we ran out of time to sew buttons on it!).

Speaking of Acorn & Wills brooches – they have proven irresistible! Here is our display in all its cute glory at Ally Pally. They’re perfect for closing shawls or cardigans or just wearing on your shoulder with pride.

We just love spreading the word about lovely yarns and haberdashery, sourced from lovely people. Thank you to Kristi of Shalimar Yarns for sharing her story with us. We’d love to see you all at Ally Pally this weekend, but failing that, we’re always on hand to offer advice, support and inspiration in the shop, via email or phone and in our group on Ravelry. We hope to see you around!