You may have seen the lovely SMC yarns – Rosas and Pertinio and wondered which patterns are suitable for these yarns. The book has now been discontinued but the great news is that we have all the patterns to download for free from our website. Woohoo!

Below are a selection of patterns that we have available to download for free from the Black Sheep Wools website. They are the perfect items for summer holidays and in juicy shades. There are others too, so don’t miss out! (see more patterns here). Both yarns are currently in the sale, SMC Pertinio is now £2.25 a ball RRP £4.50 and SMC Rosas £2.49 a ball RRP £5.25.

Striped top – knitted in SMC Rosas & Pertinio

Block colour top – knitted in SMC Pertinio

Cardigan – knitted in SMC Rosas

Crochet shawl – crochet in SMC Pertinio

Lace top – knitted in SMC Pertinio 

Striped top – knitted in SMC Pertinio

Sleeveless top – knitted in SMC Rosas

Block colour top – knitted in SMC Rosas

Would you like to win everything you need to make our Rowan bear?

He needs a name!! Simply suggest a name and enter your details here. A winning name will be chosen on Tuesday 07/05/13.

Good luck!!!

Would you like to make a gift for someone this Easter? Whether you would like to knit, stitch or crochet a small treat, I am sure that there will be something here that will take your fancy!

Easter Inspiration: Idea 1 – FREE download from The Making Spot blog, a pretty daffodil.

Easter Inspiration: Idea 2 – FREE download from Pom Pom Emporium blog. A cute Easter chick to hold a creme egg.

Easter Inspiration: Idea 3 – A baby sweater knitted in the lovely Rowan Baby Merino Silk DK from the NEW Rowan Studio 30 book.

Easter Inspiration: Idea 4 – Knit a cute egg cosy in a Sirdar DK yarn. Either an Easter egg or a little chick from Sirdar Pretty Knits book.

Easter Inspiration: Idea 5 – A FREE pattern of teeny, tiny bunny rabbits from Mochi Mochi Land blog.

Easter Inspiration: Idea 6 – A FREE download from Rowan Edmund the Easter Bunny by Jemma Weston. This cute bunny can be knitted with one ball of Rowan Revive yarn. Download the pattern here.

A busy week this week – what with pancake day and valentines day all keeping us very busy. You may remember from last year Catherine’s knitted heart pattern. It is back this year as a FREE download! Take a look over on the website now. There is still time to knit a cute heart for your valentine. I don’t think they just have to be for valentine’s day though. Why not knit lots of hearts and use them as decoration in your home? I am thinking they might look quite nice on my notice board beside my desk here at Black Sheep HQ.

Whilst it is Valentine’s day I thought it would be nice to share a variety of different projects and other bits n bobs that have a romantic/heart/love theme. Take a look below………….

I have been crocheting some teeny tiny little hearts using a red 4ply cotton yarn (and one lonely pink one). The pattern was in the very first issue of Simply Crochet.

Maia counted cross stitch kit – Big City Rendezvous

Heartbeat Sweater in Rowan Big Wool from Easy Winter Knits book

Love Heart chicks FREE download from Rowan

Finally my love heart nails – red & pink for valentine’s day! xxx

One of our Black Sheep customers has sent in a photograph of her recently finished knitting project. A funky ‘bobble bag’ knitted in Katia Azteca yarn. A beautiful soft blend of 50% wool & 50% acrylic. Sandy had downloaded the free pattern from the Katia website to knit this fantastic bag. Although the pattern does say 3 balls Sandy said that an extra one was needed for the tassels. The colours look great and the design suits the multi shaded yarn. Sandy said that the bag only took a couple of evenings to knit! If you fancy trying it out why not download the pattern here.

Thank you Sandy for sharing and sending in the photos. If you have any projects you would like to share knitted, crocheted or stitched please send them to amy@blacksheepwools.com.

The bag before tassels

Blue lining

Bag complete with tassels

In January a brand NEW crochet magazine is going on sale called ‘Simply Crochet’. We are all very excited here at the Black Sheep to see what it has to offer. I am sure it will be full of fantastic patterns and advice! I found this cute little Angel pattern available to download for free from their blog page. There are lots of posts to inspire your crochet projects and even a sneaky peak at the magazine itself!

After making the original Christmas baubles pretty much in summer (not so festive months), I thought I would give my pattern a go with the Adriafil Gold to get in the Christmas spirit. I followed the pattern exactly and used 4mm needles. It has turned out really well. I would imagine out of one ball you could knit approximately 10 baubles. The best thing of all it knitted up in no time, knitted, sewn and stuffed in one evening. The only problem is it did distract me from my Christmas jumper (uh oh!). Now I have got to the snowman it is progressing well, especially now he is starting to take shape. At the moment I have just 3 different stands to juggle with, I must admit at times I am getting a tiny bit tangled. Maybe wish me luck for when I get to the scarf section when more colours are added to the equation!

A fantastic free pattern for you to download by Catherine Myhill who is the manager here at the Black Sheep Craft Barn. She did make the snood with one of her sons in mind, giving the pattern the title of men’s snood. However this would also be a lovely snood for a woman too. Snood’s seem to be very popular here amongst Black Sheep staff and I have also spotted a huge selection on the high street.

This pattern is really easy to do and would be a nice idea for a cosy Christmas gift. As the yarn is a super chunky it will knit up in no time. Sam who works here in the warehouse was kind enough to model the snood for a quick photograph.

Stylecraft Swift Knit Super Chunky is £3.59 a ball and comes in 8 different shades.

We have a selection of 7 great pattern designs from Rowan including a few options that could well be possible Christmas gift ideas available to download now for free. My favourite is the ‘Gemma beret‘ which takes just 3 balls of the Kidsilk Aura yarn. With the yarn being so gorgeous and soft, I have a feeling once I did start knitting with it I would find it very difficult to part with the finished piece. So, maybe not a gift for someone else but one for me, ooops!

Rowan Kidsilk Aura is on offer at £2.99 a ball a huge saving on the RRP £6.75!

Stacey has knitted this very handy snood in SMC Elements Mix yarn. To knit it you will need 4 balls (£2.65 a ball) and the best thing  the pattern is available to download on Black Sheep Wools website now for free! Knitted in moss stitch which gives the snood that added texture. The snood would be ideal to keep out the chill on a blustery day like today, it can be worn loose or wrapped once. The Elements Mix is a textural yarn with each shade a stunning mix of colours, including a metallic strand running throughout. I feel quite tempted to add this snood to my never ending project list but I just can not decide on a shade. The ‘Bonfire Mix’ Stacey has chosen would definitely be a possibility.