Sara can’t get enough of knitting scarves at the moment. Everyday she seems to pop out of her office wearing a new one. Experimenting with various lace stitches Sara has now made one in Rico Fashion Julia aran and Debbie Bliss Luxury Silk dk. Also, not forgetting the ever so pretty ‘citron shawl’, which has got us all excited about Araucania Botany Lace. Since seeing the Debbie Bliss Luxury Silk dk scarf I am very tempted to knit one myself. The yarn is sooo soft and silky when knitted up. Sara did say that it was a delight to knit with. The only problem now is deciding on a colour. Do I go for plain or striped?
The great thing is they will knit up in no time at all, as you will only need one ball or two at the most if you are going for a slightly longer length (so maybe I could make 2). They are ideal as a decorative piece to add a splash of colour to an outfit. With the patterns both being for a slim line scarf, I can imagine these being something you could easily wear through to spring. Why not try the Rico Fashion Julia aran scarf knitted in Rico Fashion Romeo aran for an alternative take on glitz with sequins?
If you do knit a scarf please tweet a pic on twitter or email a photo to amy@blacksheepwools.com. We would love to see photos!

To download the free scarf pattern click here Rico Fashion Julia lace scarf

To download the free scarf pattern for Debbie Bliss Luxury Silk dk click here

Yvonne has been knitting with Debbie Bliss Blue Faced Leicester Aran yarn. Here is what she had to say………….

‘I decided to use the Debbie Bliss Blue Faced Leicester aran as my grandson is allergic to man-made fibres. I wanted a yarn that was 100% pure wool, this way there would be no chance of a small percentage of another fibre affecting him. I chose to knit with the fantastic plum – shade 11.
The yarn is so beautiful and soft. I have found it an absolute pleasure to knit with, sliding off my Lantern Moon rosewood needles effortlessly. A lovely, full bodied pure wool. As I made the jacket for my grandson I wanted to wash it before he wore it. I made sure that I hand washed the jacket to avoid any possibility of shrinking and it has washed beautifully. The yarn still has that bounce and softness it had prior to washing. I will definitely be knitting with this yarn again in the future.’

Yesterday we had a little visitor to the Craft Barn. Yvonne came in with her grandson Gabriel to show off his fab Debbie Bliss Blue Faced Leicester Aran cardigan, she had knitted for his christening. I had been looking forward to seeing the cardigan for a while as Yvonne had spoken so highly of her experience with the Debbie Bliss yarn. A nice change to have a real life model, a very cute one too.

After knitting baby Gabriel all sorts of different little cardigans, sweaters and blankets Yvonne realised that he was coming out in a rash when wearing certain items, coming to the conclusion that he is allergic to acrylic fibres. Whilst looking for a pure wool yarn in a plum shade Yvonne came across the Debbie Bliss Blue Faced Leicester Aran and decided this was the one. Although the pattern is actually a Sublime dk pattern (one knitted previously here), Yvonne took a chance and knitted a smaller size with the aran. On this occasion it has turned out fine and needed no tweaking. It can be a bit risky choosing a pattern which is a different thickness to the yarn and more often than not will result in a disappointing outcome, be warned we have all tried it at some point!

Whilst he was here Gabriel also kindly modelled two hats Yvonne has knitted in Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo dk (blue hat) and Sublime Oranic cotton dk (beige). The cardigan is from Sublime book 626 and Yvonne used a basic double knit baby hat pattern, adding her own designs for the hats.

Those of you signed up to the Black Sheep newsletter have already had a sneaky peak at Sara’s gorgeous granny stripe blanket. Crocheted in the delightful cashmere blend of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn this is an absolutely beautiful blanket. It will definitely be a cosy, warm blanket to snuggle in.

Everyone here at the Black Sheep has fell in love with the array of rainbow stripes. The shades flowing harmoniously with the granny stripe stitch. Many of the Black Sheep staff have been inspired to try out crochet for the first time or even get their hooks back out of hibernation.

If you would like to make Sara’s blanket the pattern is now available to download from the Black Sheep website. Click here.

The pattern is suitable for any double knitting yarn, maybe even an alternate series of shades? If you do choose to make Sara’s blanket we would love to see any photographs of your progress or the finished thing! Sara couldn’t put it down once she had started, so you never know it might be finished sooner than you think. Please send photos to amy@blacksheepwools.com.

With the Olympic games only just around the corner here at the Black Sheep the finish line is in sight with our Hook, Knit and Stitch – a – thon. I have more UFO projects to show you today. Including both finished and unfinished projects.  Sara has brought in another UFO – this time a lovely cardigan in Sublime Extra Fine Merino Wool dk (shade 304) which she is knitting for herself. The pattern for the cardigan is from ‘The Second Simply Organic Cotton Dk book’ (622). The handle of this yarn is so soft when knitted up and kind of bouncy. A really luxurious double knitting yarn. The part Sara is currently knitting is the second sleeve. As the main body of the cardigan is knitted as one piece all Sara needs to do then is sew in the sleeves to finish off.

Here is a photograph of my unfinished Rowan Pima Cotton dk cardigan. All of the pieces are finished in my tower of cardigan bits and pieces. It just needs sewing up, something I have been putting off for too long now. So hopefully by next week I will be able to show you a finished cardigan (fingers crossed!).

And finally…………….

My finished crocheted Rialto 4ply skirt! I am so pleased with the skirt and I am so glad that I did not give up on it completely. It does feel good to finish something, finally. I plan to buy an under skirt at the weekend then I will take another photograph of me in the skirt.

I have two more UFO’s to share with you today. Including my own Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply skirt. This is a project I started way back in April – Easter to be exact (you can read the previous blog post here). Starting, as most projects do with good intentions. The exciting prospect of having a beautiful crocheted skirt for the summer months. It is now July, and if it wasn’t for the Hook, Knit and Stitch – a – thon this “piece” of crochet would definitely still be a “piece”, hiding away in my knitting bag with no hope of becoming a skirt.

Here is a photograph below. I have now finished both the front and back pieces. All I need to do to finish is sew up the sides and pick up the stitches to crochet the waist band. I am determined to get it finished in time!

The second UFO is Sara’s Sublime Egyptian Cotton Dk girl’s smock cardigan she is knitting for her daughter. The pattern is from Sublime book 610, girl’s ‘Little Red Smock’. At the moment she is knitting both sleeves at the same time, then the sewing up begins. The yarn is lovely and soft knitted up and the Peony is such a gorgeous colour. Keep an eye out for more updates………………

This weeks yarn review is by me, Amy from the Black Sheep. I have been knitting with the Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace (shade 002) yarn.

Here is my review…………

“This is a delight to knit with, so fine and extremely soft. It actually feels as if I could be knitting with a wisp of a cobweb, the way it effortlessly slips through my fingers. Having never knitted with a yarn so delicate I was a little apprehensive at first, whether it would take a long time. My previous experience with a lace weight yarn has been crocheted which I feel does tend to progress a little quicker. I like to see my project growing, after a few hours knitting you do want to see something for your work. The Rialto Lace has not disappointed me. I am  really enjoying knitting the lace design (with the help of my row tick off sheet – definitely a must with a lace pattern!) it is amazing how fast it is knitting up. I could imagine maybe the sideways knitted cardigan featured on the front cover of the Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace book would be very similar, not as daunting as I first thought. Maybe an idea for a future project?

The yardage is also superb, great value for money. I am more or less three quarters of the way to finishing my collar and I have only used a small amount of yarn. In the book it does say you can make more than one. My plan is to make another collar, this time crocheted from the Debbie Bliss Simply Crochet book with the remainder of the ball.”

This is how the finished collar will look. The pattern is in Rialto Lace by Debbie Bliss book.

Over the Easter weekend I started my Debbie Bliss crocheted skirt in Rialto 4ply. What a beautiful yarn! I have chosen a neutral shade palette of white, cream and stone.

I have been looking forward to starting this for quite a while now. After browsing through the Debbie Bliss Simply Crochet book going back and to, pondering over which design to make I eventually decided on the gorgeous ‘Sylvie’ skirt in Rialto 4ply. So I excitedly bought the yarn completely forgetting (well trying to) about the other projects that are on the go at the moment. I couldn’t wait any longer so I started it over the weekend. Up to now with approximately 8″ complete it seems to be going really well. I was a little apprehensive at first about all of the colour changes but I can’t believe how addictive it is becoming! The only problem has been deciphering the cream and white shades once the daylight has gone, rather than making lots of mistakes I decided to stop at this point. I am looking forward to finishing it ready for wearing this Summer.

This pattern and 10 more tempting crochet patterns are featured in Debbie Bliss Simply Crochet book. Click here to take a look!

On Saturday 1st October Debbie Bliss came to visit us here at the Black Sheep Craft Barn. She brought along a huge selection of garments and accessories for everyone to try on and chatted with customers about all things knitting. The garments were knitted in the same shades that you see on the pages of Debbie Bliss books so it was like the books had come to life without you having to do any of the knitting. We were all really inspired and everyone who came along to see Debbie on the day had a good time trying on the garments. It was interesting to try on styles or colours that you would not usually choose to knit. One of the sweaters i tried on was a cable design knitted in the Paloma yarn in shade 08 mustard which is not a colour I would choose for myself but I was surprised that I liked it and it felt gorgeous on, really soft and comfortable. This might just have to be a future project. Take a look at the photographs below of customers and staff in all her beautiful designs. We would like to say a big thank you to Debbie and her assistant Theresa for taking time out from their busy schedule to come and visit us all!

Click here to see more PALOMA shades

 Click here to see more RIVA shades

This gorgeous new yarn from Debbie Bliss is a chainette yarn and comes in a range of  shades. Knitted on 10mm Needles this will make lovely chunky Winter knits. Priced at £5.39 buy it now at The Black Sheep. Click here!

The pattern book to accompany the Paloma yarn has 9 different patterns to knit. Priced at only £4.95 click here to see more patterns. To knit this lovely scarf you will need 7 hanks of the Paloma yarn.