I would like to say that I had completed my WIP (work in progress), it isn’t but the good news is I am getting there slowly but surely. The sleeves are proving a little more tricky than I first anticipated. I will put it up here on the blog when it is all sewn up and finished very soon.

This week a customer came into the Craft Barn with a wonderful crocheted poncho she has made for her daughter. The lady (Debbie) has only recently started crocheting and attends a small crochet group where she is learning more techniques. Debbie has used King Cole Riot dk yarn, crocheting lots of small granny squares and joining them together to create a poncho. The great thing about the Riot dk yarn is the way it is multi shaded. To look at the poncho you would think a number of different balls had been used green, blue, red and purple. Some of the granny squares have come out made up entirely of one colour. Debbie said that it was a nice yarn to crochet with and she is really pleased with the way the garment has turned out.

Do you fancy knitting all of your tree decorations this year? I would imagine if you started knitting the odd decoration here and there in amongst other projects you could have a tree full of home made knits in time for decorating your tree. I have knitted these cute little baubles ready for the Black Sheep Craft Barn tree. My pattern is FREE for you to download now. The pattern is really easy to follow and knits up in just 19 rows. Click here to download.

If you do knit the baubles please feel free to send in any photographs to amy@blacksheepwools.com. It would be great to see different colour variations too!

One of our Craft Barn customers – a lady called Helen has been very busy knitting with the King Cole Galaxy dk yarn. She has knitted three tops in three different shades using a Sirdar Flirt dk pattern (9269), which suits the yarn beautifully. I like the scalloped edge lace detail around the garment. This emphasises the delicate sequin detail of the Galaxy dk perfectly.

Catherine has been knitting with the King Cole Riot Dk. This is one of the new yarns we have added to our website recently. Take a look at all of the shades here.

“The King Cole Riot Dk is a lovely soft yarn made up of 30% wool and 70% premium acrylic. It has to be one of the nicest long stripe yarns around at the moment. My initial thought after seeing the yarn was entrelac. After experimenting with different stitch combinations I have found it really good for entrelac knitting. The great thing about it is no tying in ends as you would usually when swapping yarns because of the continuous colour change, such fab colour combinations.

I plan on making a long throw or possibly a cushion with the grey shade (408 Domino) as a contrast to the brightly coloured shade (402 Wicked).”

Do you ever fancy knitting with a new yarn but feel you would like to know a little bit more about it before you do?

Well here at the Black Sheep we feel the same. It is always more encouraging when you see a beautiful garment someone else has knitted or a piece they have sampled. This gives you a good idea of whether or not the yarn is for you. With that bit of extra information a yarn decision can be made. If you know that someone has enjoyed using the yarn then it definitely helps. The next decision is which shade to choose, a dilemma I will leave up to you!

Although you can’t actually feel the piece of knitting I am hoping that with the help of the staff here at the Black Sheep sharing their thoughts you will be able to get a good idea of what they experienced when knitting.

First up in our Spring / Summer 2012 yarn review is King Cole Galaxy Dk.

Stacey has been knitting with the King Cole Galaxy Dk yarn. She has experimented with two different shades of the yarn the red (shade 686) and Venus (682). This is what she had to say………….

“It was a delight! It glided through my fingers, really easy to knit with, such a lovely silky feel. The yarn feels almost brushed yet, it is so beautiful and silky. It is hard to believe that it is actually acrylic and wool. The sequins are soft, not sharp and scratchy as you might expect sequins to be. Although I have knitted the scarf on a slightly larger sized needle than suggested it creates a lovely barely there, light weight fabric. When I knitted a piece to tension with smaller needles the piece was equally as light and fluid like. The sparkly sequins are really eye – catching and there are just enough scattered throughout. A bit of glamour for evening or why not day wear?”

Stacey’s scarf pattern will follow shortly available to download on the Black Sheep website……………