Wensleydale Longwool Wool

I love trying our new yarns and have wanted to sample Wensleydale wool for a long time so when I visited their shop in Leyburn North Yorkshire on a lovely sunny day earlier this month I was in my element!  Leyburn is lovely and the Wensleydale shop is a treasure trove of yarn, accessories and finished items made using this local Yorkshire wool. If you get the chance make a visit to the shop, the staff are very knowledgeable and very keen to help and discuss your projects.

Made in very pretty Wensleydale using traditional Wensleydale Wool, this very warm yarn presents very good value. The Aran (worsted) yarn is £6.50 per 100gm ball. Double knitting yarn (light worsted) is £6.60 for a 100gm ball and £3.40 buys you the 4 ply in 50gm balls.

The wide  selection of colours includes some marls in the Aran weight which includes Natural, Aubergine, Buttertubs, Coral, Denim, Dusk, Fennel, Larch, Lime Sherbet, Marshmallow, Mizzle, Moonlight, Pomegranate, Storm, Teal, Wild Thyme and Thornton Rust. Yardage per 100g ball: 160m – 174yds and for knitting recommended needle size: 4.5mm (UK 7) with a tension of 19sts and 25 rows over stocking stitch 10cm x 10cm using 4.5mm needles.

Wensleydale Double Knitted(light worsted) also comes in 100 gram ball, colours are Natural, Natural Black, Buttertubs, Coral, Denim, Fennel, Larch, Lime Sherbet, Mizzle, Moonlight, Spruce, Storm, Wild Thyme, Marshmallow, Pomegranate and Thornton Rust. I used a 3.5mm hook 11 dc’s (sc’s) and 13 rows made 6 cm’s/2”. Yardage per 100g ball for the double knit is 235m/257yds with a recommended needle size of 3.75mm (UK 9).

Wensleydale 4 ply in 50 gram ball comes in Natural, Natural Black, Buttertubs, Larch, Fennel, Moonlight, Pomegranate, Marshmallow. Yardage per 50g ball: 170m – 186yds with a recommended needle size: 3.25mm (UK 10) and a tension of 27sts and 36 rows over st/st on 3.25mm needles over 10cm (4″) square

All these gorgeous Wensleydale yarns would be perfect for winter jackets, cardigans, scarfs and hats and gloves. Buy at the lovely shop in Leyburn north Yorkshire or online at https://www.wensleydalelongwool.co.uk/?v=79cba1185463

Sirdar Snuggly Spots review

Sirdar Snuggly spots is the perfect  yarn to use if you want to create an unusual finish without the need to change yarns. There are many yarns now available that create a variety of special effects but Sirdar snugly spots is a bit more unusual, it creates spots randomly as you work.

There are 16 colours to choose from. I’ve tried the very pale pretty spot, this gives a very subtle sprinkling of pale pink and pale lavender spots. The darker cosy spot produces more pronounced spots of orange and grey.

A 50g ball makes 165m/179 yards. Sirdar Snuggly is made with 55% nylon and 45% acrylic and is very easy to work with. It’s perfect for children’s clothing and blankets and soft scarfs. I used it to make the teddy (more on this in May!). I use hook size 3.25 but any size up to 4 mm would be fine.

I’d like to Snuggly spots for a crochet Arran style jacket using the speckle. This is my favourite in the large range of Snuggly spots. You could also use this yarn for throws and blankets, picking out the colour of the spots for contrasting yarns.

Buy from Deramores.com and woolwarehouse.co.uk