CH 143: A Cosy Start to October

Today's post is a bit of a general update...a cosy chat about what's been going on and what's coming up in the Curious Handmade world. Show Sponsors: Meadow Yarn is an inviting online retailer selling yarn, needles and notions. It's a small, family business based in rural Suffolk in the UK. Meadow Yarn was born out of a passion for beautiful yarn and knitting accessories and aims to bring you a range of great products. Yarns stocked include Northbound Knitting, Eden Cottage Yarn, the Fibre Co and many more. Blacker Yarns produce a diverse range of breed specific yarn for your knitting and crochet projects. With everything from Shetland and Blue-Faced Leicester through to Wensleydale, Gotland and Manx you’ll be sure to find an unexpected treat. If you are thinking of embarking upon a breed specific adventure, then head over to www.blackeryarns.co.uk. All Blacker’s wares are spun and dyed at their mill in Cornwall using 100% British Fibre and sustainable production methods.” Peppermint & Licorice Tea from Pukka Tea Show Links: Peppermint & Licorice Tea from Pukka Tea Arranmore from The Fibre Co. The Simple Things Magazine The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well How to Hygge: The Secrets of Nordic Living Hygge: The Danish Art of Happiness Hygge: A Celebration of Simple Pleasure: Living the Danish Way The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well Scandinavian Comfort Food: Embracing the Art of Hygge Wild Planet Soft Embers Candles Events: The Autumn Curious Country House Retreat is sold out! If you’d like to have a spot on the waiting list, or be added to a list to hear about our next retreat in the spring, please get in touch with me at [e-mail] Whether you’re coming along or not, you are very welcome to join in with the Curious Handmade Country House KAL. Use the hashtag #chmadewellalong on Instagram to see how everyone is progressing! We're making the Madewell Cardigan by Joji Locatelli and I'll be knitting mine in Eden Cottage Yarn’s Oakworth 4 Ply in the Pennine Mist colourway. The Shawl Society Update: Quill Shawl KAL winner: Post #51 by kirstan Aurorae Shawl “Aurorae are the spellbinding flames of light that gather in the sky at both ends of the earth. In the far north, in Finland, it’s said that the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights, occur when a great arctic fox brushes sparks from the mountain tops with his huge fluffy tail. On the other side of planet, the Aboriginal Australians believed that the Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights, were fires from the spirit world: the raging bushfires of sky spirits or the glow of their ancestors’ campfires. I love the idea that people from different places can look at one phenomenon and interpret it so differently and creatively. In a much smaller way we can see this same magic happening in something as simple as a knitting pattern, when the gifted imaginations and hands of knitters from every corner of the world create their own versions of a beautiful object. The Aurorae Shawl gathers up the strands of that sense of wonder, with rippling shifts of colour and flickering eyelet lace. Aurorae Shawl was designed using a six colour gradient set, with both sport weight and fingering weight versions. If you’re knitting from stash, this is a wonderful way to use up leftovers from other projects: just pick six colours that blend or play well together. This asymmetrical shawl features garter, eyelet and slip stitches: it looks intricate and complicated, but in fact it’s a gentle, easy knit. An i-cord edge gives Aurorae a lovely, polished finish.” The two samples for Aurorae were knit in beautiful gradients from two lovely indie yarn dyers: Copper Corgi Mini Skein Set in the Peacock colourway for the sport weight version. Seven Sisters Arts Meridian Gradient Set in the Raven’s Wing colourway for the fingering weight version. As always,