baa ram ewe Blog

 For many knitters - even those who have several years' experience - knitting a sweater can seem like too big a challenge to take on. It requires a lot of yarn and usually several different techniques, and the possibility of everything going horribly wrong seems just a bit too significant.

Have you ever looked at a marled yarn and thought it was pretty, but had no idea what to do with it? Since we introduced the three marl shades of Dovestone Natural Aran earlier this year, quite a few customers have been asking us how to make the most of it. So our Alison has shared her top tips with us, with examples taken from her latest collection, Learn to Knit at Home:

Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who helped us to celebrate five years of Titus. We had a fantastic week, with lots of scrummy offers flying off the shelves, and a wonderful night of celebration on Thursday. More on that below.

Suddenly, we seem to be heading towards autumn (the weather here in Yorkshire appears to have turned that corner already!) and all we want to do is get out our needles and create cosy cowls and sweaters to snuggle up in. Several fabulous new patterns have appeared on Ravelry in the last few weeks, all made in our yarns, and we're so excited to share them.

We can't quite believe it, but next week marks five years since we launched our first yarn, Titus. We launched it to mark Yorkshire Day on 1st August, and here we are five years on preparing to celebrate its success.

So how do we celebrate five years of Titus and everything it has meant to us? Like this...Next week, we have a whole host of special offers lined up for you. There will be a new offer every day, so no matter what project you fancy taking on next, you can grab a bargain with baa ram ewe.

The real party day is next Thursday, 3rd August, when we'll be holding a Titus special anniversary knit night, showcasing what many of you have knitted to celebrate, and modelling them to everyone else! We'll post the link to get your tickets on our social media accounts soon. 

 One of the best things about picking up a new yarn is seeing how it behaves compared to your old favourites. In the case of Dovestone Natural Chunky, we're loving getting to know its drape and definition - and putting it to good use in some gorgeous patterns.

Above is the gorgeous Clem sweater, part of the new Learn to Knit at Home collection, created by Alison Moreton. We asked Alison about the inspiration behind it, and the collection as a whole.
What inspired Learn to Knit at Home?
The idea was that they were really simple, easy to knit designs. People come and do our Learn to Knit workshop and learn basic skills and it needs to be at that level. 

Welcome to the new season!
Over the last couple of weeks, we've shared some of the yarns and patterns we're introducing as part of our new Autumn-Winter 2017 range. We kept a few surprises up our sleeves and we're really excited to be able to reveal them to you now. 

Meet baa ram ewe Big Balls, pictured above. They're inspired by the baa ram ewe colours that you know and love, and are made from 100% British wool, scoured and combed in Yorkshire. They're ideal for using in spinning, arm knitting, felting - or just for display! We've loved getting our hands on these gorgeous 1kg Big Balls of beautifully soft wool, and they're already turning heads in the shop. If you want to bag your Big Balls before they run out, click here. 

We do love it when our new season launch is around the corner and, as always, we like to give you a little preview of what's to come along with an opportunity to be the first to get your hands on our new beauties!

After the wonderful feedback you've given us on our Dovestone Natural Aran, we decided it was time it got a big brother and we're thrilled to be launching Dovestone Natural Chunky, a squishy, soft roving style yarn in the same five shades as our aran and blended using the same beautiful sheep breeds of Wensleydale, Masham and Bluefaced Leicester. Being a chunky yarn it's super quick to knit up in to jumpers, blankets and a whole host of other projects, but it has the same gorgeous drape and luxury feel of all our other signature yarns. We reckon you'll love it!  And now's your chance to be the first to get hold of some, as we're launching our pre orders today. 

Ooooo it's so pretty! We're delighted to announce that Titus Goddess Shades of Bishopthorpe will be launched this Friday at the wonderful Woolfest in Cockermouth, Cumbria!

It's the latest in our series of collaborations with The Knitting Goddess, also known as Joy, based just down the road from us in Harrogate. She hand-dyes yarn in small batches, so each skein is different, giving unique results for whatever project you use it for. A couple of years ago, she took some of our Titus yarn and brought out a series of limited edition Titus Goddess Shades. These were hugely popular with customers, so of course when the opportunity came up we wanted to let Joy work her magic on some more of the shades.

Our One Day Sale takes place tomorrow, Saturday, both in store and online. We have some real bargains for you, with 40% off selected yarns, patterns and accessories. They never hang around for long, so buy early to avoid disappointment! 

We have some beautiful yarns discounted - many with matching patterns and collections also in the sale, so you can get straight to work.

The gorgeous Juniper Moon Farm Herriot yarn is one of our favourites, and goes perfectly with the fourteen designs for lovely sweaters and accessories in the Juniper Moon Farm Herriot Collection. 

For eye-catching and stylish results, look no further than the Scrumptious 4-Ply yarn in a range of lovely colours. Pair it with the Scrumptious Collection - Volume 2 and Volume 3 are both in the sale, with more than 20 designs between them. 

This Saturday is Worldwide Knit In Public Day. It's a fantastic opportunity to share your love of knitting with the world. Crafting is a great way to break boundaries and build connections: from inspiring a new knitter to starting a life-long friendship, we've heard wonderful examples of the way knitting has lead on to brilliant things in people's lives.

Of course, the best way to start a conversation over your knitting needles is to have something eye-catching and inspiring on them. So we've put together some recommendations for our favourite colourful and patterned knits with interesting stories behind them to make sure your public knitting goes with a swing this weekend.