Fyberspates Blog

The Last Update

We expect the volume of traffic through the checkout tomorrow in our last sale to be quite heavy. With that in mind, here are a few tips to make sure things go as smoothly as possible:

Firstly and most importantly, please make sure you receive an order confirmation by email after you place your order. If you don't receive one please check your spam folder as they do drop into there from time to time. If there isn't one in the spam folder, please forward us your paypal receipt ASAP and we will check it for you. Sometimes with heavy traffic there is a problem between Paypal and the website so if you do not receive an order confirmation email it means your order has not gone through. 

Secondly we will have 2 new arrivals pages and 1 sale page with the new items on them. These are clearly displayed on the home page under the featured departments.

Thirdly, we will not be accepting returns after 15th of August on full priced items. Sale and potluck items cannot be returned or refunded.

We are planning on working through the weekend to get all the orders out and packed, so we will find out if we have any issues very quickly and we will work to offer you an alternative.

Finally, once all orders have been packed, if we have any odds left over we will be adding things to the sale pages next week, so keep an eye out for even more deals on non repeatable yarn. 

 

Happy shopping!

Woodland

This month, Vivacious DK is featured in Let's Knit magazine in a design by Woolly Wormhead. Woolly is a Hat expert and so the feature offering tips and tricks for knitting from Woolly is the perfect accompaniment to the Woodland Hat design. 

(c) Let's Knit Magazine

Woodland is available in multiple sizes: to fit head circumference 45.75cm, 50.75 cm, 54.5cm, 57.25 cm and 61 cm. The yardages work out as 102m, 133m, 166m, 200m, and 240m so all but the last size can be knit using just one skein of Vivacious DK which comes in 115g skeins of 251 yards (230 metres). 

(c) Let's Knit

This slouch is perfectly textured for the Silver & Bronze, colourway that the sample uses and shows of the hand dyed charm of Vivacious DK perfectly. Being Superwash Merino, Vivacious is a perfect choice for hardwearing accessories and DK makes it a good transition piece this Autumn. The Silver and Bronze is a great uisex colour choice but we think it would work in any of our 12 colours- it's such a versatile design. 

To find out your nearest stockist of Vivacious, please check out our retailers list on the website and grab your copy of Let's Knit to get knitting today!

 

 

 

Important News

For those of you who have followed Fyberspates for a long time, you will have seen the company evolve and change in so many ways. When the big decision to end hand dyeing was made a few months ago, it started off a series of decisions about how best to nurture and grow Fyberspates wholesale ranges. With Scrumptious, Vivacious, Gleem and Cumulus all represented internationally, it was hard to see how retailing myself was going to fit in with working on greater distribution.

 

From 1st September 2014 I will no longer be retailing Fyberspates yarns. All Fyberspates yarns and products will be available from our many wonderful retailers and the Fyberspates shop will become a wholesale site. This is a big decision as I have loved the personal element of being hands on but it’s time now to use all that knowledge and experience that I have gained from dyeing and apply it to new ventures. I have a growing team here at Fyberspates who are eager to help take us further meaning more patterns for you, stronger relationships with yarn stores and lots of new collaborations to bring you the most inspiring knitwear with high quality yarns.

 

August 1st 2014 will be the last update from Fyberspates directly. All my hand dyes and non wholesale bases will be sold and appear throughout August. You can see what’s in store as I photograph and upload skeins to be sold on the Fyberspates Flickr account. Once these are sold, they’re really gone so please do be sure to come by if there’s been something you’ve been dying to have for a while. The shop will be close on the 1st September 2014 so be sure to check your nearest stockist (or better yet, encourage your LYS to become one)!

 

With the end of retailing directly comes an end to many shows I’ve attended for years. I will no longer be vending as Fyberspates but luckily will still have an important role to develop with Chester Wool Company. Fyberspates have been growing a professional relationship with Chester Wool Company, the home of superior natural white yarn, who have been a key business partner for many years and have helped Fyberspates grow into the international company that it is today. In my new role as Yarn Development Director, I will be a regular face at events and shows, helping to make relationships and use years of dyeing experience to help hand dyers achieve to their best potential. I will still be at trade shows of course such as TNNA and Handerbeit.

 

It’s an exciting time for me and I am in the process of finishing off two new pattern Collections: our first Vivacious Collection and Vivacious Kids, due out in Autumn 2014. With so many projects on the horizon, I do hope you will continue to follow Fyberspates on Twitter, the blog and Facebook as we’ve so much to inspire you over the coming year.

I am so grateful you have been part of this journey. More soon!

 

~Jeni xx

Featured LYS: Purl City Yarns

Following a successful trunk show at Purl City recently, we wanted to share some more details about this fab local yarn store with you. Purl City are Fyberspates stockists and always up to something interesting on Facebook so go check them out!

(c) Purl City Yarns

Here's Alex, the store manager to tell you more:

At Purl City Yarns we specialise in natural fibres both from the UK and around the world, and since getting our Campaign for Wool mark we’ve been stocking a wider range of British yarns like Titus, Artesano British and Jamieson & Smith. We opened in October 2010 after Charlotte (the owner) was fed up of not being able to get the yarns she wanted locally, since then our range has grown massively both in-store and online. We’re always on the lookout for new and interesting yarns or fibres, and we are lucky enough to have space for knit nights twice a week as well as regular workshops and trunk shows.

Cumulus on display at the recent trunk show

What Fyberspates yarns do you stock?

We stock Fyberspates Scrumptious (all weights), Gleem Lace, Vivacious DK + 4ply and we recently started stocking Cumulus after seeing it at the Fyberspates Trunk Show we did with Jeni in May.

Fyberspates hand dyes on display at the recent trunk show

What are you all currently working on?

As we make all the samples for the shop the team is currently working on an crocheted Artyarns cashmere stole, a Colour Affection in Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace, experimenting with Lithuanian linen yarns and knitting some samples of our newest yarns from Adriafil and Madelinetosh. Each member of staff at the shop has a different skill-set, which means we’re always working on a really wide variety of projects at any one time - we’ve even had some shop projects inspire knit-a-long’s at Knit Club!

 

What is your favourite Knitty/Crafty resource?

It’s got to be Ravelry for us. It’s an invaluable tool when working out yarn substitutions and finding patterns for our customers, we even use it to help track down specific dyelots or discontinued yarns. A close second is Knitty.com, we all get very excited when each issue comes out, and a fair few of our samples are from Knitty patterns.

The lovely window at Purl City Yarns (c) PCY

Best thing about working in an LYS?

The amazing variety of people you meet on a daily basis! Since we’re a city centre store we’ve found we get a lot of tourists and visitors to Manchester popping in, and everyone is always so enthusiastic about the shop. We have a regular group of cabin crew who always stay and knit for a while whilst they’re in town, and a lovely Knit Group who meet on Wednesday evening and Sunday afternoons. There’s no typical customer at PCY and we always love to see the things people make with our yarns, whether it’s a first garter stitch scarf or a lace parasol it always great to see what’s possible.

 

To connect with Purl City, please look for further details on their website: http://www.purlcityyarns.com/ or if you're in the Port Street area of Manchester pop in and say hi. You can find all their latest news at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PurlCityYarns

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Purlcityyarns

Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/purl-city-yarns

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/purlcityyarns/

Tumblr: http://purlcityyarns.tumblr.

Minarets and Lace

Looking the perfect special lace project this Summer? We think we found it in the recently published list...

(c) Mary-Ann Mace

Minarets and Lace is a downloadable single pattern available on Ravelry, designed by Mary-Anne Mace. Mary-Anne seems to have a real talent for lace and we think is a designer to watch over the coming months having just been published in Knitty for more stunning lace. 

This top-down crescent shaped shawl is a celebration of Mary-Ann's favourite Estonian stitches. The stitch motifs include nupps, lace flowers, gathered stitches and arguably the prettiest motif of them all - the lily of the valley. The combination of motifs results in the emergence of unexpected shapes - archways and minarets - and ends with a dramatic nupp encrusted lace edging. Knitting this shawl is pure Estonian lace knitting joy, but in a modern crescent shape.

(c) Mary-Ann Mace

The shawl calls for one skein of Scrumptious Lace and works as well in tradtional natural tones such as Mary-Ann's version in Eau de Nil as it does in stronger, jewel tones like Wine gum. The Wine gum version was worked up by Mary-Ann's test knitter Mindy aka Minminlea on Ravelry. 

by minminlea

To get started today, check out the Fyberspates shop or your local retailer for Scrumptious Lace.

Nominations and Voting!

Fyberspates has been nominated in the Best Independent Brand and Best Luxury Brand category/ies of the British Knitting Awards 2014! Nominated entirely by the readers of Let’s Knit & Let's Get Crafting–Knitting & Crochet magazines and we are so grateful to everyone who nominated Fyberspates.

Voting commences on 4^th July 2014 online here or forms are also available in the August issue of Let’s Knit and issue 63 of Let’s Get Crafting magazines. When you enter to vote, you might also be lucky enough to win £500 worth of knitting supplies!

Voting closes on 14^th September and winners will be invited to the British Knitting Awards ceremony at The Knitting & Stitching Show, London on Thursday 9^thOctober 2014. The results will then be made public online and in print in the November issue of Lets Knit magazine – on sale 24^th October 2014. 

There's some great people up for nomination in various catagories, please go and vote today!

 

Cumulus Wrap by Jacqui Harding

 

(c) Practical Publishing

The latest issue of UK knitting magazine, Knit Now is on newstands and includes this bold graphic wrap by Jacqui Harding. The Cumulus Wrap uses a ball each of Cumulus in Water (MC), Sea Green (CC1) and Teal (CC2) and has some pretty details like the tassels worked at the end. 

We were lucky enough to have Jacqui explain the inspiration behind her design:

"I had the design in mind before we found the yarn. I liked the idea of using intarsia, (a technique often associated with difficult, complex knitting), for a very simple, graphic design. The stripes evolve from a few starting stitches and give lots of opportunity to play with colour effects. The yarn and the colour was always going to be key to how the design worked out.

When Kate (the editor of Knit Now) suggested Cumulus, I loved the idea. I'd seen the yarn at Unravel, and thought that using a yarn that people would possibly associate with complex lace shawls in a pared down graphic design would be interesting. The colours chosen felt quite grown up & strong, which went well with the simple stripes." 

The finished wrap is feather light & warm. Optional beaded tassels help to weight the ends to make it as easy to wear as a cardigan. Large enough to wear as a wrap on summer holiday evening walks by the sea - or to be a luxury long warm scarf in winter, the alpaca blend yarn makes this design a year round knit.

Love the Cumulus Wrap by Jacqui? You can buy Cumulus, our 76% Baby Suri Alpaca, 24% Mulberry Silk heavy laceweight yarn, from Purl City Yarns and Purlescence in the UK as well as the Fyberspates shop! Internationally, we have Cumulus retailers in France thanks to Pretty Laine and Australia at Purl Box. You can check details of retailers on our website. Happy knitting!