colour compass: heads up

Before it sells out, I thought I’d give those of you who may not be signed up for our newsletter, a heads-up about our Colour Compass project: an advent calendar with a really clear plan for knitting with, and creatively enjoying, its colourful contents.

You can get the full lowdown on everything involved in Colour Compass here, but the key point is that, having had a lot of fun developing 6 brand new, exclusive colourways of Milarrochy Tweed (bringing the range to 24 different shades) – an advent calendar, focussed on the theme of a supported exploration of colour seemed a really good idea! The idea is that, throughout December, you’ll unwrap one ball per day (revealing the palette in all it’s chromatic glory) and, then, on Christmas Eve, you’ll also unwrap your Colour Compass ticket, enabling access to an exclusive design collection and e-book.

The e-book contains 2 garment patterns (a pullover and a cardigan) and patterns for four different accessories. There’s enough yarn in your calendar to knit one of the garments (in any size) or all four accessories, if you like. The ebook also contains tutorials, exercises, tips and tricks to help you develop a knitting mood board, build a palette, combine shades, and generally build your colour confidence. For a change, in the Colour Compass designs, I’m not focussing on stranded knitting, but decided to explore a range of different, accessible techniques such as striping, slipped stitches, blocking, chevrons, and openwork – all of which will, with the help of some special guests along the way, help to expand our colourful horizons!

In January, we’ll be hosting a Colour Compass knitalong in the KDD Ravelry group, where you’ll find loads of support and camaraderie, whatever kind of knitter you are.

As I said, there’s much more information (and answered FAQs) about the project here – but I thought I should quickly remind you now about Colour Compass – subscriptions are limited by our available stock, and this is fast depleting!

To close, here are some jolly spring lambs, and three VERY happy lamb wranglers.

Together with Iona (our talented Allover model) and her mum Julie, I got to spend some time over the weekend at Lennox of Lomond – a nearby hill farm, where, since 1750, eleven generations of the same family have been raising hardy sheep and cattle. As well as learning a lot about hill farming, we saw a ewe through labour and birth, which was pretty amazing, and got to spend some serious quality time with the caddy (pet) lambs before they get twinned on.

It was lovely to see interested young kids (alongside us super-enthusiastic adults, ho ho) learning more about the realities of agriculture and, as custodians of this special place, the Lennox family team do an amazing job, educating the local community about their work and talking honestly about the difficulties faced by hill farmers post-Brexit. Thanks, Bobbie, Ann and Kay for a lovely morning!